Hardee County is east of Bradenton and south of Lakeland-Winter Haven. The county is bordered by Polk, Manatee, De Soto, and Highlands counties. Hardee County was established in 1921 from a portion of De Soto county and named for Cary Augustus Hardee, who was governor the year the county was formed. Wauchula was the site of a military post built during the Seminole Wars.
The settlement of present-day Hardee County, Florida originated in April 1849 when on (now) Paynes Creek the Kennedy-Darling Indian-trading post was established. This enterprise ended tragically on July 17, 1849 when Indians killed two of the clerks, George Payne and Dempsey Whidden, wounded a third clerk, William McCullough, and his wife Nancy, and then burned the post.
Fort Chokonikla, meaning burnt house, was subsequently established on October 26, 1849, one-half mile north of the burned trading post. The threat of war abated, and the soldiers who garrisoned Fort Chokonikla soon found malaria and other illnesses their real enemy. In July 1850, the fort was abandoned. (Paynes Creek State Historic Site today recreates the era.)
In the fall of 1854 (now) Hardee County was opened for settlement, but immigration was slowed by the outbreak of Indian and Civil wars. During the Third Seminole War of 1855-58, Fort Green and Fort Hartsuff, the forerunner of Wauchula, were established and garrisoned by January 3, 1856.
During the Civil War, the Cracker farmers and cattlemen, few of whom had slaves, generally wanted no part of the war and, while initially providing its share of men to the Confederacy, in the latter part of the conflict showed an inordinate allegiance to the Union.
During Reconstruction, the region was for a time a Loyalist-Republican stronghold, but eventually became a Conservative Democratic bastion, whose politics reflected its agricultural base of cattle, citrus and vegetable farming.
The main settlements were Fort Green, Fort Hartsuff and Crewsville. In 1874 Eli English, a veteran of the Third Seminole War, Confederate soldier, and merchant, moved from Fort Meade to near Fort Hartsuff, which was renamed English after him.
The arrival of the Florida Southern Railway in 1886 resulted in a boom to Bowling Green (formerly Utica) and English, retitled Wauchula from the Mikasuki word meaning "call of the sandhill crane." Also in 1886, Zolfo Springs emerged, but its growth remained behind its sister towns.
Crewsville and Fort Green continued for a time as thriving villages, but then declined as did settlements in Lily, Limestone, and Ona. Wauchula became the major center of commerce. The citizens were, all-in-all, a hard working, and God-fearing people, with numerous churches, Baptists predominating.
On April 23, 1921, county division of old DeSoto County resulted in the creation of Hardee County. In December 1921, Wauchula was chosen as the county seat.
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