Seminole Wars Authority

SW039 Army Victuals: Jerry Morris Takes Measure of Marchers by the Volume of their Vittles

[Editor's Note: This is the 11th 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 in just a few days, on Dec. 22. Registration to join Laumer's Legion is now open. Visit www.seminolewars.us for details.]Courtesy photo Linda and Jerry Morris at St Francis Barracks, St Augustine, Fla.
In this episode, Jerry Morris discusses his 1830s victuals display and the pamphlet he penned based on it along with his overall research, entitled The Army Moves on Its Stomach. He does not ration his insights here but doles out healthy portions to help listeners understand what it took the Army to feed its troops on a 7- to 10-day march between military posts in Florida.
Why did he do this? Because it wasn't enough for ex-paratrooper Jerry Morris to march 60 miles with Laumer's Legion in 1988, retracing the 1835 route of Major Dade's fateful march to massacre. He had to map it as well and he did with Jeff Hough in The Fort King Road: Then and Now. Even that wasn't enough. Jerry Morris also wanted to know what the Soldiers ate along the march route. He had wondered about this while he himself was marching five days from Tampa to Bushnell. The contemporary fare he nibbled upon gnawed at his conscience. This wasn't what they ate, he told himself. A library quest soon ensued and after that, a compilation of recipes and after that, carefully measured amounts in mason jars along with baked hard tack meeting all 1830s standards for quality (Note: no worms. Those only came later with the Civil War and unscrupulous contractors). He soon had a field table display from which he educated spectators visiting various Seminole War battlefield sites during living history demonstrations. With his great wife Linda, Jerry moves the accoutrements in a trailer from site to site today, even though he now moves around in a mobility scooter. From middle school students to the author of the History of the Second Seminole War, Dr. John Mahan to a five-year-old girl attending a battle reenactment with her dad, Jerry gives every presentation as if it was his first one and with the personal delivery one would expect to his dearest friend.
Courtesy photo Jerry and Linda Jerry Morris at Seminole Wars Battle Reenactment 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. 
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 

SW038: Military Marcher Maps Full 1835 Major Dade Route on Fort King Road and Then Some

[Editor's Note: This is the 10th 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. We launched Dec. 22. Registration to join Laumer's Legion is still open. Visit www.seminolewars.us for details.]
Courtesy photo of Jerry Morris holding part of a Gunter's Chain
It wasn't enough for ex-paratrooper Jerry Morris to march 60 miles with Laumer's Legion in 1988, retracing the 1835 route of Major Dade's fateful march to massacre. He wanted to "finish the march" continuing another 40 miles north from the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park to re-created Fort King in Ocala. Told no one has re-mapped that route from the old 1840s survey maps, Jerry replied, "Then I'll do it." And so he did. Many years and a collaboration with Geospatial Imager Jeff Hough later, they published The Fort King Road: Then and Now. The unspoken question gnaws at us, though. How did they do it then and now. 
 
In this episode, Jerry Morris explains the ins and outs of surveying in the 1600s and 1700s with so-called Gunter Chains, named for its inventor. He then recalls just what it took to assess the old survey maps -- spot check their accuracy with these Gunter Chains -- and overlap aerial photographs and satellite imagery to produce a highly accurate representation of the old Fort King Military Road. 
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 

SW037 A More Detailed Look at how Major Dade Led His Troops to Massacre on Fort King Road

[Editor's Note: This is the ninth in a series of podcasts promoting the Seminole Wars Foundation's self-paced virtual challenge, The Major Dade Memorial March to Fort King. We launched Dec. 22. Registration to join Laumer's Legion is still open. Visit www.seminolewars.us for details.]
"Dade's Battle" Copyright Guy LaBree 1987
U.S. Army Major Francis L. Dade’s movement of a combined artillery and infantry column from Fort Brooke to Fort King is a controversial one, mainly because it ended in disaster. Dade knew such movement could be dangerous but believed the intent of the orders from General Duncan L. Clinch were clear: reinforce the garrison at Fort King without delay. This would explain why he did not wait for the two additional companies that were expected to arrive any day to join him. But, other questions remain. Why were communications interrupted between Fort Brooke and Fort Drane, where General Clinch was planning a campaign to confront the Seminoles about removal to the west? What was the terrain like that Dade’s column had to traverse? What were his troops eating on the march? Did either of these hamper Dade’s ability to move his troops with alacrity to relieve Fort King? What were his troops carrying? What role did their heavy great coats, worn to protect against cold and rain, play when the troops came under fire? How did Dade’s men maintain their professionalism and good order when the Seminole assault ripped through their ranks? After they won the battle, why didn’t the Seminole take any prisoners? And were the Seminole actions to dispatch the wounded soldiers a massacre, as portrayed in news accounts, and a violation of accepted norms of war?
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.
Dade Battlefield Sketch from Diary of Surgeon Nathan Jarvis, 1836
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 

SW036 Major Dade's Column Battles Seminole Ambush on Fort King Military Road 185 Years Ago

[Editor's Note: This is the eighth in a series of podcasts promoting the Seminole Wars Foundation's self-paced virtual challenge, The Major Dade Memorial March to Fort King. We launched Dec. 22. Registration to join Laumer's Legion is still open. Visit www.seminolewars.us for details.]
Dade Battle by Ken Hughes 1974 Miami History Center
Over several episodes, we have alluded to or briefly described the Dade Battle of late December 1835. The time has come to take a deep dive. The Dade Battle, also known as the Dade Massacre, arguably served as the opening shots to the Second Seminole War. Other shots were being fired throughout Florida in that December as well as in the months leading up to this engagement. But this was the Big Battle that seized everyone’s attention and that informed the U.S. Government that the Seminole would not go quietly into Oklahoma exile.
With us today to set the scene and describe the Dade Battle is Ross Lamoreaux. Ross is a military re-enactor, a museum exhibitor at the Tampa Bay History Center, the newly elected president of the Dade Battlefield Society, and someone who has actually walked the path of Dade’s march from Tampa toward turmoil in present-day Bushnell.
Post return Dec. 28, 1835, list of casualties from "Engagement on the Withlacoochee" 
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

SW035: Original Laumer's Legionnaire of 1963 recalls 1988 Second Major Dade Commemorative March on Fort King Military Road

Making progress to Dade City (above) (Below) newspaper article with Frank Laumer, Chris Laumer and assorted marchers. 
[Editor's Note: This is the seventh 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 in just a few days, on Dec. 22. Registration to join Laumer's Legion is now open. Visit www.seminolewars.us for details.]
Our guest this week is one of the last remaining survivors of – well, not Maj. Dade’s march of 1835 from Tampa to Ocala – but of the first Laumer’s Legion, in 1963, that sought to retrace Dade march along a rediscovered Fort King Road. That group succeeded in reaching Bushnell and the Dade Battlefield Historical State Park, where Dade’s journey came to an abrupt halt from a Seminole ambush. The first Laumer’s Legion had no need to track it any further because Dade’s column was unable to trek it any further. Battle survivors had returned to Fort Brooke in Tampa rather than marched north to Fort King, which was a shorter distance but had unknown composition of Seminole who would oppose any passage through.
Chris Laumer was 12 years old in 1963. He walked one long, full day with his father, Frank Laumer, family friend William Goza, and several other interested impresarios eager to blaze the pathway anew. Twenty-five years later, his father decided to try it again, this time attired as a blue-sky uniformed 1835-era Soldier, one who would march himself, ford rivers himself, and camp overnight himself to gauge a Soldier's life moving through hostile Indian country, as we term it today. This time, Chris chose to accompany his father – with a legion of historical hobbyists – for the full five-day walking journey.
In this episode, Chris shares insights on the difference between the two marchers as he perceived them, whether he thought the marches were a good idea, and what he gleaned from them about the arduous nature of a Soldier’s life back then and how alien it appears to us today. Chris and I shared narration duties of William Goza’s 1963 book on that pathbreaking march for an earlier episode of this podcast.
(Above) Crawling under property owner's fences did not appeal to Chris Laumer. (Below) Emerging from swamps, the Legion enters Zephyrhills city streeet.
Chris Laumer then (1988) and now (2020)
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 

SW034 Doubting Thomas: Did Dade Battle Survivor Truly Trek an Epic Feat of 60 miles Overnight to Break the News to Fort Brooke?

[Editor's Note: This is the sixth 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.]
With military marching, only the first 100 miles are hard.
If you are thinking that our virtual march challenge will be tough to complete at 102.3 miles over 90 days, then consider the case of U.S. Army Pvt. John Thomas, a wounded survivor of the Dade Battle in Bushnell. Under penalty of sudden death at Seminole hands, he high-tailed it back to Tampa – some 60 miles and overnight in hostile Indian country –  wearing 1830s-era Army boots (and not much else!) to break the news. Let's just say, his trek was "incentive-based."   
In this episode, we examine his story. While Soldiers dragged cannon and limber across the bracing, swift Big Withlacoochee River Dec. 25, 1835, Thomas injured his back severely pulling with them. A surgeon later certified him 3/4ths disabled. Historians have debated whether Thomas then left immediately for Fort Brooke, or continued with Maj. Dade's column. Either way, post returns show Thomas arrived Dec. 29. So, he either tramped back at a brisk clip of 60 miles in 30 hours with a thigh wound and an injured back after the fight -- a most challenging hike without question but not infeasible -- or he was competing for the distinction of the most malingering messenger of all time, sauntering back a full five days after this Dec. 25 crossing mishap. Listen to Jesse Marshall, our resident autodidact and aficionado on most things related to the Seminole Wars, explain not only how Thomas could have done it but also why many continue to doubt it to this day.
The late Dave "Boxcar" Leonard, long-time 1830s Soldier living historian who walked the walk, like Jesse Marshall, so he could talk the talk. He marched with the 1988 iteration of Laumer's Legion from Tampa to Bushnell to commemorate Maj. Dade's march of 1835. He even had his prescription adapted for that spectacles modeled on that era. He brought natural food snacks with him on that several day excursion and, of course, wore his uniform, carried his rifle, and camped overnight along the way to add authenticity. He would have appreciated Thomas' feat (and feet!).
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 
 

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. 
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 
 

SW032 Frank Laumer and Co. Blaze New Path on an Old Trail in 1963, Retracing Fatal Steps of Major Dade's 1835 March along Fort King Military Road

Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott published a map of central Florida detailing the route of Dade's 1835 march along the Fort King Military Road from Fort Brooke, in Tampa to Fort King in Ocala. Thecolumn never arrived. 
[Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a series of podcasts over the coming weeks promoting the Seminole Wars Foundation's 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 this episode, we present an adaptation of William Goza’s Fort King Road 1963 booklet. Although Mr. Goza has passed away, along with Frank Laumer,  a participant from that 1963 march still lives today. Frank Laumer’s son, Christopher, now age 69, walked part of the route with the men when he himself was 12 years of age. It is our distinct pleasure to welcome Chris to our podcast to read the first-person portions of William Goza’s account of the first march to specifically mark that trail since Major Dade himself trod it with his doomed 108-man detachment of artillery and infantry soldiers in 1835.
Background:
In 1963, land developer Frank Laumer and Clearwater attorney William Goza, joined by a St Leo College student, Jim Beck, decided to take a little hike in the country, tracing the path of Major Dade’s ill-fated column from Tampa to present-day Bushnell, Florida.
   Frank Laumer and Co. (above) arrive at Dade Battlefield Historic State Park in December 1963 and accepts greetings from the Park Superintendent. In the 2010s, Frank Laumer (above right) gives a public address at Dade Battlefield Historic State Park.
The trek attracted many camp followers – and a few members of the news media. The men had successfully re-established a walking trail that mirrored that of Major Dade in 1835. They donated copies of their maps to the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park and to the Florida Historical Society. And William Goza dedicated himself to drafting an account of their motivations, planning, and many-day journey to the site of what was then still called “The Dade Massacre.” The product of that work became a short booklet, The Fort King Road 1963.
William Goza, who died in 2008 at age 90, lived a long and prosperous life as an attorney and municipal judge, after serving honorably as a battery commander during World War II.  But his true passion traced a different route, that of Florida history and forensic science. Twice president of the Florida Historical Society, William Goza was a life-long student of the Seminole Wars and a board member of the Seminole Wars Foundation. He participated in many Dade Battle talks and participated in the acquisition of the US Army Lt. Henry Prince Seminole War diary at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Mr. Goza participated in the investigations of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of President (and one-time Florida War commanding general) Zachary Taylor, the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizzaro, and Joseph Merrick, the so-called “Elephant Man.” This work in forensics is believed to have influenced his good friend, Frank Laumer to seek answers about Dade Battle survivor, Ransom Clark, by having his remains exhumed and examined by a professional pathologist. This confirmed that all Private Clark had stated about his battle wounds was true. 
Frank Laumer was instrumental in getting a new VA headstone for battle survivor Ransom Clark. He acquired and donated the legacy headstone to the Tampa Bay History Center. (below)   
 
The 1963 march attracted much news media attention. Chris Laumer, who narrates William Goza's first-person portions of the trek account, is pictured in a photo in the top news article. A Miami newspaper (below) organized a mock Seminole ambush, led by Chairman Howard Osceola, as Frank Laumer's party approached the famous Dade's Breakfast Pond, four miles shy of the Dade Battlefield. All survived and a friendly campfire cookout followed. 
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 
 

SW031 Despite Close Call, 3rd Time is Still a Charm for Dade Marchers on 2004 Fort King Road Trek

Editor's Note: This is the third in a series of podcasts over the coming weeks promoting the Seminole Wars Foundation's 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 modern times, there have been three formal treks commemorating Major Dade’s march from Fort Brooke to catastrophe, near present-day Bushnell. The first was in 1963. The second was in 1988. And a third was in 2004.
In this episode, Ross Lamoreaux returns to the Seminole Wars podcast to describe what that third march – and his first – was like and what perils these marchers encountered along that most dangerous stretch of the old Fort King Military road called...US Route 301. Ross then spends a little time explaining what it means to be a living historian military reenactor at sites such as the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park, where he often portrays soldiers but sometimes an individual, such as Captain Gardiner’s from Dade’s column.
Ross Lamoreaux, current president of the Dade Battlefield Society, portrays a 1835-era US Army Soldier at the annual memorial to the fallen combatants at the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park in Bushnell, Fla.
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 

SW030 On Whim, Ex-Paratrooper, Trucker Joins Laumer's Legion for 1988 March to Dade Battlefield; Remains a Stalwart Sentinel

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of podcasts over the coming weeks promoting the Seminole Wars Foundation's 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.
Jerry C. Morris spotted the innocuously titled newspaper notice by chance in the Nov. 20, 1988 Tampa Tribune-Times: "Historian to Lead Excursion." That historian was the late Frank Laumer and he was recruiting his legion of soldier-reenactors to recreate the march of Major Francis L. Dade's ill-fated column along the Fort King Road, from Tampa to Bushnell. The former trucker and ex-paratrooper gave it a moment's consideration and told his wife, Linda, "I think I want to do this."
No longer as fit and trim as he was when he jumped out of perfectly good airplanes for the Army in 1956, nevertheless, 50-year-old Jerry signed up. At a planning meeting with the Dade Battlefield Society, the personable Jerry quickly made contacts with living historians who helped outfit him in the proper period soldier’s attire. A month later, in late December 1988, Jerry joined a group of not especially fit middle-aged men to pace the route of Major Dade’s ill-fated march of 1835. Although its composition was not exactly the size of a Roman Legion -- or even a Roman Century, for that matter -- when the trek began, the hard-physical marching soon quickly decimated the ranks hour by hour and day by day until by the time they reached Dade Battlefield Historic State Park, roughly a baker's dozen of hearty troopers remained. Among them was ...Jerry Morris, who said he really only intended to walk one day's worth (12 to 15 miles) just for the experience. But, one foot in front of the other lead to one hour after another and one day after another until five days later he found himself, to his complete surprise, finishing the 60-mile or so trek.
Jerry joins us to tell us first his story of how a scrawny teenager, standing 5'9" and 119 pounds soaking wet, proved the Army doubters wrong about his capabilities and physical caliber to complete airborne training and become an elite paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. Then he explains how that drive, determination, and stick-to-itiveness served him well 32 years afterward when he decided on a whim to become a soldier volunteer again, enlisting in the elite ranks of the historical-enthusiast marchers of Laumer's Legion. Jerry has remained a stalwart sentinel every since, proving himself many times to be an indispensable voice, mover, and shaker in the Seminole Wars' commemoration community to this day.
Once a scrawny 5'9" 119-pound teenager, Jerry built himself into a man "built like a fireplug" (above) with paratrooper jump wings tattooed to his "slab-like" forearm, Jerry Morris set out cheerfully on a whim to march the Fort King Road with Laumer's Legion in 1988. Enraptured by Frank Laumer's captivating campside tales of Dade's men in 1835, Jerry has stayed on with the troop, remaining a stalwart sentinel in the Legion's informal ranks, ever since.
In an Aug. 15, 2015 commemoration of the 1842 procession and interment of the remains of Dade's men into the St. Augustine National Cemetery at St Francis Barracks, an older Jerry Morris (above and below) rides atop a memorial caisson with funeral pall, pulled by 2 elegant mules, owned and driven here by Denise and Tom Fitzgerald.
Completing the march to Fort King has been Jerry's longstanding dream ever since the 1988 march. Relying on a motor scooter for his mobility these days, Jerry even at 82 has never surrendered that desire. On Veterans Day 2020, Jerry registered formally for The Major Dade Memorial March virtual challenge so he can finally reach Fort King, 32 years after he first entered the elite ranks of Laumer's Legion. We'll hear more from Jerry in upcoming episodes about how he researched and documented the full route of the Fort King Military Road, as well as a pamphlet, An Army Moves on Its Stomach, about what soldiers ate as rations in Florida-based Army garrisons and while marching along blazed trails, such as the Fort King Military Road.   
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