George T. Ward Secession Broadside

Biographical Note:
George T. Ward, of Leon County, sat in the Sececssion Convention at Montgomery, Alabama. On January 7, 1861 the committee submitted a secession ordinance accompanied by a report in favor of immediate secession. George T. Ward, of Leon County, and Jackson Morton, of Santa Rosa County, both former Whigs, led the opposition in an effort to amend the ordinance to defer action until after Georgia and Alabama had seceded and to require popular ratification of the measure. They were overruled and on January 10, the ordinance was passed by a vote of 62 to 7.
In 1825 George Ward became Register of the Land Office, succeeding Samuel R. Overton. One extraordinary event in his life was a duel described by Col. John S. Beard, which took place between George Ward and Alston just outside Tallahassee. Achille Murat (Prince Murat) was Ward's second and Dr. Randolph of Tallahassee was the attending physician. Alston hit Ward first, breaking his leg. Ward fell while Alston advanced, still shooting. One of these shots broke Ward's arm. When Alston got directly over Ward, Alston had no shots left while Ward still had one. Alston evidently then folded his arms and declared, "I believe he will kill me after all." Ward fired his last shot and missed. Ward demanded more guns and insisted that Murat prop him up so that the contest might continue, but he fainted before his instructions could be carried out. It was later agreed to continue the duel, but before Ward recovered sufficiently to fight, Alston was killed in another duel.
Ward was not to survive long, as he was one of the first of Florida's officersof high rank to be killed in action in the Civil War. As the commanding officer of the Second regiment, he was killed at the battle of Williamsburg. (Source: several volumes of the Florida Historical Quarterly contain articles about George T. Ward and the other persons mentioned above.)

Scope and Content:
This collection consists of a broadside regarding the secession of Florida from the Union and a duplicate of that broadside. The broadside was issued by George T. Ward before the State Convention at Montgomery, Alabama in January 1861. It is addressed "To the People of Leon County," and begins "My name has been suggested as a candidate for the State Convention, from your county..."

©1998 Florida State University. All rights reserved. Created by Aimee Reist and John Nemmers. Send comments to FSU Libraries Special Collections