SW091 Military Exit Necessitates Unregulated Citizen Militia Defense for Florida Homesteads

In the early 1840s, the federal government all but said to Florida settlers, "We have fought the Seminole with soldiers. Now you can take it over." Congress formalized this in the Armed Occupation Act. With the regulars pulling out in 1842 as well as the Florida militia, essentially the task for defending one's homestead fell back to the individual homesteader. How did they fare? What legislation authorized such occupation in Florida? And who were the settlers arming themselves? Called "Crackers" who were they and why did that name attack itself to them. Autodidact Jesse Marshall returns to discuss all of this. 

 

Federal legislation authorized the Armed Occupation Act of 1842 (above) to award grants to individuals. (Below) a roster of citizens' request permits. 

 

 

 

Florida crackers are controversial in that some saw them as benevolent while others depicted them as vile. 

 

 

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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