Gordon, Florida

Garth Wilkinson "Wilkie" James established a cotton plantation in Gordon after the Civil War.

He served as an officer with the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment in the Civil War and was severely wounded at the Battle of Fort Wagner.

With funds from Forbes and from his father, James began buying largely undeveloped land in Gordon in February 1866.

[1][2][3] James hoped that the plantation would help bring equality and education to the freedmen, writing that "the freed negro under decent and just treatment can be worked to profit by employer and employee".

[2][5] Like thousands of other northerners who bought up cheap land in the South and tried to create new plantations employing freedmen, Wilkie James had no experience farming.