John William Pearson (January 19, 1808 – September 30, 1864) was an American businessman and a Confederate Captain during the American Civil War. Pearson was a successful businessman who established a popular health resort in Orange Springs near Ocala as well as a hotel, grist mill and a machine shop. Orange Springs was a popular destination for tourism in northern Marion County until the opening of Silver Springs and Ocala by steamboat after the American Civil War. Pearson is best known for forming the Oklawaha Rangers named after the Ocklawaha River in Orange Springs. The Oklawaha Rangers were used in the American Civil War for guerrilla tactics against the Federal troops throughout North Florida and Central Florida. Pearson became mortally wounded while leading Company B of the Ninth Florida Infantry Regiment across a cornfield at the Battle of Globe Tavern. He resigned his command as a result of his wounds and died in Augusta, Georgia while making his way home to Orange Springs, Florida. Early life Pearson was born in Union County, South Carolina on January 19, 1808, to Thomas Green Pearson and Ailsey Garrett Pearson. By age 4 Pearson moved to Bedford County TN (now Moore County) with his grandfather. His grandfather William Pearson was in the American Revolutionary War under Captain Tench Francis of the Philadelphia Troops Militia. William later moved to South Carolina and served under the command of Col. Thomas Brandon who also lived in Union County. William migrated to Tennessee after the war and settled in Bedford County, Tennessee. John William Pearson's middle name most likely comes from William Pearson. By 1828 Pearson's father died as a farmer and was then under the care of William and his mother Ailsey. Seminole Wars and Business in Florida Pearson was drawn to Florida because of the Seminole Wars in 1835. He was a volunteer of Hindley's Company in the Second Seminole War. After the war Pearson settled down in Marion County and married Sarah Martha Pearce on October 5, 1842. In Marion County he became business partners with David Levy Yulee. Pearson and Yulee jointly bought property at a springs called Orange Springs in 1848. Yulee may have considered establishing a railroad through Orange Springs but the coming of a civil war halted this idea causing him to sell out to Pearson. Orange Springs was then built up as a health resort by Pearson. By the 1850s