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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SW0159 Fort Foster Volunteers Rip Out Rotten Timber Planks to Restore Replica Post for Public Visits
SW0158 Laumer Library Offers 2,500 Sem War Titles & More to Scholars, Students
SW0157 Podcast Anniversary Highlights Guests’ Breadth, Depth of SemWar Knowledge
SW0156 Couple’s Elegant Mules Lead Solemn Prideful Procession to Commemorate SemWar Fallen
SW0155 SemWar Newspapers Printed Congressional Debates, Art (2 of 2)
SW0154 SemWar Coverage Ebbs and Flows in Era Newspapers (1 of 2)
SW153 Thespian Recalls Louisa Fatio, St Augustine Proprietor and Survivor of Seminole Wars
SW152 Mail Without Fail: Seminole Agency Post Office Processed Parcels Despite Hostile Climate, Terrain, and Indians
SW0151 Navy Vet Personifies Fort Pierce’s Most Worthy Commander
SW150 Florida Cracker, Militia Captain Butch Nipper Mixes Heritage with History
SW0149 Fort King’s School of the Soldier Drills Recruits on 1830s Military Practices
SW0148 Florida Historians Outline How Seminole Struggled to Resist Full Removal and Succeeded
SW147 Historians Use Fiction to Present a Novel View of the Seminole Wars
SW0146 Archaeologist Uncovers South Florida SemWar Artifacts
SW0145 Honoring SemWar Combatants Spurs History Student to Don Soldier Gear
SW0144 Young Soldier Recruit Details SemWar Living History Appeal
SW0143 Gullah Artist Johnny Montgomery Colors SemWar Maroon Heritage with Style
SW0142 Battle of New Orleans Defeat Proved Disastrous for Seminole
SW0141 Digging Deeper to Find, Share the Past Marks SemWar Researcher
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