The James Patton Anderson Collection in the University of Florida Smathers Libraries, Special and Area Studies Collections, P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History contains the Florida correspondence of James Patton Anderson and the Anderson family.

Trained as an attorney and subsequently engaged as a cotton planter in Florida, James Patton Anderson became a leading proponent of the Confederate cause during the American Civil War. Born in Tennessee in 1822 and raised in Kentucky, Anderson came from military forebears and began his own military career as a captain in the Mexican War in 1847. He and his wife Henrietta Buford Adair Anderson moved to the Territory of Washington shortly after their marriage in 1853, where Anderson took up an appointment as U.S. Marshall. The couple later accepted an invitation from Henrietta Anderson’s aunt to relocate to Florida, where they managed and eventually purchased the plantation of Casa Bianca near Monticello.

The James Patton Anderson Papers at the George A. Smathers Library, University of Florida, provide extensive coverage of Anderson’s career as a planter in Florida, his service with the Army of Tennessee during the Civil War, conditions within Florida during the final year of the war, and the fate of the Anderson family and the families of other Confederates in the post war years. Included in the papers is correspondence by Gen J. Patton Anderson, his wife Henrietta (Etta), his wife’s aunt Ellen Adair White Beatty, and friends of the family, including Gen. Braxton Bragg and Confederate president Jefferson Davis, among others.  (For additional information consult the J. Patton Anderson Papers Finding Aid).

J. Patton Anderson and Etta Anderson Papers (Confederate general and family)

James Patton Anderson grew up in Tennessee and Kentucky but spent a substantial part of his adult life as a cotton planter in Florida.  Anderson came from military forebears and began his own military career as a captain in the Mexican War in 1847. He and his wife Henrietta Buford Adair Anderson moved to the Territory of Washington shortly after their marriage in 1853, where Anderson took up an appointment as U.S. Marshall. The couple later accepted an invitation from Henrietta Anderson’s aunt to relocate to Florida.  They managed and eventually purchased the plantation of Casa Bianca near Monticello. The Anderson Papers include letters by Gen J. Patton Anderson, his wife Henrietta (Etta), his wife’s aunt Ellen Adair White Beatty, and friends of the family, including Gen. Braxton Bragg and Confederate president Jefferson Davis, among others.  These documents provide extensive coverage of Anderson’s career as a planter in Florida, his service with the Army of Tennessee during the Civil War, conditions within Florida during the final year of the war, and the fate of the Anderson family and the families of other Confederates in the post war years. Etta’s letters and memoirs from the late 19th century and early 20th century often provide reminiscences of her experiences during the war.  Documented battle sites include those of Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. (For additional information consult the J. Patton Anderson Papers Finding Aid).