Both men were avid cattle ranchers and built a big reputation for themselves, but in very different ways. Florida has a rich cowboy culture and history that is full of great stories of men who worked the land and made their livelihood by moving vast herds of cattle and profiting from the lucrative business opportunity in the 1800’s and 1900’s.
We have two short stories to tell about a rogue cow hunter and his legendary antics, and a man who grew from humble beginnings as a new pioneer and resident in Florida, to amassing a herd of 50,000 cattle and becoming a local Judge.
Sit back, relax and enjoy the two Cracker Cowboy legends of Bone Mizell and Ziba King.
Have You Heard of Bone Mizell?
The wild west never had a character quite as colorful as one of our most famous Cracker Cowboys, Bone Mizell. Morgan Bonaparte Mizell (quite a name for a roughneck cow hunter). Bone Mizell was born in Florida in 1863, and he died at the age of 58 in 1921 and is buried at the Joshua Creek Cemetery in Arcadia.
Bone Mizell was the eighth child of Morgan Mizell and Mary Fletcher Tucker. Morgan (his father) was found of history and greatly admired Napoleon Bonaparte and give his son an iconic middle name. In some parts, Bone Mizzell was called “Napoleon” and that information was also chiseled into his gravestone, although it was not correct.
There are many stories that made Bone Mizell a legend. So much so that he was the focus subject of a famous American painting by Frederick Remington called “The Cracker Cowboy”. The painting featured Bone Mizell on a pale horse, flanked by a faithful Cracker Cur dog, and surrounded by a scenic background of marsh and palmettos.
Bone Mizell was the kind of fellow you met and never forgot. First of all, he stood about 6’ 5 inches in height. The cowboy spoke with a pronounced lisp but was known to be witty and sarcastic if you pointed it out. He was a showman in many ways, with some historical records recounting how he used to light his pipe with dollar bills to impress the crowd.
Photo: Findagrave.com
Bone Mizell, the original Cracker Cowboy was colorful. He frequently rode his horse from the street, straight into the saloon where he demanded to be served his drink. While he was still seated in the saddle of course. He was fond of a local breed of horse called the Marsh Tackie and demonstrated the ability to “flick a fly off a cow’s rump” with his 18-foot bullwhip, without touching the cow or harming it.
Mizell was employed as a range foreman near the Peace River and was widely respected for his skills as a marksman with his rifle or six-shooter pistol. He was an expert cowboy in every sense and could navigate the thick brush and palmettos on his horse (with his dog trotting along to help him rustle up cattle that wandered from the herd).
Unlike some of the western movies we all grew up watching, the legendary Bone Mizell didn’t have a glorious Hollywood high-action death. He was found with his boots on, laying in the telegraph office waiting for payment. No one claimed his body, so the death certificate was signed by the employee of the telegraph office, a man named L.L. Morgan, who was also the local undertaker.
The cause of death was listed as “Moonshine-went to sleep and did not wake up”. Bone Mizell was known to be a fun and entertaining man, who never married. The only time he slept in a bed (it was said) was when he frequented his favorite bordellos. He never owned a home. He was known to be a chronic drinker, so his demise after consuming alcohol was not a surprise to anyone who knew him. He was also legendary for the pranks he pulled, while drunk in his off hours.
In addition to appearing in several paintings by Frederick Remington which were featured in Harpers Magazine (making the notorious Florida Cracker an overnight celebrity), a song was created to remember the cowboy. The ‘Ballad of Bone Mizell’ was written by Ruby Leach Carson and composed by Jim Bob Tinsley.
Meet Ziba King
A pioneer settler in the Fort Ogden and Acadian areas of Florida, Ziba King was not born in our state. He was actually born in Ware County, Georgia. During the Civil War, King enlisted in the Battalion of Savannah Volunteer Guards, but military records show he was absent without leave (or AWOL) two years later in 1864.
Ziba King altered his career to become a merchant in the dry goods supply business, after he moved to Tampa Florida. He didn’t stay in Tampa very long however, before he returned to Fort Ogden and Manatee County, where he opened another store which he ran for over twenty years.
By 1992, Ziba King had become a recognized leader in cattle ranching, managing more than 30,000 head of cattle. He had 40 acres of agricultural plowed land, and approximately 6,000 acres of wooded and pastureland for grazing. At his peak, Ziba King was called the ‘cattle king of South Florida’ and he amassed a herd of 50,000 cattle.
Photo: Findagrave.com
Business was good for Ziba King, and he also became the director of the National Bank of the State of Florida at Jacksonville. He purchased large amounts of investment real estate and citrus groves. His fortunes were made as a successful Florida cattle rancher, among other divestures, and he became a legal Judge.
For all his wealth, Ziba was also a compassionate individual. He was a member of the Baptist Church a philanthropist and a Mason. When the Manatee County could not pay teachers, he used his personal money to pay the local teacher’s salaries, until funding could be allocated. He became a Judge and began to advocate for his local community (and fellow ranchers).
Judge Ziba King died on March 7, 1901 and rests in a family plot in Fort Ogden.
Did you know that during the Civil War, both the North and the South clamored to lay claim to Florida. It wasn’t because of the strategic benefit for naval ships; it was due to the large wild roaming herd of cattle (most of which lay unclaimed) that were left behind by the Spanish when they departed the region in the 1500s.
Florida was an opportunity to feed armies, and later after the Civil War, it became a land and cattle grab, as business owners sought to settle in the ‘land of lakes’ which was also the land of plenty. Our stories of early cattle rustlers and cow hunters, as well as the true cowboy legends that built a name for themselves are part of the rich fabric of cowboy culture in our state. And we hope you enjoyed revisiting it with us.
