A Plat Exhibiting the State of the Surveys in the State of Florida With References

General Land Office map of Florida published in 1851.

This detailed map of Florida presents a fascinating snapshot of the state (pop. 87,445 in 1850) in the waning years of the frontier era. Surveyed townships, marked by an S, cover most of the area, but there are a number of notable holdouts.

The Arredondo Grant was a plot of land granted to Don Fernando de la Maza Arredondo by the Spanish crown prior to Florida’s annexation by the United States. Although the claim was initially upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, the entire system of land grants was ultimately dissolved, including Arredondo’s. Forbe’s Purchase also reflects a private claim – this one by a group of American traders who purchased the land from Spain and local tribes. Their claims, unlike Arrendondo’s, were preserved through the court system.

In addition to showing the progress of public surveying, the map also includes the names of rivers, towns, islands, and forts. These last features scattered throughout the Florida landscape played an important role in the ongoing Seminole Wars. After the Second Seminole War ended in 1848, the remaining members of the tribe were allowed to remain in southern Florida; occupying much of the area that remains unsurveyed on the map east of Lake Okeechobee. One of the sites of a major battle in that war can be seen on the north side of the lake. Pressure to remove the last Seminoles mounted, and ongoing friction between natives and white settlers would lead to the Third (and final) Seminole War in 1855.