She walked home to Florida, 650 miles, leaving behind a
hospital she had founded at Richmond, VA, as well as a fresh grave site
containing her one and only son. The third wife of Florida Territorial Governor
Robert Reid, Mary (SMITH) Reid did not live in central Florida, but many an
eternally grateful mother, daughter and wife throughout the State thought
highly of this remarkable frontierswoman.
At the start of America’s Civil War, Mary followed her 18 year
old enlisted son to Virginia, where she campaigned rigorously for a Hospital to
care for Florida’s injured sons. After winning her battle, Mary stayed on to
help care for Florida Infantryman wounded on Virginia’s battlefields. Sarah
Whitner, wife of Orange County Surveyor Benjamin F. Whitner, wrote to Mary Reid
personally, thanking her for treating her boy, Benjamin III, a soldier who survived
the War, and eventually homesteaded near Sanford, Florida.
Another soldier, wounded at Virginia’s Battle of Wilderness
and brought to Mary’s hospital, was her son, Robert J. Reid. He did not
survive.
Robert J. Reid was a half-brother of Robert R. Reid, the
Palatka merchant who rescued, in 1867, the town of Orlando, by buying the town,
at auction, on its courthouse steps.
Born 1812 in Georgia, Mary Martha (Smith) Reid, married Robert
in 1836. She was the sister-in-law of Florida’s Brigadier General Joseph J.
Finegan, second owner of the Moses E. Levy Grant, part of which is the modern
day town of Sanford. Mary M. Reid Hall at University of Florida is named in her
honor, as was the first Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
My FREE downtown Orange County Library presentation is this
Sunday, March 25, 2018 at 2 PM. Hope to see you there!
ORLANDO REEVES: Fact or Fiction?
Orange County Public Library Presentation
Sunday, March 25, 2018 at 2 PM
Visit Facebook Event Page:
Tomorrow: The Hudson’s of the Wekiva during #WomensHistoryMonth
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