SW003 A National Newspaper Chronicles the War

In its day, the Army and Navy Chronicle was the Army Times for newspaper coverage of the Antebellum Jacksonian expansion of the United States. From 1835 to 1842, the United States embroiled itself in a war that engaged half the United States Army in Florida before it concluded. Volunteer Militias of several states, with support and cooperation with the Navy and Marine Corps, joined the regular Army in an attempt to remove the Native Tribes from Florida in what we call Second Seminole War. The Army-Navy Chronicle covered it every step of the way, documenting eyewitness accounts and serving often as a primary source for news and information about this Florida War.

The Chronicle was an amazing compilation of letters and reports from the battle fields and camps, with other multiple accounts of the same events from different eyewitnesses. There were some who said, “Let us leave this land to the Indians,” while others said, “We are in a war of extermination!” All views are covered and reflect, for better or worse, the biases of their times.

Seminole War Scholar Chris Kimball pulled these back issues from the dusty library shelves, literally and figuratively, reviewed each copy, and wrote a synopsis for every single article or mention of the Second Seminole War. His book is more than an index. It is a revelation.

He joins us to talk about how he did it and why his book is an essential guide to anyone who seeks to understand what the public was reading during America’s longest Indian war.

Host Patrick Swan is board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. 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.