SW014 Last Roll Call: An 1842 March Carries Fallen Soldiers to Final St Augustine Resting Place

<p></p> <p> </p> <p>In 1842, Colonel William J. Worth, Commanding in Florida, unilaterally "announced" the end of hostilities between the US Government and the Seminole Indians of Florida. He ordered a reburial of many Soldiers who had perished in the seven-year Second Seminole War. Despite its inconclusive ending, the war had been an important proving ground for the Army and its West Point trained leadership. Although falling short of its goal of total Seminole removal to the Oklahoma Territory, the Army had succeeded in forcibly relocating the majority of the approximately 5,000 Seminole who called Florida home when the war commenced It did this at the staggering cost of $40 million and the deaths of some 1,500 military as well as an unaccounted number of civilian and Seminole deaths. In the Everglades, the Army abandoned efforts against the 500 or so remaining defiant and unconquered Florida Seminole. </p> <p> </p> <p>On August 15th, then, hundreds of regular Army soldiers marched through St. Augustine. They were escorting seven wagons carrying the remains of the fallen soldiers. These included those of Major Dade's ill-fated column who died in a Seminole ambush on December 28, 1835, which is traditionally marked as the start of the Second Seminole War. The column bore the remains to their final resting place, a garden next to St. Francis Barracks. One finds them in graceful cochina pyramids in the St. Augustine National Cemetery. This subsequent re-interment procession was a solemn remembrance, not a victory march.</p> <p> </p> <p>For more than a decade in today's St. Augustine National Cemetery, The West Point Society of North Florida has organized an annual commemoration of this first event, as a means of keeping faith with those fallen, and to bring attention to all who suffered and sacrificed – soldier, citizen, and Seminole alike – during this long, difficult struggle.  </p> <p> </p> <p>Joining us today is Joseph Naftzinger, a retired Army Colonel and West Point Graduate of the U.S. Military Acad