DeVan Family History and Genealogy

DeVan Family Veterans



Joshua R. Giddings





Joshua R. Giddings served in the War of 1812.





A portion of Joshua R. Giddings' speech to the House of Representatives
opposing Texas annexation.





During the Seminole War Congressional attention eventually turned to the slave aspects of the war, primarily because of a speech by Joshua Giddings. Giddings was anti-slavery, and also pro-Black Seminoles. In 1858 Giddings wrote the first history of the Black Seminoles titled "The Exiles of Florida," subtitled 'Or the Crimes Committed by Our Government Against Maroons, Who Fled From South Carolina and Other Slave States, Seeking Protection Under Spanish Laws.

Giddings wrote of the slaves who escaped to Florida: "They [the Seminoles] held their slaves in a state between that of servitude and freedom; the slave usually living with his own family and occupying his time as he pleased, paying his master annually a small stipend in corn and other vegetables. This class of slaves regarded servitude among the whites with the greatest degree of horror."





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