Mystery of Marshall Plantation: Fallen sign, complicated past (FL)

By Rick Allen
Published: Friday, February 12, 2016 at 5:21 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, February 12, 2016 at 5:21 p.m.

... The Marshall Plantation memorial marker down the road had been knocked off its post, he said, and could he get some help moving it to someplace safe? ...

... the plantation was established by Jehu “John” Foster Marshall of Abbeville, South Carolina, in 1855. It would become one of the largest suppliers of sugar to the Confederacy. He established a second plantation, Wetumpka, near Orange Lake, for cotton. He likely was urged to do so by his father-in-law, who owned land in the area, according to local historian Mickey Summers ...

On March 7 <1864>, the day after Confederates held off a Union advance near Tallahassee, a squad of 30 from the 3rd U.S. Colored Infantry under the command of James –-- a rare instances of a black unit led by a black leader --- left Jacksonville to strike deep into the interior of Confederate Florida. Their target: the Marshall Plantation, supplier to the South ...

The few remnants of the plantation today are in the vastness of Silver Springs State Park. Park officials zealously protect its location from artifact scavengers, banning photography at the site or even the vicinity ...

http://www.ocala.com/article/20160212/ARTICLES/160219895?p=7&tc=pg