Kissimmee Slough Shootout and Rendezvous 2006

By Susan Etxebarria

BIG CYPRESS — Seminole War battle reenactments, Seminole stomp dancing, Cherokee dancers, archery, plus traditional Seminole food and storytelling attracted a large crowd to the awesome 8th Annual Kissimmee Slough Shoot Out and Rendezvous.

Items from the Seminole War era were being handcrafted by Seminole and pioneer artisans at work throughout the day in the Period Camp where they had staked their pioneer era canvas tents. The event offered a chance to learn about the past from people who spend their lives studying the invading settlers of this period. It also featured the Seminoles who fought for their freedom as a result of the Indian Removal Act enacted under President Andrew Jackson.

Museum staff and a whole host of volunteers, mainly members of the Friends of the Museum, worked many hours to achieve a highly effective Feb. 3–5 event presented by the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum and the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

The vendors and re-enactors participating in the event by invitation only, were screened for the highest caliber of workmanship and historical validity. The result was an incredible history lesson for those who immersed themselves in this recreated world.

Feb. 3 masses of school children from numerous private and public schools were identifiable as each school wore differently colored t-shirts. Tribal school children from the Brighton Pull Out Program, the Big Cypress Preschool and Ahfachkee Elementary school were also in attendance.

The re-enactment was an intriguing event with the all the noisy shooting and bombardment of loud canons as the reenactors depicted the manner and style of battle in the 1830s. It featured authentic weapons, soldier and warrior attire, and the battle tactics of both sides.

Representing the Seminole warriors were: Seminole re-enactors Brian Zapeda, Pedro Zapeda, Wilson Bowers, Moses Jumper Jr. and Chebon Gooden, among others.

“We do this to try to convey the truth,” said Jumper Jr. “We try to make this as authentic as we can.”

The re-enactment showed how Seminole battle strategy was superior to the invading U.S. Army with troops that outnumbered Indian warriors. In defending their homes and families, the Seminoles had great battle superiority due to their knowledge of the Floridian land, their courage and determination.

The well-armed U.S. army never won the Seminole Wars but the U.S. government used trickery and deception during peace talks to capture their foes. The U.S. government offered the Seminoles unjust treaties and then violated the terms by continuing an invasion into designated Seminole country.

In the worst cases, there were wholesale massacres of Seminoles and the burning of their villages. Yet, despite their losses, the Seminoles remain the only Native American tribe to never have signed a peace treaty with the U.S. government.

“The battle reenactment presented this weekend honors the Seminole peoples struggle for our freedom,” the museum’s Executive Director Tina Marie Osceola wrote in the program. “I’m glad to see Seminole history and culture coming alive.”

Earl DeBary of Ocala, Fla. was one of the period re-enactors who did not engage in the mock fight but created a true to life Seminole encampment at the Rendezvous. DeBary, a retired museum curator, has always loved the Seminole people from his childhood spent at Silver Springs, Fla. and then discovered late in life that he had a great-grandmother who was a Seminole.

Fueled by his pride to possess even a drop of Seminole blood flowing in his veins he has devoted the past 50 years learning Seminole history. He has collected volumes of information about the domestic life of the Seminoles that demonstrate how progressive they were as a people long before the wars. His encampment was a canvas tent with food and bedding supplies typical of the 1830s.

“The Seminoles were given 6,000 yards of canvas as an enticement to relocate which shows that they used the modern materials of the day,” said DeBary.

Meanwhile under another canvas tent Leather Betty of Tampa displayed her beautiful leather jackets and dresses made in the style worn in the 1830s. Having made many similar coats and jackets for Tribal members over the past 30 years, Leather Betty has studied Seminole history. She said that the Seminoles had trade routes that reached far and wide.

“At one time Florida was the biggest supplier of deer and fur skins in the U.S.,” she said.

Wherever you stopped to admire the artwork and handicrafts, vendors like Irene, the finger weaver, had a lot of history to tell you. She said her woven sashes are made without a loom and thus are exactly the same on the back as the front. Some have been purchased by the museum to show the decorative way the sashes are utilized in Seminole dress of the 1800s.

In addition to re-enactors, the Warriors of AniKituhwa, a Cherokee dance group, performed the War Dance. This group, designated as the official ambassadors of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, has performed at the National Museum of the American Indian, Colonial Williamsburg and at events in North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia.