Name Lucius Hardee | Died 1885 | |
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Lucius Augustus Tarquinses Hardee was born on March 24, 1828 in St. Marys, Georgia. He was the nephew of Lieutenant General William Joseph Hardee. He spent most of his life in Florida. He lived on a plantation home in Duval County, and married Esther Ann Crews Haddock in 1853.
Lucius fought in the Third Seminole Indian War. He was the first Commissioned Officer from Florida in the American Civil War; mustered in as Captain in the 3rd Infantry, Company F, known as "Duval's Cowboy's".
Lucius was Chairman of Florida's Democratic Party when Horace Greeley ran for President in 1872 as the representative of the Liberal Republican Party, against the eventually victorious Ulysses S. Grant. The Florida Democratic Party supported Greeley, whose platform included ending Reconstruction.
He raised long staple cotton before the American Civil War on his plantation, called "Rural Home". After the war he grew citrus and other plants on the lands of his rebuilt "Honeymoon Home". Lucius was known by the sobriquet of Colonel Hardee, though official promotion to this rank has not been documented. He was the subject of 5 pages from Harriett Beecher Stowe's book on Florida Life, "Palmetto-Leaves", published in 1872. Mrs. Stowe's visit with Hardee describes the post-plantation nursery as a thriving business led by the energy and industry of this pioneer horticulturist.
Hardee died of malaria on February 9, 1885 in Duval County, Florida, and is buried in the Old City Cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida.