Seminole Wars Authority

SW089 Merry Fort Christmas: Replica Seminole Wars Supply Depot Presents Key Logistics Link

In this episode we look at a replica Seminole Wars fort with the peculiar name: Fort Christmas. The fort was built as a resupply station and post for the U.S. Army for its removal efforts against the Seminole. Construction began on Christmas day 1837; hence, Fort Christmas. The original fort was located about a half mile from where the present replica structure stands. Today, one can inspect that replica and visit 19th century buildings as part of the Fort Christmas park about 20 miles from Florida’s east coast, near Titusville.
With us to describe the fort, its place in Seminole War history, and the many historic buildings and artifacts on the campus is Joseph Adams. He is a recreation specialist at Fort Christmas and holds several history degrees.
 
 
 
In year's past, Fort Christmas has hosted living historians portraying soldiers and militia. Kent Low (above) explains process to load the musket. (Below) Troops fire a simulated volley. 
 
 
The reenactors demonstrate soldier marching (above) and soldier defense posture (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. 
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SW088 An Englishman in the Second Seminole War Offers Soldier-Level Recollections on Key Events and Figures in long removal conflict

J
A letter-centric approach came in a 1966 publication; Randal Agostini employed a narrative memoir approach for this version.
 
John Bemrose came to America from England as an unaccompanied 16-year-old in 1831. He served in the US Army as a dedicated hospital steward during the Second Seminole War.
Bemrose documented his five years in America in a series of sixty letters written to his eldest son, Weightman, between November 1863 and May 1866. Randal J. Agostini, the great-great-grandson of John Bemrose, has compiled and edited these fascinating letters into an engaging memoir.
In a first-person narrative, John Bemrose provides unique descriptions of nineteenth century St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Micanopy, and other locations. He offers personal observations of Florida’s diverse populations, and key figures of the Seminole War. Bemrose recounts dramatic battles, difficult marches through the Florida wilderness, and the challenging life of a soldier.
This exciting memoir published by the Florida Historical Society is available to the public in this form for the first time. It provides valuable new insights into Florida history and culture from An Englishman in the Seminole War. Randal Agostini will be at the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park Jan. 1 and 2 to sign copies of his book during the annual living history reenactment of the Dade Battle. Find him at the Seminole Wars Foundation table. 
 
The original book taken from John Bemrose's letters and type set, copied, and bound for Bemrose descendants. Below, Randal Agostini shows off the original manuscript. 
 
 
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!

SW087 Battle of Black Point, a Second Seminole Wars Engagement, Highlights Weekend Historical Fare at Pioneer Florida Museum in Dade City

 
Courtesy photos Pioneer Florida Museum
 
The Pioneer Florida Museum of Dade City is holding a Seminole Wars weekend Dec. 18 and 19. Following its success last year with a living history interpretation of the Treaty of Fort Dade, this year’s event recalls the Battle of Black Point. This was a Seminole attack on a wagon supply train. It is significant because it happened before the Dade Battle in present-day Bushnell, by about 10 days. It demonstrated that safe travel was precarious in December 1835 on the treaty-provided Fort King Road through the Seminole Reservation.
 
Joining us to describe the battle and the overall Seminole Wars programming is Andy Warrener. Andy is a historical research specialist who has curated the Museum’s library and exhibits and coordinated its events since his arrival two years ago. He is also an accomplished living history interpreter himself, portraying figures from various Florida historical periods at events throughout the state.
 
 
(Above) Andy Warrener, historical research specialist at Pioneer Florida Museum, is a living history interpreter at such events as well. (Below) The Fort Dade Treaty (or Capitulation) was portrayed last year at the museum. 
 
Seminole Daniel Tommie demonstrates canoe carving techniques. (Above) (Below) Rachael Conrad portrays Creek "Princess" Milly Francis, who spoke up to save a captured soldier from execution during the1st Seminole War. 
This weekend, the museum unveils the VanBlarcom-Keller collection of Seminole War artifacts, many one of a kind. Ralph Van Blarcom's book  Florida Native American Artifacts of the Seminole Wars and Antiquity about the collection, is in the gift shop along with Seminole Wars Foundation books.
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!
 

SW086 Seminole Martial Prowess, Resilience, and Sheer Stubborness Stymied Army Removal Efforts

Courtesy Hendry County newspaper photo. Seminole's shot arrows in addition to firing rifle rounds. When black powder ran low, they could still engage soldiers, often stealthily, with arrows to some great effect from behind trees and scrub. 
We have long looked in this series at the US military’s various efforts to removal the Seminoles to the Oklahoma territory. We have looked at the Army’s skirmishes, battles, campaigns, and the overall war effort. In all of these, the Seminoles have too often been side players. Seminole takes center stage in this episode.
We will learn who the Seminole were; where Osceola fit into the tribe; how Seminole who chose to remove get out safely from Florida; how Seminole who chose to stay and fight eventually get out safely when captured; how Seminole engaged in battles; and how they separated into smaller bands to stymie U.S. Army removal sorties.
Seminole Wars autodidact Jesse Marshall returns to explain it all.
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!
 

SW085 Festival at Fort King Showcases 1830s Army Life at Start of Second Seminole War

This week we return to Fort King, located in Ocala, Florida. The fort was a focal point in the Second Seminole War, then it was abandoned and Seminole burned its remains. Then the U.S. Army rebuilt it and...abandoned it again. This time, settlers, not Seminole, picked the remnants apart. Then its location was forgotten and unknown until an excavation in the late 1990s by the Gulf Archaeological Research Institute, whose acting director, Sean Norman, podcasts frequently on such matters. 
Ron Mosby, board member for the Fort King Heritage Foundation, joins us to tell us all about what Fort King today is like -- and what visitors will see when they come to visit as well as a good dose of the history behind the fort.
This weekend, Dec. 4 and 5, the annual Festival at Fort King features a living history reenactment of the Seminole Osceola's assassination of the Indian Agent, Wiley Thompson, just outside the fort in late December 1835. There will also be a mock skirmish and many activities for families coming out. 
 
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!
 
 

SW084 1817 Encounter on Apalachicola River Not a Massacre But Still a Seminal Battle in a Long War

More than two centuries ago this week, on November 30, 1817, a lieutenant sailed his boat along the Apalachicola River to destruction. His boat contained 40 soldiers and noncombatant women and children. Seminole, Creeks and Maroons waited for their passing to open fire. Nearly everyone on board was killed in the volley and one white woman was taken prisoner by the Indians. A few survivors made a swim for it and reached a friendly shore.
The action outraged the American public and the Monroe Administration. Newspapers called it a massacre, a name that stuck until very recent times. The action also inaugurated the First Seminole War to the Americans and the long war to the Seminole tribe. Why did they attack this military vessel in what was thought to be a time of peace? What precipitated the encounter? And how did American history change decisively as a result.
Author and historian Dale Cox returns to the Seminole Wars podcast to assemble this narrative and to analyze its short- and long-term effects. First Seminole War lasted under two years but the wars of Seminole Removal lasted from 1817 to 1858, hence, a Long 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. 
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!

SW083 Seminole Removal Ends Overt US Hostilities to Tribe, Creates Unexpected Ally in Oklahoma Amidst Rival Tribes

     
 
Podcast devotees may find it odd that the hatchet was buried so quickly after removal -- at least, by the US Army. With removal came compliance with the heavily flawed treaty imposed on them. As such, they were no longer resisting removal, and thus were eligible for the treaty materiel stipulations offered as compensation for having to move. The federal government did not provide luxuries to the Seminoles for their journey, but it also didn't impose a fine on the Seminole for the cost of their resistance, either. So, there's that. What this meant in practical terms is that the US Army considered the Seminole to be a friendly, peaceful people again -- in the Oklahoma Territory. They encouraged these Seminole to return to Florida as scouts to help locate and persuade other Seminole to join them out West. Some prominent Seminole leaders, known for fierce resistance to removal, took the Army up on its offer. They had their own reasons as shall become clear.
Autodidact Jesse Marshall returns to present the case. 
 
 
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!

SW082 Laumer‘s Legacy: Historians Indebted to Land Developer, Scholar Frank Laumer, Whose Research Excavated from Dusty Archives an Army Private, the Dade Battle, and the Seminole Wars

 
Our listeners have heard much about Frank Laumer. Twice, he led a team to walk the 60-plus mile route of Dade’s fatal march. He co-founded the Seminole Wars Foundation. He authored three books. With the immediacy and intensity of a novel, his Massacre! tells the story of Dade’s battle. He followed this up with Dade’s Last Command, a fact-based chronicle of the overall march, Finally, he penned a novel, Nobody’s Hero, about Private Ransom Clark, one of only three soldier survivors of the battle.
In the summer of 2019, Drs Scot French and Amy Giroux, from University of Central Florida, visited Frank Laumer at his Dade City home, Talisman. They sought to hear from Frank Laumer himself about his research practices and to hear his thoughts on some contentious aspects of the Dade Battle itself and the Second Seminole War in general. Since he began his research in the early 1960s, the late Frank Laumer’s research, books and articles on the Dade battle and the Seminole War have informed and inspired many. One inspired group is the Veterans’ Legacy Project or VLP at the University of Central Florida. Project Director Dr. Scot French said Frank’s research and writings are at the heart of the VLP and are a great inspiration to the team.
[We have invited Dr French to join us in a later episode of the Seminole Wars podcast to share more fully just what that important and noble project is all about and how the Seminole Wars provide ample material. We have also invited UCF’s Dr. Amy Giroux to discuss her project for identifying every Second Seminole War soldier at eternal rest under the three memorial pyramids at St Augustine’s National Cemetery.]
Regular Florida Frontiers radio program contributor, Holly Baker, recorded the session and in October 2019 produced a 10-minute segment.  Florida Frontiers is the weekly radio program/podcast of the Florida Historical Society. Holly is the Society’s Public History Coordinator as well as the archivist for the Society’s Library of Florida History in Cocoa. She and the Society graciously shared their interview recording with us to give our listeners an extended opportunity to hear from Frank Laumer in his own words. The Seminole Wars Foundation extends our great gratitude for this opportunity. We have adapted that interview with minor edits for clarity and narrative flow.
About a month after Holly’s Florida Frontiers feature aired, Frank Laumer died, Nov. 18, 2019. Coincidentally – or not – that was the same day that Ransom Clark died, back in 1840. Clark was only in his twenties; Frank Laumer departed this world at the ripe age of 92. On Frank Laumer's next birthday, March 4, 2020, his daughter Suzanne ("Shorty") sprinkled his ashes on the grave of Ransom Clark in New York state, uniting the two men in perpetuity. 
This week mark’s the second anniversary since his death. In this episode, we present Frank Laumer in his own words. We encounter his folksy personality. We hear his strong opinions on certain matters related to the Seminole Wars. We learn firsthand what a persistent, tenacious attitude he had. He turned over many stones, so to speak, to uncover forgotten or neglected accounts about what he termed, “This Land, These Men.”
Although this graduate of the school of hard knocks declaimed being anything akin to a scholar, Frank Laumer’s body of work says differently. He himself would merely say he was a seeker of historical truth, wherever it might lead him. He quipped that while he was in the land development business, not the digging up bodies business, to discover the truth, digging up bodies sometimes became essential. One literal stone he overturned was – a headstone -- that belonging to Ransom Clark. Frank Laumer did so to determine if Clark had been truthful about his Dade battle injuries. A fascinating story followed where at least one dead man did tell tales.
On the occasion of his 90th birthday, the Seminole Wars Foundation presented Frank Laumer with a seldom seen image featuring Guy LaBree's painting of U.S. Army Private Ransom Clark evading Seminole pursuers after the Dade Battle of 1835.
In his interview, Frank Laumer issued an open invitation for scholars to inspect his research materials. He very much desired for future generations to continue this study – enabled from one central comprehensive repository of books, pamphlets, letters, diaries, memoirs, maps, in print or, where possible, in digital form. That dream will soon become a reality when the Seminole Wars Foundation completes its Frank Laumer Library of the Seminole Wars in Bushnell. It contains more than 500 books related to the Seminole Wars in some fashion, along with priceless survey maps, unpublished letters, and an extensive digital archive of articles, photographs, period newspapers, podcasts – ahem -- and videos. When complete, the Laumer Library will be fully and digitally catalogued for ease of research by visiting scholars to the Foundation’s homestead.
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!

SW081 Dade Battlefield Historic State Park at 100, a Preservation Success Recalling Past Era‘s Deeds

This coming Saturday, November 13, the Dade Battlefield State Historic Park celebrates its 100-year anniversary since Florida acquired the land for the public. In addition, the date is also Florida Heritage Day. Living historians and reenactors, along with craftsmen and vendors, will be on hand to show off their wares and demonstrate how they lived and operated in the 1830s, as well as throughout Florida history going back to the first contact in the 1560s. Joining us to fill in the details and to address the significance of this anniversary is Ross Lamoreaux. He is president of the Dade Battlefield Society and a long-time living historian and reenactor.
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!

SW080 Writer Weaves Tales of Osceola‘s Capture on the Old King‘s Road, Seminole War Flashpoint

 
 
We have alluded to it before: There is a Fort King Road running through the central Florida peninsula. And then there is the Old King’s Road running parallel to the state’s east coast.
The search for the Old King’s Road will take listeners this week through other searches as well: for lost planation gold, for lost sugar plantations, for lost ancestors, and for lost Osceola, who lost his freedom to an Army ruse on the Old King’s Road, just south of St Augustine.
Joining us this week is Bill Ryan. Bill moved to the Palm Coast some years ago and immediately fell in love with his surroundings and with the vibrant stories told about the area. Although visible in only a few places, Bill set out to trace its length and to tell stories related to it. He believes he found the spot where Osceola sought to parley with the Army – and where his camp was. He also investigated an old painting purported to portray Pocahontas but which in fact may have been a rendering of Osceola’s Wife and child.
Bill discusses these in fascinating detail as well as the plots and discoveries from his heavily fact-based historical fiction. His books are In Search of the Old King’s Road, Bulow’s Gold, Osceola: His Capture and Seminole Legends, I am Grey Eyes: A Story of Old Florida, Door to Time in Florida: Past, Present, and Future, and Journey into History: Flagler County, Florida. For more, visit http://www.oldkingsroad.com.
 
 
 
 
 
Photo below is of era-reenactors and living historians with writer Bill Ryan. This site show the marker where Osceola was purported to have been captured while seeking to parlay with the U.S Army. The plaque on it has not survived hunter's buckshot, Bill Ryan says, and is no longer affixed to the marker. 
 
 
Above left: Likely site of Osceola's camp before his parlay; Above right: Bill Ryan treks through overgrowth along the Old King's Road. 
 
The late Willie Johns, Seminole Tribe of Florida Historian and Chief Justice, and someone his friend Bill Ryan called a true warrior. Bill Ryan brought him to the site of Osceola's capture and ruefully noted that Justice Johns may have been the first Seminole at that site in nearly two centuries. 
Above, image of Pocahontas but not really. Bill Ryan discusses how he showed it was more likely a Seminole and possibly Osceola's wife and son.  Below, American Indian National Museum magazine Summer 2013 page 38.
 
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!