Seminole War Forts

[ECS]

I'm in Fort White.. right in the middle of it all..

Sundancer, You are near the original fort that gave Ft White its name-4 mi west of present day Ft White on the left bank of the Santa Fe River.
Also in your area,FT Ward 1836-near the town of Providence,on the Sante Fe River.

 

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[suwanneesuperchick]

so lets go check one of these sites out.ecs thanx.never heard of ft eagle.would it be near columbia city maybe?

 

[suwanneesuperchick]

theres olustee creek near providence too.n e one been down there yet?

 

[Sundancer]

so lets go check one of these sites out.ecs thanx.never heard of ft eagle.would it be near columbia city maybe?

I live between Ft. White and Columbia City near the Ichetucknee but have not ever heard of Ft. Eagle. There was also a Ft. Cook over by Olustee Creek right where the 18 crosses it... but it appears to all be on private land. Original Ft. White is on the Gilcrist side of the Santa Fe and you have to wade across or drive around. I've heard of people finding Spanish Reale pieces on the banks over there. I've only done fossil diving there... had hoped to, but never fanned one up from the gravels.

 

[ECS]

so lets go check one of these sites out.ecs thanx.never heard of ft eagle.would it be near columbia city maybe?

I feel it was in the area surrounding Wellborn.It was said to be near a small spring ,that was the forts water source.I have never been able to pinpoint Ft Eagle.

 

[YankeeDownSouthAdv.]

So who is going to set the first date for some of us(all) to meet up on a "rookie" get-to-gather?...lol..Of course the pros are more than welcome to "tag" along..ha-ha

We have a small group started finally in gainesville, NE florida area of operations...

 

[YankeeDownSouthAdv.]

We have a small group started finally in gainesville, NE florida area of operations...

looking for more folks serious about recovering our history , my wife set us up with a facebook , send me a FR and sent a msg saying your from Tnet.

http://www.facebook.com/NFHRR

 

[YankeeDownSouthAdv.]

I'm in Fort White.. right in the middle of it all..

Well now SD we will definitely be busy with all the sites we have now.....won't we buddy..lol

 

[ECS]

FORT MEADE FINDS

Fort Meade, Florida Archaeological Metal Detecting Project
Great photos of items found at Ft Meade,locations,1852 map,history,etc.

 

[BeachComber7]

Please contact me via pm. Your pm is full and I cannot get a message to you.

 

[Lester Olive]

I live in Taylor Florida,about 50 miles south of Tallahassee

 

[Guest 1551]

Did any of you ever go anywhere? i love the second seminole war. if you did please PM me!!

 

[Salura]

I'm getting very interested in the Seminole War, having recently (3 years) moved to Micanopy Fl. Lots of old forts, Spanish Missions, Indian villages, etc. Anyone that has information about the Alacua County (as it stands now) area, I'd love to hear about it. I've been doing research at the museums, libraries, and contacting researchers and authors, but I still could always use more information.

 

[Southern_Digger]

Wish all of you the best of luck. Always hunt only on private property with permission--that is all I do. If you dig any of the following items then you know you have located fort property.

 

[Guest 1551]

Wish all of you the best of luck. Always hunt only on private property with permission--that is all I do. If you dig any of the following items then you know you have located fort property.

You dig these yourself SouthernDigger? I've got a second seminole war camp on my property near Tally

 

[YankeeDownSouthAdv.]

Gainesville

 

[Guest 1551]

Gainesville

Is that where you are, or where SD dug them?

 

[bofusmosby]

Very interesting read. I guess I would be considered one of the "oldtimers" when it come to metal detecting (over 43 years). My passion has always been with history, and I hunted MANY of the sites mentioned here. I have been digging Fort Brooke (in Tampa) for decades, hitting any vacant or bulldozed land located in the proximity of the old fort. I have even worked for the local Archaeologists off and on for over 20 years as an advisor, and locating trash pits and outhouses for them to excavate. It would seem that most of the forts I hunted back in the 70's and 80's are closed, and have been for many many years. Some because of developement, some because of the State stepping in and protecting them, while others are closed because of the greed of others. Though I metal detect, I also do a lot of sifting when a good area is located. This way, you find EVERYTHING.

Some of you have asked what has been found on these fort sites. To answer this.....ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING! Speaking for myself, I have found gold jewelry, an 1835 5$ gold piece, buttons, bottles, many coins, silver coins, hat plates, belt plates, and number of various personal items, including a rare silver mechanicel pencil, that I believe was mentioned in one of the old diary's from a solder during the Second Seminole War. I have also found many pieces of dishes, clay pipes,and many other items, and have re-assembled them making nice museum displays. No, I'm not blowing my own horn, because there were many others that found considerably more than I ever did, or for that matter, ever will! If you have lived in the Tampa Area for many years and been detecting for a long time, you probably know me.

To touch on just a few sites.....For White. This was by far one of the most productive sites I have ever seen. A good friend of mine metal detected at the river crossing area 26 fort period coins in one day! After the metal detecting finds thinned out over the years, then we broke out our sifting screens. It was amazing as to how much stuff was found. All that being said, the place is now closed. The property used to be owned by an elderly lady that lived in Clearwater Florida. She allowed us to go there for many years. It had been years since I had been there, but started going there again (back in the early 90's. I was really saddened by what I saw. People (fellow hunters) had been sifting for artifacts, and had left all their holes open, trees dug up and cut down, it looked like a battlefield. Well, within a few years, the State got control of the site, and it is now permanently closed. Here is a story about this site that was told to me, so take this with a grain of salt. One of the first hunters on the site found a grave, and supposedly there were military artifacts associated with this grave. The artifacts were removed, the bones put in a bucket and then re-buried. Then, it would seem that every time another group would go to this site, someone would dig up this bucket with the bones of this poor fellow, then re-bury it. This poor fellow must have seen the light of day countless times until one day, the last person to dig up this bucket of bones dumped the bones out of the bucket into the hole, and threw the bucket off to the side. I don't know if this was true or not, but on my first visit to the site, I was shown the bucket laying on the ground that had been tossed to the side. This was a horrible thing for a TH'er to do if this was true!

It was mentioned in one of the posts that Fort Micanopy/Defiance had been found by an Archaeologist. Well this is what they want to believe. It had been found decades ago, and much like Tampa, artifacts can be found on some of the vacant lots when cleared.

Keep this in mind, that the military camp sites are great places to find and hunt. Many (most) camps were used throughout the war, and literally thousands of solders camped on these sites over the years. If a good camp site is found for the first time, it will be like finding a great fort site that has never been hunted.

Well, got to ho to work now, so I'll have to end this for now. Happy hunting!

 

[godisnum1]

You dig these yourself SouthernDigger? I've got a second seminole war camp on my property near Tally

Seminole War camp site, not fort site... correct? Just asking because I used to date someone up there in Tally whose father was friends with someone that had an old Seminole War fort site on their property that we were able to detect on...

Bran <><

 

[bofusmosby]

You might be referring to either Fort Stansbury (sp) or Fort Adkinson. At Fort Standsbury, there were many trenches that had been dug over the years, and were left open. Fort Adkinson is in the middle of an area with planted pines.

A fort site would be best to find, but most of them were found (the easy ones) decades ago, but the camps are a different story. Don't get me wrong, some camps have been found, but the overwhelming majority of them are untouched IMO.

I had a friend of mine that went to some sort of Company "Big Wigs" resort area. (up un north/East Florida) He decided to take his metal detector with him, and he stumbled onto a Dragoon camp. I believe that in 2 trips, he found something like 150 nice Dragoon buttons, and nothing else. He was never able to return afterwards.