Lesson G-11

“Cracker Horses, Cracker Cattle, and Cracker Crumbs:” Florida’s Cattle Industry from the 16th Century to the Present

By Sally Miles, Crystal Lake Elementary

I. Lesson Summary Summary Long before the part of the United States that later became known as the "Wild West" became settled, cattle were being raised right here in Florida. It became a somewhat strange partnership between man and horse, man and cattle. In this set of lessons, students will see how the fate of two animals, cattle and horses, changed the lives of the peoples of Florida and created a rich heritage for what was to become the Cracker culture.

Objectives Students will:

1.) Be able to describe cattle herding as it pertains to the Cracker culture; 2.) Incorporate appropriate Cracker vocabulary into their writing assignments; 3.) Place the events of the development of the cattle industry into a sequential order in correlation

with events in American history; 4.) Identify the traits, characteristics, and adaptations of the Cracker Horse and Cracker Cattle.

U.S. History Event or Era This lesson covers the development of Florida’s cattle industry, from 1521 to the present.

Grade Level This lesson should be implemented into a 4th grade - 6th grade classroom. Materials

Day One Day Two Day Three Day Four Day Five Day Six

-“Cracker Horses of Florida: Their Story and History” reading passage -“Cracker Horse Words” crossword puzzle - Bubble Maps and Circle Maps - Large chart paper and markers - Highlighters - One folder for each student -“Horse Anatomy Quiz”

- “Florida Cracker Cattle: Their Story and History, Part 1” reading passage - “Florida Cracker Cattle (A)” crossword puzzle -3x5 card for each child - Tape or “Tacky Stuff” - Students’ Cracker folder - Highlighters (any color)

-“Florida Cracker Cattle: Their Story and History, Part 2” reading passage -“Florida Cracker Cattle (B)” crossword puzzle -3x5 card for each child - Tape or “Tacky Stuff” - Students’ Cracker folder - Highlighters (any color)

-Students’ Cracker folders and activity sheets from previous lessons -Large chart paper (four pieces) -Markers -Tape or Tacky Stuff -“Cracker Dip” word search puzzle

-4th-grade Florida History textbooks -Classroom books on Florida’s flora and fauna -Notebook paper -“Cracker Dip” word search puzzle -Drawing paper, colored pencils, and/or crayons - Slips of paper with equal number of "rancher", "cow or steer", "dog", or "horse" written on them (one per student)

-4th-grade Florida History textbooks -American History textbooks -Students’ Cracker folders -Copy paper and glue sticks - Colored construction paper, 9x12 inch size (for matting Map on copy paper) -3x5 notecards and sentence strips -Markers and tape

Lesson Time Five-to-six class periods of forty-five minutes each.

II. Lesson Procedures Procedures Day One 1.) Hand each child a copy of the reading passage titled, “Cracker Horses of Florida: Their Story and History.”

Allow children to work in teams of four if possible. Use highlighters to mark key words that are already in bold type (use one color for this). Have students divide up the story and each person takes a turn reading out loud. When finished, hand each student a copy of the crossword puzzle (“Cracker Horse Words”). Work as a team to first figure out from context clues the meaning of the words and then place vocabulary words into puzzle.

2.) Next, using different color highlighter, highlight the traits/characteristics and challenges. While students are

doing this, place two separate chart paper pieces around the room. Tape to solid surface for easy writing. Label one "Traits/Characteristics" and the 2nd "Challenges." Draw a circle map under the "Challenges" and a bubble map under “Traits/Characteristics.”

3.) Have the children help you finish drawing out the maps and the frames. Place the word "Challenges" on the

inside circle of the circle map, and the initials " FCH" (Florida Cracker Horse) on the inside of the bubble map. Explain/review what a trait/characteristic is, and what a challenge is. Then, ask a child to give one example. One at a time from each group, to choose either a trait/characteristic or a challenge from their activity sheet and to come up and write it on the appropriate Thinking Map. Ask for confirmation from other team.

4.) When completed, save both charts. Have children copy/make their own bubble map and circle maps for their

folders (use folder with pockets and tabs if possible.) To help better understand the horse make-up, body structure-wise, use the provided “Horse Anatomy Quiz to help children identify parts of a horse. Some may wish to trace the "blank" horse first on Xerox type paper and then color it for their folders.

Day Two 1.) Using groups, have the children take turns to read “Florida Cracker Cattle: Their Story and History, Part I”

aloud. This time, as they read, highlight the already boldface words. Hand out the “Florida Cracker Cattle Words (A)” crossword puzzle and assign they work as a team again to fill it out, using the clues in the story.

2.) When the groups are finished, give each child a blank 3x5 card. Review a bridge map. Ask two students to

come to the board with their papers. Have the first child do a one-part bridge map using a word but no matching "answer" The second child tacks his/hers next to the first child's card and then finishes the first child's with correct answer. He must say "meaning" or "antonym" and then puts his own word up, but with no answer. Number 3 and 4 come to the board etc. This is like a relay until all the words are used (NOTE: You need enough space horizontally for 20-plus cards side by side. Get creative…you can zigzag or do a slight curve if needed).

3.) You may wish to have the students make predictions as to how this story is going to end. Have the groups

use sentence strips to write their predictions, one per group. Place these facing backwards on a pocket chart until you complete Lesson #3. Then check how each group did in guessing the future…

Day Three Using the reading passage titled “Florida Cracker Cattle: Their Story and History, Part II) and Florida Cracker Cattle Words (B),” follow the same procedures for Day Two (NOTE: If you did the prediction lesson at the end of Day Two’s lesson, flip over the predictions one at a time and discuss what the students came up with. Have them explain their ideas and give reasons for their responses). Day Four 1.) Review with class what a Tree map does (lists items together/classification). 2.) Divide students into four groups. Draw a large "T" at the top of each chart page and try and make them all

look connected together. Leave three inches at the top of each "T".

3.) Have one student form each group (four in all) come and label either "Cattle," “Dogs," "People," or "Horses" at the top of each chart page.

4.) Assign on chart for each group. Send one from each group to fill in the chart based on the materials and

books and activities you have already done. Stress correct spelling, and capitalization!!!!

5.) When all groups have finished, have a spokesperson from each group tell a little about each one from one of the other group's list. This is challenging, so if it proves to be too difficult, let them report on their own list.

6.) If time allows, pass out the “Cracker Dip” Word Search sheet. Have students find as many Cracker

expressions as possible in 20 minutes!

Day Five - "Three Days in My Boots, Hooves, or Paws" 1.) Read to your students the following: “A working Cracker rancher got up before the sun rose and worked until

after the sun went down. He worked 24/7/365 (all day, every day, all year 'round). What do you think it would have been like “way back then,” with no TV, cars, electricity, or other modern conveniences? What do you think it would have been like to be a Cracker dog? How about a Cracker cow or steer? Can you imagine what it would have been like to be a Cracker horse for three whole days on a cattle drive through Florida in the early years??? Now is your chance!”

2.) Review Narrative format for writing.

3.) Review Cracker vocabulary and reference materials.

4.) Have the children each take a slip out of an empty box. No trading!!!

5.) Brainstorm some basics to cover: what did your character eat, did they have fears, feelings, what was their

job description, how was the weather, any problems, dangers, how were the interactions with the other characters, any other people or animals encountered…

6.) Circulate and assist (try not to coach too much for the ideas, just with the mechanics). Encourage the

students to make a circle map or bubble map if it helps organize their thoughts. If special “Cracker” vocabulary word is used, have students underline it!

7.) When the story is finished for checking, have them work on illustrations while paper is checked for errors.

Have students recopy after editing. Hang on wall with illustration. Group together all ranchers’ stories, or mix up one of each type in a group. Have class decide which way to group. Put all together in one booklet. Share stories with class.

Day Five (or Six) - “It Happened This-a-way…” 1) Brainstorm on board the major events in Florida’s cattle industry, from 1521 to modern day, as depicted in

this lesson. 2) Have as many responses as children in class, one for each (ESE or ESOL or lower students may team up

with peer team member to assure comfort level).

3) Assign one event to each team or individual student. Have them write out the event on the copy paper (horizontally).

4) Each student must come up with two supporting details (one on each of two 3x5 cards, written horizontally) to

be placed under their flow map event (names of important people or places can be included here if needed).

5) When all have finished, create your maxi-sized flow map on wall or boards. Have students place their event on top with their two supporting details below. Read them out loud to the class as they put them up.

6) Leave the last flow map page blank and ask how they see the future of the Cracker lifestyle and cattle

ranching in the future…

7) Use the sentence strips to add what was going on at the same time in other parts of the country to show relevance of historical events-place under supporting details (Assign this to students you feel can do this

independently or with a partner). Another way is for the teacher to have events already written out. Hand them to students and see if they can place them correctly.

8) Make a "Kid Friendly" Cattle Drag- use laundry line or 1/4 inch cotton cord. Cut three lengths 12 feet long.

Braid except for the last 10 inches. Duct tape ends to a sawed-off wooden broom handle, which has been cut off in a 12-inch length. Knot other end. Take outside to very clear area. Practice trying to crack it. It takes practice and strong arms. ****Not to be used to hit people or animals!! The sound alone is what works!!!!

9) Play "Picture, Picture" with the kids…Draw a scene from part of the history of Cracker Horses, cattle,

ranchers, or dogs. Have the kids guess the event or person.

III. Activities

Cracker Horses of Florida: Their Story and History

Spanish soldiers were especially proud of their fine horses. Their mounts had Andalusian and Barb ancestors. Their colors were usually solid and often gray. The horses were not large, usually between 13.5 and 15.2 hands high at the withers. Unlike most other types of horses, they weighed from 650 to 900 pounds. Known for their stamina, endurance and spirit, or "brio", these horses worked with cattle and are said to have had real "cow sense." Between the Calusa and other Native Americans who stole them from Spanish shipments to Florida in 1500s, and other horses escaping the herds managed by missionaries and those ridden by soldiers and lost in battles or expeditions, feral, or wild herds of these horses formed and lived out in the open areas of the savannahs and forests of north and central Florida. The special environment of the Florida climate was and still is unique: humid,hot summers, tropical as well as wooded areas, changing temperatures, light, snowy winters in the northern Florida areas, mosquitoes, snakes, ticks, storms, lightning, hurricanes, and fires. All these things gave the herds some challenges for survival. Over years, these horses developed a tolerance for heat and cold, they learned to shed their heavy fur coats early in the spring to keep cool in the humid heat. Unlike the Mustangs, which would later roam many states and territories out West, these feral horses were isolated in the Florida location. They had no need to migrate, as the areas they survived in provided them with food, water, and shelter. They tended to grow thick full manes and tails which helped protect their necks from cuts and scrapes, and their tails could swish away the pesky bugs like flies and mosquitoes more easily. Their hooves were strong and tough and protected their feet from harm; few ever went lame. The Calusa and especially the Seminole Indians were very important in the development of this type of horse. The Seminoles became great trainers of horses and remain experts in horsemanship to this day. As soon as the Spanish and the Criollos (people born here in Florida and had Spanish parents) bred these feral captured horses with animals brought from Cuba and Spain. These new horses developed a gait similar to those of the Paso Fino horses. This gait is a smoother, even- flowing movement, which makes long hours in the saddle more comfortable for the rider. Although many used them for family use, pulling wagons, and tak9ing single riders from place to place, these sturdy horses spent most of the time in the service of the cattlemen who had developed the name "crackers". Therefore, their horses became "cracker horses". Over time, these horses were called by many names: Chickasaw Pony, Prairie Pony, Florida Horse, Marsh Tackie, Grass Gut, and Florida Cow Pony. By 1830, when trading these Florida horses to the Cubans with whom they were cattle trading and selling, even more Spanish Horse blood was mixed in. When cattle could no longer be allowed to "free roam", and fences were put in place, the Quarter Horse replaced most of these horses. The Quarter Horses were larger and more easily able to help tie up and hold captured cattle, so the "cracker" horses lost their demand and the breed almost disappeared for good. In modern times, six "Cracker" families have been able to help preserve the distinct bloodlines and fate of the horses. They have helped keep the Florida Cracker Horse from becoming extinct. They are the Ayers, Harvey, Bronson, Matchett, Partin, and Whaley families. They helped create the Florida Cracker Horse Association. Currently there are only 300 registered Florida Cracker Horses and these families and others help keep this horse breed safe for our future.

“Cracker Horse Words” Crossword Puzzle

Across Down 4. Destiny, what will happen in the future 1. Open grassy areas on the edge of a forest 7. A domestic horse; good sprinter 2. Protect, keep safe 8. Wild herds 3. Tough parts of horses’ feet 9. Long hair on necks of horses 5. Able to handle a situation or condition 10. Instinctive knowledge of what a cow will do 6. Former Spanish colony off the Florida coast 13. Measurement of four inches across the palm 8. Wander unfenced pastures and savannas 14. Spanish word for “spirit” 11. Shoulders 15. A way of walking 12. No living examples Answer Key: (Across) 4. fate; 7. quarterhorse; 8. feral; 9. manes; 10. cowsense; 13. hand; 14. brio; 15. gait; (Down) 1. savannahs; 2. preserve; 3. hooves; 5. tolerance; 6. Cuba; 8. freeroaming; 11. withers; 12. extinct

Circle Map and Frame

Circle Map for Defining in Context

Bubble Map

Bubble Map for Describing Using Adjectives and Adjective Phrases

Horse Anatomy Quiz

Directions: Test your knowledge about the anatomy of a horse. Enjoy!

Answer Key:

Florida Cracker Cattle: Their Story and History, Part 1

Spain had bred cattle for centuries and when explorers came to Florida and the New World, they brought their beef cattle with them to sustain them on the journey and to provide meat upon their arrival in a hostile new land. The Calusa Indians had a different plan. In 1521, they became the first "cattle rustlers" in Florida when they stole the six heifers and one bull from Ponce De Leon's ship on his second voyage to Florida. This made Florida the first cattle-raising state in the United States! Later on, explorer Hernando De Soto was expecting cattle to be delivered to Pensacola Bay for his trip out west to the Mississippi River, but Native Americans rustled off 45 head of cattle. As a matter of fact, two 19th-century chiefs became notorious cattle rustlers. Their names were Chief Billy Bowlegs and Chief Cowkeeper! They had ancestors who were both Negro slaves and Seminoles, and they were considered to be the first Black Cowboys in the New World. Some of these rustled cattle just wandered off, and some were abandoned. They became part of a feral cattle herd. Eventually, the Native Americans learned enough about cattle-raising from the missionaries and the Criollos (people born in Florida with Spanish parents). Some that excelled at working with horses were also able to find work with the Criollos and learned ways to work with the cattle and train the horses, too.

The Criollos ended up trading with other Spanish and even sent cattle to the Spanish colony of Cuba. The cattle themselves were very much like the Texas longhorns later found out west. They were of Andalusian ancestry, and got the nicknames of “piney woods” cattle, Florida scrub cattle, and plain Florida Native Cattle. Unlike other cattle breeds adapted out west, these cattle had fairly short horns. These didn’t get caught in the thick forest vines and scrub and getting around all the trees was much easier. Their bodies were smaller and more compact in size. They also weren’t very tall, but stood closer to the ground. Grassfires, droughts and long, buggy, humid summers didn’t seem to bother them. Actually, the long summers gave their calves more time to develop and mature before the winter set in. The wide variety of vegetation in the savannahs and forests and palmetto scrub areas gave them lots of good rich foods, which they could digest. When settlers began to set up ranches in northern and central Florida, they found that the feral cattle and the herds of cattle already found on mission ranches were gentle; many were in fact almost pet-like in nature. Most were trainable and could be used to help plough and pull carts easily. They were smart for bovines and hardy. Few pests bothered them. To help get the cattle at round-up time and flush them from the tight palmetto scrub areas, ranchers used the Spanish technique of using a 10-12 foot braided whip called a drag. It

had a wooden handle and wasn’t used to hit the cattle's bodies. It was cracked above the cattle's heads and in the quiet forests of north and central Florida; very loud cracks would scare the cattle enough to move forward and in the direction the rancher wanted. If that didn’t work, a dog called a "catchdog" or "swamp mutt" would grab a steer or cow's ear and hold onto it until the rancher would come to crack the whip over the cattle's head. It was said a good Cracker rancher needed only his Cracker Pony and his catchdog to handle 300 or more cattle!

“Florida Cracker cattle” are Florida's equivalent to the better-known Texas Longhorn. Florida Cracker cattle, Texas Longhorns, and the various breeds of Central and South America cattle known collectively as Criollo cattle all descend from the original cattle imported into the Americas by the Spanish. The name Florida Cracker has only been used in recent years.

Florida Cracker Cattle Words (A)

Across Down 3. A dog used on cracker ranches 1. A braided cracker-whip 7. Your parents and grandparents, to name a few 2. Dangerous, not friendly 11. Another word for cattle 4. Strong 12. Left alone 5. Grown-up 6. Plant life 8. Well-known for bad reasons 9. Keep alive 10. Wild, not domestic

Answer Key: (Across) 3. catchdog; 7. ancestry; 11. bovines; 12. abandoned; (Down) 1. drag; 2. hostile; 4. hardy; 5. mature; 6. vegetation; 8. notorious; 9. sustain; 10. feral

Florida Cracker Cattle: Their History and Story, Part 2

By 1850, Tampa (in Hillsborough County) was the largest drop-off point for cattle shipping to nearby Cuba. When the Civil War started 10 years later, the South was paying $8 per head for cattle and it was paid in gold coins. The South needed beef for the meat for the troops and for the leather and tallow. Many ranchers didn’t want to sell their herds or to have them confiscated in the name of the South. Many ranchers took their entire herds and took them deep into the interior of the forests of north and central Florida. Some went as far south as the edges of the Everglades. Luckily for them, no one chased them that far. Many herds were safe, but some were wiped out altogether. After the war was over, ranching once more continued to thrive. The cattle lived peaceably out on Florida's green lush pastures and grasslands. Forests not used for lumbering were safe havens for these Cracker cattle. Herds multiplied quickly despite hurricanes and storms and droughts. Branding was not used in Florida like it was in the West. Ear notching was used. It required a Cracker rancher to use a knife to cut off a notch in a young calf's ear at an early age to help identify it, as the piece would never grow back. A Cracker named Bone Mizell, a legend in Orange County, is said to have notched a few cattle ears with his teeth when he lost his good pocket knife!!!! An ear, however it is notched, is easier to see than a brand on the rump! Refrigerated train cars made the job of sending meat up to the northern states easy and it was safe and fairly inexpensive. Several meat packing companies found the sources of Cracker cattle and great areas to set up the plants and factories ideal. Ranchers were kept very busy supplying beef for markets. By the 1930s, the Depression hit the country hard. Florida Cattlemen were doing well, even if the prices did go down and times were tough. Ranchers from the west brought cattle into Florida where the Dust Bowl had not caused the topsoil to be worn out. Florida's grasslands and forests were flourishing. Unfortunately, bad news was on its way. Along with the western cattle came a pest called the "Screwworm". The Screwworm infested not only the western cattle, but the Cracker Cattle as well. This meant that the cattle had to be treated and treatment meant the cattle had to be more controlled in a fenced in area. Barbed wire fences went up everywhere. The cattle used to going anywhere they choose to go to get food and water and be protected now had to stay put.

Tampa became the railhead for cattle shipments to Cuba during the golden age of the Florida Cattle Trade, 1850's. This picture, titled “Cracker Cow Hunting,” was drawn by Frederic Remington and published in the August 1885 issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine.

Because the cattle had to be roped and captured rather than just herded, larger Quarter horses were need to do the job. The smaller Cracker horses were no longer needed. Catchdogs were out of a job, too. Some Cracker "cowhunters" as they were called, refused to give up. They took their herds and found land they could afford, and decided to run their ranches the way they had done for hundreds of years, but on a much smaller scale. They kept their "pure" cracker cattle breed and cracker horses and cowcatcher dogs and some of these types of ranches still are working ranches today. Thanks to people like Sam Getzen of the Florida Cracker Horse Association and others, the Florida Cracker horses, and cattle are still a part of Florida today. Ranches around the state maintain several thousand head of true Florida Cracker cattle, and only about 300 Cracker horses are registered. Hopefully, in the years to come, people will be able to enjoy these animals for their qualities, endurance, and their place in history.

Florida Cracker Cattle Words (B)

Across Down 3. Periods of time with no rain 1. Taken away, like a teacher takes a toy 7. Cracker ranchers 2. Cutting a small piece out from an edge 9. Certifies special breeding 4. A parasite, or pest, that hurts cattle 10. Fencing material used to hold livestock 5. Low-priced 12. Safe place 6. A time in history when money/jobs were hard to find 8. A dog on a Cracker ranch 11. The back end of a bovine Answer Key: (Across) 3. droughts; 7. cowhunters; 9. registered; 10. barbed wire; 12. haven; (Down) 1. confiscated; 2. notching; 4. screwworm; 5. inexpensive; 6. Depression; 8. swampmutt; 11. rump

“Cracker-ese:” A Guide to Cracker Vocabulary

Here are words and phrases used by Crackers over the centuries:

Catchdogs — Cracker cattle-herding dogs trained to literally "catch" a cow and hold its ear or nose in its teeth until a cowman arrived.

Chittlins — Cracker version of chitterlings, or hog innards, cleaned and cooked.

Conchs — Key West Crackers.

Cooter — A freshwater soft-shell turtle eaten by Crackers.

Corn Pone — A "dressed-up" hoecake, made from the standard cornmeal, but with milk instead of water used in the batter. Cone pone differs from cornbread in that the former is fried and the latter is baked.

Cracklin — Fried hog fat used for food, sometimes mixed into meal to make cracklin cornbread.

Crocker sack — Burlap gunny sack sometimes used for clothing.

Curlew — Pink spoonbills hunted for food and for their plumes.

Drag — A rawhide whip used by Crackers for driving cattle or wagon oxen.

Fatback — Called “fatback” because this is exactly where it comes from — off the back of a hog. It was cut in small squares and put in cooking pots to flavor beans and other vegetables. Sometimes, it was roasted until it became crunchy and eaten like popcorn for a snack. Lard was made by boiling the fatback and straining it through fine cloth.

Fetch — To get, as in to "fetch" some water.

Grits — A principal Cracker staple made from dried and coarsely ground corn, used in place of potatoes, never as a cereal. Hominy grits, not to be confused with hominy corn, is a Northern label for a coarser grain of ground corn.

Hoecake — Primitive bread cake made of cornmeal, salt and water and cooked in an iron griddle or skillet. It is said that these cakes were once baked on a hoe held over an open fire.

Hominy — Whole grains of white corn treated with lye and boiled for food.

Literd — A hot fire started with fat pine.

Low-bush lightning — Cracker term for moonshine–liquor made and smuggled during Prohibition.

Marshtackie — A small horse with a narrow chest, prized by cowmen for their smooth ride, durability and quick maneuverability. Descendants of the horses brought to Florida by the Spanish, they are adapted to the Florida wilderness.

Pilau — Any dish of meat and rice cooked together, like a chicken pilau. Pronounced "per-loo" by Crackers.

Piney-woods rooter — Wild hog and a regular part of the Cracker diet.

Poultices — Medicinal salves made with materials such as soap, fat meat, chewing tobacco, chopped onion, scraped Irish potato and wet baking soda.

Pull — To take a hard drink from a liquor jug.

Rot gut — Bad whiskey.

Sawmill chicken — Salt pork.

Scrub chicken — Gopher tortoise, once a Cracker delicacy, now illegal to take.

Scrub cows — Cracker cattle bred to withstand the tough conditions of the Florida range. They are descendants of original Spanish cattle introduced to Florida in 1521.

Swamp cabbage — The tender heart of Sabal palm, cut and boiled like cabbage.

Store-boughten — Cracker materials which could only be purchased from a store.

Truck garden — A plot garden that was grown to produce a surplus of vegetables for sale to local grocery stores, etc.

Varmit — The Cracker version of varmint, or any small animal, especially rodents.

Courtesy Dana Ste. Claire, curator, The Cracker Culture in Florida History. Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Sciences. (http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~fcc/main/what's_a_cracker.htm)

Cracker Dip

O O

Catchdogs Chittlins Conchs Cooter Cornpone Cracklin Crockersack Curlew Drag Fatback Fetch Grits Hoecake Hominy Literd Low-bush lightning Marshtackie Poultices Pilau Piney-woods rooter Pull Rotgut Sawmill chicken Scrub chicken Scrub cows Store-boughten Swamp cabbage Truck garden Varmit

IV. Assessments

Day One

*Check for understanding by grading the crossword puzzles and later, the student's circle and bubble maps. Participation of group and class presentations can also be used for assessment.

Days Two & Three

*Crossword puzzle, Participation in group and class activities

Day Four

*Group participation and verbal reporting.

Days Five & Six

*Class participation, detail cards, and folder.

You may also wish to use the following multiple-choice items:

1.) Cattle and horses were first introduced into Florida by:

a. Native Americans b. Spanish explorers and settlers c. the English d. Americans

2.) Many horses and cattle that were brought to Florida became feral, which means that they became:

a. lost b. sick c. wild d. eaten.

3.) Which of the following nicknames did settlers in Florida give to the cattle they encountered?

a. “piney woods” cattle b. Florida scrub cattle c. Florida Cracker cattle d. a, b, and c

4.) During the Civil War, the Confederacy confiscated some cattle from Florida ranchers. This means that they:

a. took the cattle b. bought the cattle c. borrowed the cattle d. left the cattle alone

5.) Cracker ranchers used a knife to cut off a notch in a young calf's ear at an early age to help identify it, as the piece would never grow back. This process of marking young cattle was called:

a. notching b. biting c. cutting d. branding

6.) In Cracker vocabulary, a rawhide whip used by Crackers for driving cattle or wagon oxen is called a:

a. pilau b. curlew c. corn pone d. drag

7.) In the Cracker language, a “piney woods rooter” is a:

a. wild hog b. type of chicken c. another name for a head of cattle d. type of snake

8.) If a Cracker mentions a “literd,” he is referring to:

a. someone littering b. a group of kittens or puppies c. a hot fire started with fat pine

V. Resources

www.flatwoodsadventures.com (A good website for possible field trip or source of information for teachers) http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~fcc/main/what's_a_cracker.htm (Cracker vocabulary and other tidbits of Cracker culture)

"The Origin and History of Cracker Horses and Cattle" - Interview with Park Ranger Tony Wooster Morrel (University of South Florida, June 1998)

Interview with Dr. Tim Olson, Animal Services, University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida), 2004

Florida Cracker Horse, International Museum of the Horse (New York, 1998)

Sam Getzer/Florida Cracker Horse Association P.O. Box 186 Newberry, Florida 32669

Gentle, Victor, and Perry, Janet. Great American Horses: Florida Cracker Horses. Gareth Stevens Publishing: New York, 2001. Storter, Rob (edited by Betty Savidge Briggs). Crackers in the Glade: Life and Times in the Old Everglades. University of Georgia Press: Athens, GA, 2000.