Chapter 6 Review:
Tobias finished fixing the fence and started to grow more
crops. He took a trip to the trading post, but no supply boat had come. As he
was chopping wood, Henry Addler came riding through on a black horse. Addler
tells Tobias he has orders from the governor to round up me to herd cattle up
to GA for the soldiers. Tobias speaks to Emma and Zech and gives them
instructions before he leaves. On their way to GA the marshal recruits 5 more
men. It took them three days to reach savannah. They arrived at a huge open
plain. Addler explained there were more than thirty thousand cattle grazing at
times. They continue to walk through the woods that were full of animal life.
They come to the herd of about 600 and take over. Tobias and his crew mount
horse and get their own whip. Their instructed to let the cows move slow so
they wont run. The drove the herd for a week then came to a fenced corral. At
night during rest, wolves started to circle the herd. The crew tried to build
fires to keep the wolves back but it didn’t work. The herd broke free of the
gate and ran for three miles until Tobias and three others stopped them. They
gathered the herd and camped until morning. Addler warned Tobias about the Reb
desserts and that they would hid behind bushes to shoot them and steal the herd
to send to Fernandina. Back Home, Emma and Zech were visited by some bears in
the middle of the night. They were trying to get into the barn. Fire did not
stop the bears so Zech was forced to shoot one of the bears. The other bear
raided the smokehouse. Tobias finally drove the herd to the soldiers. The
soldiers butchered the cattle up quickly. Tobias was free to go but couldn’t
take a horse and was told to walk. Addler mentioned to Tobias he had some money
coming his way for helping to drive the herd up there. It took Tobias eight
days to arrive home. He ate whatever he could find on the way back and even
stole a chicken. Zech told Tobias about the bears and Tobias was proud. Emma
made Tobias some food while Zech cracked the whip outside the house.
Chapter 7 Review :
Tobias whips a squirrel and breaks his neck. Zech and his
have mastered the whip and used it to keep food on the table. He decides to
reinforce the garden fence when he notices a horse. It was a confederate
soldier. He demands Tobias to come with him to cut wood for the war. He tells
he has no choice, or he will be shot dead. Tobias helps with the wood chopping
and has conversations with other men. He is eager to get back home when he notices
soldiers with horses and cannons across the field running. A battle had begun
between the federals and confederates and Tobias was stuck right in the middle.
He hid in a bush along the tree line and waited. The next morning, he spoke to
a soldier that claimed victory of the battle. Tobias decided he would be safe
to head back home. On the way he spots a horse tied to a tree next to a dead
soldier. He takes the horse, and the soldiers belongs and heads home. When he
gets there, he finds everything burnt. Emma and Zech are alive and explain that
confederate deserters were responsible. They killed their ox and ate him and
took the other one with them. Tobias decides to leave and head south. He takes
the horse and wagon and begins his journey.
Chapter 8 Review :
Tobias encounters a cow while on his horse. In pursuit of the
cow, Tobias gets thrown off and hits the floor. Zech retrieves the cow and they
had back. They spent months traveling but eventually a home along the Kissimmee
River. The nearest trading post was forty miles to the east. He learned that
the war was over and the south had lost. He bought a branding iron for two
dollars and stamped every log on his house. He then stamped his very own cow to
claim his own. He came across an old Seminole village that had been abandoned
but still had some vegetables growing. He started his garden. Emma asked for
Tobias to get a Dutch oven from the trading post. Tobias feels guilty that Emma
is still wearing the same dress for 10 years. He feels a sense of urgency to do
more for Zech and Emma. Zech comes riding along on the horse, he has mastered
it and become a great rider. Zech says he could ride the horse through the
swamp. Tobias agrees to himself with a sense of pride.
Tobias was traveling for ten miles until he turned east
towards the trading post. He passed through a prairie full of birds and cypress
palms. He was pulling the beaten-up wagon. He stopped for a moment to rest and
eat some of the fried coon that Emma had made for him. He encountered a wild
boar but left him alone. At the trading post Tobias meets Elias Thompson. The
owner of the post. They speak briefly about the consequences of the war. Elias
has no flour and hasn’t seen a Dutch oven in five years. Tobias trades some
coon skins for some salt and takes 4 boxes if 44 ammo shells. Elias tells
Tobias that boats will be traveling up and down the river and they are looking
for gator skins. They sell for 1.50- 3.00. Elias warns Tobias of drifters
hiding out in the woods. Says they could kill him. Tobias heads off with the
wagon and finds a hammock in the woods to build camp. He starts a fire when
then he hears footsteps in the woods. He sees the Indians that he helps years
ago back at his last home. The Indians trade stories while they prepare food
for them all. The Indians explain they are traveling to find bullets. Keith
Tiger offers some Koonti flour to Tobias. Tobias gives them bullets in return.
The flour comes from the roots of the sago palm. The Indians told Tobias not to
keep the cattle penned up for they would die. He said Indians would follow wild
herds of cattle and they were called Ishmaelites. The Indians and Tobias shared
the communal pot of food until they laid down for sleep. They all had a long
journey back in the morning.
Chapter 10 Review :
Back at home, Tobias hurried to the cow pen and opened the
door. Zech was confused. Tobias explained the cow must eat and cannot be left
in a pen, advice he learned from the Indians. He let the cow go free. Him and
Zech went out to hunt for another bull. While chasing a bull, the horse got
tangled in some muscadine vines and threw Tobias off the saddle. After
untangling the horse, Zech got on and took off after the bull. He drove the
bull back toward Tobias, which was hiding in a tree. When the bull got close,
Tobias jumped out of the tree and onto the bulls back. He wrestled the bull for
a bit until they both fell and the bull took off. They headed back home. The
next morning Zech came running to Tobias to come quick. Zech ran out to the
barn where they found a marshtackie horse and two dogs tied up. Tobias
suspected the Indians brought them for him.
I was able to relate to a lot of the information in Chapter 3 with the novel A Land Remembered. Much of the chapter is about the history of Florida's ecology and describes the terrain that the Spanish and French encountered during their explorations. The wet swamps, humid heat, and terrible storms were a normal part of the Florida culture. Page 46 shows a brief map of the soil and waterways of Florida. In the book, the author states " the ecology of the Floridas is the stage upon which the actors who figure in the chapters of this History of Florida played out their stories" (Hoffman, 2018). The types of soils and sources of water dictated where the first European contacts sought there settlement. This is why the Calusa Tribe were mainly hunter and gathers, rather than the agricultural tribe. The soil was poor where they lived which made they rely heavily on marine life. The land soil North of Fort Meyers and South of the central ridge is considered very acidic infertile soils that easily flood. (Hoffman, 2018). Growing up myself in Northern part of Tampa, I witnessed this soil first hand. It is very sandy and gray. Grass is very hard to grow without constant water and fertilizer. Most grass is full of weeds and contains patches of sand. While reading the types of terrain Tobias faced while traveling through Florida, Chapter 3 of the History of Florida demonstrates the same challenges the Natives Americans and European Settlers faced 200 years prior. The northern interior land was often considered good fertile soil, which was accompanied by hills that provided drainage and springs that contained fresh water. Lastly, one of the most detrimental aspects to Florida is the Tropical Storms. Storms ravished many European ships and left they to sink in the Gulf and Atlantic oceans. Flash flooding made finding a settlement difficult. In chapter Fourteen of The Land Remembered, Tobias, Skillet, Zech and Emma face a crushing storm while herding cows. They were forced to leave their cows in the field and search for higher ground. The storm raged for eight hours and changed from torrential downpour to solid water (Smith, 2011).
Hoffman, P. E. (2018). Chapter 3: A Land They Found. In The history of Florida (p. 46). essay, University Press of Florida.
Smith, P. D. (2011). Chapter Fourteen. In A land remembered (pp. 92–95). essay, Pineapple Press.
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