Johnalewis74's Blog
Johnalewis74's Blog
Last Post 189 days, 1 hour Ago
Dec 30, 2007 | 2:31 PM PST
The Myakka "Skunk Ape"
Photographs
by
Loren Coleman
The best evidence for the existence of the Skunk Ape came in 2000 when several photographs were mailed by an anonymous source to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.
Here is the actual December 22, 2000 letter signed "God Bless. I prefer to remain anonymous" mailed to the Sarasota Sheriff's Department:
Dear Sir or Madam,
Enclosed please find some pictures I took in late September or early October of 2000.
My husband says he thinks it is an orangutan. Is someone missing an orangutan? It is hard to judge from the photos how big this orangutan really is. It is in a crouching position in the middle of standing up from where it was sitting. It froze as soon as the flash went off. I didn't even see it as I took the first picture because it was so dark. As soon as the flash went off for the second time it stood up and started to move. I then heard the orangutan walk off into the brushes. From where I was standing, I judge it as being about six and a half to seven feet tall in the kneeling position. As soon as I realized how close it was I got back to the house. It had an awful smell that lasted well after it had left my yard. The orangutan was making deep "woomp" noises. It sounded much farther away then it turned out to be. If I had known it was as close to the hedge roll as it was I wouldn't have walked up as close as I did. I'm a senior citizen and if this animal had come out of the hedge roll after me there wasn't a thing I could have done about it. I was about ten foot away from it when it stood up. I'm concerened because my grandchildren like to come down and explore in my back yard. An animal this big could hurt somebody seriously. For two nights prior, it had been taking apples that my daughter brought down from up north, off our back porch. These pictures were taken on the third night it had raided my apples. It only came back one more night after that and took some apples that my husband had left out in order to get a better look at it. We left out four apples. I cut two of them in half. The orangutan only took the whole apples. We didn't see it take them. We waited up but eventually had to go to bed. We got a dog back there now and as far as we can tell the orangutan hasn't been back.
Please find out where this animal came from and who it belongs to. It shouldn't be loose like this, someone will get hurt. I called a friend that used to work with animal control back up north and he told us to call the police. I don't want any fuss or people with guns traipsing around behind our house. We live near I-75 and I'm afraid this orangutan could cause a serious accident if someone hit it. I once hit a deer that wasn't even a quarter of the size of this animal and totalled my car. At the very least this animal belongs in a place like Bush Gardens where it can be looked after properly. Why haven't people been told that an animal this size is loose? How are people to know how dangerous this could be? If I had known an animal like this was loose I wouldn't have approached it. I saw on the news that monkeys that get loose can carry Hepatitis and are very dangerous. Please look after this situation. I don't want my backyard to turn into someone else's circus.
God Bless
I prefer to remain anonymous.
Known as "The Myakka Skunk Ape Photographs" they clearly show a large ape-like creature. Noted cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, who has thoroughly analyzed the photos, points out the details of forehead lines, yellow canines, fingernails and hair... all clearly visible. The photographer still has not been identified. So although the photos are compelling and Coleman does not think they are part of a hoax, they still are not proof positive.
Newspapers in Florida, the Art Bell Show, and other radio programs during mid-February, decided to talk about the Myakka photographs in hopes the woman photographer would be identified.
Newspapers in Florida, the Art Bell Show, and other radio programs during mid-February, decided to talk about the Myakka photographs in hopes the woman photographer would be identified.
These Coleman enlargements and details were created from the first generation color prints scanned by David Barkasy of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Department's originals. These prints show forehead lines, yellow canines, fingernails, hair, and other significant details.
Copyright 2001 by David Barkasy and Loren Coleman
The Patterson film of Bigfoot:
To view this film, go to:
http://www.angelfire.com/n Below: Tony Scheuhamme, a biologist with the Candian Wildlife Service, pointed out some features on a good photograph of an orangutan by Denise McQuillen. This is not to say the Myakka photographs are of an orangutan, but it certainly assists in identifying features that are found on a known anthropoid that appear to exist on this one too. The Myakka ape head closeups: Copyright 2001 by David Barkasy and Loren Coleman Compared with a Sumatran Orangutan's head, photographed at the Cincinnati Zoo by Denise McQuillen, 1999 East County Observer 07/12/01 Tracking Myakka's wily Skunk Ape A lot of people have sightings, but they sit on them because they don't want to look like idiots. By It's been nearly nine months and there's been no reappearance of the Myakka Skunk Ape. At least no official reports. This past February, newspapers throughout the Southeast caused a supernatural frenzy when they ran stories about the appearance of a smelly ape nearly seven feet tall in a backyard east of I-75 in Sarasota. Sone writers quickly dismissed the idea of Florida's answer to Bigfoot. Others used the opportunity to tell a few jokes, and some suggested, mockingly, organizing a search (i.e. hunting) party to find the animal that resembles an orangutan. One local man has done just that. The Search: David Barkasy is on the prowl. Barskasy was one of the first people to see the photographs of the ape last fall after they were mailed anonymously to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office. Since then, his curiosity has been in overdrive. "It's the possibility of finding something new," Barkasy says of his search for the Skunk Ape. "I don't know if there's something out there, but the more I hear, the more interested I get." Barkasy, owner of reptile wholesaler Silver City Serpentarium in Sarasota, has made more than 30 night-time trips to the forest east of the interstate hoping to find this legendary creature that was first reported in Lakeland in 1947. Barkasy and friends strung apples (a favored food of the ape according to some reports) with fishing line between trees and sat in the dark waiting for something to happen. Some nights nothing. A few nights they were chased out of the woods by something in the bushes. "We would sit back and make bird calls, and a few times you'd smell something like dead animals and then we heard palmettos breaking. It could have been a bear or coyote, but who knows?" Barkasy, a former mechanical engineer, says. On his last expedition, Barkasy was told to leave the forest by a state ranger. It turns out the land he was on is owned by Southwest Florida Water Management District and managed by the Myakka State Park. For the men to be there after hours, they needed special permission from Swiftmud, which Barkasy had not obtained, but says he intends to do in order to install motion cameras in the area. "I want to know what was out there chasing us out of the woods. There's not too many animals that'll stalk you." Loren Coleman, a noted cryptozoologist (hunter of hidden animals) who studied the Myakka case, fully believes what was photographed is not a costume or a fake, or even an escaped zoo animal. He's bent of finding the photographer so he can figure out where the citing took place and examine it. Barkasy is helping. He's discovered that the photographs taken last fall were printed in December 2000 at the Eckerd photo lab at the intersection of Fruitville and Tuttle Roads. He wants to find the eldery woman who took the pictures, but who prefers to remain unknown because she doesn't "want any fuss or people with guns traipsing around" her house. It seems the legend of the foul-smelling primate will have to remain hidden a while longer, if not forever, without the help of people who've made contact with it. Barkasy believes the number of people who've seen this creature is actually greater than one would think.
v/mywebpage/bigfoot.html <
/p>
Mischa Vieira
"Working with animals I hear a lot of things. Cub scout leaders camping on the Manatee River have told me stories, so have hunters," Barkasy said. "A lot of people have sightings, but they sit on them because they don't want to look like idiots."
http://www.freewebs.com/ja
cksbromeliads/
___________________________
______________________________
_____________________________<
/p>
Dec 23, 2007 | 5:54 AM PST
Tags: Tropical Plants , Bromeliads
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
the
Boardwalk Tour
and
Ghost Orchid
A two and one quarter mile raised boardwalk takes visitors through several distinct habitats found within the 11,000 acre Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, including the largest remaining virgin bald cypress forest in North America.
This natural system is managed by the National Audubon Society to maintain the native plants and animals found here and to preserve the natural processes that has been occurring here for thousands of years. The aerial photo below shows a view of the boardwalk area.
The boardwalk begins in pine flatwoods at the Blair Audubon Center. A little bit futher along, a spur leads to the site of an old 'plume hunters camp' that is also in the flatwoods. Oak and hardwood hammocks dot the area.
Long ago, most of Florida was open pine forest and these were created and kept open by periodic natural fires, so the plants growing here need to be able to recover quickly after the burns. Although at a higher elevation than the wetlands, the general lack of topography gives an advantage to plants that can also withstand occasional flooding.
Southern Slash Pine, Cabbage Palms, and Saw Palmetto dominate the area, and a host of wildflowers are in bloom throughout the year. Wildlife in the pine flatwoods varies with the seasons. When the palmetto berries ripen in the fall, deer, raccoons, and occasionally black bears are drawn to the abundant food supplies.
Cardinals, woodpeckers, vireos, mockingbirds, and red-shouldered hawks are seen and heard throughout the year and are joined seasonally by the migrating warblers, towhees and buntings. Wood Storks and swallow-tailed kites soar overhead during their spring and early summer nesting seasons.
The boardwalk trail continues across and along the wet praire. It is a type of marsh dominated by grasses, sedges and rushes, with sand cordgrass being the most common. The time it is flooded during a year is short compared to other wetland habitats. It is slightly lower in elevation than the pine flatwoods, and a combination of nutrient-poor soils, fire, and flooding help keep this grass-dominated praire from becoming a pine flatwood or a cypress swamp.
During the spring dry-down, herons, egrets and ibis forage in the grasses while hawks hunt the edge of the pond cypress. Wood Storks soar overhead and the occasional sand hill cranes move into the pine flatwoods. As the summer rains begin, deer move into the praire to feed on the fresh growth and the calls of the frogs are everwhere. The swallow-tailed kites are skimming the tops of the pine trees searching for food.
During the fall when water levels are at their highest, alligators move throughout the grasses and a variety of mammals cross the praire, frequently using the boardwalk to reach the ripening berries and figs in the cypress forests.
Pond Cypress is a natural buffer between the bald cypress forest and the wet praire/pine flatwood. It serves as an ecotone (an area where two different habitats meet), creating an environment where wildlife from both the wet praire and the bald cypress forest mingle.
Pond cypress are smaller than the bald cypress that are more commonly found deeper in the swamp. Although stunted by the nutrient poor soils on the edge of the praire, these pond cypress trees are well over 100 years old. Scientists are not in total agreement whether pond cypress and bald cypress are two distinct species. DNA testing suggests they are, but they are known to hybridize. Superficially, the pond cypress has a slightly different appearance.....the bark is more deeply ridged, the needles spiral around the stems, and they grow in much closer proximity to each other.
Understory plants include sawgrass, ferns, air plants, wax myrtle, strangler fig, and a viriety of flowering plants ranging from water lilies and pickerel weed to wild iris and the bladderworts.
Standing like sentinels guarding a fortress, bald cypress trees dominate the swamps of South Florida. The old growth bald cypress trees here at Corkscrew are 600 years old and reach heights of 130 feet and more. They comprise the largest remaining virgin bald cypress forest in North America.
Swamps develop over time under the right conditions. As organic (peat) soils accumulate, trees begin to have an advantage over other wetland plants. Because the peat may be only several feet deep, mature cypress trees rely on an extensive system of horizontal roots; cypress 'knees' grow up from the roots to provide the extra stability necessary to have weathered hundreds of years of storms and hurricanes.
Natural cavities in the old growth trees provide homes for barred owls, screech owls, wood ducks, raccoons, and other cavity nesters, while pileated, red-bellied, and downey woodpeckers excavate their own holes. Because the cypress trees lose their needles for several months during the winter, light filters down to the forest floor enabling a rich diversity of understory plants to thrive. Epiphytic orchids and bromeliads grow on the pond apple trees, ferns colonize fallen trees and establish themselves on the cypress knees, and red maples take advantage of breaks in the canopy.
Less than a half mile into the cypress swamp, a bordwalk spur gradually rises to an elevated observation platform overlooking the central marsh, which is encircled by the old-growth cypress forest. In South Florida, sawgrass marshes dominate. The soil is organic, built up over hundreds of years from dead plant material......peat. Typical marsh plants are sawgrass, pickerel weed, cattails and bulrush, although the costal plain willow is colonizing the area. Periodic fires help restore regular marsh vegetation.
During the spring, wood stork nesting colonies can be spotted with binoculars and spotting scopes in the tops of cypress trees on the north and west edges of the marsh.
Swallow-tailed kites, vultures, anhingas and storks catch the thermals to soar high above the marsh while vireos, cardnals, and blackbirds search for food among the plants. Raccoons hunt along the ground while alligators and otters are in the wetter areas. Queen butterflies use the twining White Vine as a nectar source and larval plant, while Viceroy butterflies prefer the willow.
The Lettuce Lakes along the boardwalk trail are in the bald cypress forest, but when water levels are too deep, no trees can grow. These deep, treeless channels within a swamp are called sloughs (pronounced slews).
The deeper water and open skies attract a variety of wildlife, especially during the spring when shallower ponds elsewhere begin to dry up. Although they are lakes, the water surface is often covered with a mat of floating vegetation, primarily watter lettuce and frog's bit, which provides shelter for crustaceans, fish, small reptiles, amphibians and insects. These in turn are prey for the larger animals, notably alligators and wading birds.The floating plants are themselves food for turtles and a variety of insects. Open benches and benches under rain shelters allow visitors to rest and enjoy the show.
The boardwalk begins and ends at the Blair Audubon Center, which since its opening has served as the model for other National Audubon Society Centers in the United States. In addition to serving as the entrance to the Sanctuary and the boardwalk, it houses the Swamp Senses Media Theater, a tearoom with a food service counter, two fully equipped classrooms, a foyer featuring paintings, sculptures and photography by regional artists, and the Nature Store. The store has field guides, books, optics to rent or purchase, and tons of photographs.
During the late fall, winter and spring, bird feeders placed at the start of the boardwalk attract thousands of birds such as buntings, cardnals, woodpeckers, chipping sparrows and towhees. Native plants in the adjoining butterfly garden and around the Living Machine, draw hummingbirds and butterflies throughout the year.
Ghost Orchid...
Natural Range:
The Ghost Orchid is native to Southwest Florida and Cuba. In Florida, its range is very localized in swamps in the Fakahatchee, Big Cypress, and Corkscrew areas of Collier and Hendry Counties.
Status:
The Ghost Orchid is an endangered species. It is illegal under both state and federal laws to remove or relocate.
This Ghost Orchid is growing on the trunk of a 400-500 year old Bald Cypress tree. The previously highest known location of any Ghost Orchid in Collier County was in the Fakahatchee Strand at 23 feet. This plant is approximately 45-50 feet above ground. Tipically, 1-2 blooms appear although there may be as many as 10, and occasionally a plant will bloom twice in the same season. This orchid bloomed three times between July 7 and October 15. The first time, it had 12 blooms at the same time, the second time it had 10 blooms at the same time, and the third time it had 3 blooms at the same time. A Ghost Orchid has not been observed from the Corkscrew boardwalk for at least 12 years. It is estimated that this plant is 30-35 years old.
Habitat:
Ghost Orchids are found on trees in hardwood hammocks, sloughs and cypress domes. Host trees include pop ash (most common), pond apple (second most common), and bald cypress, maple and oak. Epiphytic on other plants, and leafless, the photosynthesis occurs through the roots. The roots are gray-green and typically about 20 inches long. Seeds are dispersed by the wind and must land on rough-barked trees. Germination does not occur unless a particular fungi is present where the seed lands.
Blooms appear May through August, rarely in other months, and heaviest blooming is in July. Typically, there are one or two blooms per plant, but there can be as many as 10. The flowers are white to creamy green colored and usually 4-1/2 to 5 inches in size. Ghost Orchids are infrequent bloomers with flowers not appearing for years between seasons when they do not bloom. Flowers open in succession, usually 1 to 2 at a time and the individual blooms last 10-14 days. The orchid is nocturnally fragrant and the lower lip produces two long, petals that twist slightly downward, resembling the back legs of a jumping frog, hence the common name, 'Frog Orchid'.
Pollination:
Ghost Orchids are not self-pollinating. Pollination is done by the Giant Sphinx Moth, the only local insect with a long enough proboscis (4-5 inches).
notes:
The Ghost Orchid received its name because the plant has no leaves (only roots) and when it blooms, the flower appears to be floating in mid-air. The epithet lindenii in the scientific name is derived from its discoverer, the Belgian plant-collector Jean Jules Linden who saw this orchid for the first time in Cuba in 1844. It was the subject of Susan Orlean's novel "The Orchid Thief", but she has never seen one in bloom.
Commercial propagation of Ghost Orchids illegally removed from the wild rarely survive. When grown commercially, they must be propagated from seed, a process that takes 7+ years.
Hours of Operation
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
is open for visitors every day of the year except during violent weather.
Hours
October 1 thru April 10: 7:00 AM to *5:30 PM
April 11 thru September 30: 7:00 AM to *7:30 PM
*Note:
Entrance within one hour (4:30 PM October - April 10,
or
6:30 PM April 11 - September of closing is not allowed:
there is insufficient time to be out of the sanctuary by closing time.
All visitors must be off the boardwalk before the closing time unless a special program is being conducted by the Corkscrew staff. No individual is allowed on the boardwalk after dark. This regulation was established for the protection of wading birds that roost or nest near the boardwalk. Any disturbance of these birds at night might result in nest failure. This regulation applies each month of the year.
Location
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is located northeast of Naples, Florida, in Collier County. It is at the end of Sanctuary Road West, north of Immokalee Road (County Road 846), approximately 15 miles east of Exit 111 on
I-75. Visible, brown informational signs along Immokalee Road assist in finding the Sanctuary.
DO NOT take Exit 123 (Corkscrew Road)!
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary
375 Sanctuary Road West
Naples, Florida 34120
telephone: (239) 348-9151
fax: (239) 348-1522
http://www.freewebs.com/jacks
bromeliads/
Oct 7, 2007 | 7:14 AM PST
Tag: Tropical Plants
I've just finished my third bromeliad video and would like to share it with all the members.
It runs for about 12 minutes and has some great music.
The photos are from my collection and chapter four is on Florida's native bromeliads. It was shot in the Big Cypress and Corkscrew Swamps here in Florida.....
I hope you enjoy it.....
http://video.google.com/vi
deosearch?q=JacksFloridaBromel
iads_2007&hl=en
Sep 22, 2007 | 2:55 AM PST
I think I can post the URL as a clickable link here.....
http://moreoldfortyfive
s.com/TakeMeBackToTheSixties.h
tm
Aug 31, 2007 | 7:57 AM PST
Tags: Native Americans , Seminoles
Seminole Timeline
>1510 - First recorded European contact with Seminole ancestors, Spanish slave ship reaches South Florida peninsula.
>1513 - Spaniards claim Eastern U.S. call it La Florida.
>1539-43 - Hernando DeSoto explores Southeast - first white contact for many tribes.
>1565 - Spaniards establish St. Augustine - first premanment European city in North America.
>1670 - English settle Charles Towne, begin coastal skirmishes with Spanish.
>1690s - French settle Louisiana.
>1704-1708 - English destroy Spanish Florida missions, kill or enslave thousands of Natives.
>1740 - Alachua, earliest recorded Seminole town, established in North Florida.
>1763 - Spain cedes Florida to England.
>1776 - Revolutionary War creates U.S.A.
>circa 1804 - Osceola (William Powell) born near Tuskeegee, Alabama.
>1813-14 - Creek War in Alabama forces Native survivors to flee southward where they join Florida natives. General Andrew Jackson rises to power.
>1816 - First Seminole War begins after Jackson crosses into northern Florida.
>1823 - Treaty of Moultrie Creek. Seminoles give up 28 million acres, retain 4 million.
>1832 - Treaty of Payne's Landing ratified by Congress. Promised 5 million acres in southwest Florida to Seminoles.
>December 28, 1835 - Osceola leads Seminoles at battle of Withlacoochee, slays U.S. Indian Agent Major Francis Dade. 105 soldiers killed en route to Fort King (Ocala). Second Seminole War (1835-1842) begins.
>1837 - Osceola captured under flag of truce, removed to South Carolina prison where he dies in January 1838.
>1837 - Christmas Day. Battle of Okeechobee. 1,000 federal troops under General Zachary Taylor, against fewer than 500 Seminoles, led by Alligator, Abiaka, Jumper and others. 26 of 37 dead are U.S. soldiers, most of them Missouri Volunteers.
>1838 - Trail of Tears forces 16,000 Cherokees from their eastern homeland to Oklahoma. At least 2,000 die along the way. About 3,000 Seminoles, including Wild Cat (Caocoochee) and Alligator are shipped to Oklahoma.
>1855 - Billy Bowlegs leads attack on U.S. Army surveyors. Third Seminole War begins.
>1858 - Third Seminole War officially ends with the capture of Bowlegs. A few hundred Seminoles, including Abiaka, remain in Big Cypress and other isolated parts of Florida. U.S. government abandons efforts to remove all Seminoles.
>1890s - Seminoles and whites begin to trade peacefully on the borders of the Everglades.
>1928 - Tamiami Trail opens, fueling the boom in South Florida tourism. Seminoles begin to sell crafts and wrestle alligators. Killer hurricane hits Lake Okeechobee region, tidal wave drowns 4,000 in worst natural disaster before hurricane Andrew.
>1934 - Indian Reorganization Act, promotes Native self-determination. "Five Civilized Tribes", a book written by Grant Foreman, designates Seminoles, along with Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee and Creek, civilized.
>1936 - Herd of half-starved cattle arrive in Brighton from Apache. Seminole cattle industry begins.
>1939 - First formal edcuation at Brighton Indian Day School, opened by teachers William and Edith Boehmer.
>1946 - Creation of United States Indian Claims Commission.
>1947 - Seminole Indians file petition with Claims Commission for a settlement to cover lost lands. Florida State University students choose "Seminoles" as official school mascot.
>1953 - U.S. House Resolution proposes termination of Seminole Tribe.
>1957 - Seminole Constitution ratified by vote of 241 - 5. Tribe gains federal status as the Seminole Tribe of Florida. First Tribal Council is elected; Billy Osceola, first elected chairman. First president Frank Billie resigns, succeeded by Bill Osceola. First annual budget: $12,000.
>1962 - Miccosukee Tribe of Indians gain federal recognition.
>1963 - First Seminole newspaper, "Smoke Signals" published. Renamed "Alligator Times" in 1973, "Seminole Tribune" in 1982.
>1967 - Betty Mae Jumper, first woman elected to chair any tribe in North America.
>1968 - Oath of Unity, signed by Choctaw, Cherokee, Seminole and Miccosukee Tribes, leading to formation of United South and Eastern Tribes (USET).
>1971 - Howard Tommie elected Chairman. Eight-year term sees advent of tax-free cigarette sales, which boost Tribal budget to $$.5 million annually by 1976.
>1979 - James E. Billie elected Tribal Chairman. Bingo becomes biggest source of Tribal income. Immokalee, Tampa reservations established.
>1981 - U.S. Supreme Court affirms Tribe's right to high-stakes bingo at Hollywood, in Seminole Tribe of Florida vs. Butterworth. Tampa bingo hall opens.
>1988 - National Indian Gaming Regulatory Act passed, limits placed on Class III games, including electronic video machines. Limited casinos set up at Hollywood, Immokalee and Tampa reservations.
>1990 - The Seminole Tribune receives Robert F. Kennedy Journalism award from Ethel Kennedy.
>1992 - Seminoles in Florida and Oklahoma, collect land claims against the U.S. for unconscionable acts during the Seminole Wars. With interest, the Seminole Tribe of Florida nets almost $10 million. Independent Seminoles refuse to settle; funds are held in trust.
>1995 - Tribe moves headquarters to new four-story building in Hollywood.
>1996 - Fort Pierce reservation established.
>1996 - Cattleman Fred Smith, Tribal president longer than anyone, dies in Brighton. James Billie elected to record fifth term as Chairman, Tribal budget exceeds $100 million.
>1997 - Sovereignty of Tribe challenged by National Indian Gamimg Commission, U.S. Attorney. Seminoles assune full management of gaming activities on Hollywood reservation. Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum opens.
Compiled by:
Charles Flowers...
Peter B. Gallagher...
Patricia Wickman...
http://www.freewebs.com
/jacksbromeliads/
Aug 30, 2007 | 5:58 AM PST
Two Famous Seminole Leaders:
Osceola and Abiaka..........
Those years were illuminated by two legendary Seminole leaders... the famous warrior Osceola (a.k.a. William Powell) and the inspirational medicine man Abiaka (a.k.a. Sam Jones).
Elegant in dress, handsome of face, passionate in nature and giant of ego, Osceola masterminded successful battles against five baffled US generals, murdered the United States Indian agent, took punitive action against any who cooperated with the white man and stood as a national hero of the Seminoles' strong reputation for non-surrender. Osceola was not a chief with the heritage of a Micanopy or Jumper, but his skill as an orator and his bravado in conflict earned him great influence over Seminole war actions.
Osceola's capture, under a controversial flag of truce offered by General Thomas Jessup, remains today one of the blackest marks in American military history. A larger-than-life character, Osceola is the subject of numerous myths; his 1838 death in a Charleston, South Carolina prison was noted on front pages around the world. At the time of his death, Osceola was the most famous American Indian.
Though his exploits were not as well publicized, Seminole medicine man Abiaka (Sam Jones) may have been more important to the internal Seminole war machine than Osceola. Abiaka was a powerful spiritual leader who used his "medicine" to stir Seminole warriors into a frenzy. His genius directed Seminole gains in several battles, including the 1837 ambush now known as the Battle of Okeechobee.
Many years older than most of the Seminole leadership of that era, wise old Sam Jones was a staunch resistor of removal. He kept the resistance fuled before and after Osceola's period of prominence and, when the fighting had concluded, was the only major Seminole leader to remain in Florida. Starved, surrounded, sought with a vengance, Sam Jones would answer no flag of truce, no offer of compromise, no demand of surrender. His final camp was in the Big Cypress Swamp, not far from the Seminole Tribe's Big Cypress community of today.
No Surrender!
By May 10, 1842, when a frustrated President John Tyler ordered the end on military actions against the Seminoles, over $20 million had been spent, 1500 American soldiers had died, and still no formal peace treaty had been signed. At that time, it marked the most costly military campaign in the young country's history. And it wasn't over yet. Thirteen years later, a US Army survey party... seeking the whereabouts of Abiaka and other Seminole groups... was attacked by Seminole warriors under the command of the colorful Billy Bowlegs. The nation invested its entire reserve into the capture of the ambushers.....
The eventual capture and deportation of Bowlegs ended aggerssions between the Seminole's and the United States, Unlike their dealings with other tribes, the United States Government could not force a surrender from the Florida Seminoles. Historians estimate there may have been only a few hundred unconquered Seminole men, women and children left, all hiding in the swamps and Everglades of South Florida. No chicanery, no offer of cattle, land, liquor or God, nothing could lure the last few from their perches of ambush deep in the wilderness. The US declared the war ended... though no peace treaty was ever signed, and gave up.
The Florida survivors comprised at least two main factions:
Maskoki speakers who lived near Lake Okeechobee and those who spoke Hitchiti tongue (also called Miccosukee or Seminole) and lived to the south. In the remote environs of such uncharted Florida wilderness, the Seminoles remained, living in small traditional camps of cypress frame/palmetto-thatch chickees, isolated from Florida's society and the rest of the world until well into the 20th century... long after most tribes had experienced assimilation, religous conversion and cultural annihilation.
The descendants of these last few Indian resitors are the members of today's Seminole Tribe of Florida, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, and the unaffiliated Independent or Traditional Seminoles.
The Seminoles began the 20th century where they had been left at the end of the Seminole Wars... in abject poverty, hiding out in remote camps in the wet wilderness areas of South Florida.
There, finally left in peace from US government oppression, the last few Florida Indians managed to live off the land, maintaining minimal contact with the outside world. Hunting, trapping, fishing and trading with the white man at frontier outposts provided the Seminoles with their only significant economic enterprise of the area.
By this time, development had reached the coastal rivers and plains of South Florida. Inland, a "drain the Everglades" mentality promoted by politicians and developers, forever altered the course of the "River of Grass." Even in the untamed wilderness of the Seminole, man's social and ecological pollution had dire effect. Poor crops, shrinking numbers of fish and game, droughts, serious hurricanes and other calamites once again heaped pressure on the Seminoles.
The collapse of the frontier Seminole economy in the late 1920's threatened the Florida Indians with assimilation and extinction. The wilderness no longer offered safety; many lived as tenants on lands or farms where they worked of as spectacles in the many tiny tourist attractions sprouting up across tourist South Florida.
By this time however, the U.S. Congress had begun to take notice. By 1938, more than 80,000 acres of land had been set aside for the Seminoles in the Big Cypress, Hollywood and Brighton areas and the invitation to move in, to change from subsistence farming and hunting/trapping, to an agriculture-based economy, was offered. Few Seminoles moved onto these Indian reservation lands, however, mistrusting the government that had hunted their forebears. Even the religious missionaries had a tough time breaking through the determined Seminole spirit.
In 1934, Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act, recognizing the rights of American Indians to conduct popular vote elections and govern their own political affairs by consitution and bylaws. Again, inherently suspicious, mistrustful of any government intervention, the Seminoles did not take advantage of this opportunity untill 23 years later when the Tribe was faced with official termination by the U.S. Government. They did however, file a petition with the U.S. Indian Claims Commission in 1947 for a settlement to cover their lands lost to the U.S. government aggressors.....
http://www.freewebs.
com/jacksbromeliads/
Aug 29, 2007 | 1:00 PM PST
Tags: Florida History , Native Americans
Indian Resistance and Removal...
In it's early days, the new United States government carried out a policy of displacement and extermination against the American Indians in the eastern US, removing them from the path of "white" settlement. Until 1821, Florida remained under the control of the government of Spain but the US Territories of Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana were its next-door neighbors. It was clear that the US wanted the Spaniards out of Florida and was willing to consider any means, including warfare, to aquire the rich land.
As it turned out, Spain could no longer afford to support its vast colonial empire, and from 1784 until 1821 (when Spain ceded Florida to the US), Florida became the setting for constant international intrigues as well as a target for greedy adventurers who wished to establish their own personal empires with Florida's vast rescources.
When the Maskoki tribes in Alabama, whom English speakers called "Creeks," rose up against the white settlers in the Creek War of 1813-1814, the brutal repression and disastrous treaty forced upon them by General Andrew Jackson sent thousands of warriors and their families migrating southward to take refuge in Spanish Florida. There, they joined the decendants of many other tribes whose members had lived all across the Florida forests for thousands of years. The Indians who made up this Florida group called themselves 'yat'siminoli' or "free people," because for centuries their ancestors had resisted the attempts of the Spaniards to conquer and convert them, as well as the attempts of the English to take their lands and use them as military pawns. Soon, white Americans would begin to call all of the Indians in Florida by that name: "Seminoles"
Spain could not afford enough soldiers to patrol the long frontiers of Florida. Its choice lands were openly coveted by white settlers who regulary moved across its borders. English war ships anchored off its Gulf coast and English agents encouraged the Seminoles, Creeks and Mikisuki to resist US settlement openly. US officals, angry that the Spaniards could not oust the English or control the Indians, were incensed by the protection and shelter the Seminoles offered to African slaves. These freedom seekers had been finding refuge in Spanish Florida for over a century, but the new US government was determinded to stop this pratice. In the late 1700's and early 1800's, conflicts, skirmishes and ambushes erupted and racial hatred broke into violence more and more frequently on the new frontier.
When the military and political opportunist, General Andrew Jackson, marched across Florida's international boundaries to settle the "Indian Problem," he created international furor. Over a period of several years, he burned Indian towns, captured Africans, and hanged one Maskoki medicine man, Francis, as well as two Englishmen whom he suspected of inciting the Indians. This series of events, wich took place between 1814 and 1818, is known as the First Seminole War.
And the conflicts did not end there; they only escalated.
Through the Treaty of Moultrie Creek (1823), the Treaty of Payne's Landing (1832), and numerous "talks" and meetings, US Indian Agents sought to convince the Flodida Indians to sell their cattle and pigs to the US government, return runaway slaves to their "rightful owners," leave their ancient homelands in Florida, and move west of the Mississippi River to Arkansas Territory. In 1830, soon after Jackson the Indian fighter became Andrew Jackson, the president of the United States, he pushed through Congress the Indian Removal Act. With this Act, the determination of the government to move Indians out of the Southeast and open the land for white settlement became the official policy of the US, and the willingness of the government to spend monies in support of military enforcement of this policy increased.
The clash that resulted from this policy finally began in 1835, and the seven years that it lasted was the most tragic years in the history of US - Indian relations east of the Mississippi River. Known to history as the Second Seminole War, the US government committed almost $40,ooo,000 to the forced removal of slightly more than 3,000 Maskoki men, women and children from Florida to Oklahoma. This was the only Indian war in US history in which not only the US army, but also the US navy and marine corps participated. Together with the Third Seminole War, a series of skirmishes that took place between 1856 and 1858, the United States spent much of the first half of the 19th century in trying, unsuccessfully, to dislodge about 5,000 Seminoles from Florida.
Unlike the "Trail of Tears" that took place in 1838, in which several thousand Cherokee people were sent on a death march to the West, the removal of the Seminole people from Florida began earlier and lasted 20 years longer. Just like the other event, the toll in human suffering was profound, and the stain on the honor of a great nation can never be erased. The Seminole people..... men, women and children, were hunted with bloodhounds, rounded up like cattle, and forced onto ships that carried them to New Orleans and up the Mississippi. Together with hundreds of African ex-slaves who had fought with them, they were then sent overland to Fort Gibson (Arkansas), and on to strange lands where they were attacked by other tribes, in a fierce competition for the scarce resources that they all needed to survive.
In addition to "Old Hickory," as Jackson had come to be known, an impressive list of US military figures joined the fight to remove the Seminoles from Florida. Edmund P. Gaines; Zachary Taylor; Oliver O. Howard (the Christian General), Richard Keith Call, and Thomas S. Jessup, among many others, would nearly ruin their reputations trying to fight the Seminoles in a place that was cold and wet in winter, and hot and wet in summer; where only the Seminoles, alligators, snakes and mosquitoes knew how to survive. And where dysentery and malaria were the rewards for their efforts. One white solder wrote home that, "If the Devil owned both Hell and Florida, he would rent out Florida and live in Hell!"
William S. Harney, who would later tell western tribes, "The Great White Father has sent me to punish you!" learned his Indian-fighting tactics in Florida. Winfield Scott, the only commander of US troops in Florida to emerge with his reputation intact, went on to reorganize the entire US military establishment on the "Open Field" tactics that evolved from the Seminole Wars.
Today, students at US military academies still study the hit-and-run tactics of the Seminoles. This was the first time in its history that US soldiers fought a "guerrilla" war, on which the old "liner" tactics of the European military system were almost useless against warriors who moved in flexible formations, attacked and dissappeared, and used the very terrain as a weapon against their enemies. The US would not fight another such war until its troops entered the tiny southeast Asian nation of Vietnam more than a centuury later......
Up Next:
Two legendary Seminole Leaders...
Aug 28, 2007 | 11:55 AM PST
Tags: Tropical Plants , Pineapple
The Colonial Pineapple Trade...
Ships brought in preserved pineapples from Caribbean islands as expensive sweetmeats... pineapple chunks candied, glazed and packed in sugar. The actual whole fruit was even more costly and difficult to obtain. Wooden ship travel in the tropics was hot, humid and slow, often rotting pineapple cargoes before they could be landed. Only the fastest ships and best of weather conditions could deliver ripe pineapples to the confectionery shops in the New World.
A hostesses's ability to have a pineapple for an important dining event said as much about her rank as it did about her resourcefulness, given that the street trade in available fresh pineapples could be as brisk as it was bitchy. So sought after were the prickly fruits that colonial confectioners sometimes rented them to households by the day. Later, the same fruit was sold to other, more affluent clients who actually ate it. As you can imagine, hostesses would have gone to great lengths to conceal the fact that the pineapple that was the centerpiece of their table display and a central topic of their guests' conversation was only rented.
Pineapple as a Hospitality Symbol...
In larger, well-to-do homes, the dining room doors were kept closed to heighten visitors suspense about the table being readed on the other side. At the appointed moment, the doors were flung open to reveal the evening's main event. Visitors confronted with pineapple-topped food displays felt honored by a hostess who spared no expense to ensure her guest's dining pleasure.
In this manner, the fruit which was the visual keystone of the feast naturally came to symbolize the high spirits of the social events themselves; the image of the pineapple coming to express the sense of welcome, good cheer, human warmth and family affection inherent to such gracious home gatherings.
During the last century, the art of food display centered around the pineapple, has faded to a quaint craft now associated with the making of certain kinds of Christmas decorations. These holiday fabrications are one of the few vestiges of an era when all life revolved around the dining room table; a less complicated era that left us the enduring icon of the colonial pineapple, a truly American fruit, symbolizing our founding society's abiding commitment to hospitality as well as its fondest memories of families, friends and good times.
http://www.freewebs.com
/jacksbromeliads/
Aug 28, 2007 | 11:12 AM PST
Tags: Tropical Plants , Bromeliads
Creative Food Display in Colonial America...
Creative food display... the main entertainment during a formal home visit... was a means by which a woman declared both her personality and her family's status. Within the bounds of their family's means, hostesses sought to outdo each other in the creation of memorable, fantasy-like dining room scenes. Foodstuffs often drizzled and were webbed in sugar, studded with china figurines, festooned with flowers and woven with garlands of pine and laurel. Dinners were extravaganzas of visual delights, novel tastes, new discoveries and congenial conversation that went on for hours.
Rare Pineapple: King of Colonial Fruits...
Dried, candied and jellied, were the major attractions of the community's appetite and dining practices, the pineapple was the true celebrity. Its rarety, expense, reputation and visual attractineness made it the ultimate exotic fruit. It was the pineapple that came to literally crown the most important feasts, often held aloft on special pedestals as the pinnacle of the table's central food mound.
http://www.freewebs.com
/jacksbromeliads/
Aug 28, 2007 | 5:20 AM PST
Tag: Tropical Plants
Renaissance Europe...
The Renaissance Europe to which Columbus returned with his discoveries was a civilization in great need of common sweets. Sugar, refined from cane was a rare commodity imported at great cost from the middle east and orient. Fresh fruit was also a rare item; orchard-grown fruit being available in only limited varieties for brief periods of time.
Pineapple: Treat of Kings...
In such a gastronomic society, reports and later samples of the New World's pineapple, made the fruit an item of celebrity and curiosity for royal and horticulturist alike. Despite efforts by European gardeners, it was almost two centuries before they were able to perfect a hothouse method for growing a pineapple plant. Well into the 1600's, the pineapple remained so uncommon and coveted a commodity, that King Charles II of England posed for an offical portrait in an act then symbolic of royal privilege... receiving a pineapple as a gift.
Pineapples and Colonial America...
Across the ocean, the pineapple took on other symbolic meanings in England's American colonies. The colonies were then a land of small, primitive towns and settlements where homes served as the hubs of most community activity.
Visiting was the primary means of entertainment, culturial and news information. The concept of hospitality, the warmth, charm and style with which guests were taken into the home, was a central element of the society's daily emotional life.
http://www.freewebs.com
/jacksbromeliads/
Aug 28, 2007 | 3:43 AM PST
Tags: Tropical Plants , Bromeliads
THE PINEAPPLE...
has served as both a food and a symbol throughout the human history of the Americas. Orignally unique to the Western Hemisphere, the fruit was a culinary favorite of the Carib Indians who lived on islands in the sea that still bears their name.
Indian Migration and Commerce...
The presence of pineapples on Caribbean islands was not a natural event, but rather the result of centuries of indian migration and commerce. Accomplished dugout canoe navigators, the maritime tribes explored, raided and traded across a vast expanse of tropical oceans, seas and river systems.
The herbaceous plant they called "anana" or "excellent fruit" originally evolved in the inland areas of what is now Brazil and Paraguay and was widely transplanted and cultivated. Highly regarded for its intense sweetness, the "excellent fruit" was a staple of indian feasts and rites related to tribal affirmation. It was also used to produce indian wine.
Christopher Columbus...
The first encounter between a European and a pineapple occured on November, 1493, when Columbus, on his second voyage to the Caribbean, landed on the lush, volcanic island of Guadaloupe and went ashore to inspect a deserted Carib village. His crew came across cook pots filled with human body parts. Nearby were piles of freshly gathered vegetables and fruits, including pineapples. The European saliors ate, enjoyed and recorded the curious new fruit which had an abrasive, segmented exterior like a pine cone, and a firm interior pulp like an applle.
http://www.freewebs.com
/jacksbromeliads/
