Seminole Wars Authority

SW029 Virtual March Honors Seminole Wars Combatants

This week guest host Steven Rinck, president of the Seminole Wars Foundation, interviews Patrick Swan about The Major Dade Memorial March, a 103-mile virtual challenge that takes hikers on a virtual footpath along the entire unbroken length of the old Fort King Military Road. Similar to the Inca Trail in Peru and Hadrian’s Wall path in England, entrants “walk” (or run) a renowned route steeped in history. This episode discusses how the Army used the Fort King Military Road, how the Second Seminole War began on this road, why it is important to walk the terrain where famous battles occurred, and everything one may want to know about how to participate in this memorial march, including registration fees, benefits, and what exercises are permitted to complete it. Registration opened Veterans Day 2020 and the mission itself launches Dec. 22, 2020 and is open for 90 days after that. Frequently Asked Questions and the registration links are available by visiting www.seminolewars.us
Patrick Swan, the regular host for the Seminole Wars, devised this virtual challenge in cooperation with myvirtualmission.com, which sponsors various fitness challenges at notable sites around the globe. He himself recently walked the length of Roman Hadrian's Wall path in England in a virtual challenge as well as walking it physically in 2016 over 7 consecutive days. He offers insights in what one learns from trekking such distances in person and virtually and how taking the journey along the Fort King Military Road will provide one a greater understanding for significant aspects of the Second Seminole War. 
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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SW028 Park Spotlight: Dade Battlefield State Park Commemorates Historic Military Event, Hosts Engaging Year-Round Events, Programs

This week we begin a recurring special feature, on state and federal parks with ties to the Seminole Wars.
Dade Battlefield Historic State Park, acquired by the State of Florida in 1921 (see full newspaper clipping below), is the second oldest site in the state. It serves as a memorial to the brave men, both soldiers and Seminoles, whose 1835 battle marked the beginning of the Second Seminole War, the longest armed conflict in the first 195 years of American history. Visitors can inspect the recreated breastworks where the last of Dade's men desperately fought off their Seminole attackers, and then stroll down the eerily quiet original trail where commemorative markers note the precise spots where some of the officers fell in the battle.  https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/dade-battlefield-historic-state-park
Ross Lamoreaux portrays an 1835 US Army sergeant as he speaks at the annual wreath-laying ceremony to memorialize the lives lost at the now-Dade Battlefield State Park, in Bushnell, Fla. He stands outside the perimeter to a recreated breastwork of the type the last remaining soldiers used desperately for cover as they fought to stave off the final Seminole attack on Dec. 28, 1835. Courtesy Photo by Linda Charlton, Leesburg Daily Commercial. https://www.dailycommercial.com/news/20181228/dade-battlefield-pays-tribute-to-slain-soldiers
In this episode, Ross Lamoreaux, Dade Battlefield Society president, Seminole Wars-era soldier-reenactor and living historian, outlines how the Society orchestrates its well-known, authentic annual reenactment of Dade’s Battle each January as well as sponsors living history events, nature programs, social functions, educational and recreational activities, and festivals throughout the year.  Some of these include World War II Commemoration Weekend every March, with a nighttime "World War 2 USO-style" entertainment; an historic-era interpretation with period-attired living historians for visiting groups, such as National Guard members, US and Foreign Militaries, ROTC cadets, and students in schools of all grade levels.  The Society increases public awareness of Dade Battlefield and enhances youth education and citizenship through field trips, quality outreach programs, sponsoring of scholarships, and creation of the Dade Pioneers for school-age children and Dade's Youth for teens interested in earning volunteer hours, while allowing them to become Dade Battlefield Society members. 
 https://www.dadebattlefield.com/society.html
 
Tampa Times July 7, 1921 Dade Park Dedication
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 

SW027 Why a SECOND Seminole War? Federal Government's Eminent Domain Land Grab Fueled Removal Demands & Invited Imminent Conflict

There is a short answer to the question, "What started the Second Seminole War?" That’s simple. An ambush. The Florida Seminole Indians attacked a column of American Soldiers by surprise. The Soldiers were marching along the old Fort King Military Road to relieve the garrison at Fort King.
A better question, however, begins with why. Why did the Second Seminole War start? Seminole anger with the US Government. Why were the Seminoles suddenly hostile to the US Government? Because the US Government had unilaterally ended its treaty with the Seminole. Why did the US Government abrogate its treaty and fervently insist they remove from Florida ten years before the treaty’s expiration? It wanted their land. Why did it want their land?  The answer to that question is more nuanced than one may imagine.
In this episode, autodidact, living historian, and military reenactor Jesse Marshall joins us to explain the underlying causes that blazed a path to war between the US Government and the Florida Seminole in 1835.
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 

SW026 War Pressure Forges Lasting Cultural Identity Among Loosely Aligned Seminole Bands

This week we look at how the Second Seminole War forged a distinct lasting cultural identity among the loosely aligned bands of Florida Seminole in the 1830s.
In 1817, two years before the legal transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States, the Seminole Indians numbered as many as 5,000. They were organized into settled towns across North and Central Florida and thriving on an agricultural economy.  By the close of hostilities in 1858, those remaining Florida Seminole, who had not died from combat or illness or had been forcibly removed to reservations in the Oklahoma territory, numbered fewer than 200. These hearty, defiant survivors remained in scattered family camps on mostly inaccessible remote tree islands in the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp. 
It is these Florida-based survivors whose descendants are now organized into the federally-recognized Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians.
Federal recognition depended on cultural survival and continuity of historical identity, both of which resulted from an internalized self-identity born in response to a period of cultural stress and crisis. Among the three federally recognized tribes today, distinct political identities exist.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida has about twenty-six hundred members, with most living on the three largest reservations at Hollywood, Big Cypress, and in the Everglades regions of the Florida South.
The five hundred or so members of the Miccosukee Tribe live on the Tamiami Reservation around U.S. Route 41 west of Miami in the Everglades. A small, politically independent group in Florida lives separate from these two and has resisted federal recognition in favor of maintaining a traditional identity, staying away from modern society.
The third federally recognized political entity is among the descendants of the Seminole deported to Oklahoma during the wars. They comprise the twelve-thousand member Seminole Nation of Oklahoma in the Wewoka area of Seminole county.
In this podcast, we will explore the ethno-genesis of the Florida Seminole. We will define ethno-genesis. And we will explain the continued cultural importance of the Seminole Wars to the people of Florida.
To help understand this is Brent R. Weisman. Dr. Weisman is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of South Florida. He has served as the editor of The Florida Anthropologist, president of the Seminole Wars Historic Foundation, and the Alliance for Weedon Island Archaeological Research and Education, and was a founding director of the Florida Public Archaeology Network. His research interests continue to be Seminole Indian culture and history, Florida archaeology, and North American Indians. He has written and published numerous journal articles and books about the Seminole.
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 

SW025 Archaeologists Reconcile Discrepancies, Omissions in Withlacoochee Cove Battle Accounts

Graphic Courtesy Historical Marker Data Base, HMDB.org
The "big bang" battle that began the Second Seminole War in late 1835 comprised the Seminole ambush of a column of US Soldiers marching along the Fort King Road to relieve that under-manned military outpost. Three big battles followed it, all along the banks of Florida’s Withlacoochee River. Rather than achieve a quick, decisive victory over the Seminole, the Army found itself forced to settle in for a long, hard slog in its removal efforts. Many written accounts survive these battles, but they tell only the Army’s side of the story. And some of these contradict each other.
The need to reconcile historical discrepancies -- and account for omissions of Seminole perspectives --  provided an ideal opening for the Gulf Archaeological Research Institute, or GARI, from Crystal River, Florida. GARI dispatched a survey team to assess incongruities in the official record by examining the terrain features in comparison to known locations and surviving artifacts. From these, GARI drew fresh conclusions about how the battles were fought by each side to the conflict. GARI is the only independent, not-for-profit organization focused on preserving both the archaeological and the natural heritage of Florida. Joining us to explain their findings is Sean Norman, GARI’s acting executive director.
BACKGROUND: The first of the cove battles featured Brigadier General Duncan Clinch in command. He lead a large force toward the Withlachoochee River from his post at Fort Drane, to the north. He intended to meet Seminole chiefs and compel them to accept removal to the Oklahoma territory by it’s the US government’s self-imposed January 1st deadline in 1836.
Rather than conduct a parlay and negotiations, Clinch found himself instead engaged in an intense but inconclusive battle. Some weeks later, Major General Edmund Gaines also sought the Seminole at the Withlacoochee River. He intended to bring them to heel for the annihilation of the Army’s Fort King-bound relief column. He was fortunate to survive a hostile Seminole siege on his position, following an inconclusive battle. Finally, Major General Winfield Scott arrived to try his hand at taming the Seminole at the Withlacoochee River. The Seminoles resisted and bedeviled his efforts bringing a now-familiar result: inconclusive battle.
Copy of 1836 Map prepared by Major General Winfield Scott for engagements in the Florida War. 
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 

SW024 Black Seminole Leaders Offered Key Support, Collaboration to Native Resistance

We have discussed the Florida Black Seminole as a group previously and how they allied with the Seminole against the US Government’s Indian removal policy of the 1830s.  A number of Florida Black Seminole stood out with distinction and are remembered today in history books. students of the Second Seminole War may recognize these names: Abraham, John Ceasar, and Gopher John, also known as John Horse or John Cavallo.
Returning to the Seminole Wars to elaborate on their contributions is Dr. Anthony E. Dixon, who podcasted with us previously to discuss the Black Seminole as a group. He is the author of Florida’s Negro War. Dr. Dixon is also the Founder and President of AHRA, the Archival and Historical research Associates. He an Adjunct Professor of History at Florida A&M University and has been the Field Director for the Florida African American Heritage Preservation Network.
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 

SW023 Battle Log: A Short Review of the Long Seminole Wars and Noteworthy Events

In Seminole & Creek War Battles and Events, Chris Kimball stitches every single reference to a war, campaign, battle, engagement, skirmish, or ambush into the most comprehensive list of such engagements ever assembled. Although the Seminole Wars had a few well documented big battles, it also encompassed scores of small skirmishes that comprised the bulk of the fighting between soldiers and Seminole. Seminole & Creek War Battles and Events offers a regional perspective lacking in accounts of either just the Seminole Wars or of just the first and second Creek Wars of the American southeast. Most of what he chronicles here has been long overlooked in history books.  Finding this comprehensive list in one place is a godsend for anyone who seeks to understand the fighting of this period and is a must-have for anyone interested in Florida or American military history.
Joining us to explain how he assembled Seminole & Creek War Battles and Events and why is Chris Kimball. Chris is a researcher and living historian of the Seminole Wars, and is a member of the Board of the Seminole Wars Foundation. He podcasted with us previously to discuss his reference collection to Seminole War articles found in the Army-Navy Chronicle and his compilation of letters, reports, and descriptions of the war’s bloodiest battles and events in the region of Alachua County, Florida.Chris Kimball has always been interested in Florida history and Seminole Indians due to growing up in Florida.  After earning a degree in Public Administration from UCF, Chris served as a Sergeant in the US Army, in the Adjutant General Corps, where he learned to navigate the various systems of administration and paperwork that the Army is famous for, which prove invaluable for researching Florida Seminole War history.
He is active in historical living history presentations since 1985, and recreates historical clothing, writes articles, web pages, and newsletters.  He has assisted with museum exhibits and made reproductions of outfits for museums.
He created the first book of battles and events of the Florida Seminole War as a resource to provide a better perspective of events that happened in the war. For his next project, he scoured 6,000 surviving pages of the military trade journal printed in 1835 to 1844, the Army and Navy Chronicle, to construct a synopsis of all the Seminole War articles. This project led him to riveting accounts, many previously unpublished, from the latter half of the war around Alachua County, which he summarized in his third book, Alachua Ambush.
The Kimball Bookshop is at: https://bookshop.org/shop/seminolewarHis Youtube channel is at: https://www.youtube.com/user/seminolewar/
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 

SW022 Newnan's 1812 Raid Nearly Leads to 1835 Dade-like Massacre

 
We ended our last episode in September 1812,  just before Georgia Militia Colonel Daniel Newnan prepared to lead an attack on the Seminole Indian settlement called Paynestown in the fertile Alachua region of north central Florida.
This episode picks up as Newnan departs to find, fix, and destroy the Seminole and win some booty for his troops in the process. With us again to explain it all is Doctor James Cusick. As we have mentioned, Doctor Cusick wrote about this in The Other War of 1812: The Patriot War and the American Invasion of Spanish East Florida.
Newnan sought retribution against the Seminole for, well, we are not clear precisely why. Was it because the Seminole backed the Spanish government in Saint Augustine rather than maintain neutrality against the illegal Patriot invasion? Was it because they felt humiliated from an attack by Black militia and Black Maroon Seminoles? Although the attackers did don Indian war paint, the Alachua Seminoles were not part of or behind that attack. Maybe they just thought that as a Spanish ally, the Seminole would be easy mark to whom they could “teach a lesson” -- since they could not get inside the Spanish-held garrison at the Castillo de San Marcos.   
Artist rendering of Newnan's breastwork under siege in September 1812
It is not as if a persuasive justification was needed. The Patriots were mostly land-hungry Georgians posing as Floridians who were disgruntled with Spanish rule. They sought an imagined reason or none at all to stoke an uprising so they could declare a Republic and obtain American recognition for evicting the Spanish. The Alachua band of Seminole Indians resided on a main trading route close to Saint Augustine and who possibly -- the Georgia militia was not sure -- had wealth to pillage and plunder.
Thus, did events bring Georgians -- and by extension, Americans as a whole – into their first large-scale encounter with the feisty Alachua Seminole Indians. Although Newnan’s raid itself was ill-fated – it almost became Newnan’s massacre with his force wiped out – it did expose to the Georgians the Seminole’s rich and fertile grazing and farming land. This "first contact" discovery would, pardon the expression, plant the seed for a return later to take possession of this territory, with or without Seminole consent. The raid became a pivotal, and perhaps inaugural, battle that ushered in a half century of contention and conflict between the United States and the many bands and tribes comprising the Seminole Indians of Florida. These wars ultimately left the Seminole battered severely, partially removed to Oklahoma, but unconquered in Florida when it was all over.
George Militia Colonel Daniel Newnan
 
State Marker for Newnan's Raid in Alachua County  
Marker from Daughters of the American Revolution to Newnan's Raid  
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.

SW021 Prelude to the Seminole Wars: American 'Patriot' Invasion of Spanish East Florida in 1812

To explain how the Patriot War set the stage for an early military showdown between American forces and Seminole Indians, one that would chart the course of US-Seminole relations in Florida for the next half century, is James G. Cusick. Dr. Cusick is the author of The Other War of 1812: The Patriot War and the American Invasion of Spanish East Florida. He is the curator of the P. K. Yonge Library of Florida at the University of Florida, a research associate with the Saint Augustine Historical Society, and a former board member and officer of the Seminole Wars Foundation, producer of this podcast.  
In March of 1812, on the eve of a major war with Great Britain, the United States became embroiled in a military incursion with Spain on its southern doorstep, in Spanish East Florida. Called the Patriot War, the Georgia militia "assisted" local English-speaking Floridians (e.g., "Patriots") in laying siege to Saint Augustine. They occupied nearby Spanish towns and forts in an attempt to seize East Florida from Spain by force. The US Government's special envoy to the Seminole, a retired Georgia governor, George Mathews, sought to keep them neutral in any conflict between the Patriots and Spain. This covert and unjustified military occupation of Spanish territory destroyed livestock and countless homesteads, The "Patriots" claimed to have established a free republic in East Florida. They drafted and approved a constitution, and called for US annexation. All that remained for success was for Spain to surrender her garrison at the Castillo de San Marcos in Saint Augustine.
That surrender never took place. Spain steadfastly held out. The Alachua Seminole ultimately decided to back the Spanish, concluding that while the Spanish would not seek to encroach upon their lands, the Americans, in contrast, likely would, soon or later. Mathews' black interpreter, a slave called Tony Proctor, had escaped his servitude and sought refuge with the Seminole. He confirmed their worst suspicions about the Americans ultimate designs upon their territory. Soon after, as British-aligned Spain vigorously protested this illegal occupation to the Madison Administration, the Patriot's Mission: Impossible began to falter. With America on the cusp of war with Great Britain, and seeking to avoid a two-front conflict, the Madison Administration denied any culpability for the so-called Patriot's conduct. It refused to support or recognize the fledgling Patriot Republic.
Nevertheless, the United States feared Britain might use the port of its Spanish ally at Saint Augustine to land an invasion force against Georgia. So, Madison, as a deterrent to Britain, dispatched the U.S. Army to occupy captured Spanish East Florida posts in place of the Patriots. Spain stayed neutral. Soon, Patriot military forces began to withdraw in quiet ignominy.
Spain's stubborn defense raised the Georgians’ ire. But what they really found intolerable was the Spanish use of black troops to defend Florida from outside its Saint Augustine military garrison. These forces clashed with the Georgians on Sept. 9, 1812 when a war party of Free Black militia and Black Maroon Seminoles, dressed as Indians, boldly attacked and destroyed the storehouses at the Patriot outpost at Picolata on the St. Johns River. This, despite the presence of 250 Georgia Volunteer soldiers. A humiliation such as this would simply have to be avenged.
 
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.
 

SW020 Seminole War Interpreter, Craftsman Trades on Past to Preserve Tribe's Future

One of the premises of this podcast is how the Seminole Wars of the 19th century dead past continue to resonate even to our own times. This may be a hard case to make to a Florida population largely transplanted from elsewhere. For those native to the Sunshine State living outside of the reservation, the case is bit easier.
But, for the Seminole, who trace a heritage in Florida back centuries if not millennia, the past is not dead, as the great novelist William Faulkner put it; it is not even past.
Our guest explains how Seminole still think about those wars all the time as part of their upbringing. They listen to stories about the wars passed down from generation to generation. Even as they reflect on what happened to them in the past, though, Seminole keep themselves well prepared for any recurrence of it in the future.
They are, after all, the unconquered Seminole. The tribe that never signed a peace treaty with the US government ending those Florida wars. They have a reputation to sustain.
Not that they long to go back to war with the US government.
I’m just saying.
Joining us is Brian Zepeda, a member of the Panther Clan who calls Naples, Florida as his home. The tribal artist, although raised in a traditional Seminole village on a reservation, credits the importance of learning his trade in art as equally important as the survival skills his multi-generation family instilled in him. He appears as a living history interpreter at various Seminole Wars battle reenactments throughout Florida in state parks and on the Seminole reservation.
Brian offers a rare glimpse into the Seminole perspective on the wars, on how some of the most popular stories about it, such as the fate of Osceola, differ noticeably from the Seminole understanding, and on how the Seminole maintain their culture today while having fully adapted to 21st century America. [Photos courtesy Brian Zepeda]
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.