On September 29, 1877 the original Hernando County courthouse burned down. According to the Oct. 6, 1877 edition of the Sunland Tribune it was not an accident "From the rapidity with which the flames spread there is little doubt but that the incendiary made free use of kerosene oil. The floors had just been carpeted with a layer of sawdust in preparation of the expected term of court, and it is surmised that this offered a good medium next the walls and partitions for saturation with the inflammable fluid."
The burning of the courthouse highlighted a time of turmoil for the county. The probable reason for the 1877 arson of the courthouse and the following arson of the building storing the records in 1879 was to stop a grand jury investigation into the murders of Arthur St. Clair an African American Republican candidate for the Florida House of Representatives and Henry Lloyd a man who had come to his aid. Several notable public figures were murdered as they looked into these events including Sheriff David L. Hedick and County Judge William Center.
The years following the Civil War was a time of lawlessness throughout the south. During the civil war both sides used raiders who seized supplies needed for the war effort and destroyed what was left behind. Some of the raiders continued this activity after the war.
In the south, the Civil War left behind a destroyed infrastructure. One of the tactics that led to winning the war was to destroy train tracks, crops, and bridges, which left the south unable to supply their troops. After the war this lack of infrastructure left hobbled the south's ability to rebuild.
According to the 1860 census Florida's population was approximately 140,000 people. Of the 15,000 Floridians who fought in the Civil War a third never returned home; many more carried injuries, both mental and physical for the rest of their lives. The injured Confederate soldiers were not given disability benefits and had to take care of themselves and their family as best they could or starve trying.
There was a fight between moderate Republicans and Democrats and the Radical Republicans over whether they should punish the south or work to reintegrate them. The Radical Republicans wanted to see the south punished for their succession.
For several years after the Civil War the south was under military rule. Many soldiers were stationed throughout the south to maintain order. Under the Radical Republicans, Congress passed a number of Reconstruction Acts. These acts required that the southern states rewrite their constitutions. There were laws that prevented Confederate officers and officials from holding office and in some cases voting. For a while, many of the elected officials were former slaves and northerners. During Reconstruction fifty-two of the sixty individuals who served in the Congress from the south were ex-Union soldiers. Lands were seized and redistributed. Florida was readmitted to the Union in 1868.
This was the climate of lawlessness during the Civil War. Many in the south felt that the United States had treated them unfairly and they resented it. This contributed to a lack of faith in government and the law.
The bloody civil war had also changed many of the people. They had seen plenty of death and were no longer shocked by it. There were also lots of diseases that swept through the area, killing many people. This is the background that needs to be kept in mind when trying to understand the bloody 1860's and 1870's. 
Take for example a well known Brooksvillian Frank Saxon. He returned from the Civil War limping from a wound and married a widow Marena May, whose husband John had passed away from tuberculosis. Frank and Marena had a boy Frank who passed away as an infant. They then had another child, a daughter Jessie May. Marena passed away in childbirth and Jessie May only lived to three years old.
It's important to examine the actions of the people of this time period within the context of the hardships they were experiencing. Comforts that we have today did not exist. There was no mosquito spraying, air conditioning, or indoor plumbing. The illnesses of the day claimed many lives influenza, malaria, typhoid, dysentery, cholera, and tuberculosis among others.