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About Brooksville

Brooksville is a city and the seat of Hernando County, Florida, in the United States. At the 2010 census it had a population of 7,719, up from 7,264 at the 2000 census. Brooksville is home to historic buildings and residences, including the homes of former Florida governor William Sherman Jennings and football player Jerome Brown. Brooksville, established in 1856 by the merger of the towns of Melendez and Pierceville, took its name to honor and show support for Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery congressman from South Carolina, who caned and seriously injured Charles Sumner, an abolitionist and United States senator from Massachusetts. == History == === 19th century === Fort DeSoto, established about 1840 to give protection to settlers from Native Americans, was located at the northeastern edge of present-day Brooksville on Croom Road about one-half mile east of U.S. Highway 41. The fort was also a trading post and a regular stop on the Concord stagecoach line which ran from Palatka to Tampa. The fort was built on top of a heavy bed of limestone, a fact which they were unaware of at the time. This made it exceedingly difficult to obtain water, thus causing the location to be abandoned.On September 12, 1842, Seminole Indians attacked the McDaniel party which was riding near the settlement known as "Chocochatti" or "Chocachatti", south of Brooksville, killing Mrs. Charlotte Crum (née Winn/Wynn; 1792–1842).Brooksville was settled in 1845 by four families: the Howell family which settled the northern part of town; the Mays family which settled the eastern part of town; the Hale family on the west; and the Parsons family on the south. In the early 1840s the population shifted about 3 miles (5 km) to the south, where a settlement formed by the Hope and Saxon families became known as Pierceville.