PODCAST · history
Seminole Wars Authority
by Seminole Wars Foundation
The Seminole Wars Authority podcast looks at the United States’ long campaign of Indian removal against the Florida Seminole in the 1800s. We explore what the Seminole Wars were; how they came to be; how they were fought; and how they still resonate some two centuries later. We talk with historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, archivists, writers, novelists, artists, musicians, exhibitors, craftsmen, educations, park rangers, military-era reenactors, living historians, and, to the descendants of the Florida and Oklahoma Seminole who fought to tenaciously to avoid US government forced removal.
Episodes
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SW0159 Fort Foster Volunteers Rip Out Rotten Timber Planks to Restore Replica Post for Public Visits
Twenty volunteers entered the shuttered Fort Foster at Hillsboro River State Park May 6. They ripped out rotten planks from a boardwalk encompassing the inside of the palisade walls confines. This brings the replica post one step closer to re-opening when state officials re-certify it is safe to...
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SW0158 Laumer Library Offers 2,500 Sem War Titles & More to Scholars, Students
In our last episode, we reviewed how three years of the Seminole Wars Authority podcast have told the story of Seminole resistance to U.S. Government removal efforts. In this episode, we place the podcast in the context of the Foundation’s Frank Laumer Library for Seminole Wars Studies, the…
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SW0157 Podcast Anniversary Highlights Guests’ Breadth, Depth of SemWar Knowledge
This episode marks an anniversary for the podcast: Three full years’ worth of the Seminole Wars Authority. We have done as we said we would do when we set out on this long march. We canvassed far and wide for authorities in possession of the knowledge about the Seminole Wars. Some are historians,...
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SW0156 Couple’s Elegant Mules Lead Solemn Prideful Procession to Commemorate SemWar Fallen
In the middle of August each year at St. Francis Barracks in St. Augustine, two elegant mules pull a caisson symbolically carrying the remains of the soldiers who had died in the Second Seminole War. The procession they lead commemorates the first re-interment of soldiers in Aug. 15, 1842. The...
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SW0155 SemWar Newspapers Printed Congressional Debates, Art (2 of 2)
In our previous episode, Jesse Marshall gave listeners an overview of newspaper coverage of the Seminole Wars, reviewing their accuracy given the physical and technical constraints of the era. In this episode, Jesse relates the value of these newspapers’ accounts for informing the American public...
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SW0154 SemWar Coverage Ebbs and Flows in Era Newspapers (1 of 2)
A popular conceit for a newspaper is that it is the purported “first draft of a history.” Newspapers informed the public. But they also tended to reflect the public’s opinion. And that opinion for waging the Seminole Wars waned overtime, as did newspaper coverage. How did local and national...
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SW153 Thespian Recalls Louisa Fatio, St Augustine Proprietor and Survivor of Seminole Wars
In 1812, during the East Florida Patriot War incursion against Spanish territorial rule, 15-year-old Louisa Fatio barely escaped when Seminole attacked and partially burned her family's beautiful New Switzerland plantation on the St. Johns River. Louisa was the granddaughter of Francis Philip...
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SW152 Mail Without Fail: Seminole Agency Post Office Processed Parcels Despite Hostile Climate, Terrain, and Indians
A soldier of the Second Seminole War would have led an austere life at remote Army outposts in Florida. Among the few pleasures in his life might have been playing with a deck or cards or dice and getting square meals. What might have had the greatest impact on his morale, however, was the…
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SW0151 Navy Vet Personifies Fort Pierce’s Most Worthy Commander
Listeners to this podcast already know that Fort Pierce is a reservation for the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Previously, guest Rollie Gilliam told us about its origins as a home for Black Seminole. In this episode, living historian Jim O’Dell joins us to describe the military origins of Fort…
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SW150 Florida Cracker, Militia Captain Butch Nipper Mixes Heritage with History
The annual Fort Cooper Days battle commemoration returns March 18 and 19 at Fort Cooper State Park in Inverness. This battle featured militia and volunteers fighting off a Seminole attack in the second of those wars. A militia captain, rising from the ranks of private to sergeant and then…
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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…
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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...
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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....
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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...
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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…
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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...
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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...
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SW0139 Seminole Maroons Hold Reunion to Tell the Full History of Seminole Wars AND Seminole Peace
The Seminole Maroon diaspora returns to Jupiter, Florida in January for a family reunion January 11 to 15. To bring them together, the Florida Black Historical Research Project, Inc accepted a federal grant – “Telling the Full History”. Attendees hail from within Florida, but also from Oklahoma,...
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SW0138 Writer Presents Seminole as Integral Players in Florida’s Past and Present
The US Government spent millions of dollars and incurred thousands of casualties attempting to remove the Seminole from Florida in the first half of the 1800s. Today, the Seminole are still here – and they are thriving; they are integral to a study of Florida’s history. And they are the subject…
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SW0137 New Blood in Seasoned Packages as Retired Navy Couple Enters the Living History Ranks
There is fresh blood in the living history community for the Seminole Wars. Two reenactors, Stephen and Paulette Dennis, entered the hobby in November at Florida Heritage Day at Dade Battlefield Historic State Park in Bushnell, Florida. When we say “fresh blood”, we are somewhat facetious.…
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SW0136 Nicoll’s Outpost Yields War Site Clues to First Seminole War
We have devoted several episodes in our podcast the Fort at Prospect Bluff, known best as the “Negro Fort” on the Apalachicola River in Florida’s panhandle. During the War of 1812, the British also built a smaller fort, which historians dub Nicolls’ Outpost. They and their Seminole allies used…
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SW0135 Longtime Reenactor Shares Trade Knowledge for Accurate SW Presentations
Listeners to our last podcast enjoyed a discussion about 19th Century Seminole Men’s Clothing – and what an enterprise it is to recreate them. Unfortunately, the 1991 spiral-bound book is out of print and hard to obtain. That is, until now. Enter living history enthusiast and researcher James...
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SW0134 Craftsman Explains How to Attire a Seminole Reenactor with One Simple Handbook
When you see someone portraying a Seminole in a battle reenactment today, you can pretty much rest assured that the attire is authentic if not original. This was not the case 30 and 40 years ago. Many had good intentions but simply got the clothing wrong. Enter Seminole reenactor Rick Obermeyer.…
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SW0133 Soldiers, Seminole Adapted and Innovated Amidst A Climate of Hostility in Florida
SW0133 Soldiers Adapted and Innovated Amidst A Climate of Hostility in Florida In the Second Seminole War, probably every soldier complained about the hostile Florida climate. But, only a few ever did anything about it. In this episode, Professor Jacob Hagstrom of The Citadel joins us to discuss...
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SW0132 Three Seminole Wars Told at Florida Pioneer Museum Event Oct. 29
This week, Andy Warrener returns to discuss the Seminole War-themed Saturday living history event -- Oct. 29 -- at the Florida Pioneer Museum and Village in Dade City, Pasco County, Florida. Besides presenters discussing and sharing anecdotes from all three Seminole Wars, an afternoon battle...
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SW0131 How Well Regulated Must a Militia Be to Ensure Security of a Free State...or Florida Territory?
SW0131 How Well Regulated Must a Militia Be to Ensure Security of a Free State...or Florida Territory? In our eighth installment in Martial Matters of the Seminole Wars, Jesse Marshall returns one more time. He explains in detail one more aspect of the 2nd Amendment: the purpose of a militia…
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SW0130 Martial Matters 7: Army uses Duplicity, Settlers to Subdue Seminole When Decisive Battle Fails
SW0130 Martial Matters 7: Army Uses Duplicity, Settlers to Subdue Seminole When Decisive Battle Fails After the Battles of Okeechobee and Loxahatchee, the Seminole changed their strategy to avoid any confrontations that could potentially cause mass removal to Oklahoma Territory. In response, the...
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SW0129 Martial Matters 6: Army Pursuit of Decisive Battle Proves Futile
SW0129 Martial Matters 6: Army Pursuit of Decisive Battle Proves Futile In the Second Seminole War, Army commanders had an expectation that if they could just fix the Seminole in battle, they could settle the conflict right then and there. The Seminole, however, had other ideas and greatly...
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SW0128 Martial Matters 5: Great Scott! Feuding Commanders’ Stubbornness Risked Catastrophe, Annihilation
SW0128 Martial Matters 5: Great Scott! Feuding Commanders’ Stubbornness Risked Catastrophe, Annihilation In our fifth installment in Martial Matters of the Seminole Wars, Living Historian Jesse Marshall returns as we cast a critical eye on Feuding Commanders. In its early stages, it was clear the...
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SW0127 Martial Matters 4: Manning the Militia for Seminole Wars Service Required Citizens Already Keeping and Bearing Arms
Militia were not formally uniformed as were U. S. soldiers nor were they necessarily armed by the federal government or state or territory when mustered for service. Many brought their own arms as codified in the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Living historians at Pioneer Museum of…
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SW0126 Martial Matters 3: Keeping and Bearing Arms with the Militia in Seminole Wars Era Proved Anything But Simple
Militiamen brought whatever arms they had to muster for use against the Seminole. This image is a re-enactment at Fort Cooper State Park in Inverness, Fla. Photo by Andrew Foster In this episode, our Martial Matters guest, Jesse Marshall, gives us the ins and outs on the right to keep and bear in...
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SW0125 Martial Matters 2: Muskets, Rifles, Bayonets Win Wars -- When in the Right Hands
Welcome to Week Two: Martial Matters of the Seminole Wars with our long-time guest, Jesse Marshall. In the 1830s, the politicians set the policy, often based on the law. The generals set the strategy. Officers set the tactics. And the troops? They focused on the Manual of Arms so they could fight...
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SW0124 Field a Standing Army or State Militia Volunteers to Remove Seminole?
This week we begin a series, Martial Matters, to discuss various soldierly aspects of the Seminole Wars. When it came to waging war in the first half of the 19th century, the unresolved question focused on whether the American Republic better defended and its interests advanced by a standing army...
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SW0123 Unsung, Shush-less Librarians Organize Foundation’s Books into Central Access Repository
The 1500+ book collection comprises the cornerstone of research materials at the Frank Laumer Center for the Study of the Seminole Wars. Other items include hundreds of paper files that supported Frank Laumer's accounts of the Dade Battles, microfilm, tens of thousands of print and digital…
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SW0122 At Foundation’s Archive, Grad Students from UCF Discover Dead Men Do Indeed Tell Tales
State of the gravesite of Ransom Clark and (left) his father, Benjamin Clark in 1977 before the exhumation. The trope that dead men tell no tales is demonstrably false -- at least, when applied to a document archive. Letters, diaries, and hand-written notes tell many tales. This summer, two...
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SW0121 Master Florida Artist Jackson Walker Depicts Grit and Determination in Seminole Wars
The Forlorn Hope of the Fort King Road and Do Your Best depict the Dade battle of Dec. 28, 1835. In a previous episode, Florida-born artist Jackson Walker described how he makes his living with careful craftsmanship and a burning desire to paint the best and most historically accurate work of…
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SW0120 Legendary Artist Jackson Walker Speaks About His Big Canvas Legendary Florida Scenes
The Flower Hunter, naturalist and traveler William Bartram in late 18th century Florida. Since the 1980’s, native-born and self-taught artist Jackson Walker has gathered subjects from the long saga of Florida history. With thorough research, consulting with historians and experts on any given...
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SW0119 GARI Archaeologists Excavate, Survey to Locate ’Lost’ Seminole Red Town of Chucochatti
Sean Norman, acting director for the Gulf Archaeological Research Institute, returns to the podcast to discuss the history of Chucochatti and what GARI found during their excavations and survey. More than 250 years ago, a displaced group of Muscogee-speaking Upper Creek Indians established a...
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SW0118 An Uneven Fate awaited the International Cast of Characters after Prospect Bluff Battle
Warriors from Bondage by Jackson Walker portraying the attack on the Fort at Prospect Bluff, or as the Americans called it, the Negro Fort. In previous episodes, we have examined the history and activities surrounding the Fort at Prospect Bluff and then its destruction and its grim aftermath. In...
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SW0117 Historian Dale Cox Recalls the Tragic, Devastating American Attack and Destruction of the ’Negro Fort’ at Prospect Bluff in July 1816
In a previous podcast, Historian Dale Cox set the stage for the American attack on the Fort at Prospect Bluff. In this episode, Dale recalls the actual determined American campaign and the fort’s stubborn resistance between July 10 and July 27, 1816. This was not rag-tag defense by desperate...
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SW0116 A British-built Fort at Prospect Bluff in Spanish Florida Shielded Blacks and Indians from U.S. Territorial Designs on Apalachicola River
In July 1816, the so-called year without a summer, the U.S. military made war on an Apalachicola River outpost in Spanish Florida. It wasn’t the Spanish who were attacked, however. It wasn’t their fort. It also wasn’t the British who were attacked. The Treaty of Ghent ended the US war with…
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SW0115 Scholar David Fowler Recovers and Presents Riveting Narratives from One National Newspaper’s 1st Draft of Florida’s U.S. History
David Fowler published five volumes taking Florida's U.S. history from pre-territorial to territorial to statehood. It is a reporter’s conceit that journalism is the so-called first draft of history. When it comes to the Seminole Wars, it takes some digging into that first draft to determine what...
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SW0114 Marine Vietnam Vet Preserves Corps Heritage as Seminole War-era Leatherneck
Marines in the Second Seminole War served on land at and around Fort Foster in central Florida as well as in the Everglades where some dubbed them as swamp sailors. Visitors on the Fourth of July, American independence day, call at the Tampa Bay History Center to learn more about our heritage....
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SW0113 The Great Rivalry at War: Regulars versus Militia Performance in the Second Seminole War
Regular Army soldiers were seen as professional in all manners of appearance and countenance. In 1835, with the Federal Government tasked the U.S. Army to forcibly remove the Seminole from the Florida Territory, militia from Florida and volunteers from the several states, aided the regular Army…
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SW0112 History Hunter Steve Carr Sifts Developer’s Dirt Fill Piles to Reveal Okeechobee Battle Artifacts
Pace Ringo Starr, confirmation of the site of the Okeechobee Battlefield did not come easy. By 1985, local memory was hazy, having been handed down for several generations from 1837. In addition, hand-drawn maps from various sources contemporary to the battle did not necessarily match each other…
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SW0111 Dogged Researcher Used Shovels and Smarts to Confirm Okeechobee Battlefield Site
We’ve known of the Okeechobee Battle and its site since that encounter on Christmas Day 1837, near that great lake’s northern shore in the southern Florida peninsula. But then, we forgot. We forgot the battle and we forgot the site, other than a marker from the Daughters of the American…
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SW0110 Louie Bears Heart Living Historian Issues Urgent Call for Help to Restore Fort Foster
This week we look at the replica Fort Foster -- the history of the original fort and the story of how its replica was built. Today, the fort is closed to the public because of serious maintenance concerns with the wooden platform along its inside walls. In this episode, Louie Bears Heart, a...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Seminole Wars Authority podcast looks at the United States’ long campaign of Indian removal against the Florida Seminole in the 1800s. We explore what the Seminole Wars were; how they came to be; how they were fought; and how they still resonate some two centuries later. We talk with historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, archivists, writers, novelists, artists, musicians, exhibitors, craftsmen, educations, park rangers, military-era reenactors, living historians, and, to the descendants of the Florida and Oklahoma Seminole who fought to tenaciously to avoid US government forced removal.
HOSTED BY
Seminole Wars Foundation
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Seminole Wars Authority have?
Seminole Wars Authority currently has 159 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Seminole Wars Authority about?
The Seminole Wars Authority podcast looks at the United States’ long campaign of Indian removal against the Florida Seminole in the 1800s. We explore what the Seminole Wars were; how they came to be; how they were fought; and how they still resonate some two centuries later. We talk with...
How often does Seminole Wars Authority release new episodes?
Seminole Wars Authority publishes regularly with 159 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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You can listen to Seminole Wars Authority on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Seminole Wars Authority?
Seminole Wars Authority is created and hosted by Seminole Wars Foundation.
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