Following a State convention in October 1865, qualified Floridians went to the polls to elect a new post-Confederate legislature and state officials. A former mayor of Tallahassee, Florida supreme court justice, and expert on public education, David Shelby Walker, was elected as governor, running unopposed. The total number voting did not exceed 4000, whereas the 1860 election had polled three times that number. Walker served until 1868 and is credited with instituting transformative advances in Florida public education during his term. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
"Florida," The American Cyclopeadia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1865 ... (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1869), 363.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Campaigns/Elections
