![]() | |
I just found a copy of Flamingo Magazine from November 2018. I tried to restrain my comments, and believe me, this came out a lot shorter than originally written. In the magazine, there is an article on Osceola and Major William Lauderdale, from whom Fort Lauderdale was named. The article has some beautiful photos and layout. Unfortunately, the text of the article is total crap. The article starts out with telling the tragedy of Negro Fort / Prospect Bluff, and says that Osceola, as young Billy Powell, and his mother were there. “Out of the rubble of the old fort, as he rose from the piles of bodies left behind in the summer sun.” We have no evidence that they were there. As part of Peter McQueen’s band, there is no evidence that Peter McQueen and his people were ever there. We do know that McQueen’s band was defeated and many captured in 1818 by forces under Creek leader and American ally William MacIntosh on the Econfina River. Osceola and his grandmother were among those captured at Econfina. If there is any connection between Osceola and the destroyed fort at Prospect Bluff, there are no historical documents that I have seen to connect the two. It seems to me that the author is combining two fashionable subjects—Osceola and the fort as Prospect Bluff—for his own agenda. This is a disservice to the many people and warriors who participated in history and who are largely forgotten. It wasn’t all just about Osceola. ( Read more...Collapse ) |
![]() | |
For those of you participating in the two different Seminole War reenactments this weekend, have fun, and I hope your festivals are successful and nobody gets hurt. I will not be there for very specific reasons. And specifically; my background as a former safety supervisor with the state parks has made me a marked man and libel if anything goes wrong at your festival. Back starting in 2007, when I worked for the Florida State Parks, I was a participant with establishing the blackpowder safety standards and rules developed for the reenactments and living history programs. The state parks have a written policy and guidebook that is published for all to see. The manuals of Florida State Parks Historic Weapons Firing Safety Program cover either muskets and small arms, or artillery. And I was very proud to be a Safety Supervisor at various events at state parks for a few years. Although I no longer work for the state parks, I still have the manuals of the safety program we developed. It has changed for later time periods, but I agree with the program that we developed for our antebellum period. ( Read more...Collapse ) |
![]() | |
A few years back, I met a woman at the Miccosukee festival who was a member of the Miccosukee Tribe. When I mentioned that I I’ve done reenactments, she bristled and said, “They just want to kill Indians all over again!” It made me stop and think of her sentiment, and why she thought that way. Are we just glorifying the bad part of history? Our goal as interpreters is not to show death and bloodshed, or just have a battle. The woman had a very good point. It was a very difficult part of her history. A documentary I saw of Creek people in Oklahoma, explained that they did not speak about the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and the Creek War that happened 200 years ago at their community grounds because of the bad memories that it brought up. I talked to a Creek friend from Oklahoma who was visiting this past summer, and they do not talk about the history that happened here in the east. These are bad memories for them, even if they were six or seven generations ago. Jack Martin in his book, “Sacred Revolt,” one of the best that covers the Creek War causes & effects, in my opinion, starts out with a very good point. He writes: “I was disturbed at the way historians left those people dead on the battlefield without ever bothering to ask who they were and why the fought? It was as if scholars were killing them over and over again by failing to imagine their lives, symbols, desires, and perspectives.” ( Read more...Collapse ) |
![]() | |
I have had several comments and issues on the Seminole War Facebook page this past month that I want to address. The DNA ancestry tests are more popular than ever. There are several different DNA tests on the market. People are taking them to see if they have Native American Indian ancestry. Often, the results are confusing.
Sometimes these results bring up more questions than answers. My test said that my ancestry was about 12 percent of Italian and Spanish ancestry, of which I had no idea, and do not know where that came from. I thought that most of my ancestors are fairly well document, but I guess not. Then according to National Geographic, we all came out of Africa 100,000 years ago, and I have some DNA from Denisovan and Neanderthal. Denisovan is related to Australian Aborigine; maybe I should claim that? This is all very interesting, and fun to talk about, but totally meaningless in the long run. It won’t get me anything. Records written down by my great-grandmother are more meaningful than this test. People want to take these tests and prove they are Native American Indian. Some even told me to prove they are Creek or Seminole. If they need a box with a test tube to spit in to prove they are Creek or Seminole, then I will tell them that they are not. The only way that you are going to prove to me that you are Creek or Seminole is by the scratches on your arm. It has always been about community and culture, not spitting in a bottle. |
![]() | |
Recently, I saw a fuss raised on facebook. Usually, I would not comment about it. But it has to do with a change of an upcoming event at Dade Battlefield. Dade Battlefield does an annual World War II event and has for probably the past 20 years. This is relevant to what happened there. Back in World War II, the Army Air Corp took over the park and turned it into a training base and prevented outsiders from visiting, due to the secrecy of the training. I am not sure how long this lasted, but I believe that the dates on Wikipedia are wrong, which only say about five months. There is much more information in the state archives of what happened at the park during that time. For those not familiar with Dade Battlefield Historic State Park, the park was established in 1921 or 22. The monuments, stone bridges, and a band kiosk are the oldest structures in the park. The museum was not built until 1957. Other than that, there is an activity lodge with a kitchen that can be rented, picnic pavilions with a restroom, and a playground. A nature trail, and in total, 80 acres. It is a small park, and I am not aware of anything that remains from WWII. But, that is still part of the history. |
![]() | |
![]() (Image above: Fort Fraser from the book, “Florida’s Peace River Frontier” by Canter Brown, Jr. We don’t have many images of Florida forts during the Seminole Wars, and this is your classic style fort. What is unusual is that the horse stable is inside the fort, which would lead to unhealthy living conditions.) However you spell it, Fort Fraser, Frazer, or even Frazier, is spelled different ways on the Post returns from 1837 and 1838. It depends on which officer was writing it out. The fort was named for Lieutenant Upton Fraser, who was killed with Major Dade’s command. The fort was established in late 1837 during General Jesup’s three-column movement down the peninsula. ![]() Image above: Historical marker, which unfortunately doesn't give enough information because it is outdated. Beside the bike trail. The Post Returns only cover the months from December 1837 to April 1838. There are no returns for the Florida Militia activity during the Third Seminole War. Fort history is covered in the book, “Florida’s Peace River Frontier,” by Canter Brown, Jr., which is the best history on the area. As Col. Taylor’s column moved south before the battle of Okeechobee, Lt.Col. William S. Foster ordered construction of a bridge and causeway ahead of the fort in mid-November 1837. The fort was constructed at the former site of Seminole Chief Oponey’s plantation by Lake Hancock. Col. Taylor came through and deposited supplies, and moved on down towards the Kissimmee. The Post Returns for December 1837 tell us that, Bvt. Major Henry Wilson of the 4th Infantry assumed command of the post on December 20, 1837. Earlier that month at Fort Brooke, Lt.Col. Foster had said that Wilson was one of the few officers who wasn’t sick. Also present were 2d Lt. James McLure, 1st Infantry, fulfilling duties of quartermaster and assistant commander. 2d Lt. R. A. Suthers, 2d Artillery, Commanding the Company. And L. Carswell-Ely, from the Missouri Volunteers, as post Surgeon. Capt. H.L. Thistle’s 2 companies of Philadelphia Volunteers numbered 139 rank & file were listed as attached to the post but not present. Total number present for duty at the post, officers and men, was only 27. Of the Pennsylvania Volunteers under Captain Hezekiah Thistle, they spent their time constructing bridges and causeways, and constructed the first bridge over the Peace River. For many years thereafter called Thistle Bridge. Dr. Joe also just reminded me that Capt. Thistle invented and patented a saddle. So I found a picture of it in the Army and Navy Chronicle. It is a stretcher that fits on a horse, for removing sick and injured men off the battlefield. Very ingenious! Not that different from what you have today, used by rescue services and the Coast Guard. (Except with a helicopter instead of a horse.) ![]() Above: Thistle’s stretcher saddle from the Army & Navy Chronicle. The following month, on January 15, 1838, 2d Lt. James McClure assumed command of the post, still doing his duties as QM. 2d Lt. R. A. Luther of the 2d Artillery became the Company Commander. L. Carswell-Ely from the Mo. Volunteers still remained as the surgeon. The 35 men on the post were composed of the 4th and 6th Infantry, with 3 from the Pennsylvania Volunteers, and almost all the men present are counted as sick, including all the officers. The February 1838 Post returns are especially interesting as the Commanding Officers page lists all 32 men on the post by name. It lists their regiment, and their status if they are sick or on duty elsewhere. On March 26, 1838, 2d Lt. Luther assumes command of the post. J.A. Hannah becomes the acting surgeon with the departure of the Carswell-Ely on the 21st. 2d Lt. McClure is sick at the hospital at Ft. Brooke. He will not recover and be dead at Ft. Brooke on April 5, 1838. One death is listed on the returns, although Sprague lists two, and they are down to 23 men total at the post. In April, Capt. John Munroe of the 4th Artillery assumed command on April 18th. 2d Lt. Luther became company commander, and 2d Lt. Bates was the QM and subsistence agent. Soldiers of Co. G, 4th Artillery arrived and increased the garrison number to 62. This is the last month on microfilm, then the post was abandoned in May. In Sprague’s history, I found listed three deaths at Fort Fraser/Frazer. Since they did not die from gallant action or circumstances, it is very possible that they were buried on the spot and still remain. Only the enlisted men who died under heroic actions were reinterred under the pyramids in St. Augustine. And I found another death during the Third Seminole War at Fort Frasier from Durrance’s company of the Florida Militia. Fort Fraser possible burials: 2d Regt Artillery: Pvt. Stephen Scennet, Co. I, Oct. 16, 1837. Drowned. Since this was before the fort was established, it may have happened during construction of the road and bridge before the fort. Pvt. Nathaniel Hicks, Co. I, March 14, 1838. Run over by a wagon. 4th Regt Artillery: Pvt William Ponton, Co. K, March 5, 1838. Fever. Florida Militia, Durrance’s Company of Independent Fla. Mounted Volunteers (Third Seminole War): Thomas W. Hill, age 23, died Apr. 30, 1857. At the end of Col. Taylor’s campaign, 325 Indians and 30 Blacks were at Fort Fraser before moving on to Fort Brooke for removal to the west. When Fort Fraser was closed in May 1838, Taylor declared it the perfect graveyard, where not ten men in a hundred would survive a summer there. Fort Fraser was almost reactivated during the Panic of 1849, but it was found that the road could not be used between the old fort site and the Kissimmee River. So, the action stayed further south to Fort Meade. In the 1840’s, people were taking advantage of the land made available by the Armed Occupation Act. In 1854, a community developed around Fort Fraser, just as it did around Fort Meade, and a road was constructed between the two communities. When the Third Seminole War broke out in December 1855, a stockade was rebuilt at Fraser. The worst battle of the Third Seminole War was in June 1856 near Fort Meade, when Seminoles attacked the homestead of Willoughby Tillis. (I’ve written about this before.) It was initially fought by seven militia soldiers from Fort Meade. The next day, more militia soldiers arrived from Fort Fraser under the command of Francis Marion Durrance, who was also the brother of Mrs. Tillis. Fighting continued along the Peace River for two more days. This was the bloodiest and longest battle of the Third Seminole War, with several killed on both sides. ![]() Image: Monument in Fort Meade to the Battle of Tillis Farm and burials. Fort Fraser played a short but important role in both the Second and Third Seminole Wars. The Durrance family are important settlers in the area, and buried all over the county. Later on, famous Florida cattle baron Jacob Summerlin owned Fort Fraser, who was known to only pay his bills in Spanish gold coins. So it is an important, yet forgotten place in Florida history. (Don't go there digging holes, looking for Summerlin's gold stash!) Fort Fraser is part of the Seminole Wars Heritage Trail along with the monument in Fort Meade where the soldiers are buried from the Battle of Tillis Farm. Get your copy of the booklet here: http://dos.myflorida.com/media/695430/seminole_war_heritage_trail.pdf Although many forts were established in Florida during the antebellum period covering the Seminole Wars, only a few of these places are marked. Nearly all of these places are now developed. You can see which ones to visit in the Seminole Wars Heritage Trail booklet. ![]() Image above: Modern bike trail bridge using an abandoned railroad grade, part of the Seminole War Heritage Trail. We are rapidly losing are historical sites as Florida is being developed quickly. I have seen us lose many of them over the past 50 years. When we lose them, we lose our heritage. We do not get them back. Even places that we thought were safe two years ago are apparently not safe. Even these sites on the Heritage Trail are not safe forever. The actual site where the fort stood, the owner is selling the property. We are losing our historical, cultural, and archaeological sites. |
![]() | |
I need to say a few words about the mounds constructed by the ancient people here in the southeast and in Florida. Some people call them Indian Mounds, but I think that is a term that is too limiting, because there are earthworks of numerous shapes and sizes. Various functions and make-ups. The characteristics are almost as different as individual people are from one another. ![]() [Above: The Bynum Mounds on the Natchez Trace, on a recent visit to there. I enjoy just walking by and had no need to climb on top or disturb anything. They had some really good interpretive signs.] Florida now has 200,000 sites listed on the historical and archaeological site files for the state of Florida. Anything from historical buildings, cemeteries, and thousands of these archaeological sites and mounds. There are thousands of mounds and earthworks in southeastern United States, up the Mississippi River Valley, into Minnesota and out to Oklahoma and Texas. The scope is vast, and people lose sight of the fact that they do hold significance to Native American Indians living today. Almost everywhere in Florida you walk, someone else walked centuries before. I have watched several of you on YouTube climb over the ancient earthworks on your videos. I don’t mind people visiting these places. Few of these videos are interesting. They think they are being educational, but most videos really have no educational value other than alerting people to the fact that these places are there. This blog has been written for those of you making these YouTube videos. Please start showing more respect and dignity around these Mounds. I understand that a lot of what you are doing on the videos are out of ignorance, but many times it can be annoying and offensive to those of us who follow the culture of the southeastern Native American tribes. You may not be aware that some of the things you are doing could also be interpreted as being offensive or illegal. I will explain all of this. To Native American people, those who built these mounds long ago, are not considered dead people. They are still very much alive. Their stories and songs still survive today. Ceremonial songs of the Calusa and the Timuquan still survive with the Seminole and Muskogee people in Florida. Oral history and stories of some of the mounds survive and I have heard them. So, the people did not die out and disappear. As one of the Seminole/Miccosukee elders told me, “If we are still talking about them, they are not really gone now, are they?” Next, in southeastern cosmology, everything has a form, substance, function, purpose, and place. It has a reason for being here and is part of Mother Earth. They serve various functions. They are sometimes benchmarks between the sacred and the profane. I know this is a difficult concept to explain to people of European background who only have a concept of the earth and land that is to be exploited. Not realizing that you are killing yourselves in the process of using and abusing the land. I just saw a review in the latest issue of the Chronicles of Oklahoma (Vol. XCIV, #4) of a book review of “Ancestral Mounds: Vitality and Volatility of North America” by Jay Miller. It sounds so intriguing that I have ordered a copy of the book. Miller is Muscogee Creek and ties in the significance of the Mounds with the southeastern ceremonial beliefs. The review clearly presents the Native American perspective of these ancient Mounds and Earthworks: “Miller describes a Native cosmos that pulses with vibrant energy, which can erupt in ways that are unpredictable and violent. His notion that earthen mounds serve as a safe point and a place of refuge on the thin skin of the land, in a sense weighing it down, is intriguing. He makes fascinating links between cosmic energy, breath, and the rhythm of dancing and drumming. His observations concerning the continued importance of mounds of modern and past Busk ceremonies and how they tie into ancient rituals make for very interesting reading. Perhaps more importantly, Miller makes the case that earthen mounds, which may seem like long-abandoned relics in the eye of the casual observer, still have great religious significance to contemporary Native groups.”(From the review pg. 492) Even though these places are long since abandoned and no longer in use, to Native American people, they are still powerful places, and very much alive. On dark nights, one might hear dancing where there are no physical dancers. Ethereal beings will remain for centuries after the physical people have gone. To the astute observer, they will know. We know from archaeological evidence, that even after these places became abandoned, that people still stopped by here and visited for centuries later. That is why these mounds are to be respected and to be treated with reverence. Do not abuse these places. Leave them as you found them. Remember the signs at all the National Parks? “Leave only footprints; take only pictures.” Do not pull off chunks of shells in your video to show people. This is unnecessary. If you see any artifacts laying on the ground, just leave them there. Do not pick them up. Which brings us to the next point about the mounds. The Florida Statutes of disturbing archaeological resources on state lands. In your YouTube videos, you may have unknowingly violated state statutes. And you have filmed it all on video. It could be interpreted as such, when I see you break off chunks of the mound to show everyone. I am not saying that anything is going to happen to you, but someone could interpret it as damaging an archaeological resource. If you pick up pieces of pottery and show it on camera, you can be charged with collecting without a permit. Even if you throw it back. I am not saying that this is going to happen, but you are opening yourself up to a whole lot of trouble if that is how I am reading the administrative code. The law is broad and vague, which can easily get you into trouble. But, don’t believe me; you can read it yourself with the links below. Florida Division of Historical Resources FAQs on Archaeology: http://dos.myflorida.com/historical/about/division-faqs/archaeology/ Florida Statutes on Historic and Archaeological Resources: http://dos.myflorida.com/historical/about/division-faqs/archaeology/ Florida Indigenous Leaders Fight Bill Promoting Citizen Archaeology http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/indigenous-leaders-fight-bill-promoting-citizen-archaeology-do-not-disturb-the-spirits-of-the-water-7548304 Enjoy visiting these places, but do so with the greatest of dignity and respect as you would the home of a friend. |
![]() | |
This past month, I travelled to Nashville, Tennessee to participate in a one-time living history event at the Hermitage. This event was with the US 7th Infantry, the same group that put on the 200th anniversary event for the Battle of New Orleans two years ago. This was said to have been the biggest War of 1812 event in Tennessee since the War of 1812. We had over 200 participants or historical interpreters. My friend who portrays the General was so glad that I had come to portray Pushmataha once again! A wonderful evening ball was spectacular as well! ![]() [Final closing ceremony.] ![]() [Our camp cooking area.] These are quality historical interpreters, and in my opinion, the best that you will see at any event. They come from all over the US and represent different impressions; US soldier, militia, civilian, Native American Indians, wives and children, politicians musicians and an assortment of other sundry individuals. All are well informed of the history and the people that they represent. Impressions are kept to first-person, even when the public is gone for the day. ![]() [Friday night ball.] ![]() [St. Patrick's Day!] If anyone went, you would find the interpreters like myself more than willing to talk for hours on the history of the War of 1812 or the Creek War. Or daily political debates in the tavern between Andrew Jackson and someone of a different political persuasion. And not even ending in bloodshed, but in civil discord. ![]() ![]() [The General talking with the various historical interpreters. You can see the different people represented, and how well job they did.] On the final day, the drill competition was amazing, and even the militia did an outstanding performance. No one can say that the militia / volunteers do not drill! ![]() [Final parade.] This was a juried event. No walk-on’s were allowed, and you had to be registered though the unit. If only there were such events in Florida with this many quality interpreters. There are only a few that come close to this, and one is the Collier County Museum Old Florida Festival. (Which covers more than one time period.) I have been doing living history since 1986, but have been researching the history longer than that. To be brutally honest, I am at the point where I only do quality living history events. My time and budget is limited, and too valuable to waste on bad events. That is why I went to a juried event two states away. It was a pretty flawless event. There was no woman showing up at the battle reenactment dressed up like YMCA Indian guides. Or fashion models standing in as soldiers, who look like the Keystone cops. Seriously, I saw those at Florida events the past six months. Not at the Hermitage. |