Armed Occupationists

In 1842, in a final attempt to end the war and relocate the Seminoles, the government passed the Armed Occupation Act granting 160 acres of land to anyone willing to clear, cultivate, and hold five acres of land against the Indians for five years. More than a thousand people applied for land under the Act which opened up over 200,000 acres of land south of Palatka for settlement. One of those applicants was a contentious and colorful “pioneer on an extreme frontier” prominent in early Florida politics: Cornelius Taylor.