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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SW059 College History Professor Illuminates Seminole War Research Hurdles, Faddish Academic Theories, and Joy of Discovery
SW058 Central Florida National Cemetery Honors Veterans on Seminole Wars Hallowed Ground
SW057 Seminole Wars Panels Available for Proposed Freedom Memorial Plaza at Bushnell's Florida National Cemetery
SW056 Unpolished yet Glimmering Gems of Knowledge Await Intrepid Seminole War Scholars
SW055 Delicacy and Discernment Key to Accessing Dormant Knowledge about Seminole Wars
SW054 Author and Historian Shares Techniques to Research the Seminole Wars from Home
SW053 Seminole Frustrated Army by Fighting 2SW on Its Terms, not by Military Expectations
SW052 Military Strategist Examines Evolution of U.S. Army War Preparations on Eve of 2SW
SW051 War as Indian Removal by 'Other Means': Applying Classic Prussian Military Strategist's Insights, Maxims to Second Seminole Conflict
SW050 Park Focus: Loxahatchee River Battlefield Park Hosts Sites of Second Seminole War Clashes
SW049 Irish-Immigrant U.S. Army Private Paddington "Paddy" McCormick Discusses Soldiers' Perspectives at Living History Events
SW048 Gunpowder Warrior Discusses Seminole Fighters' Perspectives at Living History Events
SW047 Digging into the Tantalizing What Ifs Surrounding the 1836 Peace Parley at Camp Izard
SW046 In Seminole Wars, West Point's 1829 Military Academy Graduates Showed Mettle and Officer Corps' Institutionalized Professionalism
SW045 Dade Battlefield Staff Rides Instruct Present-Day Military Leaders in Challenges of Command When Under Fire in Irregular Conflict
SW044 Living Historian Louie Bear's Heart Demonstrates Seminole Cultural Practices to Teach and Educate on Traditional Ways of Life
SW043 Just Who WERE the Black Seminoles?
SW042 Matt Griffin Uses Military Reenactment to Bring Alive the Black Seminole Warrior Spirit
SW041 Waging War Amidst Fear and Anxiety on the Frontier of 1830s Territorial Florida
SW040 Living in Fear and Anxiety on the Frontier of 1830s Territorial Florida
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