Seminole Wars Authority

SW059 College History Professor Illuminates Seminole War Research Hurdles, Faddish Academic Theories, and Joy of Discovery

Following three weeks of how-to research methods from Chris Kimball, Seminole War historian and author, we bring an academic into our fold to discuss the view from inside the proverbial ivory tower. Professors battle over arcane academic theories but to do history right, this week's guest says one still must do basic gumshoe detective work to find out what happened and, possibly, why. The great news for researchers is that the Seminole Wars were well documented in writing from the highest levels of government down to the foot soldier or pioneer. Materials are available, even if they are crumbling in one's hands when inspected today. 
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. He compares and contrasts historical research methods, such as those Chris Kimball highlighted. And he discusses contentious contemporary approaches to historical research. Dr. Moody prefers the narrative aoproach, telling a coherent and possibly unified story to understand what happened at a given place and time. Other historical approaches include applying race, class, gender, and sexual identity as the lens through which a historian should view the past. Dr. Moody discusses pros and cons of historical approaches.
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 www.seminolewars.us  
 
 
 
 

SW058 Central Florida National Cemetery Honors Veterans on Seminole Wars Hallowed Ground

In this short second-part discussion, Doug Gardner of the Florida National Cemetery chats about that cemetery and its central location within the battle space of the Second Seminole War. Guest Doug Gardner is a Vietnam veteran. He heads FNC’s monument committee and serves on the Joint Veterans Support Committee. Doug is executive vice president of Flags of Fallen Vets Inc, for Florida. No Seminole Wars veterans are interred there -- a headstone memorializes Creek Indian David Moniac whose remains are thought to be in St Augustine with Major Dade's fallen men. However, as our fellow guest Chris Kimball has pointed out, there is at least one known Seminole Wars reenactor buried at FNC.
That Air Force veteran is David "Chobee" Exum. 
The former delivery driver volunteered for Hillsborough River State Park Native American Living History Programs. Kimball said the funeral for Exum, one of the original group of Second Seminole War reenactors, was quite a spectacle since many of his fellow reenactors paid their respect in full Native American garb.  Chobee was a member of the Royal Rangers and of the Native American Outreach. Two news articles discuss his work. 
A schematic of the FNC's various sections would help one find his grave. His memorial ID is 15901000
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  

SW057 Seminole Wars Panels Available for Proposed Freedom Memorial Plaza at Bushnell's Florida National Cemetery

 
 
We devote our next two episodes to honoring veterans who fell in battle and veterans for whom we memorialize.
In Bushnell, a national cemetery provides an honored abode to deceased American veterans. It is located in the heart of where were waged the first battles of the Second Seminole War
Ironically, Florida National Cemetery at Bushnell, or FNC, contains no Seminole Wars veterans. Only one marker – a headstone – honors Seminole War service. That marker belongs to Creek Indian and Alabama native David Moniac, the first native American graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. His remains are not interred at FNC but his memory is.
 
A unique feature is the ability to take an image of a headstone to learn more about the veteran. 
Overall, FNC contains no monuments to ANY of the wars Americans have fought in.
That is about to change.
Doug Gardner joins us to introduce listeners to the Freedom Memorial Plaza initiative. Its centerpiece is 68 etched panels depicting the various wars Americans have fought in since our nation’s founding.
Several of those panels are available to recognize events from the Seminole Wars of Florida.
Doug Gardner is a Vietnam veteran – welcome home, buddy! – He heads FNC’s monument committee and serves on the Joint Veterans Support Committee. Doug is executive vice president of Flags of Fallen Vets Inc, for Florida.
This week, Doug describes the monument initiative. Next week, on Memorial Day, Doug chats about the cemetery itself.
 
Other monuments include Gold Star Families, missing soldiers, and a monument to veterans buried who had no families to attend the ceremony. 
 
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  

SW056 Unpolished yet Glimmering Gems of Knowledge Await Intrepid Seminole War Scholars

 
This week is the pay off for our time learning about how to research. Chris Kimball has explained how one can search for knowledge on the internet and at libraries. He's talked about how he takes that knowledge and uses it to tell a fuller story of the Second Seminole War. This week, Chris Kimball shares the anecedotes and curious stories about players in the Seminole War -- people and stories he countered in his research.
 
In this episode, listeners will hear about Osceola and the fate of his head and his belongings. They will learn about military inventions or improvements -- land mines and pontoon bridges -- that later came into their own in the American Civil War. They will learn how the Army armed the Seminole by treaty with 2,200 Derringer small-caliber and percussion capped rifles while supply Halls breach-loading musket-rifles that proved easier to reload while horse riding but which tended to break easily or worse, explode. And they will learn about how tempers flare and people die, needlessly and foolishly, and blood fueds are begun...and finished after originating in service in the Seminole Wars. . 
 
Above, Gabriel Rains designed mines (then called torpedoes) that he used in the Second Seminole War and refined later for use in the Civil War. This illustration is a representation of an explosion.
Above, one can find these Jaeger rifles at the Florida Historical Society in Cocoa. They were a coda to a blood fued begun over insurbination and disobedience in the chain of command of territorial militia mobilized for the Florida War. The back story is fascinating and Chris Kimball handles its complexities with aplomb. The Jäger rifle was one the most balanced and compact rifles, very characteristic for its big caliber; equipped with double set trigger, it was very precise, able to shoot big balls having a very high energy. The Jäger rifle was first made in the flintlock version and only afterwards it was transformed to a percussion rifle.
 
Chris Kimball's sleuthing led him to discover that contrary to a headstone in Pensacola (above)that says it contains Major Dade's only daughter, in fact he had another child, a daughter, who died as a toddler. (below)
 
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  

SW055 Delicacy and Discernment Key to Accessing Dormant Knowledge about Seminole Wars

 
Above is an item from Record Group 391, Records of U.S. Army Mobile Commands, 2nd Artillery, entry 81, General, Special, and Other Orders Received from Superior Commands.  This volume includes letters sent from Fort Brooke, December 1835 - January 1836, most of which relate to the Dade Massacre. Librarians explained that they could reproduce portions upon request but that researchers should not attempt to copy its contents on a flat-bed scanner, because it is an exceptionally fragile condition. This document requires a visit to the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, where one can view it in the reading room. How to research at NARA is available at its  https://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/washington
 
Author and historian Chris Kimball returns to discuss techniques to acquire, handle, and categorized dormant knowledge from official records, letters, newspapers, and diaries about the Seminole Wars. Some remains are found on headache-inducising microfilm. Some are scanned and available as PDF scans. And some, like the orderly books from Fort Brooke -- bound into a collected volume by the War Department, can be viewed wearing protective gloves. The books at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Washington, DC, are so fragile, one cannot even scan them on a machine without the pages crumbling from the handling. Instead, the NARA folks permit records copying only by individuals if they use non-flash photography. Or one can read the contents and hand-copy them or type them into a word processing program on a laptop permitted in the research area. 
Cursive handwriting in order books is often quite clear. Chris Kimball laments that much correspondence from military officers compiled in such books is often received looking better than chicken-scratch. That is one of the benefits to recopying the incoming correspondence: Its contents all look as if written from the same hand. If one can't make out an original illegible note from a COL William Harney, one can turn to this book as scribes doubled their efforts to transcribe originals as closely to what was drafted as possible. Translation: they had to be able to decipher handwriting accurately to ensure the Orderly Book was authoritative. 
As onoerous as it may seem, the knowledge represented by words scrawled in ink on those documents still tells tales of worthy of continued interest. The War Department records usually have neat, crisp, clear cursive handwriting. A scribe would take disparate field reports and copy their contents into an orderly book. These were entered based on when written or when received. One may find accounts from the Florida War interspersed with reports from Texas, or the Great Lakes states about military operations. These are often as fascinating as the Seminole War reports. Sometimes, they have indirect ties to the Seminole Wars because of the actions described or the people involved in those actions. But, one won't know this until less on goes paintakingly through such an orderly book to view the collected contents.  Chris Kimball tells what he does in such cases.  
Chris Kinball compiled an index guide specifically aligned with Seminole War reports as presented in the Army-Navy Chronicle. It is a handy "cheat sheet" so one knows what are the Seminole War reference in any given issue of the chronicle -- and where to find them (e.g., inside pages or on the front page, etc...) A problem for Chris Kimball is that he detected an eight-month period when the Chronicle is absent from the collected records in hard-bound books, on microfilm, or on internet-available PDF scans. Were those copies lost? If not, what reason explains the inability to find these "missing" issues. The Chroncile's publisher drafted a Supplement that he inserted into the newspaper at the end of October 1840. He harranged subscribers to finally pay their "dues." And he noted that if military officers who read the Chronicle but didn't pay for it continued in this practice, he would be forced to cease publication as he could not pay his bills otherwise. This was the "smoking gun" that outlined why the Chronicle might not be sustainable. Hence, the supplement informs us that the later issues from mid-January to the end of August 1841 were not lost; they were simply never published -- because of inability to pay the printing costs. The people who scanned the back issues of the Chronicle apparently did not have access to the Supplement as the microfilm and PDF images do not include it. The library at the US Military Academy at West Point, NY, responsibly kept the actual hard-copy issues of the Chronicle in addition to offering the microfilm or online PDF versions for researchers. Because of this, the Supplement was not lost -- and the knowledge it contained about publication problems was preserved to assist researchers even today.  
 
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  

SW054 Author and Historian Shares Techniques to Research the Seminole Wars from Home

The internet and on-site library visits helped John and Mary Lou Missall research their book on the life of an officer who served in the Second Seminole War. Chris Kimball promoted that book on his Youtube Channel. 
The COVID-19 pandemic has led civil authorities to close down many facilities as a public health measure. One of the casualties has been libraries. How do you conduct research when the facilities with the research information are closed? 
In the first of several episodes, author and historian Chris Kimball, author of books on the battles of the Seminole Wars, people in the Seminole Wars, and newspapers covering the war, explains how to use one's keyboard to access the internet and its wealth of resources. He explains reliable sources to consult. Next week he will discuss some of what he found from using such resources, and later he will share anecdotes about people and events of the Seminole Wars that he discovered in the course of his research. These fascinating stories and tidbits add color to our understanding of the war and help to personalize the war when one may look at it in an abstract and impersonal fashion. To find these, one must start with solid sources and the internet and on-site in libraries are two means to start the knowledge quest.  Chris Kimball is also a Seminole living-history reenactor. 
 
The State Library is the RA Gray Library in Tallahassee (above). A look at the stacks on the shelves is below. 
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  

SW053 Seminole Frustrated Army by Fighting 2SW on Its Terms, not by Military Expectations

Reenactment photo (courtesy)
At times in its history, the US Army has personified the admonition that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. This is especially disconcerting since the US Army has been the architect of its past and yet, as in the case of unconventional conflicts, it has often sought to bury those memories in favor of a pledge never to fight in such ways again. The reality is that the Army does not usually get to choose what type of war it fights; its political leaders choose. The unconventional guerrilla-style operations of the Second Seminole War are a prime case in point.
With us today to discuss how the Army wanted to fight the Second Seminole War versus how the Seminole forced them to fight, and how its leaders adapted is Dr. James S. Robbins. He is an author, political commentator and professor, with expertise in national security, foreign and military affairs, military history, and American politics. 
Reenactors fire volleys against Seminole practicing guerilla war tactics (Courtesy Photo)
Dr. Robbins’ books include Last in Their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point. During his years in government service, he directed the U.S. Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence, and also taught International Relations at the National Defense University, and the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College. His insights gained from Last in Their Class inform our discussion today about adaptability against adversity.
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  
 

SW052 Military Strategist Examines Evolution of U.S. Army War Preparations on Eve of 2SW

For nearly 250 years and with a few notable exceptions, US Army readiness has swung like a pendulum from woefully inadequate to veritable invincible force in its engagements for war. From the Revolution to the War of 1812, from the Civil War to the Second World War, too often the Army began fighting unprepared and only over time – and at great cost in blood and treasure -- has it righted itself to gain the victory it sought.
The Second Seminole War was little different. The Army entered unprepared for an extended conflict with Florida Indians. Fortunately, the fate of the Republic was not at stake. After getting whipped in its early encounters with the Seminole in late 1835 and throughout 1836, the Army muddled along through failed strategies and failed tactical execution, through poor supply, poor medicine, and poor conditions, until it belatedly recognized the futility of total Seminole removal, declarejd victory and went home. It left behind roughly two hundred ravaged but still defiant Seminole warriors and their families to live in peace, at least for the time being. It learned some lessons from the conflict but these were quickly forgotten, along with the war, when hostilities finally ceased. The Army's lesson was not to get involved in THIS kind of war again. 
Historically, why has the Army done this? In Preparing for War: The Emergence of the Modern U.S. Army, 1815-1917, JP Clark, a US Army colonel, Army War College professor, military strategist, and military historian, answers why, especially for the Second Seminole War. He weaves the chronicle of the US Army's state in the 1830s into an overall century-long narrative of challenge, change, and adaptation. He examines four generations of Army forces and how military culture evolved from just after the War of 1812 until our expedition overseas in Europe for the Great War in 1917.
Although every Soldier carried a musket, marksmenship was limited to rote reputation of the manual of arms and close-order drill. Soldiers rarely practiced weapons firing. Despite the weapon's inaccuracy, they were important because one could affix bayonets -- the ultimate weapon of the era. (courtesy photos)
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  
 
Likes | Share | Download(35)

SW051 War as Indian Removal by 'Other Means': Applying Classic Prussian Military Strategist's Insights, Maxims to Second Seminole Conflict

The US Government passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and that political decision led to U.S. military demands that the Seminole relocate to Oklahoma. The US Government accepted that it might require waging war to enforce the removal. The great Prussian military strategist Carl Von Clausewitz anticipated this contingency: "War is the continuation of politics by other means."Clausewitz warned, though, "No one starts a war -- or rather, no one in his sense ought to do so -- without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by the war and how he intends to conduct."
The Seminole were clear on their political objectives in opening fire on Major Dade's command to begin formal hostilities with the U.S. government: Wage war until the Army agreed to stop forced removal to Oklahoma. They would fight on the run if they had to, with hit-and-run tactics and nuisance attacks. But they would still fight. 
In response, the U.S. Army embarked on a punitive operation against the Florida Seminole to achieve its own political objectives by warlike means. It seemed a simple enough proposition. Engage the Seminole in a big battle. Defeat them. Remove them. Restore peace. No one in America had read how Clausewitz would have scoffed at this simple proposition. In war, he wrote, everything is simple. But the simplest things are very, very difficult to perform
Removing the Seminole was only simple on paper. More than seven years later, the U.S. Army had not completed its simple mission to capture all the Seminole and deport them. It eventually gave up on 100% removal, packed up, and went home.
Joining us is US Army Colonel and War College graduate JP Clark, a military historian and a military strategist. He explains how an understanding of Clausewitz could have informed officers in the Second Seminole War -- and does inform us today. Without a copy of On War in its collective haversacks to inform and guide its strategy, operations, and tactics, the Army muddled along in the Second Seminole War. Much blood and treasure might have been spared had the Army's senior officers known of and embraced Clausewitz' strategic insights. 
 
Who was Carl von Clausewitz?
Clausewitz' insights continue to resonate two centuries after he penned them. His relevance to thinking about strategy remains undiminshed by time. 
 
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  

SW050 Park Focus: Loxahatchee River Battlefield Park Hosts Sites of Second Seminole War Clashes

Living historians and the public have a blast at battle reenactments. Photo by Andrew Foster
Who oversees custodial care for Seminole Wars battlefields? For years, it has been hard to even determine where some battlefields were. Florida's landscape has changed much in 180 years or so, some nature's doing, some not. In Jupiter, concerned citizens banded together to care for two battlefields near them. They formed the Loxahatchee Battlefield Preservationists. The LBP protects and safeguards the Loxahatchee River Battlefield Park, along with the 6,000-year-old prehistoric Native American occupation area contained therein. Joining us today to discuss the LBP’s efforts, the park, and to provide an overview of these battles is the vice president of the LBP, Andrew Foster. He also has taken many exceptional photographs of the living history events. Many of those photos have helped illustrate these podcast episodes.
Park visitors learn about Seminole lives and fighting spirit and U.S. Soldier life. Photos by Andrew Foster
 
     Photos of Andrew Foster by Heather Burney
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