Seminole Wars Foundation Presents:

The Major Dade Memorial March

Join Laumer’s Legion Now!

This Veterans Day 2020, the Bushnell-based Seminole Wars Foundation is opening volunteer slots to march with Laumer’s Legion⁺.  Exercise your body and brain. Hike into our nation’s history. Honor our nation’s veterans.

The Major Dade Memorial March takes hikers on a virtual footpath along the full length of the old Fort King Military Road. Similar to the Inca Trail in Peru and Hadrian’s Wall path in England, you will “walk” (or run) a renowned route steeped in history.

When does the mission start?

Registration begins Nov. 11, 2020 – Veterans Day. We launch the mission formally on Dec. 22, 1835, staging our first movement in sync with Major Dade’s men who were finalizing their preparations to depart the next morning.

Sign up here:

Click join and follow instructions from there.

What is a virtual march?

Using the original Fort King Road route, you virtually stride (or run) its 102-mile length, from the former site of Fort Brooke in Tampa north to rebuilt Fort King in Ocala. Since you can no longer pace the road’s exact path because of Florida’s tremendous development in the last 185 years, this virtual trek affords you an unprecedented opportunity to do it from home.  Using a web or phone app, you exercise as you normally would, and then simply enter your daily mileage to view your progress. 

Why do it?

There are several reasons. When you join Laumer’s Legion for this hike, you both honor our nation’s veterans and you place your virtual foot on a part of history by traveling the same 1835 route of U.S. Army Major Francis L. Dade’s column. Committing to this virtual challenge will serve as motivation for you to exercise every day no matter what – and with a clear intended purpose. Along the way, you will sustain or increase your fitness, build your stamina, and likely shed unwanted pounds.

How hard is it?

A 103-mile journey is no Sunday stroll. But you don’t have to do it all in one day! Nor do you need to be in shape to participate; in fact, your participation will help you get IN shape, if you are not already. Falling into formation with these troops is as easy as exercising in any low-impact workout.

How long does the mission take?*

You can take as long as you like, but if you want to earn the Certificate of Completion at trails’ end — and its assorted benefits, you must complete the mission within 90 days from our launch date, Dec. 22. Put into perspective, you only need to progress roughly 1 mile and a few extra steps per day to reach your Fort King destination. You can do this.

What kinds of exercises are allowed?

We call it a march, but you can walk or run. We’re easy. If you like, you can crawl, or swim, or hopscotch, or tip toe, or tap dance. In short, do whatever way works best for you (even drive a motor scooter). We offer a conversion chart for a number of exercises that translates your aerobic efforts into marching distances.

Who sponsors this?

The Seminole Wars Foundation has partnered with myvirtualmission.com. They provide the platform and the Foundation has designed the map and educational virtual postcards when you pass significant milestones. 

What is the Seminole Wars Foundation?

We are a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Foundation dedicated to preservation, education, and research for the Seminole Wars. The funds we raise from this virtual march enable us to advance this important mission.

Why this trail?

In its heyday, an unceasing procession of military and commercial traffic by foot, horse, and wagon flowed along this critical thoroughfare in the heart of Florida. Commerce and military resupply stopped abruptly, however, on Dec. 28, 1835. That is when Seminole Indians, angered by US Government demands that they leave Florida, ambushed and annihilated Dade’s Army column advancing on the road near present-day Bushnell. This was one of the most comprehensive and humiliating defeats in U.S Army history. These opening salvos initiated an epic seven-year struggle to settle the question of whether the Seminole Indians would remove or remain in Florida.

What is my role?

As a recruit in Laumer’s Legion, we treat you as an honorary Soldier or Seminole as if you were accompanying them in December 1835. No military gear or uniform is necessary. Thanks to satellite imagery, you will see where federal soldiers stepped, ate, slept, and stopped along the way – and where they battled with Seminole in Bushnell, Fla. Unlike Dade’s actual troops, however, you alone carry on to complete the mission to Fort King. Ironically, that mission was to reinforce the isolated and undermanned Fort King Army garrison. You will be an Army of One to do so.

How much is the entry fee?

Entry fee is $25. That entitles you to entry, a one-year complimentary membership in the Seminole Wars Foundation, discounts in our online book store, and the book The Fort King Road: Then and Now (a $19.95 value). This book has been called an invaluable research and educational tool for anyone who seeks to understand the Fort King Road. It weaves together 19^th century survey and military maps, 20^th century aerial photos, and 21^st century geospatial information to provide the most comprehensive view of the road. GPS coordinates throughout permit you to pinpoint any spot along the way using a conventional smart phone.

When you finish the mission, we will send you an official Seminole Wars Foundation “Certificate of Completion” signed by Foundation President, Steven Rinck. This entitles you to a special digital publication, “Along the Fort King Road: Seminole Wars podcast transcripts about the Fort King Road and What Happened on It.”  To be published in early 2021.

What are some membership benefits?

The Foundation holds two memberships meetings a year, usually in the spring and fall. Generally, we have one at our headquarters in Bushnell, FL, near the famous Dade Battlefield State Historic Park, and the other at an historic site, park, or museum somewhere in Florida. Past venues have been a boat trip to Camp Izard, a reenactment of the Fort Dade Capitulation, visits to the Seminole War Memorial at the National Cemetery and St. Francis Barracks in St. Augustine, Tampa Bay History Center, Fort Foster, and Dade Battlefield. Meetings are a good opportunity to make contacts and ask questions, which can open up all sorts of unexpected possibilities. Membership gives one privileged access to our library of Seminole Wars digital and printed materials, and to Seminole Wars scholars.

Why is there an entry fee?

Because this is not a fundraising activity for us, per se, we’ve set a reasonable entry fee of $25. Keep in mind that as part of that fee, we pay the host, myvirtualmission.com, for hosting our mission. Our key objective is generating awareness among the general public about the Seminole Wars. By charging a fee, we believe entrants will have a reason to stay with us, through the whole trail, to learn more about aspects of the Seminole Wars that occurred along the Fort King Military Road and nearby. And, entrants will have “skin in the game” because by paying a fee, they will be motivated to keep going to finish the route so they can see best value for their money.

*Major Dade planned for about 8 full days, from Dec. 23-30. He  would know as he had been part of the original 1827-road building team. He traversed it in both directions countless times in the ensuing years previous to the 1835 expedition. Our virtual mission commemorates events and actions on 11 days from Dec. 22, 1835 to Jan. 1 1835. When you have passed a significant milestone along the route, we will alert you by emailing virtual postcards showing the original date of the event or place referenced and a brief summary of its significance.

⁺Laumer’s Legion honors the late Frank Laumer, who died in 2019 at age 92 after who worked tirelessly for more than half a century to raise public awareness to commemorate the valor and fortitude all sides in the Florida Seminole Wars of the 19th Century.

⁺The term legion describes a 4-to-6-thousand-man Roman army force. By naming our force Laumer’s legion, we honor the rugged soldiers who marched the length and breadth of that great empire on purpose-built roads, such as the Fort King Military Road was. And the term legion in reference to ill-fated Dade’s march, recalls another historic ambush, that of Teutoburg Forest in AD 9 when a German surprise attack annihilated three entire Roman legions. As with Dade’s column, only a few soldier stragglers limped out alive to report the catastrophe to Roman authorities.