AUTOGRAPH LETTER, SIGNED BY CONFEDERATE COMMISSARY AGENT C.F. STUBBS FROM LAKE CITY FLORIDA 1 SEPTEMBER 1863, TO MAJOR P.W. WHITE AT QUINCY FLORIDA, COMPLAINING THAT "CAPT. McKAY HAS NOT BOUGHT OR ENGAGED A SINGLE BEEF AND SAYS HE WILL NOT MOVE A PEG UNTIL FUNDS ARE PLACED IN HIS HANDS

Lake City FL, 1863. [4] pp bifolium, folded to 5" x 8." Written in neat ink manuscript on first leaf only, final leaf blank. Very Good.

Moreover, says, Stubbs, Captain Summers "has no cattle on hand. So you see that the prospects are very gloomy to get a supply of beef for the army of Tennessee from this Section. The season is rapidly passing by and the time growing short for getting beef from this Section. Can you now remedy the evil..."
Major Pleasant Woodson White [1820-1919], a Quincy Florida lawyer, was commissioned a Major in the Confederate Army in 1861 and Chief Commissary Officer for Florida. After the war, he was a Judge, and (truncated) Commissioner of Lands and Immigration from 1881-1885. Captain Charles Francis Stubbs [1830-1882] was a member of the Georgia Light Artillery, "Jackson Artillery", Massenburg's Battery, Capt. Maxwell's Battalion. Capt. James McKay [1808-1876] was a mariner, cattleman and sixth Mayor of Tampa, Florida.
In Spring 1861 McKay made a deal to provide beef at a low price to Federal troops at Fort Jefferson; in return, the Union Navy would refrain from interfering with his Cuban cattle trade. When Florida voted to secede, McKay contracted with the Confederates to run cattle to Cuba. As beef became scarce, McKay sought to provide about 3000 head of cattle per week. But by August 1863 Confederate troops were facing starvation; the need for beef became desperate and McKay was not helpful. (Inventory #: 38122)