I haven't been able to interest Pat at The State of Jefferson in a little geography/history quiz, inspired by the history that inspired his blog name. So rather than exercise any further restraint, I'm spilling the beans. Here was the question:
One area of the country managed to initiate a "successful" secession movement, not in the sense that the secession stuck, but in the sense that the movement achieved its objectives. The place also happens to be the only area of the "deep South" that fought on the side of the Union during the Civil War.For fun and valuable prizes can you name the place, time and circumstances of the secession movement? (Hint: Check the title of this post.)
Yes it's the Florida Keys. During the Civil War the Union maintained a naval base and fort there (Fort Taylor), intended to service the Union Fleet and help maintain the blockade of Southern ports. 120 years later, in 1982, during the Mariel Boat Lift, the Feds returned the favor by setting up a roadblock on Highway 1, which was the only land route to and from Key West, and citizens of the Keys reacted by staging a brief secession movement. They named their new country the Conch Republic.
One minute after declaring secession the Prime Minister of the Conch Republic surrendered to the Union Forces at the Naval Base, a drama of such satirical pith that it broke the back of the Union blockade, which immediately dispersed.
Some of my family now resides in Key West, although fortunately about half of them are in Seattle for the summer, visiting other family. (Except for myself and one sister, the family tends to live at the extreme ends of the cross-national backslash.) But my neice and her daughter, as well as a few family friends, are still waisting away in Margaritaville. Dennis, meanwhile, seethes menacingly from the south.
The fact is, although the Keys are right in the heart of Hurricane Alley, Key West is rarely in danger. Due to the prevailing winds and currents most hurricanes are deflected away from the Keys, and there's almost never a direct hit on Key West. But we're watching the situation with some anxiety, and I don't know yet whether Brooke and Kamaya, and friends, intend to "bug out." If it were me though, I'd be long gone. Every once in awhile those deflecting forces don't work their magic, and Key West suffers a full scale assault and battery.
Developing...
Posted by Demosophist at July 8, 2005 05:16 PM | TrackBackWow! You mean to tell me that we almost had another Civil War during President Reagan's first term??? OMG!
I will be praying for your family. If you are a believer, then you know the power of prayer. Mostly, mine works, sometime, I have a little doubt so it doesn't work.
My best friend from way back in school lives right in it's path!
I hope you are doing well. I am fine. Take care.
Posted by: Rosemary at July 8, 2005 07:04 PMI haven't been able to interest Pat at The State of Jefferson in a little geography/history quiz, inspired by the history that inspired his blog name.
When and where did you try to interest me in that quiz? (It's a little hard to keep track of all the comments on all the blogs.)
I didn't know the answer anyway. Most interesting.
I'll say a prayer for your family too.
Posted by: PatC at July 8, 2005 07:57 PMDemosophist:
I tried to comment at Rusty's blog but for some reason commenting ain't workin'. Hope you don't mind this long response:
The Conch Republic website is all cute and everything, but some things need to be set straight. There was nothing funny or cute about what happened that summer.
The road block was set up by the feds for what they said was to stop Cubans from entering the US via the Keys. There was a lot of bulls**t going on though. For one thing the Cubans were being processed a couple islands up from Key West by the USCG as boats were escorted to the processing center. It was all very efficiently done and very low key. So there was no issue about illegals driving up US1. Much misinformation was disseminated by the press on that as well as almost the entire boat lift episode from start to finish. The rest of the country was led to believe that there were crazy Cubans running through our streets that summer of 1980 with guns and knives. Nothing was further from the truth. There were many, many people from Miami, Cubans who got out of Cuba before Castro's coup, who were in town eagerly anticipating a reunion with family members, but they were all respectful and polite. Things were just as peaceful as they had ever been. Sadly, most returned to Miami with no idea whether their family members would make it out of Cuba.
At the road blocks the feds set up they immediately began searching cars and the occupants' personal possessions and arrested many for infractions ranging from possession of pot to suspended licenses. The road block was not only illegal, but unconstitutional. We responded by holding a quickly gathered demonstration in front of the Key West post office and then proceded to the north tip of the island and blocked off US1 ourselves, with our own cars, to keep the feds out and to draw attention from the rest of the country to what was happening. We were forcibly dispersed by the police and feds, but we made our point. The demonstration described on the Conch Republic website was much later and more symbolic. Ours was out of shear desperation for someone, anyone to help us get our family members and their boats out of Cuba. Not only were we being treated as if we were a foreign country, but the government was doing absolutely nothing to facilitate the return of hundreds of US citizens, our sons, fathers, husbands and brothers, being held in Mariel Harbor, Cuba. We were very afraid we would never see them again. Our demostration did make the 6 o'clock national news. So someone was listening.
When boats were finally released by Cuba to return they were grossly overloaded with whomever the Cuban authorities wanted to get rid of. Let me remind all that our President, Jimmy Carter, gave his blessing to any one who wanted to go to Cuba and get family members left behind many long years past. Carter's response later was to confiscate boats when they returned and fine boat owners $1,000.00 for every Cuban brought back to the US.
My ex was one of those boat captains. He was chartered by a Cuban family from Miami to go down there and pick up 6 of their family members. However, as he approached Cuba he was met by Cuban gunboats and escorted into Mariel Harbor and forced at gun point to remain there for more than 30 days. He was then escorted dockside and his 50ft shrimp trawler was loaded with 210 people and he was forced back out of the harbor, again by gunpoint.
I still have the letter from the US government demanding payment of $210,000.00 ($1000 for each Cuban). We never saw the boat again.
I rarely left the island in those days so was never subjected to the road block at the north end of the keys to check for citizenship in the following months and I personally don't know how long that went on. Only that it was happening and that most of us depended on tourism for a living and we were going hungry.
Key West did not secede from the union until two years after the boatlift started. In the hearts and minds of most Conchs they are not part of the US. They never forgot and will never forgive. I, myself, hold dual citizenship. I have an American passport and a Conch Republic passport. I left Key West April 24, 1982 for family and financial reasons, but it will always remain in my heart as "home".
Oh and for one other question you asked me at Rusty's blog: Monroe County is a "Red" county, sir.
Posted by: Oyster at July 9, 2005 10:51 AMOyster:
Thanks for the lengthy and detailed response. I imagine they want to keep things "cute" in order to keep the tourism business, and especially the cruise ships.
My niece rode out the storm on Stock Island, which probably wasn't a terribly smart thing to do. But she's new to the area. She said they were afraid for awhile of losing the roof, and are surrounded by water (probably subsided by now). Their place is visible from Rt. 1, and is on stilts. They lost electricity for about a day, which is actually a lot better than we did here when Isabel shut us down for a week. Man, that was one miserable week!
I loved Key West, even with all the tourists. It's a great place! My sister lives in "Newtown" near the Fairfield Inn. The real etate market has gone through the roof since they bought.
Posted by: Demosophist at July 11, 2005 04:54 PMI'm glad to hear she made it. I'll be going down on the 24th for a week. I'll have a few beers for ya.
Posted by: Oyster at July 13, 2005 05:11 PM