Book excerpt: In the backwoods of Holmes County, settled deep in the rugged landscape of the Florida panhandle, has long been a people set apart from their neighbors. They have deep roots in the story of Florida and America, yet much of their tale is unknown, and until recently was hardly documented. Without evidence or knowledge of this community's actual origins, their neighbors fell back on their assumptions and prejudices to attribute an identity to things they knew little of, or only suspected. Most of this conjecture was erroneous. This work is in part their actual story, as documentary archival sources and the community's own memories tell it.