Quincy is a city in and the county seat of Gadsden County, Florida, United States.[5] Quincy is part of the Tallahassee metropolitan area. The population was 7,970 as of the 2020 census.
Established in 1828, Quincy is the county seat of Gadsden County, and was named for John Quincy Adams.[6] It is located 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Tallahassee, the state capital. Quincy's economy was based on agriculture, including farming tomatoes, tobacco, mushrooms, soybeans and other crops.
According to The Floridian newspaper, in 1840 there were two schools in Quincy, the Quincy Male Academy[7] and the Quincy Female Academy.[8] Joshua Knowles published the Quincy Sentinel in Quincy from November 1839 until it relocated to Tallahassee and became the Florida Sentinel in 1841.[9] The paper began publishing in Tallahassee in February or March 1841 as a successor to Quincy Sentinel.[10]
One of the most important anti-secession organizations in Florida leading up to the Civil War was the Constitutional Union Party. The party, while acknowledging the "wrongs" inflicted upon the south by the north, advocated for "pacific, rational, and judicial methods for righting these wrongs." The party held its state convention in Quincy on June 27, 1860.[11]
William Tennent Stockton, once mayor of Quincy, raised a cavalry company following secession called the Gadsden Dragoons. He was subsequently appointed as captain of the 1st Florida Cavalry Regiment.[12]
Florida was a major contributor of beef, salt, and other supplies to the Confederacy. To facilitate the supply chain, the state was divided into five commissary districts under the overall command of Major Pleasant W. White of Quincy.[13]