The American Civil War divided the country between the industrialized northern states and the agricultural southern states that depended upon slave labor to support their economy.

Disagreement over the issue of whether or not individual states had the right to decide if slavery should be legal within their borders led to the War Between the States.

Florida was the third state to secede from the Union, in January 1861, behind only South Carolina and Mississippi. As the largest supplier of beef and salt to the Confederate army, Florida played a vital role in the Civil War.