SW033 Second Seminole War Historical Hobbyist Jesse Marshall Walks the Walk to Talk the Talk

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. 

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