1866: Purman the Lecturer

Immediately after his arrival in Marianna, Purman began to lecture Jackson County's African American population. Almost weekly, he spoke to gatherings of freedmen "on business, in their rights, on the laws of the State, and their duties and conduct under them." There is no record of any order commanding Purman to conduct these talks; Hamilton, much more diffident, and an awkward orator, did not lecture. Nor it is clear how Purman, with a public school education, some reading of law, and no college, found his subjects or texts. He qualifications to speak with authority on any of his subjects were certainly questionable, Nevertheless, Purman quickly developed a reputation as a forceful speaker. Even more significantly, it soon became clear that Purman, unlike his friend Hamilton, had a natural ability for engaging with his African American audiences and cultivating their personal loyalty.

It can be speculated that Osborn had some role in shaping or promoting Purman's lecture program. Osborn was the moving force behind organization of the Lincoln Brotherhood, a Florida fraternal group for African Americans, similar to the more well known Union League. Although Hamilton and Purman never mention the Lincoln Brotherhood in their reports by name, it was almost certainly active in Jackson County. The objective of the Lincoln Brotherhood was to secure Florida freedmen as loyal Republicans. Presumably, Osborn operated the Brotherhood at the behest of the national Republican Party which foresaw the enactment of black suffrage at some later date, but Osborn likely also saw the Brotherhood as a vehicle for building a constituency to bolster his own political ambitions. The roots of the so-called "moderate" wing of Florida's Reconstruction era Republican Party, can be identified in the network of Bureau officers who participated in leading local Brotherhood cells under Osborn's guidance.

Purman's lecturing was no secret. During the mass July 4th barbecue hosted by the African American community, Jackson County whites has their first opportunity to hear one of Purman's speeches when he stood behind the speaker's stand to lecture the freedmen "at length, in their rights, their duties, and obligations" and to explain the laws of the state.