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Billy Bowlegs (Holata Micco) In The Seminole Wars (Part I), Kenneth W. Porter

Florida Historical Quarterly

If a group of informed Americans were asked to name a Seminole chief, it is likely that most of them would reply “Osceola.” If asked to recall a second Florida Indian, at least a majority of those responding would name “Billy Bowlegs.” The second choice would be more accurate, for Osceola was a Seminole only by adoption - being by birth a Red Stick Creek from Georgia or Alabama who came to Florida at about the age of ten. He was not a chief by hereditary right, whereas Billy Bowlegs, to use his common white-man’s nickname, was what an army …

Drake Destroys St. Augustine: 1586, James W. Covington

Florida Historical Quarterly

Sir Francis Drake, scourge of the Spanish Main, came to Florida and destroyed St. Augustine in 1586. Judging from other battles that took place during Drake’s swing through Spain’s Caribbean empire, the Florida episode was a relatively minor affair. St. Augustine at the time was a small out-of-the-way village of about 300 persons with its only defense the small outpost, San Juan de los Pinillos. In contrast to the splendid buildings, numerous soldiers, and excellent defenses of Santo Domingo and Cartagena, St. Augustine was not very important. But in defensive tactics and in its use of manpower, the Florida town …

The Man Who Was Pedro Menendez, Albert Manucy

Florida Historical Quarterly

Four sixteenth century sources are the basis for most of the knowledge that we have about Pedro Menendez de Aviles. They include archival manuscripts, biographies by two of his contemporaries, and a priest’s journal of the voyage to Florida. Titian painted him by order of Philip II, and the portrait engraving so often reproduced is based on the painting. He is not a handsome man; his head is small, held quite erect; dark hair, half curly despite a rather close cut, frames a high, round forehead. The beard is also trimmed short. His nose is overlong and the mouth too …

Aftermath Of Military Reconstruction, 1868-1869, Ralph L. Peek

Florida Historical Quarterly

The military reconstruction of Florida ended on July 4, 1868, with ratification of a new constitution and the election of Harrison Reed as governor, William Gleason as lieutenant governor, and Charles Hamilton as congressman. A state legislature with a large Republican majority in both houses was also elected.

The Indian River Settlement: 1842-1849, Joseph D. Cushman, Jr.

Florida Historical Quarterly

No section of the Territory of Florida suffered more than the east coast as a result of Indian deprecations during the Seminole War. The flourishing sugar plantations of the Halifax country were reduced to charred ruins, the tiny port of New Smyrna was entirely deserted, and the infant citrus industry suffered a staggering setback just as it was beginning to show signs of prosperity. After seven years of fighting, many Floridians gravely doubted the truth of General William Worth’s pontifical pronouncement that the Seminole conflict would be “officially” terminated on August 12, 1842. The settlers were alarmed at the naivete …

Space-Praxis: Towards A Feminist Politics Of Design, Mary C. Overholt

Masters of Environmental Design Theses

Outside of the academy and professionalized practice, design has long been central to the production of feminist, political projects. Taking what I have termed space-praxis as its central analytic, this project explores a suite of feminist interventions into the built environment—ranging from the late 1960s to present day.

Formulated in response to Michel de Certeau’s theory of spatial practices, space-praxis collapses formerly bifurcated definitions of ‘tactic’/‘strategy’ and ‘theory’/‘practice.’ It gestures towards those unruly, situated undertakings that are embedded in an ever-evolving, liberative politics. In turning outwards, away from the so-called masters of architecture, this thesis orients itself toward everyday practitioners …

'Disembodied Bones': Recovering The Poetry And Prose Of Elinor Wylie 2021, Sarah R. Bullock

Master's Theses

Picking a book to read is like diving for a pearl, writes Elinor Wylie, a 20th Century American poet, novelist, essayist and prominent magazine literary editor. In her essay "The Pearl Diver", she writes that it is the diver that risks the unknown- unaided by diving equipment in the form of library indexes-who gains the greatest joy, Wylie states (Fugitive Prose, 869). Wylie explains:

I venture to perceive an analogy between the rebellious pearl diver and myself, in my slight experience with public libraries...how much more delightful, how much more stimulating, to abandon the paraphernalia of card indexes and mahogany …

Colonization Of The Philippines: An Analysis Of U.S. Justificatory Rhetoric, Johansen Christopher Pico

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The term “Filipino” offers more than a call to nationality; it also recalls the genesis of colonization in the Philippines. This thesis explores the colonial interventions of the United States in the Philippines at the turn of the 20th century, homing in on the Filipino education system as the United States’ primary method of colonizing the Filipino mind. Drawing from texts by Senator Alfred Beveridge, President William McKinley, the Philippine Commission, David Barrows, and Dr. Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, I offer an ideological criticism that demonstrates a cyclical nature between both justificatory rhetoric and ideology. Working with “ideological clusters,” this …

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? A Marxist Analysis Of "Hamilton" And Its Relationship To The Broadway Economic System, Alana Ritt

Honors Projects

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s mega-hit Hamilton: An American Musical has been both a critical and academic darling since its premiere in 2015. A historical retelling of America’s inception through the eyes of an oft-ignored founding father, the musical weaves together a diverse cast and hip-hop musical stylings in order to tell the story of “America then, as told by America now.” While many critics and scholars alike have praised the musical for putting an exciting and accessible twist to American history, others have argued that the musical is not nearly as “revolutionary” as it claims to be. This essay is designed to …

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? A Marxist Analysis Of "Hamilton" And Its Relationship To The Broadway Economic System, Alana Ritt

Honors Projects

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s mega-hit Hamilton: An American Musical has been both a critical and academic darling since its premiere in 2015. A historical retelling of America’s inception through the eyes of an oft-ignored founding father, the musical weaves together a diverse cast and hip-hop musical stylings in order to tell the story of “America then, as told by America now.” While many critics and scholars alike have praised the musical for putting an exciting and accessible twist to American history, others have argued that the musical is not nearly as “revolutionary” as it claims to be. This essay is designed to …

Military Operations On The St. Johns, September-October, 1862 (Part Ii) The Federals Capture St. Johns Bluff, Edwin C. Bearss

Florida Historical Quarterly

All of Brigadier General John M. Brannan’s Union soldiers and their arms, horses, and rations had reached shore by 9 p.m., October 1, 1862. Among the first units to land were sixty troopers of the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry. The horsemen spent the afternoon and early evening reconnoitering.

Book Reviews, Florida Historical Society

Florida Historical Quarterly

Reviews of Evolution of a Federalist, William Loughton Smith of Charleston (1758-1812). By George C. Rogers, Jr. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1962. xiv, 439 pp. Preface, charts, bibliography, index. $8.00.); Jefferson and the Ordeal of Liberty. By Dumas Malone. (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1962. xxx, 545 pp. $7.50.); Ante-Bellum Southern Literary Critics. By Edd Winfield Parks. (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1962. 259 pp. $7.50.); The African Colonization Movement, 1816-1865. By P. J. Staudenraus. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961. ix, 323 pp. Appendix, bibliography, index. $6.00.); McClellan, Sherman and Grant. By T. Harry Williams. (New Brunswick: …

Book Reviews, Florida Historical Society

Florida Historical Quarterly

Reviews of Travels with Charley, In Search of America. By John Steinbeck. (New York: The Viking Press, 1962. 246 pp. $4.95.); Cycles of Conquest. By Edward H. Spicer. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1962. xii, 609 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, index. $ 12.50.); The Colonial Records of South Carolina, Series I: Journal of the Commons House of Assembly, March 28, 1749-March 19 1750. Edited by J. Harold Easterby and Ruth S. Green. (Columbia: South Carolina Archives Department, 1962. 490 pp. Preface and index. $12.50.); The Department of War, 1781 - 1795. By Harry M. Ward. (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, …

Memoir Of A West Pointer In Florida: 1825, Cecil D. Eby, Jr.

Florida Historical Quarterly

In the early summer of 1825 the group of Seminoles relegated to the Big Swamp area of central Florida by the treaty of Moultrie Creek, signed two years before, were subjected to a drought so severe that nearly their whole crop was destroyed. Forced to subsist upon game, the Indians obtained permission from Major Gad Humphreys, their agent at the post that later became known as Fort King, to send hunting parties beyond the boundaries of their reservation to the north. While the incursion of Indian hunters into territories belonging legally to white settlers was absolutely necessary for the survival …

Lincoln's Courier: John L. Worden's Mission To Fort Pickens, James P. Jones

Florida Historical Quarterly

The spring of 1861 was a time of decision-making for the newly installed Lincoln administration. First on the agenda was the reinforcement and supply of Ft. Sumter, but an equally grave problem involved Ft. Pickens in Pensacola harbor. For several months a truce arranged between two members of President Buchanan’s cabinet and Confederate military authorities had been in force. This truce was an agreement not to reinforce Pickens if the Confederates promised not to attack. By March, 1861, Lincoln, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, and General Winfield Scott were growing concerned over the Pensacola situation. The Pickens garrison remained …

The English Invasion Of Spanish Florida, 1700-1706, Charles W. Arnade

Florida Historical Quarterly

Though Florida had been discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1513, not until 1565 did it become a Spanish province in fact. In that year Pedro Menendez de Aviles was able to establish a permanent capital which he called St. Augustine. Menendez and successive executives had plans to make St. Augustine a thriving metropolis ruling over a vast Spanish colony that might possibly be elevated to a viceroyalty. Nothing of this sort happened. By 1599 Florida was in desperate straits: Indians had rebelled and butchered the Franciscan missionaries, fire and flood had made life in St. Augustine miserable, English pirates …

The Editor's Corner, Florida Historical Society

Florida Historical Quarterly

Father Jerome of St. Leo’s Abbey, St. Leo, Florida, sends us an interesting note relating the pro’s and con’s of the dispute centering about the identity of the first Catholic Bishop of Florida, and a document which he assures us provides “a definite silencing of the dispute.” The search for this documentary proof led Father Jerome to the Library of Congress, the Hispanic Society of America, and to the Franciscan archives in Washington - all without success.

Lawlessness In Florida, 1848-1871, Ralph L. Peek

Florida Historical Quarterly

The clash of ideologies, conflicts over rights and status, and a struggle for power, all of which have marked man’s efforts to achieve a society satisfactory to himself, created an intense conflict in Florida during the years of Reconstruction, particularly in the period 1868-1871, In this bloody struggle the issue at stake was the possession of local, state, and national political and economic power, and this issue was colored and made more complex by social and racial elements, including the most virulent race hatred. The incipient conflict, created by the aftermath of war and the Reconstruction Acts of 1867, flared …

The Spanish Conquest Of British West Florida, 1779-1781, Albert W. Haarmann

Florida Historical Quarterly

Florida passed to British control in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. A Royal Proclamation on October 7 of that year established West Florida as a colony and Pensacola was designated as its capital.

Captain Nathaniel Wyche Hunter And The Florida Indian Campaigns, 1837-1841, Reynold M. Wik

Florida Historical Quarterly

In January, 1837, Captain Nathaniel Wyche Hunter arrived at Fort Huleman, Florida, to engage in the military campaigns against the Seminole Indians. His letters and diaries during the next four years provide a vivid account of military life in the Peninsula State. Although his observations do not alter the history of the Seminole wars, they do reflect the thoughts of a perceptive officer facing the frustrations common to this theater of frontier warfare. They also present a soldier’s view of the United States government’s action in removing the Florida Indians to lands beyond the Mississippi river.

The 1789 Saint Augustine Celebration, Helen Hornbeck Tanner

Florida Historical Quarterly

One of the most elaborate celebrations of Saint Augustine’s colonial history occurred in December, 1789, when the civilian and military populations joined in honoring Charles IV’S ascension to the Spanish throne. Parades, theatricals, religious services and soirees with dancing till dawn were features of the three day festival beginning the afternoon of December 2.

Zespedes And The Southern Conspiracies, Helen Hornbeck Tanner

Florida Historical Quarterly

The peace treaty by which the American colonists gained their independence in 1783 created a situation along their southern border almost designed, it seemed, to provoke hostility. By the treaty, the provinces of East and West Florida, which had belonged to Britain for the previous twenty years and had remained loyal to the Crown, were returned to Spain. Thus Europe’s oldest colonial power regained a foothold on the southeastern seaboard of North America, but now was threatened by an ambitious young republic - the first independent nation in the western hemisphere. Furthermore, a portion of the border remained in dispute …

Panton, Leslie, And Company, Indian Traders Of Pensacola And St. Augustine, J. A. Brown

Florida Historical Quarterly

The North American peace settlement of 1783 confirmed the Spanish in their reconquest of Pensacola and returned His Catholic Majesty’s banner to the bastions of the Castillo de San Marcos at St. Augustine; however, it did not end - but rather intensified - the struggle for the allegiance and trade of the 45,000 Indians on the Florida frontier. A new and dynamic United States, surging to the Mississippi, and from its Bahamas outpost a covetous England, intrigued with the savages to turn the Spanish out, and failing that, to divert to their own nationals and treasuries a part at least …

The Cession Of Florida And John Quincy Adams, Secretary Of State, Lester Harris

Florida Historical Quarterly

The cession of the Floridas stands out as one of the greatest victories in the history of American diplomacy. Ownership of Florida insured to the United States a continuous seaboard on the Atlantic Ocean. It led to the recognition by the United States of the South American colonies, then in revolt against Spain. The treaty with Spain gave the United States its first recognized claim to the western lands bordering on the Pacific Ocean. 2 It became the basis for the acquisition of Oregon and Washington, and parts of present day Montana and Idaho. Cession led directly to the Monroe …

Indian Presents: To Give Or Not To Give: Governor Whites's Quandary, Richard K. Murdoch

Florida Historical Quarterly

At the close of the Eighteenth Century the use of presents to obtain loyalty, friendship, neutrality or allegiance was an old story to the nations of Western Europe, dating back to the days of the Greeks and Romans. Later presents were employed for the same purpose in the feudal period and in the campaigns of the Crusaders in the Holy Land. In the early years of the modern era the Portugese used presents to obtain peaceful entry into African ports as prelude to the slave trade. And finally presents were employed in the Americas by all the colonizing powers as …

The White Flag, Florida Historical Society

Florida Historical Quarterly

In the long history of the American Indians no name is more widely known than Osceola. At the time of his death especially, he was talked of throughout the entire country. Towns in a score of states were named for him, and there are three counties which bear his name - in Iowa, Michigan, and Florida. This was largely because of a small piece of white cloth: the violation of a flag of truce under the orders of General Jesup, then in command of the Army in Florida. Standing under the white flag, Osceola was seized, imprisoned, and died soon …

Notes On Modern Seminole Traditions Of Osceola, William C. Sturtevant

Florida Historical Quarterly

Romantic interest among whites in the figure of Osceola began even before his death, and has continued ever since. His abilities as a warrior, his dramatic flair, and the well publicized circumstances of his capture and of his death in captivity soon thereafter, account for this interest. Many who know nothing else about the Seminole know Osceola’s name and some of the white folklore about him. He is almost certain to crop up in casual questioning of the Seminole today by tourists and others. On one occasion, I was present when a customer asked a leading Seminole enterpreneur in his …

Cuban Bloodhounds And The Seminoles, James W. Covington

Florida Historical Quarterly

Throughout history man has made use of animals in his warfare. During the Middle Ages the “Man on horseback” gained many victories against those on foot who opposed him and it was not until the effective use of the long bow and gun powder that the foot soldier could hold his own in combat. The first animal that European man domesticated was the dog. Even as late as World War II canines of several breeds were used by both sides to guard against surprise attack and to track down fleeing foes and prisoners.

The Marine Forces Of William Augustus Bowles And His State Of Muskogee, Lyle N. Mcalister

Florida Historical Quarterly

Among the host of adventurers, dreamers, filibusters and trouble-makers who have added drama to the pages of Florida history, William Augustus Bowles yields to none. Among his enemies, and these were in the majority, he was referred to by epithets ranging from the relatively mild “that fellow Bowles” to the more emphatic “vagabond,” “desperado,” “Black Guard,” “Captain Liar,” and “desperate vile adventurer.” Among his friends and admirers he was known variously as “Beloved Warrior,” “Captain,” “General,” and “Director General.” In the pursuit of his designs Bowles dreamed great dreams, performed remarkable feats of derring-do, executed spectacular escapes, and by a …

Barcia’S History Of Florida, Albert C. Manucy

Florida Historical Quarterly

This volume is a translation of the noted Ensayo Cronologico, or Chronological Essay on the General History of Florida, Containing the Discoveries and principal events which came to pass in this Vast Kingdom, touching the Spanish, French, Swedish, Danish, English, and other Nations, as between themselves and with the Indians whose Customs, Characteristics, Idolatry, Government, Warfare, and Stratagems are described; and the Voyages of some Captains and Pilots through the Northern Sea in search of a passage to the Orient, or the Union of that land with Asia. As this inclusive title indicates, the book is a detailed history of …