Podcasts about second seminole war

We discuss the end of the Second Seminole War and the decision to allow the Seminole that were in Big Cypress and the Everglades to remain in Florida.

We're joined by noted local historian Josh Liller to discuss what happened right after the Battle of Lake Okeechobee. Two battles effectively won by the remaining Seminole in Florida in January 1838 helped define the draw that was the Second Seminole War.

In Episode 262 we discuss the Second Seminole War producing a unique class of officers that served both the United States and Confederate States of America in the Civil War.

The Second Seminole War wasn't simply about removing the natives. It was about a lot more.

We introduce our new season on the Second Seminole War

On this week's episode we delve into some origin stories of some major Florida landmarks and also cover a couple of odd tidbits that are part off our state's intriguing history. From the Seminole story of how Lake Okeechobee came to exist to how the U.S. Army resorted to using Cuban bloodhounds in the Second Seminole War, you're in for an entertaining trip into Florida's past.

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 1167, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: It'S The End Fer You!. With Fer in quotes 1: A pine, fir or spruce. a conifer. 2: Troy Aikman did this from Oklahoma to UCLA--good move. transfer. 3: A box or chest for valuables; fill it now!. coffer. 4: To steal, purloin or filch. pilfer. 5: A geological formation conducting ground water. aquifer. Round 2. Category: Their Last No. 1 Hit 1: "Sledgehammer". Peter Gabriel. 2: "Cathy's Clown". The Everly Brothers. 3: "I'm Henry VIII, I Am". Herman's Hermits. 4: "I'll Be There". The Jackson 5. 5: 1987:"La Bamba". Los Lobos. Round 3. Category: Kansas City: News Clues 1: (Hi, I'm John Holt.) It was an exciting but sobering event in 2006 when Kansas City opened the USA's official museum of this event, with features for visitors to ponder like a field of 9,000 silk poppies. World War I. 2: (Hi, I'm Pat McGonigle.) Hollywood came to Kansas City to film a biopic starring Gary Sinise as this man; locations included Lee's Summit and of course, Independence. Truman. 3: (Hi, I'm Nick Vasos.) In 1997, the 100th anniversary of her birth, her hometown of Atchison, Kansas unveiled a 42,000-square foot earth work portrait of this globe-trotting heroine. Amelia Earhart. 4: (Hi, I'm Karli Ritter.) A highlight of the holiday season each year is the lighting of the mayor's 100-foot Christmas tree at Crown Center, opened in 1971 by the same Kansas City businessman who founded this card company. Hallmark. 5: (Hi, I'm Christel Bell.) In 1997, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum opened its new permanent home under the leadership of Buck O'Neill, who had been a star for this Kansas City Negro Leagues team, as had greats like Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson. the Monarchs. Round 4. Category: Stadiums 1: This baseball team will soon leave Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium for a new home across the street. Braves. 2: Maryland crab cakes are a specialty of this team's ballpark at Camden Yards. Orioles. 3: When a member of this team homers at Shea Stadium, a big apple pops out of a hat in center field. Mets. 4: Originally called the Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium, the Silverdome is home to this football team. (Detroit) Lions. 5: This Boston Park is Major League Baseball's only single-deck stadium. Fenway. Round 5. Category: Presidential Soldiers 1: Revolutionary War,Creek War,War of 1812,First Seminole War. Andrew Jackson. 2: WWI,WWII. Eisenhower. 3: The Spanish-American War. Teddy Roosevelt. 4: The Mexican War,The Civil War. Grant. 5: War of 1812,Second Seminole War,Black Hawk War,Mexican War. (Zachary) Taylor. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/ AI Voices used

Follow Betty Osceola, and learn more about what's going on with the Everglades right here Learn more about the Seminole Tribe of Florida here, and the Miccosukee Tribe right here Visit the Seminole museum, Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum In 1836, the first full year of the Second Seminole War, the American troops were constantly on the losing end. Using nature and speed to their advantage, the Seminoles raised hell at any opportunity. At Wahoo Swamp, things began to change. Listen to our episode about the origins of the Seminole Tribe Read more about the Battle of Wahoo Swamp here   All of the music was originally composed.

We discuss Fort King in Marion County and its role in the Second Seminole War.

After the Second Seminole War, a man came to Florida to found a town that he would name after himself. His legacy would be one of violence, but his name lasts as the predecessor to Orlando. Plus, a mystery and a surprising connection. Pick up your copy of FLORIDA! right here!   Thank you to Rachel Williams from the History Center! Plan your trip to the Orange County Regional Historic Center here.   All of the music was originally composed. 

Josh Liller joins us once again this week, this time to discuss the 1838 Battles of the Loxahatchee River, the last traditional set piece battles of the Second Seminole War.

Fort Christmas was built in present-day Christmas, Florida during the Second Seminole War. Construction began on December 25, 1837, with the arrival of 2,000 U.S. Army soldiers and Alabama volunteers.2,000 U.S. Army Soldiers and Alabama militiamen, 1000 horses, and 70 wagons led by Brigadier General Abraham Eustis arrived at the location of Ft. Christmas on 25 December 1837. The Fort was built in just over week and would become one of 200 such installations built between 1835 and 1847 as part of the Second Seminole War.[1][2] A fixed garrison of two companies would be maintained at the location until the fort was abandoned in 1845 with the conclusion of the Second Seminole War.[3]A full-scale replica of Fort Christmas was built by Orange County Parks and Recreation, in cooperation with the Fort Christmas Historical Society in the late 1970s; it was dedicated in 1977. Located just south of Christmas Creek, the site is probably less than 1 mile (1.6 km) from the location of the original fort.Beers Coppertail Brewing in Tampa, FLhttps://coppertailbrewing.com/main-page/Mother of the triple Belgian Unholy here are two of there seasonal beers A mysterious logo to the breweryThe story starts with a 5 year old girl (our owner's daughter) telling tales of an enormous creature that she coined “Coppertail.” It's found in the waters around Tampa Bay causing mischief and mayhem for people and sea life alike .The mysterious beast continues to lurk the Tampa waters only revealing its tail for those who are lucky enough to witness.Peaches. 5% ABV 3.7STYLE GUIDE: SOUR - FRUITED BERLINER WEISSE ›Refreshingly Tart Wheat Ale Brewed with white peaches, yellow peaches, and apricots.Tart, Peachy, Sour, Dry, WheatHop Skull #22.  8% ABV 3.7Coppertail Brewing Company.  New England / Hazy IPAHazy, Hoppy, Crisp, HeadyAllagash Brewing CompanyPortland, MECurieux 4.0Belgian Tripel | 11% ABVTasting NotesEvery sip of this rich, Golden Belgian flows with rich honey, vanilla, and surprising passionfruit notes! Undertones of oak and spiced whiskey add a memorable finish.Rich, Fruity, OakyJ.Wakefield Brewing: Miami, FLhttps://jwakefieldbrewing.comCampFire. 14% ABV 3.7Imperial StoutCampfire is a collaboration with @lifexllab and @mostracoffeeWe aimed to replicate Mostras Campfire Latte, and that we did. We aged this big imperial stout in bourbon and bourbon coffee barrels for 14 months. Then we took it out and rested it on cocoa nibs, marshmallows, Graham crackers, vanilla, and mostra coffee

Join CJ as he discusses the life & death of the Seminole leader Osceola, who was a key resistance leader in the early stages of the Second Seminole War (1835-42), the longest & costliest Indian war in US history, in which the US government was using force to ethnically cleanse the Seminole people out of Florida. Links Support the Dangerous History Podcast via Patreon or SubscribeStar! Kick in to CJ's still-ongoing Indiegogo campaign! Subscribe to the Dangerous History Podcast Youtube Channel! Get CJ's Dangerous American History Bibliography FREE! Hire CJ to speak to your group or at your event! Additional ways to support the show. CJ's DHP Amazon Wish List Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twenty volunteers entered the shuttered Fort Foster at Hillsboro River State Park May 6. They ripped out rotten planks from a boardwalk encompassing the inside of the palisade walls confines. This brings the replica post one step closer to re-opening when state officials re-certify it is safe to the public to do so. In this episode, Louie Bears Heart, a living historian portraying a Seminole of the period, witnessed the operation and joins with his observations and assessment. But first, some background on the fort. Fort Foster Historic Site is part of the Hillsborough River State Park (HRSP), located 9 miles south of Zephyrhills, Florida, on U.S. 301 across from the park. The fort is a reproduction of a fort originally built on the same grounds in 1836 by Col. William S. Foster and his 430 men. It is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Fort Foster was utilized during the Second Seminole War to defend the bridge crossing at the Hillsborough River and served as a resupply point for the soldiers in the field. The fort was garrisoned on and off from December 1836 through April 1838 In recent years, park staff and re-enactors provided living history demonstrations of life at Fort Foster. Each year the site has presented living history events: Fort Foster Rendezvous in January and the Candlelight Dinner experience at Fort Foster during the winter months. The park staff has also conducted weekly tours of the park, allowing visitors the opportunity of touring the fort and grounds. The HRSP Preservation Society set up a site for citizen donations to cover restructuring costs. https://www.gofundme.com/f/restoration-of-fort-foster Hillsborough River State Park Preservation Society Inc. is a volunteer citizen support organization founded in 1993 to support the needs of Hillsborough River State Park and Fort Foster Historic Site. For more information on them and to contact, go to http://www.historyandnature.org/  and contact@historyandnature.org Hillsborough River State Park's Fort Foster Rendezvous is a living history reenactment featuring military, Seminole, and civilian re-enactors, sutlers, traders, and craft demonstrations of the time during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842) in Florida.           Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher and "like" us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube! 

In the middle of August each year at St. Francis Barracks in St. Augustine, two elegant mules pull a caisson symbolically carrying the remains of the soldiers who had died in the Second Seminole War. The procession they lead commemorates the first re-interment of soldiers in Aug. 15, 1842. The commanding officer in charge of military operations in Florida, U.S. Army Col. William Worth, declared an end to hostilities and called for the remains of the fallen to be gathered together and transported to St. Augustine. He detailed that the caissons be pulled by Elegant Mules. Emmitt and Tater are the two mules with whom Thomas F. and Denise Fitzgerald provide to offer “solemn pride” for fallen military veterans today. In this episode, Tom Fitzgerald joins us to discuss what he and his wife do for deceased veterans as well as everything you might want to know about caring for two elegant mules who lead funeral processions.   Denise and Tom Fitzgerald take great care to ensure their presentation honors the fallen to the utmost. Courtesy photos from Andrew Foster and Tom Fitzgerald.            Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars Authority through your favorite podcast catcher and "like" us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!   

In 1812, during the East Florida Patriot War incursion against Spanish territorial rule, 15-year-old Louisa Fatio barely escaped when Seminole attacked and partially burned her family's beautiful New Switzerland plantation on the St. Johns River. Louisa was the granddaughter of Francis Philip Fatio, co-founder and later sole owner of the 10,000-acre New Switzerland plantation, west of St. Augustine. Frantically searching for safety throughout the wilderness of Florida, her family first endured the bloody Patriots' War only to see their new house destroyed by a hurricane. Next, they sought haven in Fernandina until invading pirates burned that property to the ground. Fleeing once more, the Fatios returned and rebuilt New Switzerland Plantation between 1822 and 1824, where Louisa becomes its charming hostess. The New Switzerland plantation was torched a second time by Seminole during the Second Seminole War, which began in 1835. The next year, 1836, Louisa Fatio moved to St. Augustine, where she remained for the rest of her life. The city was filled with military personnel and refugees from the war, and she found work managing boarding houses with her sister Eliza. There, she used her keen business sense and hospitality to create a career as an innkeeper - one of the few respectable occupations available to a woman of her standing in her day.  Under her management, the house on Aviles Street became known as Miss Fatio's. Soon Miss Fatio's lovely and famous boarding house began to offer the best lodging and the finest table in tropical Florida. The establishment was a fixture in St. Augustine until her death in 1875. Louisa Fatio is the subject of a one-woman performance by Florida thespian, Dianne Thompson Jacoby.  In this episode, Dianne slips into her impression of Louisa to tell the story of East Florida in the St. Augustine vicinity during the Seminole Wars period. Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars Authority through your favorite podcast catcher and "like" us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!       Louisa Fatio (in first floor window) with guests at her St. Augustine boarding house. Below, an artist rendering of a younger Louisa.          She managed New Switzerland Plantation, where she was born, after her father died.    St. Augustine thespian Dianne Thompson Jacoby portrays Louisa Fatio in one-woman performances around Florida. Photo screen capture courtesy St. Augustine Record.     Dianne Thompson Jacoby also portrays a Cracker lady, Martha Jane, at various venues. Martha Jane makes an uncredited visit in this episode.    One can learn more about Diane and the characters she portrays by visiting her webpage at www.mrsflagler.weebly.com or by her Facebook page: Diane Thompson Jacoby.    She performs with Double Trouble Theatre Company. 

A soldier of the Second Seminole War would have led an austere life at remote Army outposts in Florida. Among the few pleasures in his life might have been playing with a deck or cards or dice and getting square meals. What might have had the greatest impact on his morale, however, was the ability to receive and send mail to loved ones back home. If he was stationed at Fort King, near present day Ocala, he might have sent his personal mail through the nearby Seminole Agency post office. How did it travel from there? Turns out, there was an intricate operation behind the postage for a soldier's letter. In this episode, we'll find out just how they did it. Thomas Lera, a director of the Florida Postal Society, researches postal history from throughout the state of Florida. Postal history collects the envelopes, the history of the envelopes used, and the stamps and markings placed on them. Tom is co-editor of the book, Florida Postal History, 1763-1861. In researching that book, he discovered the Seminole Agency. Given its prominence in the era of Seminole removal, Tom decided to explore it it in more depth.   The Seminole Agency was based in Alachua County near Fort King, on the main military and post road connecting Micanopy and Tampa Bay. In August 1835, U.S. Army Private Kinsley Dalton, mail courier between Fort Brooke and Fort King, fell victim to a Seminole retaliatory attack. The Army continued to send mail, however, either on the Fort King road or via other trails or the sea around the Florida Peninsula.        The Agency's House was positioned on the northern edge of the reservation. The house included a scaled floor plan and frontal view. The building was spacious at over sixty feet square. It included four large meeting rooms, wide hallways, and large porches.                           All Charts courtesy Tom Lera Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars Authority through your favorite podcast catcher and "like" us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube! 

Listeners to this podcast already know that Fort Pierce is a reservation for the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Previously, guest Rollie Gilliam told us about its origins as a home for Black Seminole. In this episode, living historian Jim O'Dell joins us to describe the military origins of Fort Pierce, his hometown. A U.S. Navy veteran, Jim stepped into the part of playing U.S. Army Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Pierce to present public impressions of the fort's namesake and first commander during the Second Seminole War. What role did Fort Pierce play in the war? Who were its later famous commanders? And what became of the troops' payroll in gold that was lost when the schooner carrying the paymaster sank near the fort's inlet. We'll find out.       U.S. Navy veteran Jim O'Dell portrays Brevet Lt. Col. Benjamin Pierce at living history events. He stands here with his six-pound cannon, King David.        Jim O'Dell, Dowling Watford, and Jim Flaherty portray soldiers from Second Seminole War. Courtesy photo by Allen. Below, Jim O'Dell and his friend from Okeechobee, Dowling Watford, moving out to battle.          Jim O'Dell related the story of this shipwreck in his discussion. Below, the plot for Fort Pierce still exists. The fort itself is in St Lucie's County, Fla.              Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars Authority through your favorite podcast catcher and "like" us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube! 

The annual Fort Cooper Days battle commemoration returns March 18 and 19 at Fort Cooper State Park in Inverness. This battle featured militia and volunteers fighting off a Seminole attack in the second of those wars. A militia captain, rising from the ranks of private to sergeant and then officer, is Howard “Butch” Nipper Junior. He is a proud third generation Florida Cracker and he portrays a Florida Cracker who picks up his musket and answers the call of duty to muster. Butch tell us all about a militiaman's life in the Second Seminole War and how modern living historians present impressions to educate, inform, and entertain the public.   Butch Nipper command a small squad during a demonstration at the Florida Pioneer Museum in Dade City, Fla. He then joins with Matt Milnes, who portrays a regular Army officer, in calling for the men to fire a salute.        Butch Nipper's parade dress is based on the Uniform of the Macon Volunteers, which served with Major Cooper's 1st Battalion of Georgia Foot in Florida in 1836. Daguerreotype circa 1845. Below, illustration of a militia officer commanding the unruly militia at a muster.      Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher and "like" us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube! 

November 17, 2022, Sarah Reith — The Fort Bragg City Council voted this week to carry out six recommendations by a citizens commission that was convened in 2020 to find out if changing the city's name was supported by its residents. Fort Bragg was named for Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general who never set foot in the town but was highly respected by a soldier who served with him in the U.S. Mexican war. Bragg also took part in the Second Seminole War against the indigenous people in what is now the state of Florida. In the summer of 2020, as the country entered a racial reckoning in the wake of George Floyd's murder, the Fort Bragg City Council considered a ballot measure asking residents if they wanted to change the city's name. The question led to an in-person City Council meeting in the midst of the pandemic, where members of the public spoke for hours on a wide variety of opinions regarding the history of the city and the nation, and which aspects of it deserve what kind of emphasis. The council convened a citizens' commission to research the question and “the deeper systemic issue of racism.” The commission met for more than sixty hours over the course of a year and a half. Earlier this year, it came back to the City Council with six recommendations, not including a name change. The most complicated of those was to craft a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, between the Council, the school district, and local tribes, to present “a more complete and inclusive history of the local area,” according to a staff memo attached to this week's agenda. City Manager Peggy Ducey said she expected the negotiations around crafting the MOU would form the “backbone” of the city's approach to the rest of the recommendations. “I couldn't go into those meetings and sit and tell the tribal groups what's important to them and what's not important,” she told the Council. “But as we look into this MOU, we're needing something that's meaningful, not something that simply has words of, we're going to get along and play together nicely.” An ad hoc committee including two City Council members will get to work on the MOU in January. The makeup of the City Council is expected to change significantly in the new year.* Two more recommendations were creating a cultural center and appointing a local history working group to educate the community and its visitors about the role of indigenous people in the area. Mary Rose Kaczorowski, a candidate for City Council, spoke about her hopes for the cultural center. “I hope that the city recognizes that this should not just be us Europeans who have ideas, but the Native tribes be telling their own story without our interference, '' she said. “Because some of the archives that I have seen by cultural institutions are not accurate, and also have racist tones.” Council member Marcia Rafanan asked Cristal Muñoz, a city administrative analyst, to specify which tribes would be involved in making decisions, and alluded to the complexity of the task ahead. “It says tribes. Local tribes,” she noted. “Can you define that a little more, please?” Muñoz replied that the Sherwood Band of Pomo Indians have been involved with negotiations around the Blue Economy, “so I think that's where we would start, and then invite any other tribes that would be interested, in.” “Okay,” Rafanan said. “And that could get messy, too.” She noted that one inland tribe has gatherings on a local coastal property. “Thank you, Cristal,” she concluded. Muñoz expects some of the recommendations will tie in with one another. She outlined a scenario where the educational initiatives, including an outdoor public event, could lead to funding opportunities as state priorities begin to lean more favorably toward Native Americans, particularly AB 1703, the California Indian Education Act, which encourages local Indian Education Task Forces. “So the parallel plan, number two, will be the creation of a local working history group,” she explained. “The working history group will coordinate with the historical society to develop these activities, to create a meeting space, and to seek grant funding for historical plaques, trails, and other informational materials. The second part of that would be to organize the North Coast Day. This could be done with the Visit Fort Bragg to develop an inclusive and diverse community event on the coastal trail. This would be a kickoff for the fundraiser for a potential cultural center, and then also to seek grants to fund the cultural center.” A recommendation to create a policy that would prioritize returning lands to local coastal tribes does not seem to be fully fleshed out yet, according to Vice-Mayor Jessica Morsell Haye, who chaired the citizens commission. “It would basically be a policy that would cause city staff, whatever the project is, to stop and look and see if there is an opportunity to shift some of the property or give some land back to local tribes, '' she said. “In the conversations, we didn't discuss funding for direct acquisition to then pass over. It was more about adding it to the thinking so that it would just be intrinsic within city logic, looking for those opportunities. But I was the chair, not one of the decision makers. But that was my take.” Council member Tess Albin Smith alluded to the commission's year and a half of meetings as she voiced her concern. “I am still troubled by the lack of milestones,” she said. “I'm the kind of person, if you have an MOU, you have certain milestones you hope to have done. Otherwise the thing just flounders, you know, it's just a group getting together to talk about stuff.” The Council voted unanimously to get started on the recommendations, put out a notice that it is forming a historical committee, in addition to the ad hoc committee, and make the first order of the new mayor to appoint the committees in the new year. *This article has been edited to correct a misstatement about the number of incumbents running for re-election to the Fort Bragg City Council. Three incumbents, not two, ran in a race consisting of eleven candidates, not ten. According to the November 18 tally, incumbent Lindy Peters is in the lead, with 77.73% of the vote, followed by newcomers Jason Godeke, with 25.63%, and Alberto Aldaco, with 22.27%. Incumbent Marcia Rafanan received 16.39% of the vote, and incumbent Tess Albin-Smith garnered 11.03%. The final results will be available after the election is certified, within 30 days of the November 8 election.

SW0133 Soldiers Adapted and Innovated Amidst A Climate of Hostility in Florida In the Second Seminole War, probably every soldier complained about the hostile Florida climate. But, only a few ever did anything about it. In this episode, Professor Jacob Hagstrom of The Citadel joins us to discuss the climate of operations for soldiers in that war. Jacob examines and assesses disputed overall casualties; whether the climate was uniquely inhospitable; whether it was indeed so hostile that the Army could not successfully remove the Seminole from Florida; and how soldiers -- and Seminole -- adapted and innovated within its confines. To increase soldier mobility or to slow down Seminole escape, Gabriel Rains fashioned land mines. John Lane fashioned rubber pontoon bridges so soldiers could more easily cross streams and rivers. And Hezekiah Thistle crafted a saddle that could aid evacuation of casualties who would ride “comfortably” in the prone position. This culture of innovation became so well known that it reached the consciousness of one Edgar Allen Poe, late of the US Military Academy at West Point, who penned a satirical account, The Man That Was Used Up, about service in Florida at the time.   The Seminoles, for their part, innovated as well, switching from labor-intensive log cabins to easily constructed chickees. And they modified their diets to adapt to available produce in the Everglades. They also used the environment to take cover and to conceal themselves from advancing soldiers.  Take a listen to learn how this all panned out.   Seminole adapted to their new south Florida Everglades climate.      Hezekiah Thistle improvised a litter that could be attached to a horse's back for medical evacuation of casualties.     John Lane's rubber bridge pontoons increased the Army's mobility and saw later use in the US-Mexican War and the U.S. Civil War (above). (Below) Edgar Allen Poe wrote a satire on the Army's war innovation. Jacob Hagstrom summed it all up in Florida Historical Quarterly.        Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher and "like" us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

SW0129 Martial Matters 6: Army Pursuit of Decisive Battle Proves Futile In the Second Seminole War, Army commanders had an expectation that if they could just fix the Seminole in battle, they could settle the conflict right then and there. The Seminole, however, had other ideas and greatly frustrated Army leaders in this endeavor. Considering this, what was it in the U.S. Army's past that gave these leaders the idea that they had the capability for waging and winning one decisive battle to end a war.   Jesse Marshall returns to provide the context and history.  Withlacoochee Abyss by Jackson Walker   Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher and "like" us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

  Militiamen brought whatever arms they had to muster for use against the Seminole. This image is a  re-enactment at Fort Cooper State Park in Inverness, Fla. Photo by Andrew Foster   In this episode, our Martial Matters guest, Jesse Marshall, gives us the ins and outs on the right to keep and bear in territorial Florida during the Second Seminole War and how that included militia service. Specifically, we will examine how US citizens used that right for their own protection and for service in the militia when called upon.   Living Historian Jesse Marshall "inspects" a militia formation at Dade Battlefield Historic State Park in Bushnell, Fla. Various weapons a militia soldier might take to a muster include rifles, muskets and even swords.    Quality and motivation among militiamen varied.  Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher and "like" us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!  

At the height for the push to relocate thousands of indigenous Americans, a conflict erupted between the Seminole of central Florida and the United States. Known as the Second Seminole War, this conflict took place between 1835 and 1842. So what was the Second Seminole War? Tune in to find out. For show notes, transcripts and ways to support the show, head over to the website at www.civicsandcoffee.comSupport the show

The 1500+ book collection comprises the cornerstone of research materials at the Frank Laumer Center for the Study of the Seminole Wars. Other items include hundreds of paper files that supported Frank Laumer's accounts of the Dade Battles, microfilm, tens of thousands of print and digital images, thousands of digital records, and assorted comic books and movie posters that put Seminole front and center.    At the time of his death in late 2019, Frank Laumer had amassed a library of roughly 350 Seminole Wars-related books. In addition, his compendium contained another 450 books on American presidents and American history related in some way to these wars. This included donations from the late Dr. John Mahon, author of The History of the Second Seminole War. These legacy books are the cornerstone for the Seminole Wars Foundation's Frank Laumer Center for the Study of the Seminole Wars. Since Frank Laumer's passing, and through aggressive, savvy canvassing, the Foundation has doubled its collection, to nearly 1,600 with some ties or references to the Seminole Wars. Some of the books are in-house purchases, but the vast majority are donations from members and friends of the Foundation, which provides a professional permanent home for the titles.  Today, the Frank Laumer Center features scores of non-fiction, biographical and historical books on the Seminole – including dozens more with Osceola as a central character. It also carries shelves of titles on the Seminole Wars, Black Seminoles, the U.S. Army of the time, crackers, pioneers, militia, and even Florida's environment. This library also carries many adventure novels -- featuring boys or girls avoiding, encountering, or working with Seminoles – as well as adult stories with a war setting that includes mystery and passion as key components. There are even several manuscripts of poetry with a Seminole Wars theme.     The Seminole Wars Foundation media collection includes a separate antiquarian book section with fragile or old volumes published during the Seminole Wars about those unfortunate conflicts. Open on display in this image (left) is a first edition of John T. Sprague's The Florida Wars. (Right) The war, although obscure, nevertheless resonates in American popular culture. This wall at the Foundation homestead sports posters and programs from a number of 1950s Hollywood productions that showcase Seminoles. On the half-book shelf below it are comic books that use Seminole in their story narratives.   In an interview with the Florida Historical Society, Frank Laumer himself said he wanted his collection of research files AND his books to be available for scholars to peruse. This is all well and good. The challenge, however, became cataloguing, labeling, and sorting the collection into a recognizable and standardized order so titles can be found and reviewed easily on the shelves. That is where three generations of librarians come in. Eileen Goodson and her adult daughter Erin Lewis have experience in Sumter County as librarians, media specialists, and school teachers. Erin's daughter Jayley, a high school student, mature and insightful beyond her years, brought online savvy and tenacity to the endeavor. Each brought special skills to this project and together they've created and refined a most valuable search tool for accessing this collection just as Frank Laumer desired. In this episode, Eileen, Erin, and Jayley describe their organizing process and reveal, because of the breadth and depth of this library -- what they learned about the Seminole Wars. They explain how they used LibraryThing.com, a social cataloging web application. It permits the Foundation to store and share its extensive book catalog for public inspection and review before they make an appointment to visit the Center in Bushnell to see the physical books themselves.     Jayley Lewis and Eileen Goodson crosscheck spreadsheet entries. Eileen said the library presents ample space to spread out. At Eileen's feet is the enormous Foundation floor logo that caught her eye (and in a good way).  (Right) Eileen Goodson and Erin Lewis discuss how best to line up spreadsheet catalogue numbers with the computer-printed multi-label sheet.  (Below left) Researchers can stretch out (or relax) on this work bench directly below a Jackson Walker painting, The Battle of Camp Izard. To its right is a display Halls rifle 1817, mentioned frequently in newspaper- and book-published accounts of the Florida War as they called it at the time. (Below right) By popular demand, the Foundation floor logo amidst the library shelves.       Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!  

State of the gravesite of Ransom Clark and (left) his father, Benjamin Clark in 1977 before the exhumation.    The trope that dead men tell no tales is demonstrably false -- at least, when applied to a document archive. Letters, diaries, and hand-written notes tell many tales.  This summer, two graduate students from the University of Central Florida learned this first hand when they paid a visit to the Frank Laumer Center for Seminole Wars Studies, at the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  The Public History interns learned one big tale here -- and a series of smaller ones -- from a long-dead soldier from the Second Seminole War and his more recently deceased muse. The soldier was Private Ransom Clark, one of only three soldier survivors of the Dade Battle of December 28, 1835. His muse was Frank Laumer, a land developer with a sideline as Seminole Wars historian and a dedicated chronicler of Clark's life and military service.   In his dogged research to tell Clark's story, the late Frank Laumer followed the trail wherever it took him. That led him to a cemetery in upstate New York and permission from Clark's descendants to see if he could verify the wounds that Clark said he sustained in the battle. How did Frank Laumer go about this? Well, he is no longer with us but his copious correspondence tell his tale for what he was looking for and why. In this episode, Lisa LaPenna and Olivia Aldrich, the two UCF Public History grad students, join us to discuss the revelations they found in the Foundation's archives about the exhumation of Ransom Clark. They tell what they learned about the Seminole Wars via Clark's story, and how they went about examining this scholarly first-hand source.      Frank Laumer helped with the exhumation.          Forensic Pathologist Amir A. Djavaheri exhumed and examined Clark's remains.  Skull of Ransom Clark. (below) One of dozens of photographic slide images of the process.                The late Frank Laumer wrote a novel about Ransom Clark, Nobody's Hero (and an unpublished sequel, Somebody's Hero). He petitioned the Veterans Administration to install a new military-standard headstone for Ransom Clark's grave. He also purchased the legacy headstone from Clark's descendants and donated it for display at the Tampa Bay History Center to help tell the tale of a Seminole War Survivor. At his request, Laumer, who died on the same day as Clark, November 18, requested his ashes be scattered on Clark's grave. His request was granted one year to the day after his 2019 death.      Olivia Aldrich and Lisa Lapenna, two public historian grad students from University of Central Florida in Orlando set out to catalog the paper archives of the Seminole Wars Foundation collection, in Bushnell. The archives consist of the research files of the late Frank Laumer, who dedicated more than half of his life to raising awareness of the Seminole Wars. They briefed their UCF Public History assessment panel via Zoom call in this screen capture.        Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!      

This podcast episode features the story of the Fort Dallas era of Miami. While there were several fortifications during the conflicts with the Seminole tribe during the mid-1800s, the area took on the name Fort Dallas for years following the army's abandonment of the fort that once resided in today's downtown Miami. Fort Dallas was originally built on Richard Fitzpatrick's homesite during the Second Seminole War, and then later was refortified on the same property, then owned by Fitzpatrick's nephew William English, during the Third Seminole War. Once the Seminole Wars had concluded, the remaining buildings were occupied by the Biscayne Bay Company who later sold most of the property to Julia Tuttle in 1891. The barracks, or “slave plantation quarters”, was once Dade County's seat, and also would serve as a courthouse prior to the incorporation of the City of Miami. Fort Dallas provided the base of what would become the business district of the Magic City during its early years. Website: www.miami-history.com

Shortly after the start of the Second Seminole War, a raiding party launched an attack on the Cape Florida lighthouse on Key Biscayne. In this episode, we delve into the background events leading up to the Second Seminole War and the raid on Cape Florida itself.

Marines in the Second Seminole War served on land at and around Fort Foster in central Florida as well as in the Everglades where some dubbed them as swamp sailors.  Visitors on the Fourth of July, American independence day, call at the Tampa Bay History Center to learn more about our heritage. Built on the site of the old Fort Brooke military reservation, the center invites distinguished guests to present on a number of topics. Marine Living Historian Dave Ekardt is one of them. He has been a perennial at the center over the years, presenting talks and demonstrations about the Marines in the Second Seminole War. He also presents at various recreated forts and commemorative battle events.   Dave Ekardt in a summer and temperate U.S. Marine Corps uniform from 1830s.  He joins us today to share how in seven years of war, the Marines in Florida suffered nary a blemish to their reputation during their tour of duty. While an often futile assignment for the Army, Marines made the best of their presence and demonstrated without a doubt their great value to the nation's leaders when the nation needed them for pressing business. Dave shares stories and anecdotes about the Marines contributions to the Second Creek and Seminole Wars. The old man of the Marines, Commandant Archibald Henderson, proved a daring, brash, brave, and professional in running the Corps and in bringing them to Florida. Dave examines that deployment, as well as the Marines' uniforms and chow, and how his natural curiosity helped him to acquire invaluable records on Marines. These covered the Seminole War but they also provided slices of life about Marines who served later, such as in Nicaragua. Dave pulled information from a variety of resources to eventually pen a book on that Marine's service there. Dave Ekardt has published three non-fiction books relating to the the Marines in U.S. military history.  Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

Regular Army soldiers were seen as professional in all manners of appearance and countenance. In 1835, with the Federal Government tasked the U.S. Army to forcibly remove the Seminole from the Florida Territory, militia from Florida and volunteers from the several states, aided the regular Army in carrying out this controversial task. In this episode we will assess how the militia, volunteers, and regular Army performed.  Jesse Marshall returns to talk with us about the militia and the regular Army in the Second Seminole War. He explains what it took to field, equip, train, and employ them in combat action.  In contrast to the regular Army, popular representations of the militia as mustered were often less than flattering to the militia who were mustering. (above and below).  Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

  One hundred eight-five years ago, at Camp Monroe, the Seminole nearly scored a second rout of soldiers akin in decisiveness to the Dade Battle of late December 1835. Nearly. But the fierce battle on February 8, 1837, produced a more favorable outcome to the Army.  The Seminoles amassed a huge armed contingent to attack the U.S. encampment on Lake Monroe. It was a close-run battle. Had the troops obeyed their commander to replace their flints with wooden chips for training purposes the next day, had the troops NOT obeyed their commander to construct a breastworks the day before, had the men shown less discipline in their firing, had an Army lieutenant not manned a six-pound gun on a nearby Navy riverboat, the day might have belonged to the Seminole. Instead, the U.S. Army repulsed the Seminole for one of its rare clear-cut victories in the Second Seminole War. The Museum of Seminole County History is commemorating the 185th anniversary of the Battle of Camp Monroe. Bennett Lloyd, museum director described the commemoration for us in a previous podcast. In this podcast, he rejoins to narrate a chronology of the battle and how the Army fought off the Seminole advance.   (Above) The innovative Cochran Repeating Turret Gun kept Seminole at bay in this battle. But design flaws causing an accidental chain-firing from all chambers with one pull of the trigger led the Army to adopt the Colt revolving chamber gun over the repeating turret gun. (Below) Three books and pamphlets cover the battle and forts at Lake Monroe: Camp Monroe, Camp Mellon, Fort Mellon.    Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!  

Paul Westermeyer, Historian with Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia, returns for the second episode of our two-part program on the Marines in the Seminoles Wars. The Marines Corps suffered from a contentious relationship with President Andrew Jackson, who wanted the Corps absorbed into the U.S. Army. A timely suggestion from the Marine Corps Commandant, A. Henderson, led to Marines employment on land in the Second Creek and Seminole Wars. and "firmly" on Florida swamp in the Second Seminole War. The views Paul Westermeyer presents are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of any government organization.   Courtesy art (left) and Don Troiani art (right) The Marines wore a blue uniform but in Florida were more likely to don the white summer dress the Corps offered. This was a more bearable uniform for duty in the swamps and in the humid environment.    Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

We are neck deep now in the season for living history battle interpretations of the Seminole wars. In the last weekend of February, the Battle of Okeechobee takes center stage on the calendar. Fought on Christmas Day 1837 – that is, December 25th --  organizers for this event wisely chose to hold it annually on a later date. This clash of arms is arguably the biggest battle of the Second Seminole War. It made a hero of commander, Colonel, later general, Zachary Taylor. The Army, the government, and the American people, goaded by newspapers, viewed it as a great victory over the Seminoles. Others, however, viewed it as a wash since the Seminoles did successfully evacuate both their families and themselves before escaping into the Everglades to fight another day. We will examine this battle itself in a later episode. In THIS episode, however, we are joined by Dowling Watford, the mayor of the City of Okeechobee. He details what the battlefield park is offering visitors for this commemorative event. A life-long city resident and 5th generation Floridian, Dowling knows his town. A soldier-reenactor and member of both the Okeechobee Historical Society and Okeechobee Battlefield Friends, he knows his battlefield and park, and, for our purposes, his event.     Dowling Watford and Jim Flaherty, both Soldier living historians, stand stubborn and staunch. Courtesy Photo. (below) Dowling Watford, Mayor of Okeechobee and podcast guest, watches and, out of character, photographs a cannon firing at a living history demonstration. Courtesy Photo.      Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

https://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/ and https://seminolecountyhistoricalsociety.com/ for more information. Address is: 300 Eslinger Way Sanford, FL 32773   The Museum of Seminole County History is holding a living history encampment commemorating the 185th anniversary of the Battle of Camp Monroe – a rare U.S. Army victory in the Second Seminole War. Joining us to fill us in on the festivities is Bennett Lloyd. He is a long-time soldier re-enactor, having gotten his start with the Micanopy Regulars. More importantly, he is the museum director. As such he is running this living history programming. He'll describe all he has in store for visitors on the first weekend in February. Bennett will rejoin us for a second episode to explain the to and fro of the actual battle.   An entire room is dedicated to the Seminole Wars at the museum. Museum Director, Bennett Lloyd (Below) portrays a dragoon soldier of the era. Courtesy photos.        Visitors get interactive engagement with the living historians who describe life back in the 1830s in frontier Florida.        Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

J A letter-centric approach came in a 1966 publication; Randal Agostini employed a narrative memoir approach for this version.   John Bemrose came to America from England as an unaccompanied 16-year-old in 1831. He served in the US Army as a dedicated hospital steward during the Second Seminole War. Bemrose documented his five years in America in a series of sixty letters written to his eldest son, Weightman, between November 1863 and May 1866. Randal J. Agostini, the great-great-grandson of John Bemrose, has compiled and edited these fascinating letters into an engaging memoir. In a first-person narrative, John Bemrose provides unique descriptions of nineteenth century St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Micanopy, and other locations. He offers personal observations of Florida's diverse populations, and key figures of the Seminole War. Bemrose recounts dramatic battles, difficult marches through the Florida wilderness, and the challenging life of a soldier. This exciting memoir published by the Florida Historical Society is available to the public in this form for the first time. It provides valuable new insights into Florida history and culture from An Englishman in the Seminole War. Randal Agostini will be at the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park Jan. 1 and 2 to sign copies of his book during the annual living history reenactment of the Dade Battle. Find him at the Seminole Wars Foundation table.    The original book taken from John Bemrose's letters and type set, copied, and bound for Bemrose descendants. Below, Randal Agostini shows off the original manuscript.      Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

This week we return to Fort King, located in Ocala, Florida. The fort was a focal point in the Second Seminole War, then it was abandoned and Seminole burned its remains. Then the U.S. Army rebuilt it and...abandoned it again. This time, settlers, not Seminole, picked the remnants apart. Then its location was forgotten and unknown until an excavation in the late 1990s by the Gulf Archaeological Research Institute, whose acting director, Sean Norman, podcasts frequently on such matters.  Ron Mosby, board member for the Fort King Heritage Foundation, joins us to tell us all about what Fort King today is like -- and what visitors will see when they come to visit as well as a good dose of the history behind the fort. This weekend, Dec. 4 and 5, the annual Festival at Fort King features a living history reenactment of the Seminole Osceola's assassination of the Indian Agent, Wiley Thompson, just outside the fort in late December 1835. There will also be a mock skirmish and many activities for families coming out.    Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!    

  Our listeners have heard much about Frank Laumer. Twice, he led a team to walk the 60-plus mile route of Dade's fatal march. He co-founded the Seminole Wars Foundation. He authored three books. With the immediacy and intensity of a novel, his Massacre! tells the story of Dade's battle. He followed this up with Dade's Last Command, a fact-based chronicle of the overall march, Finally, he penned a novel, Nobody's Hero, about Private Ransom Clark, one of only three soldier survivors of the battle. In the summer of 2019, Drs Scot French and Amy Giroux, from University of Central Florida, visited Frank Laumer at his Dade City home, Talisman. They sought to hear from Frank Laumer himself about his research practices and to hear his thoughts on some contentious aspects of the Dade Battle itself and the Second Seminole War in general. Since he began his research in the early 1960s, the late Frank Laumer's research, books and articles on the Dade battle and the Seminole War have informed and inspired many. One inspired group is the Veterans' Legacy Project or VLP at the University of Central Florida. Project Director Dr. Scot French said Frank's research and writings are at the heart of the VLP and are a great inspiration to the team. [We have invited Dr French to join us in a later episode of the Seminole Wars podcast to share more fully just what that important and noble project is all about and how the Seminole Wars provide ample material. We have also invited UCF's Dr. Amy Giroux to discuss her project for identifying every Second Seminole War soldier at eternal rest under the three memorial pyramids at St Augustine's National Cemetery.] Regular Florida Frontiers radio program contributor, Holly Baker, recorded the session and in October 2019 produced a 10-minute segment.  Florida Frontiers is the weekly radio program/podcast of the Florida Historical Society. Holly is the Society's Public History Coordinator as well as the archivist for the Society's Library of Florida History in Cocoa. She and the Society graciously shared their interview recording with us to give our listeners an extended opportunity to hear from Frank Laumer in his own words. The Seminole Wars Foundation extends our great gratitude for this opportunity. We have adapted that interview with minor edits for clarity and narrative flow. About a month after Holly's Florida Frontiers feature aired, Frank Laumer died, Nov. 18, 2019. Coincidentally – or not – that was the same day that Ransom Clark died, back in 1840. Clark was only in his twenties; Frank Laumer departed this world at the ripe age of 92. On Frank Laumer's next birthday, March 4, 2020, his daughter Suzanne ("Shorty") sprinkled his ashes on the grave of Ransom Clark in New York state, uniting the two men in perpetuity.  This week mark's the second anniversary since his death. In this episode, we present Frank Laumer in his own words. We encounter his folksy personality. We hear his strong opinions on certain matters related to the Seminole Wars. We learn firsthand what a persistent, tenacious attitude he had. He turned over many stones, so to speak, to uncover forgotten or neglected accounts about what he termed, “This Land, These Men.” Although this graduate of the school of hard knocks declaimed being anything akin to a scholar, Frank Laumer's body of work says differently. He himself would merely say he was a seeker of historical truth, wherever it might lead him. He quipped that while he was in the land development business, not the digging up bodies business, to discover the truth, digging up bodies sometimes became essential. One literal stone he overturned was – a headstone -- that belonging to Ransom Clark. Frank Laumer did so to determine if Clark had been truthful about his Dade battle injuries. A fascinating story followed where at least one dead man did tell tales. On the occasion of his 90th birthday, the Seminole Wars Foundation presented Frank Laumer with a seldom seen image featuring Guy LaBree's painting of U.S. Army Private Ransom Clark evading Seminole pursuers after the Dade Battle of 1835. In his interview, Frank Laumer issued an open invitation for scholars to inspect his research materials. He very much desired for future generations to continue this study – enabled from one central comprehensive repository of books, pamphlets, letters, diaries, memoirs, maps, in print or, where possible, in digital form. That dream will soon become a reality when the Seminole Wars Foundation completes its Frank Laumer Library of the Seminole Wars in Bushnell. It contains more than 500 books related to the Seminole Wars in some fashion, along with priceless survey maps, unpublished letters, and an extensive digital archive of articles, photographs, period newspapers, podcasts – ahem -- and videos. When complete, the Laumer Library will be fully and digitally catalogued for ease of research by visiting scholars to the Foundation's homestead. Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

Gabriel Rains was a Confederate general who ran their torpedo service during the Civil War. HIS torpedoes – we call them sea mines today – were what Union Admiral David Farragut was damning when he ordered his fleet full speed ahead in the 1864 Battle of Mobile. Today, some consider him an unsung father of coastal defense through World War II. His land mines ripped a horrendous cost on soldiers passing critical road points.      A mine-clearing ship, the USS Patapsco, assigned to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, joined eight other ironclads in a vigorous attack on Fort Sumter, and received 47 hits from Confederate gunfire during that day. In time, Fort Sumter was reduced to a pile of rubble, but remained a formidable opponent.  On 15 January 1865, while participating in obstruction clearance operations in Charleston Harbor, Patapsco struck a Confederate mine and sank, with 75 lost. Most of its sailors remain entombed in the underwater wreck. Five who died are buried outside Fort Moultrie, next to Seminole leader Osceola's grave.    An infantry officer by branch, the 1827 US Military Academy graduate had a sideline tinkering with explosives. He employed land mines around forts the Army was evacuating and scored a few hits on curious Seminoles attempting to enter a fort's walls. He sustained serious wounds in one skirmish between his troops and the Seminole. It was for these wounds that Rains requested compensation in the 1870s. And he DID finagle a pension of sorts out of the Federal government after the war. No, it was not for his service in coastal defense and sea-land mine technology and employment in the Civil War, but rather, for taking wounds in the Second Seminole War! Chris Kimball, who devoted a chapter to Rains in his Alachua Ambush collection, returns to discuss and describe Rains' impact as an officer in two armies. Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

Event note: The Dade Battlefield Historic State Park hosts Florida Heritage Day and a Dade Park Centennial Celebration all day on Nov. 13. The gathering includes Florida Music - Folk Crafts - Living History Demonstrations - Pioneer Games for Kids - Hands-on Activities for Kids and Adults and Food Vendors. September 2021 marks the one-hundred-year anniversary of the state's acquisition of the land we call the Dade Battlefield to create the historic state park in Bushnell. The State and park officials commemorate this anniversary in an all-day event in conjunction with Florida Heritage Day, on Saturday, November 13, 2021. This is a story of local Floridians with a sense of history and of honor who campaigned to formalize the battlefield forever more as hallowed ground. Without their efforts, especially the park's greatest advocate, Judge Bryan Koonce, today the land might be in private hands, long since developed and with no traces remaining of the seminal fight that began the Second Seminole War. The infamous "Kepi Cap" Civil War-Era private that park visitors dubbed "Major Dade".  The state's acquisition earned little news coverage; however, the formal dedication ceremony on America's birthday, July 4, 1922, noted a dignified gathering who openned the park for picnicking and play.  Steven Rinck, president of the Seminole Wars Foundation and a long-time president of the Dade Battlefield Society, joins us to tell this fascinating story of purpose, determination, and tenacity to create a haven where the dead can be honored and the living can enjoy its leisure time. Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!  

In late August 1813, the Creek Nation was engaged in a civil war between the so-called Red Stick Faction that wanted to return to traditional Creek ways and the White Sticks who favored integrating with European and American ways. White settlers soon found themselves haplessly involved. In feeling threatened by the Creek war, they sought protection. Territorial militia and volunteers arrived only to creating conflict rather than eased it. They attacked Creeks at their mid-day meal at a place called Burnt Corn Creek. On August 30, 1813, the Creeks gathered a war party and retaliated by attacking Fort Mims in lower Alabama, just north of Mobile --when the fort's dinner bell rang. When the dust had cleared, the Battle of Fort Mims seemed more like a massacre. This armed engagement, and the war between the United States and the Red Stick Faction, lead to a string of conflicts between Americans and the existing Indian populations in the Southeast, including Florida. The Fort Mims battle was one piece in a conflict that ran roughly from 1812 until 1858 when the Second Seminole War ended. Americans retaliated for Fort Mims and defeated the Red Sticks at the Battle of Horsehoe Bend in 1814. Red Stick Faction refugees migrated to Spanish Florida where they integrated with Miccosukee and Seminole tribes. One of those refugees was a youth called Billy Powell or, as our listeners know him, Osceola. He would carry memories conveyed to him by his Great Uncle Peter McQueen, one of the leaders of the Creeks at Fort Mims. How the Red Sticks fought would inform his own actions in the Second Seminole war.   The Battle of Fort Mims is re-enacted as spectacle Aug. 29 and 30 at Tensaw, Alabama, where a reconstructed Fort Mims stands. Southern writer, historian, and Creek Indian reenactor, Dale Cox joins us to narrate and explain the tale. Hailing from the quant little community of Two Egg, Florida, Dale has authored or co-authored more than one dozen books on Southern history and culture. Of interest to listeners is his more recent focus on the Creek and Seminole Wars in Florida, Georgia and Alabama. These include the first two volumes in a four-book series - Fort Gaines, Georgia: A Military History; and Fort Scott, Fort Hughes & Camp Recovery: Three 19th Century military sites in Southwest Georgia. He has done pioneering research on the Negro Fort at Prospect Bluff for which he published his findings and has authored a biography of Millie Francis, the Creek Pocahantas. He has also written about Fowltown, the first battle of the Seminole Wars. In other words, you know we will be hearing again from Dale Cox on this podcast.   With Rachael Conrad, he founded TwoEggTV which produces short entertaining historical documentaries about these early 19th century events in the lower American Southeast. Two Egg TV features scenic outdoor locations, historic sites, legends, live events and more. Although many of their stories end up on commercial television throughout the world, our listeners can find them on YouTube and from their website, TwoEggTV.com Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

From the port at Fort Brooke in Tampa, the Fort King Road stretched 100 miles north to Fort King itself, near present-day Ocala. That fort skirted edge of the Seminole Indians' Central Florida reservation. Why was it built there? What was its purpose? How important was Fort King's role to the Second Seminole War? What survives of the fort today?  Sean Norman, acting director of GARI, Gulf Archaeological Research Institute, returns to answer these questions and to examine the quality of the reconstructed Fort King, what will be done with the blacksmith shop, how the community has partnered well with Fort King to ensure orderly and organized archaeological digs are well funded and supported, and what GARI's survey revealed and enabled about Fort King.   Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ... Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!  

We recently explored the making of the Fort King Road, which connected Fort King in the north to Fort Brooke at Tampa Bay. In this episode we look at that terminus point, Fort Brooke. Why did the Army select that location? What was its purpose for building Fort Brooke? How important was the fort to the conduct of the Second Seminole War? What remains of the fort today and what was done with the human remains discovered during the cemetery excavation? What does all of this tell us about life at Tampa Bay in the 1830s?  With us to address these questions is Dr. Robert J. Austin from Cultural Resources Consulting. As part of an archaeological team in the 1980s, Dr. Austin excavated Fort Brooke's first cemetery, while working for then-Piper Archaeology, now Janus Research, from St. Petersburg. A professional anthropologist for 40 years, Dr. Austin knows his way around the byzantine labyrinth of federal, state, and local laws and regulations focused on cultural resource heritage. These include Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and its implementing regulations 36 CFR Part 800, as amended; Section 110 of the Act; the Archaeological Resource Protection Act (ARPA); the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA); and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as well as Chapters 267 and 872 of the Florida Statutes. Dr. Bob Austin excavated in the portion of the fort that exists today under a downtown Tampa parking garage. Bronze plaque above commemorates that. Era maps provide some visual representation of the fort's contours and content to aid in excavation.   In addition to maps and sketches, some have built three-D models of old Fort Brooke, or, how they imagined the old fort to look.   He is an expert on gun flints and barrel wells of the era. In addition to his work at Fort Brooke, Dr. Austin has directed over 700 cultural resource projects, authored over 500 technical reports, published over 40 professional papers, book chapters, and monographs, and has presented his research at numerous professional meetings and public forums.  Dr. Austin is past President of the Florida Anthropological Society and is past editor of that organization's journal, The Florida Anthropologist.  He is past President of the Florida Archaeological Council and also served as Vice President of that organization. He is recipient of numerous awards, grants and fellowships since earning his doctorate at the University of Florida in 1983.   Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ...Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!  

The Fort King Road bisected the heart of the Seminole Indians' Central Florida reservation. But it was not intended provocatively, at least until the war came. The Army used it to fulfill the U.S. Government's treaty obligations supplying provisions to the Seminole. Everyone considered it a generally safe road on which to travel; that is, until the ambush of Dade's column. That action transformed the Fort King Road into the essential travel artery in the Florida Theater of War to remove the Seminole Tribe to Oklahoma. How did it fare in this new role?  Sean Norman, acting director of GARI, Gulf Archaeological Research Institute, joins us to discuss how the Fort King Road served as the key enabler of troops and supplies fighting in the first two years of the Second Seminole War. Battlefields may comprise a set piece of landscape but battles themselves can sprawl over a multitude of terrain, including roads. Sean Norman states why the Fort King Military road falls within such a parameter. He also explains the travails in laying a "blazed trail" and why just paving over what came before often seemed the best course. In our next episode, he returns to discuss the GARI survey on the area comprising the Fort King Road; what we can say about its terrain and its road workmanship; how baggage trains' vulnerability led to the need for military outposts and forts for security; and how it can be used to extrapolate general Seminole, Soldier, and Settler pathways to skirmishes, battles, and campaigns.    Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ...Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

Jackson Walker painting of the Battle of Withlacoochee In January and February of 1836, the eyes of the United States in the press were concentrated upon the Withlacoochee River, where a relative handful of Seminole and Mikosukee warriors and their families were ensconced to resist the Indian removal policy of the United States. We've discussed how the path to the Second Seminole War was paved with tariffs, land grabs, broken treaties – and a fundamental misunderstanding on the part of the US Government about who the Seminole were. For its own convenience, rather than deal with more than a dozen different bands of Seminole tribes, the US Government created the political fiction of a unified Seminole nation. In fact, the Seminole comprised many disparate tribes from different backgrounds and cultures. Although loosely aligned throughout the Florida territory, their primary unity came from opposition to forced removal west to the Oklahoma Territory. The commanding general in Florida, Duncan L. Clinch, had dealt with Seminole for more than a decade. Despite unrest and scattered Seminole violence against sugar plantations in East Florida in the last half of 1835, Clinch held out hope to secure an agreement. He amassed a military force to march from Fort Drane to meet the Seminole chiefs in the Withlacoochee River region of Central Florida. He intended to awe the Seminole with his Army's strength so that the Seminole would, in his view, recognize resistance was futile and they should prepare to pack their bags to leave Florida on waiting transport ships in Tampa Bay. And if the Seminole rebuffed his last peace overture, his Army would crush them and deport the survivors. He failed to recognize the Seminole had a vote in this proposal and that they had other ideas about the removal policy; namely, they would refuse to leave, but would fight by force of arms to the last Indian rather than consent.  The Battle of the Withlacoochee was the first U.S. Army-planned engagement with the Seminole. The inconclusive battle came around the same time Seminole were ambushing a 108-soldier column moving along the Fort King Road from Fort Brooke, Tampa. When troops faltered in the battle, Clinch unsheathed his sword and waved his symbol of authority to motivate troops to maintain discipline and form properly to fight.   Map that shows location of Fort Drane, the later Fort Clinch, and the Dec. 31, 1835 location of the battle with the Seminoles in the Withlacoochee. (Above) (Below) a notional reproduction of a typical military fort of the era.  Autodidact, living historian, and military reenactor Jesse Marshall returns to the Seminole Wars podcast to answer these questions and to provide perspective on why things went the way they did. The outcome was not foreordained. Seminole War soldier reenactor Jesse Marshall explains the situation to Matt Milnes, admist other Soldier-reenactors. (Above) (Below) Jesse Marshall appears at living history events as an 1830s Florida Cracker.      Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website at www.seminolewars.us 

Florida's Negro War: Black Seminoles and The Second Seminole War Foreword & Intro

In this short second-part discussion, Doug Gardner of the Florida National Cemetery chats about that cemetery and its central location within the battle space of the Second Seminole War. Guest Doug Gardner is a Vietnam veteran. He heads FNC’s monument committee and serves on the Joint Veterans Support Committee. Doug is executive vice president of Flags of Fallen Vets Inc, for Florida. No Seminole Wars veterans are interred there -- a headstone memorializes Creek Indian David Moniac whose remains are thought to be in St Augustine with Major Dade's fallen men. However, as our fellow guest Chris Kimball has pointed out, there is at least one known Seminole Wars reenactor buried at FNC. That Air Force veteran is David "Chobee" Exum.  The former delivery driver volunteered for Hillsborough River State Park Native American Living History Programs. Kimball said the funeral for Exum, one of the original group of Second Seminole War reenactors, was quite a spectacle since many of his fellow reenactors paid their respect in full Native American garb.  Chobee was a member of the Royal Rangers and of the Native American Outreach. Two news articles discuss his work.  A schematic of the FNC's various sections would help one find his grave. His memorial ID is 15901000 Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website www.seminolewars.us  

  This week is the pay off for our time learning about how to research. Chris Kimball has explained how one can search for knowledge on the internet and at libraries. He's talked about how he takes that knowledge and uses it to tell a fuller story of the Second Seminole War. This week, Chris Kimball shares the anecedotes and curious stories about players in the Seminole War -- people and stories he countered in his research.   In this episode, listeners will hear about Osceola and the fate of his head and his belongings. They will learn about military inventions or improvements -- land mines and pontoon bridges -- that later came into their own in the American Civil War. They will learn how the Army armed the Seminole by treaty with 2,200 Derringer small-caliber and percussion capped rifles while supply Halls breach-loading musket-rifles that proved easier to reload while horse riding but which tended to break easily or worse, explode. And they will learn about how tempers flare and people die, needlessly and foolishly, and blood fueds are begun...and finished after originating in service in the Seminole Wars. .    Above, Gabriel Rains designed mines (then called torpedoes) that he used in the Second Seminole War and refined later for use in the Civil War. This illustration is a representation of an explosion. Above, one can find these Jaeger rifles at the Florida Historical Society in Cocoa. They were a coda to a blood fued begun over insurbination and disobedience in the chain of command of territorial militia mobilized for the Florida War. The back story is fascinating and Chris Kimball handles its complexities with aplomb. The Jäger rifle was one the most balanced and compact rifles, very characteristic for its big caliber; equipped with double set trigger, it was very precise, able to shoot big balls having a very high energy. The Jäger rifle was first made in the flintlock version and only afterwards it was transformed to a percussion rifle.   Chris Kimball's sleuthing led him to discover that contrary to a headstone in Pensacola (above)that says it contains Major Dade's only daughter, in fact he had another child, a daughter, who died as a toddler. (below)   Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website www.seminolewars.us  

The internet and on-site library visits helped John and Mary Lou Missall research their book on the life of an officer who served in the Second Seminole War. Chris Kimball promoted that book on his Youtube Channel.  The COVID-19 pandemic has led civil authorities to close down many facilities as a public health measure. One of the casualties has been libraries. How do you conduct research when the facilities with the research information are closed?  In the first of several episodes, author and historian Chris Kimball, author of books on the battles of the Seminole Wars, people in the Seminole Wars, and newspapers covering the war, explains how to use one's keyboard to access the internet and its wealth of resources. He explains reliable sources to consult. Next week he will discuss some of what he found from using such resources, and later he will share anecdotes about people and events of the Seminole Wars that he discovered in the course of his research. These fascinating stories and tidbits add color to our understanding of the war and help to personalize the war when one may look at it in an abstract and impersonal fashion. To find these, one must start with solid sources and the internet and on-site in libraries are two means to start the knowledge quest.  Chris Kimball is also a Seminole living-history reenactor.    The State Library is the RA Gray Library in Tallahassee (above). A look at the stacks on the shelves is below.  Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website www.seminolewars.us  

Reenactment photo (courtesy) At times in its history, the US Army has personified the admonition that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. This is especially disconcerting since the US Army has been the architect of its past and yet, as in the case of unconventional conflicts, it has often sought to bury those memories in favor of a pledge never to fight in such ways again. The reality is that the Army does not usually get to choose what type of war it fights; its political leaders choose. The unconventional guerrilla-style operations of the Second Seminole War are a prime case in point. With us today to discuss how the Army wanted to fight the Second Seminole War versus how the Seminole forced them to fight, and how its leaders adapted is Dr. James S. Robbins. He is an author, political commentator and professor, with expertise in national security, foreign and military affairs, military history, and American politics.  Reenactors fire volleys against Seminole practicing guerilla war tactics (Courtesy Photo) Dr. Robbins’ books include Last in Their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point. During his years in government service, he directed the U.S. Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence, and also taught International Relations at the National Defense University, and the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College. His insights gained from Last in Their Class inform our discussion today about adaptability against adversity. Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website www.seminolewars.us    

For nearly 250 years and with a few notable exceptions, US Army readiness has swung like a pendulum from woefully inadequate to veritable invincible force in its engagements for war. From the Revolution to the War of 1812, from the Civil War to the Second World War, too often the Army began fighting unprepared and only over time – and at great cost in blood and treasure -- has it righted itself to gain the victory it sought. The Second Seminole War was little different. The Army entered unprepared for an extended conflict with Florida Indians. Fortunately, the fate of the Republic was not at stake. After getting whipped in its early encounters with the Seminole in late 1835 and throughout 1836, the Army muddled along through failed strategies and failed tactical execution, through poor supply, poor medicine, and poor conditions, until it belatedly recognized the futility of total Seminole removal, declarejd victory and went home. It left behind roughly two hundred ravaged but still defiant Seminole warriors and their families to live in peace, at least for the time being. It learned some lessons from the conflict but these were quickly forgotten, along with the war, when hostilities finally ceased. The Army's lesson was not to get involved in THIS kind of war again.  Historically, why has the Army done this? In Preparing for War: The Emergence of the Modern U.S. Army, 1815-1917, JP Clark, a US Army colonel, Army War College professor, military strategist, and military historian, answers why, especially for the Second Seminole War. He weaves the chronicle of the US Army's state in the 1830s into an overall century-long narrative of challenge, change, and adaptation. He examines four generations of Army forces and how military culture evolved from just after the War of 1812 until our expedition overseas in Europe for the Great War in 1917. Although every Soldier carried a musket, marksmenship was limited to rote reputation of the manual of arms and close-order drill. Soldiers rarely practiced weapons firing. Despite the weapon's inaccuracy, they were important because one could affix bayonets -- the ultimate weapon of the era. (courtesy photos) Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website www.seminolewars.us     Likes | Share | Download(35)

The US Government passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and that political decision led to U.S. military demands that the Seminole relocate to Oklahoma. The US Government accepted that it might require waging war to enforce the removal. The great Prussian military strategist Carl Von Clausewitz anticipated this contingency: "War is the continuation of politics by other means."Clausewitz warned, though, "No one starts a war -- or rather, no one in his sense ought to do so -- without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by the war and how he intends to conduct." The Seminole were clear on their political objectives in opening fire on Major Dade's command to begin formal hostilities with the U.S. government: Wage war until the Army agreed to stop forced removal to Oklahoma. They would fight on the run if they had to, with hit-and-run tactics and nuisance attacks. But they would still fight.  In response, the U.S. Army embarked on a punitive operation against the Florida Seminole to achieve its own political objectives by warlike means. It seemed a simple enough proposition. Engage the Seminole in a big battle. Defeat them. Remove them. Restore peace. No one in America had read how Clausewitz would have scoffed at this simple proposition. In war, he wrote, everything is simple. But the simplest things are very, very difficult to perform Removing the Seminole was only simple on paper. More than seven years later, the U.S. Army had not completed its simple mission to capture all the Seminole and deport them. It eventually gave up on 100% removal, packed up, and went home. Joining us is US Army Colonel and War College graduate JP Clark, a military historian and a military strategist. He explains how an understanding of Clausewitz could have informed officers in the Second Seminole War -- and does inform us today. Without a copy of On War in its collective haversacks to inform and guide its strategy, operations, and tactics, the Army muddled along in the Second Seminole War. Much blood and treasure might have been spared had the Army's senior officers known of and embraced Clausewitz' strategic insights.    Who was Carl von Clausewitz? Clausewitz' insights continue to resonate two centuries after he penned them. His relevance to thinking about strategy remains undiminshed by time.    Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website www.seminolewars.us  

Living historians and the public have a blast at battle reenactments. Photo by Andrew Foster Who oversees custodial care for Seminole Wars battlefields? For years, it has been hard to even determine where some battlefields were. Florida's landscape has changed much in 180 years or so, some nature's doing, some not. In Jupiter, concerned citizens banded together to care for two battlefields near them. They formed the Loxahatchee Battlefield Preservationists. The LBP protects and safeguards the Loxahatchee River Battlefield Park, along with the 6,000-year-old prehistoric Native American occupation area contained therein.  Joining us today to discuss the LBP’s efforts, the park, and to provide an overview of these battles is the vice president of the LBP, Andrew Foster. He also has taken many exceptional photographs of the living history events. Many of those photos have helped illustrate these podcast episodes. Park visitors learn about Seminole lives and fighting spirit and U.S. Soldier life. Photos by Andrew Foster          Photos of Andrew Foster by Heather Burney Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website www.seminolewars.us  

Irish-Immigrant Army Private Paddington McCormik meets us this week along the Dade Battlefield historic trail in Bushnell, Florida. He's at his post, guarding the trail from any potential hostile Seminole incursions. The lot of a private -- and an immigrant one at that, was a miserable one. Paddy explains how he ended up at what he calls "this Godforsaken place", what Soldier life is like -- the rotten pay, the inhuman heat, the dicey rations -- and his hope that if he just keeps his head down, he just might get out of the war alive. Paddy may be a private, but when he steps out of his 1830s-era sky blue fatigues, he becomes Seminole Wars Foundation president, Steve Rinck. Steve is instrumental in a multitude of ways in bringing awareness about the Seminole Wars throughout Florida. Steve chats about how he created the Paddy character and about how he went from mild-manner school teacher and later school principal to joining the ranks of Seminole War historians.  Above, Pvt. Paddy McCormick, ever vigilant at his post along the Dade Battlefield trail, says Army life is miserable and he is just trying to keep his head down so he can get out of the war alive. Below, Steve Rinck (far right) as Pvt Paddy McCormick joins other Seminole War living historians, such as George Webb (second from left) playing a sutler/trader and Ken Wood portraying his main impression, a Seminole fighter called "Hawkwood". To the left is British Air Commodore (Air Cdre) Stephen R. Thornber, the senior UK  officer from the British contingent visited the Dade Battlefield as part of a militaray staff ride from U.S. Central Command, at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida.  Such staff rides help contemporary military personnel to learn and apply lessons to current operations from past military battles and conflicts, such as the Dade Battle and the Second Seminole War.    Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website www.seminolewars.us

A Seminole going by the name Gunpowder Warrior spoke with this host along the memorial trail at Dade Battlefield Park in Bushnell, Florida. We engaged in a short colloquy about the reason for the battle, Seminole perceptions during the battle, and where the Seminole went after their victory. Visiting groups on military staff rides often encounter Gunpowder Warrior as they trek along the hallowed ground that we call the Dade Battlefield trail. He stands as a stark reminder that there was another side to the battle, a side different from that of the soldiers who fought and perished here. I was aided in our discussion by translator Steve Creamer. Steve has portrayed Seminole at various events and venues around Florida for many decades. When Gunpowder Warrior and I completed our talk, Steve Creamer stayed behind to discuss how he portrays the Seminole fighter, how he has also portrayed a Missouri volunteer militiaman, and what the public can learn from witnessing battle reenactments and engaging with the re-enactors, such as Steve, who portray Seminole and Soldier at Florida parks.  Participants in miltiary staff rides have often encountered Gunpowder Warrior (Steve Creamer) along the trail at Dade Battlefield Historic State Park. Steve Creamer and other non-Seminole Tribe members portray Seminole Warriors at living history events. Living historians such as Steve Creamer often reenact Second Seminole War battles side by side with members of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, such as Pedro Zepeda.  Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website www.seminolewars.us

Monument to Major Dade and His Command that perished in 1835 is located on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Although Major Dade himself did not graduate from West Point, the Academy graduated many officers who served honorably in the Second and Third Seminole Wars. Recently, a military historian cast his lens on the West Point Class of 1829. That class featured 11 cadets who later saw service in what was then termed, The Florida War. One 1829 graduate in fact served under Major Dade in 1835, but found himself detached to deliver a message and therefore unable to accompany Dade on that disastrous march in late December 1835. Another saw action at the First Battle of Loxahatchee in January 1838, ironically though, as a civilian contractor rather than as a military officer. He later put back on a military uniform advancing to general officer in both the Union, and, in 1861, in the Confederate States of America. One graduate, to commemorate a close friendship, changed his surname to that of a fallen comrade from the Class of 1828 who had died in the war. One other became a trusted Indian agent in the years leading up to the Third Seminole War. Other classes had representation in the Army during the long Second Seminole War, with most of the officers in Major Dade’s ill-fated command having West Point pedigrees. With us to discuss this West Point Class of 1829 and those among it who served in the Florida Wars – and one famous graduate, Robert E. Lee, who did not -- is Professor P.J. Springer. He is the chair for the Department of Research at the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. A military historian, he has taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and at the U.S. Army War College in Carlyle, Pennsylvania.  Along with Christopher Mortenson, he is the editor of the three volume Daily Life of U.S. Soldiers: From the American Revolution to the Iraq War. He is also the author of several books including America's Captives: Treatment of POWs from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror; Transforming Civil War Prisons: Lincoln, Lieber, and the Laws of War; Military Robots and Drones: A Reference Handbook; and Cyber Warfare: A Reference Handbook.  Dr. Springer first discussed the 1829 West Point for the podcast A Better Peace from the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pa. That podcast is available here: https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/podcasts/class-of-1829/ A list of officers from that class and where their careers eventual led is here: https://civilwarintheeast.com/west-point-officers-in-the-civil-war/class-of-1829/ Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website www.seminolewars.us  

George Webb, a former Florida State park ranger, portrays a trader of the 1830s. He briefs British officers and NCOs from US Central Command on a military staff ride to the Dade Battlefield. The Dade Battle of December 28, 1835 is considered one of the U.S. Army’s most lopsided defeats. How an Army column could allow itself to be caught so unaware of a hostile adversary in its midst is a question that military professionals still ask to this day. One way to answer that question is through what's called the Military Staff Ride. The staff ride puts military leaders in the figurative shoes of the officers and men of Dade's column. Although the battle was part of what is now called “irregular warfare,” today’s leaders—uniformed and civilian—can find ample opportunity to highlight the role of all warfighting functions with a particular emphasis on intelligence, fires and protection. Was the outcome foreordained? Would it be foreordained in the contemporary world? How might today's leaders have conducted the march and the battle differently had they been in charge? Listeners will not be surprised that the insights gleaned from conducting the Dade’s Battle staff ride are as relevant today as they were over 175 years ago. With us today to discuss the Military Staff Ride and specifically how one is conducted at the Dade Battlefield is David A. “Scotty” Dawson, the civilian command historian for U.S. Central Command, at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Fla. Scotty is a retired Marine Corps colonel with numerous combat deployments to his credit.  Reenactor Steve Rinck, Seminole Wars Foundation president, portrays Irish-immigrant Pvt. Paddington McCormick -- Paddy to his friends. Paddy explains the miserable life of a U.S. Army recruit in Florida to British officers and NCOs from US Central Command visiting Dade Battlefield on a military staff ride in the summer of 2016. The British Army military contingent (in civilian clothes) and three living history reenactors (front row) portraying a trader, a Seminole warrior, and a U.S. Army soldier, pose for a group photo after completing the Dade Battle staff ride. The reenactors explained their character and the part they played in the Second Seminole War. Our guest this week, Scotty Dawson,  command historian for US CENTCOM, is standing in the back row, third from the left (white hat). Seminole Wars podcast host, Patrick Swan, is in center rear (wearing safari hat). Summer 2016.  The Staff Ride Handbook for Dade’s Battle, Florida, 28 December 1835 is published by The Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Authored by Michael G. Anderson, this extensively researched handbook examines this opening conflict of the Second Seminole War. He uses it as a vehicle to allow organizations at any echelon to study leadership at the tactical level. Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast catcher, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website www.seminolewars.us  

We recognize that the Second Seminole War was a war of Indian Removal, ignited by Indian resistance to U.S. government efforts to deport them from Florida to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi.A key sticking point in resolving the conflict was the disposition of those who were known, for purposes of convenience, as Indian slaves, Seminole Negroes or Black Seminoles.And at the center of that was the delicate business of defining who the Black Seminoles were. The translator, diplomat, and strategist Abraham was a leader among Black Seminole and a representative among the Seminole of their interests.One can use the structure of a classic internet meme to illustrate the difficulty in defining who were Black Seminole such Abraham and his people. Who did the Seminole say they were? [Abraham and his people were property, not to be given up without financial compensation and worth fighting to keep.]Who did the Americans say they were? [To the Americans in Georgia and other southern states, Abraham's people were a threat to national security, poised to pour across the border under cover of darkness or to filter up through the swamps to pillage at will.]Who did the Spaniards who ruled Florida say they were? [men and women who fled slavery were potential citizens and able allies who were worth arming and supporting for their value in protecting St. Augustine's back door.]Who did the Black Seminoles say they were? [Abraham, his people, and hundreds of others like them were "freedom seekers" who fled the slavery of the American South and deliberately forged symbiotic alliances with the more numerous and established Seminole Indians.]Who can WE say the Black Seminoles were?Returning to the Seminole Wars podcast to help with what Sherlock Holmes might dub, “The Curious Case of the Black Seminoles of Florida,” is Dr. Brent Weisman.Doctor Weisman has podcasted with us earlier to discuss the continued Historical and Cultural Importance of the Seminole in Florida. He is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of South Florida. He has served as the editor of The Florida Anthropologist, president of the Seminole Wars Historic Foundation and the Alliance for Weedon Island Archaeological Research and Education, and was a founding director of the Florida Public Archaeology Network. His research interests continue to be Seminole Indian culture and history, Florida archaeology, and North American Indians. Black Seminoles at the annual Dade Battle reenactment. Photos by Andrew FosterHost Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website

First-time visitors to the annual commemoration at the Dade Battlefield in Bushnell, Florida, are sometimes startled to see -- amidst the melee -- a Black Seminole racing his war horse up and down the field of action. Likewise, groups escorted along the Dade Park memorial trail discover this same Black Seminole emerge from a concealed strategic position to converse with them.The young man portraying the Black Seminole warrior is Matt Griffin. He is a native Floridian who traces his heritage back to the times of forced Indian removal during the Second Seminole War. He joins us to discuss what the alliance between Seminole and Black Seminole in that war signifies to him; what part Black Seminoles played in the Dade battle itself; what portraying a Black Seminole Reenactor for two decades has taught him about the war; and why we should know and still care about that conflict from nearly two centuries ago.Peace in our Time? Black Seminole Matt Griffin casts a skeptical eye as a Seminole Swamp Owl shakes the hand of Maj. Gen. Thomas Jessup (Steven Rinck) at Fort Dade Capitulation Historical Reenactment Ceremony at the Pioneer Museum Dec. 19, 2020. Photo by Andrew Foster Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website at www.seminolewars.us 

Painting: The Macon Volunteers by Jackson WalkerLast week, we looked at the terrain, environment, climate and on-the-ground atmosphere for Seminole and Soldiers and Settlers. This week, we look at some of the underlying causes of the war; some the places and incidents where the Second Seminole War was waged; and also the strategic, operations and tactics used to wage the war. Returning again is Dr. Joe Knetsch, author of a number of books and journal articles on the Seminole Wars. His anthology Fear and Anxiety on the Florida Frontier: Articles on the Second Seminole War 1835-1842, informs our discussion today.Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website at www.seminolewars.us 

Painting: The Captive Osceola by Jackson WalkerThe 1830 Indian Removal Act aimed to relocate Indian tribes in the southeastern United States to undetermined land across the Mississippi River in the Oklahoma Territory. The tribes affected were the Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek – the so-called “four C” tribes -- and the Seminole of Florida. The tragic tale of this unjust trail of tears rips at our collective hearts to this day. When removal efforts came to the Seminole of Florida, some departed voluntarily. But, the majority stood their ground and refused to be moved.  Dr. Joe Knetsch. author of a number of books and journal articles on the Seminole Wars, joins us for the first of two episodes to discuss what life was like for Floridians in those days. We examine the Florida terrain, climate and on-the-ground atmosphere for Seminole and Soldiers and Settlers. His anthology Fear and Anxiety on the Florida Frontier: Articles on the Second Seminole War 1835-1842, informs our discussion today. Next week, we look at some of the underlying causes of the war, some the places and incidents where the Second Seminole War was waged, and also the strategic, operations and tactics used to wage the war. Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website at www.seminolewars.us 

[Editor's Note: This is the 11th in a series of podcasts over the coming weeks promoting the Seminole Wars Foundation's self-paced virtual challenge, The Major Dade Memorial March to Fort King that launches in just a few days, on Dec. 22. Registration to join Laumer's Legion is now open. Visit www.seminolewars.us for details.]Courtesy photo Linda and Jerry Morris at St Francis Barracks, St Augustine, Fla.In this episode, Jerry Morris discusses his 1830s victuals display and the pamphlet he penned based on it along with his overall research, entitled The Army Moves on Its Stomach. He does not ration his insights here but doles out healthy portions to help listeners understand what it took the Army to feed its troops on a 7- to 10-day march between military posts in Florida.Why did he do this? Because it wasn't enough for ex-paratrooper Jerry Morris to march 60 miles with Laumer's Legion in 1988, retracing the 1835 route of Major Dade's fateful march to massacre. He had to map it as well and he did with Jeff Hough in The Fort King Road: Then and Now. Even that wasn't enough. Jerry Morris also wanted to know what the Soldiers ate along the march route. He had wondered about this while he himself was marching five days from Tampa to Bushnell. The contemporary fare he nibbled upon gnawed at his conscience. This wasn't what they ate, he told himself. A library quest soon ensued and after that, a compilation of recipes and after that, carefully measured amounts in mason jars along with baked hard tack meeting all 1830s standards for quality (Note: no worms. Those only came later with the Civil War and unscrupulous contractors). He soon had a field table display from which he educated spectators visiting various Seminole War battlefield sites during living history demonstrations. With his great wife Linda, Jerry moves the accoutrements in a trailer from site to site today, even though he now moves around in a mobility scooter. From middle school students to the author of the History of the Second Seminole War, Dr. John Mahan to a five-year-old girl attending a battle reenactment with her dad, Jerry gives every presentation as if it was his first one and with the personal delivery one would expect to his dearest friend.Courtesy photo Jerry and Linda Jerry Morris at Seminole Wars Battle Reenactment in Florida.  Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website at www.seminolewars.us 

[Editor's Note: This is the eighth in a series of podcasts promoting the Seminole Wars Foundation's self-paced virtual challenge, The Major Dade Memorial March to Fort King. We launched Dec. 22. Registration to join Laumer's Legion is still open. Visit www.seminolewars.us for details.]Dade Battle by Ken Hughes 1974 Miami History CenterOver several episodes, we have alluded to or briefly described the Dade Battle of late December 1835. The time has come to take a deep dive. The Dade Battle, also known as the Dade Massacre, arguably served as the opening shots to the Second Seminole War. Other shots were being fired throughout Florida in that December as well as in the months leading up to this engagement. But this was the Big Battle that seized everyone’s attention and that informed the U.S. Government that the Seminole would not go quietly into Oklahoma exile.With us today to set the scene and describe the Dade Battle is Ross Lamoreaux. Ross is a military re-enactor, a museum exhibitor at the Tampa Bay History Center, the newly elected president of the Dade Battlefield Society, and someone who has actually walked the path of Dade’s march from Tampa toward turmoil in present-day Bushnell.Post return Dec. 28, 1835, list of casualties from "Engagement on the Withlacoochee" Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website

For their craft, Jesse Marshall and colleague march through the blisters, aches and pains. Virtual Challenge hikers wear comfortable clothes & shoes and move at their own pace. [Editor's Note: This is the fifth in a series of podcasts over the coming weeks promoting the Seminole Wars Foundation's self-paced virtual challenge, The Major Dade Memorial March to Fort King that launches Dec. 22. Registration to join Laumer's Legion is now open. Visit www.seminolewars.us for details. In calculating the toll on ones' feet and muscles from this virtual hike, consider what it would have been like to have walked in the replica Brogan Army boots of our guest this week.]For nearly three decades, Jesse Marshall has literally walked the walk as well as talked the talk about soldier life in 1830s-1860s U.S. military eras.An autodidact historical hobbyist, Jesse has portrayed the Confederate grey in Civil War confabs, one time even walking 80 miles to recreate a rebel march before engaging immediately upon arrival in the simulated Battle of Red River. In the Federal blue for Seminole War events, Jesse has trekked some 65 miles along the perilous shoulder of U.S. Highway 301 from Tampa to Bushnell. He did THAT just to commemorate the movement of Dade’s men from Fort Brooke to their untimely demise from a Seminole ambush in 1835. Jesse is one of the most renown and most respected in the living history profession of arms in Florida today.It is easy to recognize why. In his quest for authenticity in what he does, Jesse’s boots have literally worn right off his feet. His knapsack has pinched him too tight to move naturally. His high beaver-skin hat carried forage well enough for him but needlessly irritated his head. Yet he emphatically maintains that, whatever the discomfort, to interpret a period both properly and professionally, one must get the regalia and reactions right. Or not partake in the exercise at all.He joins us to explain why he marched such distances, what he learned in the process about Soldiers' travails, and what the spectacle of a military battle reenactment entails for those practicing the craft. Below: Living Historian Jim Flaherty showcases an 1830s Soldier's kit.  Below, in 1988, the late Frank Laumer demonstrated an 1830s Soldier's struggles simply to ground his gear.  Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website at www.seminolewars.us  

Born enslaved, James Beckwourth is easily one of the most accomplished mountain men that ever lived. Once free, he forayed into the West, became chief of the Crow people and played a role in such notable yet commonly undiscussed historical events such as the War of 1812, the Second Seminole War, the California Revolution, the Mexican American War and Red Cloud's War. Westward-Ho!

This week guest host Steven Rinck, president of the Seminole Wars Foundation, interviews Patrick Swan about The Major Dade Memorial March, a 103-mile virtual challenge that takes hikers on a virtual footpath along the entire unbroken length of the old Fort King Military Road. Similar to the Inca Trail in Peru and Hadrian’s Wall path in England, entrants “walk” (or run) a renowned route steeped in history. This episode discusses how the Army used the Fort King Military Road, how the Second Seminole War began on this road, why it is important to walk the terrain where famous battles occurred, and everything one may want to know about how to participate in this memorial march, including registration fees, benefits, and what exercises are permitted to complete it. Registration opened Veterans Day 2020 and the mission itself launches Dec. 22, 2020 and is open for 90 days after that. Frequently Asked Questions and the registration links are available by visiting www.seminolewars.usPatrick Swan, the regular host for the Seminole Wars, devised this virtual challenge in cooperation with myvirtualmission.com, which sponsors various fitness challenges at notable sites around the globe. He himself recently walked the length of Roman Hadrian's Wall path in England in a virtual challenge as well as walking it physically in 2016 over 7 consecutive days. He offers insights in what one learns from trekking such distances in person and virtually and how taking the journey along the Fort King Military Road will provide one a greater understanding for significant aspects of the Second Seminole War. Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website at www.seminolewars.us 

This week we begin a recurring special feature, on state and federal parks with ties to the Seminole Wars.Dade Battlefield Historic State Park, acquired by the State of Florida in 1921 (see full newspaper clipping below), is the second oldest site in the state. It serves as a memorial to the brave men, both soldiers and Seminoles, whose 1835 battle marked the beginning of the Second Seminole War, the longest armed conflict in the first 195 years of American history. Visitors can inspect the recreated breastworks where the last of Dade's men desperately fought off their Seminole attackers, and then stroll down the eerily quiet original trail where commemorative markers note the precise spots where some of the officers fell in the battle.  https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/dade-battlefield-historic-state-parkRoss Lamoreaux portrays an 1835 US Army sergeant as he speaks at the annual wreath-laying ceremony to memorialize the lives lost at the now-Dade Battlefield State Park, in Bushnell, Fla. He stands outside the perimeter to a recreated breastwork of the type the last remaining soldiers used desperately for cover as they fought to stave off the final Seminole attack on Dec. 28, 1835. Courtesy Photo by Linda Charlton, Leesburg Daily Commercial. https://www.dailycommercial.com/news/20181228/dade-battlefield-pays-tribute-to-slain-soldiersIn this episode, Ross Lamoreaux, Dade Battlefield Society president, Seminole Wars-era soldier-reenactor and living historian, outlines how the Society orchestrates its well-known, authentic annual reenactment of Dade’s Battle each January as well as sponsors living history events, nature programs, social functions, educational and recreational activities, and festivals throughout the year.  Some of these include World War II Commemoration Weekend every March, with a nighttime "World War 2 USO-style" entertainment; an historic-era interpretation with period-attired living historians for visiting groups, such as National Guard members, US and Foreign Militaries, ROTC cadets, and students in schools of all grade levels.  The Society increases public awareness of Dade Battlefield and enhances youth education and citizenship through field trips, quality outreach programs, sponsoring of scholarships, and creation of the Dade Pioneers for school-age children and Dade's Youth for teens interested in earning volunteer hours, while allowing them to become Dade Battlefield Society members.  https://www.dadebattlefield.com/society.html Tampa Times July 7, 1921 Dade Park DedicationHost Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website at www.seminolewars.us 

There is a short answer to the question, "What started the Second Seminole War?" That’s simple. An ambush. The Florida Seminole Indians attacked a column of American Soldiers by surprise. The Soldiers were marching along the old Fort King Military Road to relieve the garrison at Fort King.A better question, however, begins with why. Why did the Second Seminole War start? Seminole anger with the US Government. Why were the Seminoles suddenly hostile to the US Government? Because the US Government had unilaterally ended its treaty with the Seminole. Why did the US Government abrogate its treaty and fervently insist they remove from Florida ten years before the treaty’s expiration? It wanted their land. Why did it want their land?  The answer to that question is more nuanced than one may imagine.In this episode, autodidact, living historian, and military reenactor Jesse Marshall joins us to explain the underlying causes that blazed a path to war between the US Government and the Florida Seminole in 1835.Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website at www.seminolewars.us 

This week we look at how the Second Seminole War forged a distinct lasting cultural identity among the loosely aligned bands of Florida Seminole in the 1830s.In 1817, two years before the legal transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States, the Seminole Indians numbered as many as 5,000. They were organized into settled towns across North and Central Florida and thriving on an agricultural economy.  By the close of hostilities in 1858, those remaining Florida Seminole, who had not died from combat or illness or had been forcibly removed to reservations in the Oklahoma territory, numbered fewer than 200. These hearty, defiant survivors remained in scattered family camps on mostly inaccessible remote tree islands in the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp. It is these Florida-based survivors whose descendants are now organized into the federally-recognized Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians.Federal recognition depended on cultural survival and continuity of historical identity, both of which resulted from an internalized self-identity born in response to a period of cultural stress and crisis. Among the three federally recognized tribes today, distinct political identities exist.The Seminole Tribe of Florida has about twenty-six hundred members, with most living on the three largest reservations at Hollywood, Big Cypress, and in the Everglades regions of the Florida South.The five hundred or so members of the Miccosukee Tribe live on the Tamiami Reservation around U.S. Route 41 west of Miami in the Everglades. A small, politically independent group in Florida lives separate from these two and has resisted federal recognition in favor of maintaining a traditional identity, staying away from modern society.The third federally recognized political entity is among the descendants of the Seminole deported to Oklahoma during the wars. They comprise the twelve-thousand member Seminole Nation of Oklahoma in the Wewoka area of Seminole county.In this podcast, we will explore the ethno-genesis of the Florida Seminole. We will define ethno-genesis. And we will explain the continued cultural importance of the Seminole Wars to the people of Florida.To help understand this is Brent R. Weisman. Dr. Weisman is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of South Florida. He has served as the editor of The Florida Anthropologist, president of the Seminole Wars Historic Foundation, and the Alliance for Weedon Island Archaeological Research and Education, and was a founding director of the Florida Public Archaeology Network. His research interests continue to be Seminole Indian culture and history, Florida archaeology, and North American Indians. He has written and published numerous journal articles and books about the Seminole.Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website at www.seminolewars.us 

Graphic Courtesy Historical Marker Data Base, HMDB.org The "big bang" battle that began the Second Seminole War in late 1835 comprised the Seminole ambush of a column of US Soldiers marching along the Fort King Road to relieve that under-manned military outpost. Three big battles followed it, all along the banks of Florida’s Withlacoochee River. Rather than achieve a quick, decisive victory over the Seminole, the Army found itself forced to settle in for a long, hard slog in its removal efforts. Many written accounts survive these battles, but they tell only the Army’s side of the story. And some of these contradict each other.The need to reconcile historical discrepancies -- and account for omissions of Seminole perspectives --  provided an ideal opening for the Gulf Archaeological Research Institute, or GARI, from Crystal River, Florida. GARI dispatched a survey team to assess incongruities in the official record by examining the terrain features in comparison to known locations and surviving artifacts. From these, GARI drew fresh conclusions about how the battles were fought by each side to the conflict. GARI is the only independent, not-for-profit organization focused on preserving both the archaeological and the natural heritage of Florida. Joining us to explain their findings is Sean Norman, GARI’s acting executive director.BACKGROUND: The first of the cove battles featured Brigadier General Duncan Clinch in command. He lead a large force toward the Withlachoochee River from his post at Fort Drane, to the north. He intended to meet Seminole chiefs and compel them to accept removal to the Oklahoma territory by it’s the US government’s self-imposed January 1st deadline in 1836.Rather than conduct a parlay and negotiations, Clinch found himself instead engaged in an intense but inconclusive battle. Some weeks later, Major General Edmund Gaines also sought the Seminole at the Withlacoochee River. He intended to bring them to heel for the annihilation of the Army’s Fort King-bound relief column. He was fortunate to survive a hostile Seminole siege on his position, following an inconclusive battle. Finally, Major General Winfield Scott arrived to try his hand at taming the Seminole at the Withlacoochee River. The Seminoles resisted and bedeviled his efforts bringing a now-familiar result: inconclusive battle.Copy of 1836 Map prepared by Major General Winfield Scott for engagements in the Florida War. Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website at www.seminolewars.us 

We have discussed the Florida Black Seminole as a group previously and how they allied with the Seminole against the US Government’s Indian removal policy of the 1830s.  A number of Florida Black Seminole stood out with distinction and are remembered today in history books. students of the Second Seminole War may recognize these names: Abraham, John Ceasar, and Gopher John, also known as John Horse or John Cavallo.Returning to the Seminole Wars to elaborate on their contributions is Dr. Anthony E. Dixon, who podcasted with us previously to discuss the Black Seminole as a group. He is the author of Florida’s Negro War. Dr. Dixon is also the Founder and President of AHRA, the Archival and Historical research Associates. He an Adjunct Professor of History at Florida A&M University and has been the Field Director for the Florida African American Heritage Preservation Network.Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it by subscribing through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart, Stitcher, Spotify, DoubleTwist, Pandora, Podbean, Google podcasts, iTunes or directly from the Seminole Wars Foundation website at www.seminolewars.us 

Two researchers, overlaying nineteenth century survey maps, the earliest aerial photos available, and state-of-the-art geospatial imagery, documented notionally and visually the old Fort King Road -- the first purpose-built US military road through the wilderness of central Florida.Wilderness, that is, to Americans. In fact, central Florida was the home of the Seminole Indians, who knew its environs quite well. They inhabited by treaty what had long been their land in reality.These researchers’ book, The Fort King Road: Then and Now has been an essential reference on the key path linking Fort Brooke in modern-day Tampa to Fort King, in modern-day Ocala. It was US Army Infantry Captain Francis Langhorne Dade who had a hand in building it and in commuting along its approximately one-hundred-mile length. He did this a decade before he led his Command to its doom from an ambush by Seminole Indians in late 1835 in what became known as the Dade Massacre, near present-day Bushnell.Called an invaluable reference for information on this long-derelict frontier highway, the Fort King Road lives on in history books and in the minds of those reading about its use in Florida’s territorial years, especially during the Second Seminole War, to which it hosted the opening of active hostilities.With Jerry Morris, Jeff Hough wrote The Fort King Road: Then and Now. He joins us today to discuss its enduring significance to Florida’s history.Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ...Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

The folk expression, “If God is willing and the Creek don’t rise” traces one lineage to a probably (and sadly) apocryphal letter from an early 19th century Superintendent of Indian Affairs. If true, it would have referred to lingering fears regarding a potential Indian insurrection, not to an overflowing of the banks of a body of water, as is commonly assumed today.  In this episode, we modify it for a third use: By looking closely at the exemplary heroism of the extraordinary David Moniac in the Second Seminole War, we pray the esteem of this Creek will rise among our podcast's listeners. You see, David Moniac was a Creek, one of mixed ancestry. He held the distinction as both the first Native American and the first Alabaman to secure an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy, from which he graduated with the Class of 1822 at West Point, N.Y. Moniac lead a band of 750 Creek warriors (serving alongside a US Army contingent) against the Seminole at Florida's Wahoo Swamp in present-day Sumter County.  Major General Thomas Jesup declared Moniac "as brave and gallant a man as ever drew a sword or faced an enemy." He perished in the fighting.Generations of historians have attributed Moniac's death to being struck down by a "barrage of galling fire" from Seminoles perched on the other side of a stream that Moniac had been attempting to cross. They draw this narrative from the later recollections of a military officer who was in the vicinity but not actually present at the site of this specific engagement. Something did not seem right with this long-accepted report, however, to retired US Army Brigadier General Richard Allen. Why would a West Point-trained officer attempt crossing a stream of an unknown depth to reach a hostile shore in the middle of a fire fight? Allen, an artillery and later ordinance officer who’d commanded troops in Vietnam, knows soldiering and he knows jungle fighting. A graduate of the US Army War College and the US Army Command and Staff College, which he completed first in his class, Allen also knows researching.For the occasion of the 2019 bicentennial of Alabama’s entry into the Union, Allen began exploring its favorite sons of the era. This is when he first encountered the curious circumstances surrounding David Moniac’s death. Backed by previously overlooked official documents as well as his own common sense about military matters and swamp terrain, Allen makes a most persuasive case that Moniac’s action in this battle was even more heroic than the diarists and historians ever suspected. Allen joins us today to share his revelatory findings. [Art of David Moniac leading Creeks at Battle of Wahoo Swamp by Jackson Walker]Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ...Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!

 Last week we listened to a fictionalized story about the life of one of the dogs left behind when the Army removed Seminoles to the Oklahoma Territory. Efa, in that tale, belonged to Black Seminole John Horse. This week, we hear of John Horse himself.The name John Horse should be familiar to listeners. Guests have mentioned him in passing when relating key events of the Second Seminole War. John Horse was one of several prominent Black Seminoles, along with Abraham and John Ceasar, who organized Black Seminoles to fight along with Seminole Indians, against the U.S. Army's removal efforts. A Florida educator penned a historical novel about him, entitled John Horse: Florida’s First Freedom Fighter. (Alas, Efa is not part of her account). Betty Turso joins us to discuss how she wove the amiable John Horse's inspiring Florida life story around actual events of the Second Seminole War, and why she wanted her students to see him as a heroic role model. Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, DoubleTwist, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ...Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube! 

 The little children’s book with a big heart is called Efa: A Seminole Dog. Jerry C. Morris wrote it and the Seminole Wars Foundation published it in 2015 to give young people an image for what life was like during wartime in Tampa in 1838. Told from the view of a dog, the story recalls a period of Florida history we call the Second Seminole War.As we have discussed previously on this podcast, from 1835-1842, the United States government attempted to forcibly remove the Seminole people from their Florida homes to reservations in what is now Oklahoma. One of the saddest things in this very sad tale was that the Army would not permit the departing Seminoles to take their dogs with them. As the ships departed, many dogs were left sitting on the shore, watching their masters on ship decks pass out of sight, never to return.One of those Indians was a Black Seminole who went by the name of John Horse, or Gopher John. After a prolonged and valiant struggle, John Horse surrendered to the Army in April 1838. In this book, Jerry Morris imagines that Efa belonged to John Horse and pines each day for his return. Author Jerry Morris is a long-time living historian of the Second Seminole War, who dressed as a soldier of that era, actually hiked the March of Major Dade’s ill-fated column from Tampa to present-day Bushnell. He joins us to discuss everything about Efa. Throughout this podcast, Efa will rejoin us to present his insights on his life as he yearns for John Horse to come back for him. Will he? Spoiler Alert: This IS a children’s book. No one goes away unhappy. [Art by Tyler Thompson. Photo by Angela Rogers. Canine voice characterization by Patrick Swan]Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ...Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!   

 In 1842, Colonel William J. Worth, Commanding in Florida, unilaterally "announced" the end of hostilities between the US Government and the Seminole Indians of Florida. He ordered a reburial of many Soldiers who had perished in the seven-year Second Seminole War. Despite its inconclusive ending, the war had been an important proving ground for the Army and its West Point trained leadership. Although falling short of its goal of total Seminole removal to the Oklahoma Territory, the Army had succeeded in forcibly relocating the majority of the approximately 5,000 Seminole who called Florida home when the war commenced It did this at the staggering cost of $40 million and the deaths of some 1,500 military as well as an unaccounted number of civilian and Seminole deaths. In the Everglades, the Army abandoned efforts against the 500 or so remaining defiant and unconquered Florida Seminole.  On August 15th, then, hundreds of regular Army soldiers marched through St. Augustine. They were escorting seven wagons carrying the remains of the fallen soldiers. These included those of Major Dade's ill-fated column who died in a Seminole ambush on December 28, 1835, which is traditionally marked as the start of the Second Seminole War. The column bore the remains to their final resting place, a garden next to St. Francis Barracks. One finds them in graceful cochina pyramids in the St. Augustine National Cemetery. This subsequent re-interment procession was a solemn remembrance, not a victory march. For more than a decade in today's St. Augustine National Cemetery, The West Point Society of North Florida has organized an annual commemoration of this first event, as a means of keeping faith with those fallen, and to bring attention to all who suffered and sacrificed – soldier, citizen, and Seminole alike – during this long, difficult struggle.   Joining us today is Joseph Naftzinger, a retired Army Colonel and West Point Graduate of the U.S. Military Academy Class of 1960. He discusses the strong ties to the Second Seminole War demonstrated through the outsized role of many U.S. Military Academy graduates -- and how it served as a proving ground for some who went on to command armies in the Mexican and American Civil wars. Familiar names include Joe Johnston, Joseph Hooker, William Sherman, and Braxton Bragg, among others. Worth was a former Commandant of Cadets at West Point, and five of the seven officers who perished in Dade's Command were U.S. Military Academy graduates. Joe also describes the somber 1842 March of the Fallen and how it has been commemorated in recent years with a march led by soldier re-enactors atop two elegant mules pulling a US flag-draped caisson representing the remains brought to St Augustine for interment from temporary burial locations, including the Dade Battlefield. This is an annual living history event held each August 15. First sponsored by the West Point Society of North Florida, in 2020, the Florida National Guard assumed lead responsibility for the event from the Society, and is assisted by the Seminole Wars Foundation, producer of this podcast. With Joe Naftzinger, the late Lieutenant Colonel Greg Moore, then-Florida National Guard historian, spearheaded the first organized effort patterned on the 1842 march to recognize the service and sacrifice of all who perished in the war. Greg authored a book called Sacred Ground: The Military Cemetery at St Augustine that delves into the details of the first march and interment of Seminole War remains and the cemetery's expansion since.  He also promotes the Annual Convocation of Seminole War Historians, first held in St Augustine in 2017, and scheduled for the spring of 2021 in Jupiter, Florida, site of the two battles of Loxahatchee from January 1838. The convocation is open to anyone with an interest in the Seminole Wars and features presentations and activities on topics related to the conflict.   Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida.  Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ...Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube! 

 In war, death plays few favorites, making little distinction whether one is wealthy or poor; civilian, soldier or Seminole; pretty or plain; male or female. Take one example: On the fifth anniversary of the Dade Massacre, December 28, 1840, the daughter of the richest businessman in Cincinnati, the beautiful 19-year-old wife of Army Lieutenant Alexander Montgomery, took what she thought would be a pleasant Sunday coach ride out from Fort Micanopy only to arrive at a violent death, when a Seminole party waylaid her Army escort.This week we examine the incalculable human cost to war, at least, on the American side. In Alachua County, Florida during the Second Seminole War, ambush and anguish exacted a heavy price. Lost voices of individuals long gone speak to us speak of their tragic tales in Chris Kimball’s Alachua Ambush. Through a compilation of stunning personal accounts, recounted from graphic eyewitness testimony in letters, newspapers, and official reports, he resurrects these sorrowful stories to remind us that war yields more tragedy than triumphs and treasures.Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast provider, such as iHeart or Stitcher or Spotify, or Pandora or Google podcasts or iTunes, or ...Check it out so you always get the latest episode without delay where and when you want it. Like us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube!