Pompano's first mayor, John R. Mizell, was one of several Civil War veterans living in the community when it incorporated in 1908.

Mizell was born on December 7, 1838, in Columbia County, Florida. Following Florida's secession from the Union, he enlisted in Company F, 7th Florida Infantry of the Confederate States Army.

Records vary in when and where he enlisted, in one case stating March, 1862, in Gainesville, Florida, and in another April, 1862, in Orlando, Florida.

The 7th Florida was attached to the Army of Tennessee and took part in 32 major engagements during the war, including the battles of Chickamauga, Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge.

By now a Captain, Mizell was captured on July 3, 1964, the final day of the Battle of Marietta, Georgia. He was imprisoned at Johnson's Island, Ohio (a Union prisoner of war camp for Confederate officers located on an island in Lake Erie), and paroled on May 21, 1865, after which he returned to Florida.