Seminole Wars Authority

SW069 Archaeologists, Anthropologists Study Remains of the Day at Tampa's old Fort Brooke Site

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. 
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SW068 Using Conflict Archaeology, GARI Shows Fort King Road as Key 2SW Transport Enabler

 
We return to discuss what archaeologists have discovered after conducting a survey of the Fort King Road. Sean Norman, acting director of GARI, Gulf Archaeological Research Institute, returns this week to brief us on GARI's survey findings on the length and breadth of the Fort King Road. GARI explored post returns [such as this one above from Fort Brooke] for the various forts on the road and they employed a KOKOA approach to assess how the road enabled hostile contact at various vulnerable spots.
Sean Norman explains what data and records and existing terrain 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. 
 
 
(Above) The third part of GARI's survey included spot-check stops at eight locations along the Fort King Road.
(Below) Post returns, such as this one, when categorized with those from other posts, tell a story of Army life in the 1830s and how that life moved along the Fort King Road.
 
 
Post returns included various statistical data that documents personnel, supplies, movement, and the health of the force. GARI sorted the data into comparative categories to gain knowledge on the Army's composition and activities. 
 
Post returns included various statistical data that documents personnel, supplies, movement, and the health of the force. 
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!

SW067 Fort King Road Warriors: Key Avenue Blazes Military Path through Heart of Reservation

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!

SW066 West Florida's 1821 Transfer Ceremony at Pensacola Confirmed US Acquisition, Presaged Enduring Conflict with Diverse Peninsular Tribes

Images courtesy of TwoEgg TV.
We recently podcasted on the 200th anniversary commemoration of the United States taking possession of the Florida territory from Spain. That signing and flag ceremony occurred in St Augustine for East Florida. A week later, Pensacola hosted a similar event for West Florida. Under United States possession, East and West became simply Florida.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wHyDcu4uH0
At sunrise on July 17, 2021 Chief Dan “Sky Horse” Helms, of Santa Rosa Creek Tribe, offered a blessing in Ferdinand Plaza before the ceremony recreating the exchange of Spanish and American flags, 200 years since the first time.
In Pensacola, the University of West Florida’s Symphonic Band played The Star-Spangled Banner and provided a medley of Spanish, British, French and American music. Hispanic musicians drifted through the Village and, just as they did 200 years ago, performers of African descent danced in the plazas. Spanish and English military reenactors mingled with the public for the West Florida Days Living History Weekend event. 
The ceremony 200 years ago was a culmination of sharp diplomatic negotiations sprinkled with outlaw military actions on the American side. It begged the question: Why did Spain part with Florida by 1819 treaty?In addition, what part did border conflicts with the new American republic influence this decision? Even so, why was Spain willing to part with any possession, even one as negligible to its empire as Florida was?
An understanding of Spain’s motivations requires a look at Spanish Florida in 1821. What was Pensacola like at this transfer? What was Florida like as a whole? Why were the two sides joined as one territory? What became of the free whites with multicultural backgrounds already living in Florida? What challenges did free blacks have in U.S. Florida?
And, as for the Seminole, whether two Floridas or one, why did territoriality bring unnecessary oversight from the Great Father in Washington, an oversight that subsequently led to unnecessary conflict, as listeners well know.
With us to sort this out is Dr. Brian Rucker, a member of the 200th anniversary committee. He sketches Florida life at the transfer and addresses these questions.
Doctor Rucker is a Professor of History at Pensacola State College, He also teaches courses in Florida History and History of the Florida Panhandle at the University of West Florida.  He is past president of the Gulf South Historical Association and has authored and edited over 40 books and articles related to West Florida history, including the Gulf borderlands struggles of the early 1800s.
Image courtesy of TwoEgg TV.
His most recent publication is a most engaging change of pace: The Story of Walt Disney World Resort Hotels 1971-2021.  
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 

SW065 Sword-Swinging General Scolds Soldiers, Steeles Resolve at Withlacoochee River Battle

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 

SW064 Historic Florida Militia Commemorates July 10 Florida Bicentennial that Brought Federal Authority, Confrontation to Seminole

On July 10, 1821, the United States of America accepted possession of the Spanish Florida territory in a ceremony at St Augustine. Whatever tranquility the Seminoles enjoyed began to end with this change of ownership. They knew and trusted the Spanish authorities. They liked them because they left the Seminole alone. But these Americans were different. The Seminole had sided with the Spanish in the so-called Patriot War of 1812. Now the patriots were coming to town to run the peninsula. The Spanish days of benign neglect of the Seminoles began to end with this ceremony.
The Historic Florida Militia is providing a living history interpretation with mock proclamation signings, musket and cannon firing, and living historians mingling with the public on July 9 and 10. Maria Alvarez. who run the company with her husband Bob, joins us to tell us about the importance of this transfer of authority to the United States. She also explains how her group brings to life various historic periods, such as Pedro Mendendez's founding in 1565 and Sir Francis Drake's 16th century raids and the British colonial period (1763-1783) in St Augustine's history.  FHM presents the past to the present for the future. 
 
Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of theU.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  
 
 

SW063 At Charleston Conference, CAMP Historians Pay Homage at Osceola's Grave, Tour Fort Moultrie Seminole Prisoner Holding Cells

Dr. Wesley Moody, a member of the Council on America’s Military Past or CAMP, joins us to discuss the historical ties between Charleston and the Florida Territory during the Seminole Wars.The City of Charleston may be in South Carolina, not in Florida, but it retains strong historical ties to the U.S. Government’s Indian Removal Campaign. Fort Moultrie served as a holding area for Seminole awaiting passage to the Oklahoma Territory. The Army detained the famous Seminole warrior Osceola there. He is buried just outside its gates.Respectful grave marker for Osceola just outside main gate at Fort Moultrie.Dr. Moody invites listeners to consider attending CAMP’s October conference in Charleston where they can visit the sites he discusses, as well as Revolutionary and Civil war sites at the port city. Dr Moody closes with an orientation to what CAMP does and how one can learn more about the organization and this fall conference. Find them online at campjamp.org. Registration opens July 15.
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  

SW062 Fort Sumter Union Civil War Commander Battled Seminole at Loxahatchee in 1830s

In April 1861, following a steady barrage of artillery that left him unable to resupply his garrison, the commander of the Union outpost of Fort Sumter, in Charleston’s harbor, surrendered his command to the new Confederates States of America. Some argue that the actions of U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson, an old Seminole War hand, may have sealed the fate unfavorably for the new CSA. While he ordered his men to return cannon fire to the onshore batteries, he specifically prohibited shelling of the heart of Charleston, with all the loss of civilian life and structural destruction. By acting in response to CSA provocations, Anderson positioned his command to be viewed as both a victim of Confederate aggression and as a heroic defender of sovereign federal rights and authority. Who was Robert Anderson and how did assignments in a longer military career shape his temperament as commander of Fort Sumter? Dr. Wesley Moody fills us in. He has embarked on a full-scale biography of Anderson, whom, incredibly, has never had a biography written about him. Our listeners will find it of note that Anderson enjoyed extensive service in Florida, fighting at the Battle of Loxahatchee River, near present-day Jupiter, Florida, and on the staff of General Winfield Scott.
Florida-native, Dr. John Wesley Moody III, has been a professor of history since 2007, Dr Moody has worked as a professor of history at Florida State College at Jacksonville.  Born and raised in Pensacola, Dr. Moody received a Bachelor's from the University of Southern Mississippi; a Master’s degree from University of West Georgia; and a Ph.D. from Georgia State University. He specializes in 19th century American history, specifically military. He is in preliminary stages of a textbook proposal to tell Florida history from first European contact to the present. He is also presently in preliminary stages for a biography of Major Robert Anderson, the commander at Fort Sumter when the first shots there began the military aspects of the American Civil War. Dr Moody is author of four books already, including Demon of the Lost Cause: Sherman and Civil War History; Seven Myths of the Lost Cause; the Battle of Fort Sumter; and a biography of a civil war Marine.
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: seminolewars.org 
 

SW061 GARI Surveys Wahoo Swamp to Spot the Battle Lines to confirm or refute written accounts

 
Sean Norman, acting director of GARI, Gulf Archaeological Research Institute, joins us to discuss the research findings of GARI's report on the 1836 Battle of the Wahoo Swamp. He describes how they engaged the community impacted, surveyed the available terrain, discovered various artifacts, and what GARI concluded in its report.Official register entry for Battle of the Wahoo Swamp from Nov. 26, 1836.
Wahoo Swamp is the battle with the funny name. It provided a bookend to US military efforts to remove Seminole from Florida in 1836. Spring battles within the Withlacooche River region taxed the efforts of a number of Federal Army generals. With these regulars unable to bring the Seminole heal, Florida territorial governor Richard Keith Call, as territorial militia chief, took troops into the Wahoo Swamp to try his hand at removing the Seminole, in this case, using volunteers and Florida militia with available regular troops. His efforts were as futile as the regulars' attempts before him. The battle became known for the death of one of its officers, David Moniac, who had led Creek volunteers and had been the first Native American (Indian) to attend and graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. This is because the battle itself was inconclusive for the U.S. military. For the Seminoles, thwarting American military advance meant they would live another day free 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. 
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!
 

SW060 At Wahoo Swamp, Seminoles Continue to Frustrate Army Indian Removal Plans

 
The battle with the funny name, Wahoo Swamp, provided a bookend to US military efforts to remove Seminole from Florida in 1836. Spring battles within the Withlacooche River region taxed the efforts of a number of Federal Army generals. With these regulars unable to bring the Seminole heal, Florida territorial governor Richard Keither Call, as territorial militia chief, took troops into the Wahoo Swamp to try his hand at removing the Seminole, in this case, using volunteers and Florida militia with available regular troops. His effots were as futile as the regulars' attempts before him.
Craftsman Mark Luther constructed a meticulously accurate miniature representation of the Battle of Wahoo Swamp.
The battle became known for the death of one of its officers, David Moniac, who had led Creek volunteers and had been the first Native American (Indian) to attend and graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. This is because the battle itself was inconclusive for the U.S. military. For the Seminoles, thwarting American military advance meant they would live another day free in Florida.  
National report newspaper account on the battle (bottom second column).Sean Norman, acting director of GARI, Gulf Archaeological Researrch Instititute, joins us to discuss the battle itself and its contours. In our next episode, he returns to discuss the GARI survey on the area of the Battle of Wahoo Swamp. He describes how they engaged the community impacted, surveyed the available terrain, discovered variouis artifacts, and what GARI concluded in its report. 
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!