Seminole Wars Authority

SW0149 Fort King’s School of the Soldier Drills Recruits on 1830s Military Practices

This podcast has featured numerous living historians describing life of Florida’s forebears in the 19th century, whether they be soldiers of the Seminole Wars era, or Seminole, or sutlers, settlers, or crackers. More than one young person witnessing this spectacle has wondered, how can I do what they are doing?
In this episode, Kathleen Ramirez and Will Baker-Palenik tell us how. At a special event Saturday, April 15, Fort King park is holding the “School of the Soldier”. It is an all-day, free event where the public can learn about 1830s soldiering and join in the instruction in the manual of arms for the musket.
Kathleen is the Outdoor/Historical Resource Program Coordinator, at Fort King in Ocala. Will is a military reenactor of nearly half a century, starting with Civil War and gradually migrating to Seminole Wars times as well.
They have arranged for wooden rifle drills for kids, hard tack cooking, canvas tent construction, along with cannon and musket firing demonstrations by period-accurate re-enactors of the 1830s U.S. Army soldier. Fort King’s address is 3925 East Fort King Street in Ocala.
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
Will Baker-Palenik provides impressions of pioneers, militia, and soldiers from the 1830s in Florida. When not ensuring programs run without a glitch, Kathleen Ramirez portrays pioneer women. 
 
 
Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla. 
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SW0148 Florida Historians Outline How Seminole Struggled to Resist Full Removal and Succeeded

Last week, John and Mary Lou Missall joined us to discuss the novels they’ve written with the Seminole Wars as its setting. In this week’s episode, they return to discuss The Seminole Struggle, their comprehensive general history of the U.S. Government’s near half-century determination to remove Seminole permanently from Florida in the 1800s.
Spoiler alert: the Seminole struggled to resist but in the end the government failed to remove them all from Florida.  A stalwart few remained behind in South Florida, where, set to their own devices, they have prospered and have ultimately become a valuable partner with state officials in protecting their Everglades sanctuaries. 
 
Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla. 
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SW147 Historians Use Fiction to Present a Novel View of the Seminole Wars

Over the past quarter century, John and Mary Lou Missall have published a number of books, both histories and novels and some soldier letters about the Seminole Wars. These have been well received. The Seminole Struggle – or as some call it, a reckless waste of blood and treasure -- may be the definitive one-volume history of that long conflict between 1817 – some say even earlier – and 1858.
Along the way, they’ve published a book of poetry, This Torn Land, about the wars from that era, and three novels. Hollow Victory, Elizabeth’s War, and What We Have Endured approach this period with a historical foundation but a novel’s flair and punch. In this episode, they join us to tell about the struggle and the suffering both sides endured as presented in these novels, in which historically, the Seminoles bore the most egregious examples.
 
  
 
     
 
   
 
   
 
Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla. 
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SW0146 Archaeologist Uncovers South Florida SemWar Artifacts

The sands of time, nature, and settlement have ravaged the terrain where Soldiers and Seminole battled each other in Florida in the 1800s.
In South Florida, of course, this is true -- but with a twist. In some cases, modern buildings have been constructed atop archaeological sites that had not been previously excavated -- and without disturbing the ground foundation intrusively. That provides the opportunity for archaeological investigation.
For decades, Bob Carr has been Digging Miami, as his new book states. Bob is the director of the not-for-profit Archaeological And Historical Conservancy in Davy, Fla. He has also worked extensively outside of Miami, in the South Florida region at both the Big Cypress Reservation and at the Okeechobee Battlefield. He joins us to discuss how he has teased out the truth from the south Florida soil, what he has found, and why it is important.
 
    
Robert S. "Bob" Carr's latest book is Digging Miami. This book traces the rich 11,000-year human heritage of the Miami area from the time of its first inhabitants through the arrival of European settlers and up to the early twentieth century. This the Seminole presence and the US Army's wartime removal efforts feature prominently in his story. Bob Carr was Dade County's first archaeologist, later historic preservation director, and held the position at a time when redevelopment efforts unearthed dozens of impressive archaeological sites, including the Cutler Site, discovered in 1985, and the Miami Circle, found in 1998. Digging Miami presents a unique anatomy of this fascinating city, dispelling the myth that its history is merely a century old.
   
Bob's work in downtown Miami led to his being featured in cover story for American Archaeology magazine. He has also excavated on islands in the Florida Keys, some as pictured in courtesy image above, featuring Seminole and Miccosukee grave sites. 
Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla. 
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SW0145 Honoring SemWar Combatants Spurs History Student to Don Soldier Gear

We continue our discussion with “new recruits” to the Seminole War living history hobby. Marcus Acosta is a buddy of Ethan Parks, last week’s guest. The two portray Army privates of the 1830s and have “fought” and “died” together on the reenactment stage – but all for a good cause. That cause is honoring the people who fought -- and some who perished -- on these Florida battle sites. Both do this through service representing young soldiers, thereby raising awareness of the humanity of the participants back in those days. They present a neglected history to the public. In this episode, Marcus gives us his impression on the importance of what he does. 
 
 
 
Marcus Acosta with the more formal soldier uniform of the 1830s era. He stands guard at the recreated log breastwork at the Dade Battlefield during the annual park commemoration of the Dec. 28, 1835 battle along the Fort King Road. Below, Ethan Parks, in US Navy JROTC service uniform, joins his friend Marcus Acosta at the commemoration.
 
 
 
Jesse "Archie" Marshall drills the raw recruits. Marcus Acosta is in uniform in the rear; Ethan Parks is in uniform in the front rank.  Below, they both "died" together at a living history program at the Pioneer Florida Museum in Dade City, Florida. But, as Marcus notes, he died knowing Scott's Infantry Manual and so all is good. Next photo, Archie Marshall "died" too. Okeechobee Battle Event photo courtesy of Heather Burney.  
 
 
Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla. 
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SW0144 Young Soldier Recruit Details SemWar Living History Appeal

In the 1830s, the US Army actively recruited young people from ages 16 up to 23 or so as privates to fill its ranks. In time, the duty that service entailed led to assignment in Florida. It was a miserable duty, where there was a war raging between the US government and the Seminole Indians. Soldiers barely able to shave became the instrument to fight the Seminole and remove them to the Oklahoma territory. 
Jump ahead two centuries, one will still find the sky-blue uniforms of those soldiers at living history events, but they are mostly filled out with old timers to the community. Although the regular Army had older troops back in the day, they weren't really this old. 
Now, as a means to infuse some young blood into this history hobby and to more accurately represent the youthful ages of the troops from that period, the informal company of Seminole War reenactors is actively recruit new members. Those who would like to explore these possibilities should contact Ross Lamoreaux  rlamoreaux@tampabayhistorycenter.org with Dade Battlefield Society, or Bill Gruber with the Dade park Bill.Gruber@dep.state.fl.us .
One new member with the history bug is Ethan Parks. He is a junior at South Sumter County High School in Bushnell, Fla. He joins us this week to discuss the ins and outs of getting outfitted and trained up in this specialized martial hobby. He tells us everything one needs to know about suiting up and moving out on the march as part of the spectacle that re-enacts for the public the military conflict between soldiers and Seminole. 
 
 
Ethan Parks with his sky-blue 1830s soldier uniform and kit. Below, Ethan donned his modern US Navy JROTC uniform and carried the US Flag in the color guard at the annual commemoration of the Dade Battle of Dec. 28, 1935 in Bushnell, Fla.   
 
 
Above and below, Jesse (aka "Archie") Marshall takes recruits under his wing to prepare them for soldier life. Here, he gives the troops a much deserved rest after drilling in General Winfield Scott's infantry tactics. He then orders them into a line march. Mentors such as Jesse Marshall, Matt Milnes, and George Webb, among many, many others take the time to help recruits get outfitted, often by loaning their own extra accoutrements.  
 
Amber Lamoreaux, president of the Dade Battlefield Society, and Bill Gruber, park manager at Dade Battlefield Historic State Park, are two key players who help young historical hobbyists enter the soldier living history community. 
 
Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla. 
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SW0143 Gullah Artist Johnny Montgomery Colors SemWar Maroon Heritage with Style

This week we explore cultural art depicting Gullahs, Seminoles, and Black Seminoles or Seminole Maroons. Our guest is artist Johnny Montgomery, a descendant of Gullahs who were forcibly removed from West Africa and shipped in bondage to America.  He is a proud American with no hyphens.
But he is also quite proud of the Gullah people he descended from, growing up eating healthy portions of eel, crab, and grits. He said eating alligator and racoon was not out of the norm. A retired Army paratrooper with time in Vietnam’s jungle, Johnny is a veteran of the defense of Saigon during the Tet Offensive of 1968. He wore jump boots for three decades of military service that took him around the world. And then, upon retirement, he exchanged that life for a more leisurely pursuit with a brush and easel of a painter.
His artwork is a rich and deeply personal exploration of the Seminoles and Black Seminole. Johnny uses his practical knowledge and his heritage to paint history onto his canvases. Johnny Montgomery’s art is important. Single-handedly, he has given us a vision of what the Seminole of many different hues may have looked like during the Seminole Wars period. He paints robust characters with vibrant colors.  
Most importantly, he does this from perspective of a Black man. His Seminoles are not depicted stereotypically and erroneously as “savages” or “slaves.” Instead, he presents them as a real people, who were strong, fierce, brave, and resilient. A major presentation is his Battle of Okeechobee, which hangs at the Seminole Nation Museum in Wewoka, Oklahoma. He has also presented at the annual Seminole Negro Indian Scout Association’s gathering in Brackettville, Texas.
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
       
 
Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla. 
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SW0142 Battle of New Orleans Defeat Proved Disastrous for Seminole

Here’s a little known fact: A Seminole was responsible for the request that brought the British military into the Gulf Coast region during the War of 1812 and set the stage for the famous Battle of New Orleans. [see video series here: https://twoeggflorida.com/1812 or https://youtu.be/t7_dfEWBNYc] Then Chief Thomas Perryman was the Seminole.
You remember that battle, right? General Andrew Jackson and a ragtag force established impregnable defensive positions at New Orleans and whacked back the British on January 8, 1815. Someone later  made a hit single about it in the 1950s, too. I chanted that one as an Army cadence decades later while marching in formation up and down the square.
It was a decisive tactical, operational, and strategic American victory. Tactical since the Americans held the field. Operational since they thwarted British attempts to take New Orleans and thus control of the Mississippi River as part of what we might call the New Orleans battle campaign. And strategic because, well, you’ll just need to keep listening as historian Dale Cox returns to provide the perspective. 
Dale discusses how the American victory nearly led the Congress to reject the peace treaty – and how that might have been a strategic disaster for the Americans. The British were secretly hoping for that outcome. Why? Dale explains why. Also, how if the British had won the battle and overall campaign, their Parliament may very well have rejected the peace treaty as well – or demanded substantial revisions before ratifying it and thereby ending the war. Westward expansion might have been stopped dead in its tracks in the Mississippi River Delta had the British prevailed. As it was, this battle ensured the peace treaty would be ratified and that its provisions would prevail. The most pressing of these for our studies is that it meant the British left the region and left their Native American allies behind to fend for themselves with the Americans. That spelled bad news for the Seminole.
 
 
 
 
      
No image exists for Thomas Perryman and his grave is unmarked. His biographical entry is sketchy. Below, The TwoEggTV video feature series is on Roku and other streaming services and at https://twoeggflorida.com/1812 or https://youtu.be/t7_dfEWBNYc
  
 
 
Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla. 
Subscribe automatically to the Seminole Wars through your favorite podcast catcher and "like" us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube! 

SW0141 Digging Deeper to Find, Share the Past Marks SemWar Researcher

Digging deeper. If there is one central element that binds this community of Seminole Wars historians, it is the passionate desire to dig deeper to find the truth. We examined this with recent guests. Jim Flaherty, Rick Obermeyer, and Jeff Snively are long-time practitioners of this historical craft as citizen scholars. And so is Chris Kimball.
In the early days of the public internet – the long-past 1990s -- Chris set up a site to share knowledge about these wars. He even assembled a county-by-county listing of Florida sites where the wars were fought. When blogs and video uploads became available, early technology adopter Chris dove in, presenting more knowledge and more history about these wars in one place than had existed anywhere else on the internet up to that time.
He wove his knowledge with the Florida park service into entertaining and education vignettes about the war, the people, and the environment. For example, Chris created a series of episodes for YouTube on the clothing of the Seminole, based on the work of Rick Obermeyer, his fellow living history reenactor.
This research material supplied fodder for his three books on Seminole War battles, related newspaper articles, and of letters and diary accounts from people who lived and died during those wars.
Today, Chris returns to the Seminole Wars Authority to tell us about those olden times when pickings about the Seminole Wars were few and far between…until he weighed in.  
 
  
Chris Kimball, son of a Florida ethnologist, spent great time growing up around Seminole. He later chose to portray a Seminole warrior at living history events. On Right, for Chris, his college football team passions are clear but took some challenges when he attended classes at the University of Oklahoma -- Seminole West, as he calls them. Seminole East -- Florida State University -- prevailed in a 2022 bowl game.
 
Chris Kimball dug into the paper archives to discover and document the dates for every Seminole War battle and skirmish. He then designed and created this poster board exhibit display. 
 
 
 
This travel guide, edited by John and Mary Lou Missall, founds its origin in Chris Kimball's old internet page that listed sites around the state with Seminole Wars links. The guide remains free to travelers and tourists.  Screen captures of that site are below, followed by Chris's YouTube channel on this subject.  
 
    
  
 
 
An original 1836 map of the Seat of War in Florida hangs in the visitor center at the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park in Bushnell, Fla. On right, Chris Kimball holds a framed reproduction map received for Christmas 2022. 
Below: Books Chris Kimball has published based on his research as a citizen scholar. 
   
  
 
  
Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla. 
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SW0140 Regular Guy Citizen Scholar Reflects on Four Decades of SemWar Battle Reenactments

As we close this year of 2022, lest old acquaintances be forgotten, we look back at those who were part of the Seminole Wars living history community but who are no longer with us or able to be active. This close-knit community of interest comprises academic historians, for sure. It also hosts large numbers of public historians, the people we call citizen scholars. No paper chase for them to publish or perish. They research for the pure joy of discovery and the ability to share that discovery with like-minded individuals.
With that criteria in mind, we can think of no one better to chat with today than Jeffrey Snively. Jeff is an everyman; that is, he is a spectator who comes out to the Seminole Wars living history events. He could be anyone. In his case, he might be a representative of the audience given that he has been coming to these events for four decades. Let’s just say, he knows where the bodies fell and can even tell you how!
He grew up in Florida, the son of a Marine who fought at the Battle of Okinawa and who earned the Silver Star. A navy veteran himself, Jeff is neither an academic historian nor a living history interpreter. He’s just – as he says, a regular guy, one with a deep passion for interest and desire to dig deeper to find out the whys in history, in our case, the Seminole Wars.
Jeff has been attending commemorative events at the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park since 1983, before battle reenactments were introduced even. For forty years, Jeff has met and observed everyone who has been part of raising awareness of these wars. And he’s here to tell us what he recalls. We’re in for a treat and it is not even Halloween.
 
 
Citizen Scholar Jeff Snively has attended Dade Battle commemorations at the park before they even introduced the living history spectacle in the mid-1980s. 
 
 
 
Jeff Snively recalls Frank Laumer, author and living history reenactor of Pvt Ransom Clark.
  
 
On left, Frank Laumer's signature and inscription to Jeff for Massacre!  On right, Jeff Snively with the memorial wreath at the reconstructed soldier breastworks at Dade Battlefield Historical State Park.  He regularly attends the annual battle commemoration, which is separate from the battle reenactment, and is held on the actual day of the battle, Dec. 28.
 
   
 
 
The late Seminole Billy L. Cypress is the second recipient of the Frank Laumer Legacy Award. Billy Cypress was a Seminole tribal historian who directed the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum and spent a lifetime educating children and adults in the ways of Florida's largest Indian tribe. He appeared opposite Frank Laumer and presented the Seminole side to the Dade Battle of 18354 during living history battle reenactments. Below, his wife Carol accepts the award on his behalf at a Convocation of Seminole Wars Historians in Okeechobee in 2019. 
 
 
 
   
Jeff Snively unearthed a letter from a wounded officer, Richard Bland Lee, a cousin of Robert E. Lee, in the Battle of Welika Pond. An Army adjutant attests to Lee's wounding. This letter provided key information about the battle and its contents had been previously neglected by historians. 
At Fort Foster, which Dr. John K. Mahon told Jeff was accurate down to the last nail, Jeff made friends with U.S. Navy reenactor Greg Centanne, who has portrayed a sailor of the Seminole Wars-era who served at Fort Foster. 
 
 
 
Jeff Snively examined one of the Navy books Greg presents and found a photo inside of his own father, a Marine in combat at the Battle of Okinawa.  
 
 
 
Below are some of the books Seminole Wars Foundation members have published on the Seminole Wars and Seminole. In this episode, Jeff Snively recalls the late Dr. John K. Mahon, the late Dr James Covington, and the very-much-still-with-us Dr Brent Weisman. Seminole Wars Foundation carries these books for sale. 
   
 
 
 
 
Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Fla. 
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