The term Cracker dates back to a time before cattle ever set foot on Fla soil.
"What cracker is this same that deafs our ears with
this abundance of superfluous breath?" from The Life and Death of King
John, a play by William Shakespeare-1595
"Cracker" in writing dates back to a 1508
poem by Scottish writer William Dunbar referring
to a clamorous person, but it was in common use at least since the 1300's and
meant: A loud boast, brag, or vaunt; An outcry; a shout; A talk or gossip, and
yes, a sudden sharp or loud noise. The term was applied to the Scots/Irish
"common folk" by the British planters and landowners in the colonies,
as shown in a 1760's letter to The Earl of Dartmouth: "I should explain to
your Lordship what is meant by Crackers, a name they have got from being great
boasters. They are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia,
Maryland, the Carolina's, and Georgia, who often change their places of
abode."
The word then came to be associated with the cowboys of
Georgia and Florida, many of them descendants of those early Scots-Irish frontiersmen. The
term was applied to Fla cowmen after a Reconstruction era article was published
in a northern magazine. The article suggested that cowmen and teamsters in Fla
were known as Crackers due to the cracking of the whip to drive animals. This article included a Fredrick Remington drawing showing Florida Cracker Cowboys and
titled, "Cracker Cowboy's of Florida". Interestingly, those cowboys
didn't even have whips, but the name became synonymous with
cowmen in Fla.
In Florida, cowmen
became known as cowhunters, from the harsh conditions they encountered rounding
up free-range cows in the scrub and wetlands. The lasso or lariat was of no use in the dense undergrowth. Cattle were "jumped" out of their cover by catch dogs trained for the purpose. They were then herded by whip into small impromptu corrals built onsite for the purpose. Once in the enclosure the cowhand would dive off his horse onto the bovine and wrestle it to the ground to be hog-tied. That's where the term "grab the bull by the horns" comes in. Once castrated, if they were males, ear notched or branded for ownership and treated for parasites, they were released back into the wild to fatten up for the drive to the rail head and later to be sold.
Among post Civil War African Americans, the term "Cracker" became a contemptuous term for a white southerner. This was based on the fallacy that the whips used to herd cattle were also used to punish slaves. While the cow whip or 'Drag' was usually between ten and fourteen feet in length, the whips used to punish slaves and servants as well as sailors and others was generally a lot shorter. The cat-of-nine-tails is an example of this. Also, the idea of using the whip in moving cattle was not to actually strike the animal. By doing so the cowhand might open a wound that would become infected and kill the animal. A sharp crack near the rear-end of the cow or near the ear was usually enough to get the message across. Hence the name, Cracker, which is the tip of the whip that makes the sound. ©2020 C.T.Langrick
