Sherman Conant (December 21, 1839 – November 21, 1890) was an American soldier and politician who served as the 9th Florida Attorney General during Reconstruction.{{Cite web|url=http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/4492d797dc0bd92f85256cb80055fb97/21d3e99c36cfb89385256cc60071795b!OpenDocument|title=Florida Attorney General - Florida Attorneys General (1845 - )|website=myfloridalegal.com|access-date=2019-04-21}}

Early life and military service

Conant was born on December 21, 1839, in Dublin, New Hampshire, from a batch of triplets. He is a member of the Conant family.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historygenealogy00cona|page=[https://archive.org/details/historygenealogy00cona/page/638 638]|quote=sherman conant massachusetts.|title=A History and Genealogy of the Conant Family in England and America, Thirteen Generations, 1520-1887: Containing Also Some Genealogical Notes on the Connet, Connett and Connit Families|last=Conant|first=Frederick Odell|date=1887|publisher=Private print. [Press of Harris & Williams]|language=en}} Conant moved to Littleton, Massachusetts, in 1845.{{Cite web|url=https://www.littletonhistoricalsociety.org/research/genealogy/conant-sherman/|title=Conant, Sherman {{!}} Littleton Historical Society|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-21}}

At the beginning of the American Civil War, Conant was a student in Natick, Massachusetts. On August 4, 1862, he enlisted as a corporal into Company I of the 39th Massachusetts, tasked with the defense of Washington, D.C.{{Cite web|url=http://civilwardata.com/active/hdsquery.dll?SoldierHistory?U&72630|title=American Civil War Research Database|website=civilwardata.com|access-date=2019-04-21}}

In August 1863, army recruiter George Luther Stearns organized and mustered the 3rd Colored Infantry in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Conant was promoted to the rank of captain and was placed in command of Company H.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers.htm|title=Soldier Details - The Civil War (U.S. National Park Service)|website=www.nps.gov|language=en|access-date=2019-04-21}} The 3rd Colored fought at the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, capturing the fort shortly after the famous assault by the 54th Massachusetts. In 1864, the regiment assisted in the capture of Jacksonville, Florida, and occupied much of coastal Florida.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1864/02/20/archives/the-war-in-florida-the-occupation-of-jacksonvillethe.html|title=THE WAR IN FLORIDA.; The Occupation of Jacksonville--The Landing--Preparations to March. The Advance--Skirmishing with the Enemy--A Cavalry Dash--Important Captures of Guns and Stores--Feeling of the People.|date=1864-02-20|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-21|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} After the end of the war, the 3rd Colored was assigned to assist the Department of Florida in reorganizing the state.

On September 13, 1865, Conant was promoted to the rank of major. The regiment was disbanded a month later, though Conant remained in Florida to aid in its reorganization.

Political career

After leaving the army, Conant, a Republican, settled in Jacksonville, becoming a prominent citizen popular with local African-Americans due to his command of the 3rd Colored during the war. Conant was selected to be the secretary of the state's Constitutional Convention in 1868 in Tallahassee, Florida, drafting the Reconstruction era so-called Constitution of Florida, derided as the "Carpetbagger" Constitution by opponents. While in Tallahassee, Conant served on the Leon County Voter Registration Board, and he is credited with helping enfranchise hundred of African-Americans in the area.{{Cite web|url=https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/189095?id=29|title=Constitution of 1868|last=Florida|first=State Library and Archives of|website=Florida Memory|language=en|access-date=2019-04-21}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/133424344/sherman-conant|title=MAJ Sherman Conant|last=|first=|date=|website=Find a Grave|access-date=April 21, 2019}}

The following month, Conant, who had been serving as a United States Commissioner for the Northern District of Florida, was appointed as the judge for the Leon County by Florida Governor Harrison Reed. He served until his resignation in 1869. In 1870, Conant was appointed as the 9th Florida Attorney General by Reed.{{Cite web|url=https://www.floridamemory.com/collections/governors/attorney-general.php|title=Florida Governors|last=Florida|first=State Library and Archives of|website=Florida Memory|language=en|access-date=2019-04-21}}

He would only serve as the state's attorney general until 1871, when President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Conant as the United States Marshal for the Northern District of Florida. Conant received national attention for his 1871 arrest of four members of the Ku Klux Klan accused of several lynchings during the Jackson County War. Conant was reappointed by Grant at the end of his first term in 1875, and served until the end of his second term in 1879.{{Cite journal|last=Peek|first=Ralph L.|date=1965|title=Curbing of Voter Intimidation in Florida, 1871|journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly|volume=43|issue=4|pages=333–348|issn=0015-4113|jstor=30140133}}

In 1881, Conant represented Duval County in the Florida House of Representatives. He would only serve for that year due to the death of his daughter.

Personal life and death

In 1867, Conant married Frances Dewey, a native of Boston, Massachusetts. They had two children: Anne Whitney (1867 – 1881) and John Sherman (1877 – 1890), with Conant outliving both of them.

Conant died at his home in Palatka, Florida, on November 21, 1890. Conant served as the general manager of the Florida Southern Railroad from January 1883 until his death.

Burial and legacy

Conant is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 1884, while he was serving as manager of the Florida Southern Railroad, the town of Conant, Florida, in Lake County was established by a group of wealthy Englishmen and named for Conant, a major financier of the railroad. The town grew into a vacation destination for the wealthy, until the Greet Freeze in 1894 and 1895 forced the town to be abandoned. Much of the land where the town was is now incorporated in Lady Lake, Florida.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/fl/conant.html|title=Conant - Ghost Town|website=www.ghosttowns.com|access-date=2019-04-21}}