What is a cracker?

[crackerdave]

Back in the old days there were guys who drove wagons and were very good at cracking a whip to make the horses/mules giddy up.

Slave overseers often carried a whip,
for the same reason.

Whips were used in rounding up wild cattle.These cowboys were very good at steering their quarry with whips.

It is a racial slur used by blacks to insult white people.

 

[Nicodemus]

If you`re a Cracker or come from their stock, be proud.

 

[4HAND]

Florida Cracker comes from working cattle with a whip in the sandy scrubs.

Growing up we called gathering cattle "cow hunting". In the Florida scrubs/swamps a good cow dog is priceless.

 

[Nicodemus]

Most folks don`t realize that the first cowboys in this country were in Florida and South Georgia. Mostly in Florida.

 

[1eyefishing]

Pretty sure I read that Florida had more cattle than Texas…

The timing of this thread is scary. Exactly 25 minutes ago, I was sitting in a breakfast diner north of St Mark's explaining to my wife the term cracker. She said these people around here not rednecks, but what do you call them?

 

[Nicodemus]

Pretty sure I read that Florida had more cattle than Texas…

The timing of this thread is scary. Exactly 25 minutes ago, I was sitting in a breakfast diner north of St Mark's explaining to my wife the term cracker. She said these people around here not rednecks, but what do you call them?

Swampers, mullet runners, Crackers. There still older folks around this part of the country who consider the term "redneck" an insult. I`m one of em. Reason being, when I was coming up, a redneck was riffraff, white trash.

 

[crackerdave]

If you`re a Cracker or come from their stock, be proud.

I am.

 

[Cmp1]

Florida Cracker comes from working cattle with a whip in the sandy scrubs.

Growing up we called gathering cattle "cow hunting". In the Florida scrubs/swamps a good cow dog is priceless.

Were they cattledogs?

 

[Nicodemus]

Were they cattledogs?

Not like what we`re familiar with now. Some of them looked a lot like red wolves, and some looked more like a Blackmouth Cur. Maybe a little Catahoula thrown in there as well.

 

[4HAND]

Some looked so sorry, if you didn't know their worth you wouldn't feed them.
??

 

[Nicodemus]

If any of ya`ll like old history, and how things used to be, read this. I highly recommend it.



https://www.ebay.com/p/436204?iid=1...MI1vDLht645wIV8Y5bCh35Zwu8EAQYASABEgLehPD_BwE

 

[RedHills]

If any of ya`ll like old history, and how things used to be, read this. I highly recommend it.



https://www.ebay.com/p/436204?iid=1...MI1vDLht645wIV8Y5bCh35Zwu8EAQYASABEgLehPD_BwE

Read it a few times...a "Historical novel".

 

[RedHills]

Were they cattledogs?

As much as the dogs...the original cattleman relied on a particular horse that was obtained from the Seminoles...a marsh taky.

Read, A Land Remembered

 

[RedHills]

If you`re a Cracker or come from their stock, be proud.

Yes sir..my ancestors settled an area in Central FL...from Tattnall GA

 

[crackerdave]

As much as the dogs...the original cattleman relied on a particular horse that was obtained from the Seminoles...a marsh taky.

Read, A Land Remembered

Real good book about cracker cowboys!

 

[crackerdave]

Pretty sure I read that Florida had more cattle than Texas…

The timing of this thread is scary. Exactly 25 minutes ago, I was sitting in a breakfast diner north of St Mark's explaining to my wife the term cracker. She said these people around here not rednecks, but what do you call them?

That area,and a few others on the Gulf,still have a lot of natives living there.No beaches.

 

[RedHills]

Pretty sure I read that Florida had more cattle than Texas…

The timing of this thread is scary. Exactly 25 minutes ago, I was sitting in a breakfast diner north of St Mark's explaining to my wife the term cracker. She said these people around here not rednecks, but what do you call them?

Lol.. what's even scarier is I was in Newport about that time, and was planning a late lunch at Riverside Cafe IN St Marks!

 

[crackerdave]

Lol.. what's even scarier is I was in Newport about that time, and was planning a late lunch at Riverside Cafe IN St Marks!

The Cracker spirit lives!☺

 

[Swamprat]

I have seen on the Deseret Ranch (Mormon Ranch) plus other ranches in Osceola County numerous times one cowboy on horseback and one cur cattle dog move 300 head of cattle 1/2 mile from one pasture to another.

Prettiest sight you will ever witness, one man on a animal working with another animal moving hundreds of animals with hardly no voice command to the dog.

Dog gets the lead cow or bull moving in the right direction and they all follow, after that cowboy and dog just keep em bunched up.

 

[Gary Mercer]

I am not sure I ever mentioned it before, but we had two Mash Tackys on our farm in coastal SC. They were on the farm when Dad purchased it in 1957. I grew up riding in California as a boy on my uncles ranch. So I threw one of my old saddles on one, and it was like she was born to it. Didn't "steer" her with the reins much, just sorta leaned into the direction, and she went with it.
First time we got a load of cows, I saddled her up, and she was like a sheep dog. She was all a tremble, and wanted to herd them. Not sure those cows had ever seen a horse, but they got the idea quick. We had an old collie that we brought from CA, and she fell right in. I know that collie had never seen a cow, because she came from the LA area, and was Mom's pet. Mom yelled at me that "Rusty" was going to get hurt, but that old dog was in to helping herd those cows.
Marsh tackys are kinda small bodied, had long skinny legs and big feet.
They were prized by deer hunters in the Low Country. The chase riders would use them to follow the hounds when deer driving. The chasers would very often carry whips, that they would pop and crack. (I think they popped the whips as much to let the hunters on the stands know where they were, than to scare the deer.) Tackys are very sure footed in the woods and swamps. You had to pay attention, because they could change direction on a dime.
Part of our Southern Heritage that is going to be lost soon, if not already.