SW023 Battle Log: A Short Review of the Long Seminole Wars and Noteworthy Events

In Seminole & Creek War Battles and Events, Chris Kimball stitches every single reference to a war, campaign, battle, engagement, skirmish, or ambush into the most comprehensive list of such engagements ever assembled. Although the Seminole Wars had a few well documented big battles, it also encompassed scores of small skirmishes that comprised the bulk of the fighting between soldiers and Seminole. Seminole & Creek War Battles and Events offers a regional perspective lacking in accounts of either just the Seminole Wars or of just the first and second Creek Wars of the American southeast. Most of what he chronicles here has been long overlooked in history books.  Finding this comprehensive list in one place is a godsend for anyone who seeks to understand the fighting of this period and is a must-have for anyone interested in Florida or American military history.

Joining us to explain how he assembled Seminole & Creek War Battles and Events and why is Chris Kimball. Chris is a researcher and living historian of the Seminole Wars, and is a member of the Board of the Seminole Wars Foundation. He podcasted with us previously to discuss his reference collection to Seminole War articles found in the Army-Navy Chronicle and his compilation of letters, reports, and descriptions of the war’s bloodiest battles and events in the region of Alachua County, Florida.

Chris Kimball has always been interested in Florida history and Seminole Indians due to growing up in Florida.  After earning a degree in Public Administration from UCF, Chris served as a Sergeant in the US Army, in the Adjutant General Corps, where he learned to navigate the various systems of administration and paperwork that the Army is famous for, which prove invaluable for researching Florida Seminole War history.

He is active in historical living history presentations since 1985, and recreates historical clothing, writes articles, web pages, and newsletters.  He has assisted with museum exhibits and made reproductions of outfits for museums.

He created the first book of battles and events of the Florida Seminole War as a resource to provide a better perspective of events that happened in the war. For his next project, he scoured 6,000 surviving pages of the military trade journal printed in 1835 to 1844, the Army and Navy Chronicle, to construct a synopsis of all the Seminole War articles. This project led him to riveting accounts, many previously unpublished, from the latter half of the war around Alachua County, which he summarized in his third book, Alachua Ambush.

The Kimball Bookshop is at: https://bookshop.org/shop/seminolewar
His Youtube channel is at: https://www.youtube.com/user/seminolewar/

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. 

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