Sumter County

Sumter County, Florida, originally named Sumpter, became a county on January 8, 1853. The county was named in honor of the Revolutionary War hero, General Thomas Sumter, who died in Sumter, South Carolina.

The Dade Battlefield Historic Site is a historical landmark in Sumter County. This The Seminole resistance to relocating to a reservation brought about the Second Seminole War.

It started on December 28,1835, when a column of 107 soldiers led by Major Dade were ambushed by the Seminole warriors at the Dade Battle in Sumter County, Florida. "Have a good heart; our difficulties and dangers are over now, and as soon as we arrive at Fort King you'll have three days to rest and keep Christmas gaily." Major Francis L. Dade spoke these words of encouragement to 107 cold, tired soldiers in a pine forest on the morning of December 28, 1835.

Within eight hours, only three soldiers would survive the battle that marked the beginning of the Second Seminole War.

In late 1855, Colonel Harvey Brown, commander at Fort Myers, dispatched Lt. Hartstuff and some troops to scout the country SE of Lake Okeechobee. Two weeks into the mission, they were attacked by several Indians and four army solders were killed. This started the 3rd Seminole War which came to a rapid conclusion.

There were a number of boundary modifications in the county towards the end of the century. In 1871, boundary between Polk and Sumter were altered. In 1872, a portion of Sumter was annexed to Orange County. On May 27, 1887, Lake County took portions of Sumter and Orange County, leaving Sumter with 574 square miles.

While the City of Wildwood is a hub of activity and acts as the crossroads of Interstate 75 and the Florida turnpike, a large part of Sumter County is devoted to the preservation of wildlife. Residents and visitors alike enjoy the many activities available within such parks as, Half Moon Wildlife Management Area, Lake Panasoffkee Wildlife Management Area, Jumper Creek Wildlife Management Area, Richloam Wildlife Management Area, Green Swamp Wildlife Management Area and the near by Croom Wildlife Management Area.

Lake Panasoffkee is a town and lake, the lake occupies 4,460 Acres. Fishing in Lake Panasoffkee is excellent specializing in Largemouth Bass, Bluegill and Shellcracker. With Warmouth, Catfish and Sunfish also caught here. The lake is most noted for its shellcracker fishing. Shellcracker are located by drifting over beds of eelgrass until white spots are seen. The white spots are dead snail shells used as spawning ground by shellcracker and bluegill. Largemouth bass fishing is also popular. Lake Panasoffkee connects to the Withlacoochee River which flows out to the Gulf of Mexico.

Other notable fishing lakes are Black Lake at 125 acres specializing in Bluegill and Black Crappie and Lake Miona at 418 acres specializing in Largemouth Bass, Bluegill and Redear Sunfish. Lake Miona is a very fertile, open water lake connected to Black Lake. The lake normally produces excellent populations of largemouth bass, bluegill, and redear sunfish.

The Withlacoochee River is also a popular recreation area for canoeing, kayaking, boating and fishing specializing in Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, Redear Sunfish and Warmouth. Largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, and warmouth occupy a wide area of the river, while spotted sunfish, redbreast sunfish and catfish are normally caught in swift, flowing waters.