Military Career
During the Third Seminole War, Berry served with both Capt. William B. Hooker and Capt. Leroy G. Lesley in their independent companies of mounted volunteers. Muster rolls describe him as standing six feet and one inch in height, with grey eyes, and dark hair and complexion. Fortunately, Berry survived the war having seen little or no action. On October 27, 1857, he was elected to a two-year term on the Hillsborough County Commission.
In 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, Berry Hendry was a prosperous cattle rancher with eight slaves. He opposed secession after the election of Abraham Lincoln, but loyally supported his adopted state after it passed a secession ordinance.
On February 1, 1861, before the war really began in earnest, Hendry led efforts to create Polk County, Florida, and was elected to its first Board of County Commissioners. Hendry spent the first three years of the war supplying cattle to the Confederate Commissary Department. But, his work was made difficult by a Federal garrison that occupied old Fort Meade. So, in 1863, he organized his own cavalry company to keep the enemy isolated behind the walls of the fortress. He was given the rank of captain and attached to Colonel Charles Munnerlyn's Battalion.
Read more about this topic: Francis A. Hendry
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