Did Hillsborough County Pioneer Seth Howard Serve with the Louisiana Volunteers?

In a previous post, I laid out my research and the circumstantial case detailing how Seth Howard of Hillsborough County, Territory of Florida likely fled his homestead in Simmons Hammock and took refuge at Fort Brooke for protection before Bvt-Major Francis L Dade's arrival on December 22, 1835.

In Seth Howard's original application for Bounty Land under the act of September 28, 1850, entitled "An Act granting Bounty Land to certain Officers and Soldiers who have been engaged in the military service of the United States," he listed three different terms of volunteer service.

Bounty-Land Warrants for Military Service, 1775–1855, (Washington, D.C.: National Archives), Record Group 15, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, applications of Seth Howard, #17 and #2605. Affidavit of Service.

The following is a transcription of the service that was claimed by Seth Howard via his affidavit in his application above:

Smith's Company of Louisiana Volunteers: "Private in the company commanded by Captain Butts in the regiment of Louisiana Volunteers      commanded by Col. P Smith in the war with the Indians in Florida, that he volunteered at Tampa Florida on or about twentieth day of February in the year A.D. one thousand eight hundred and thirty six for the term of three months and continued in actual service in said war for the term of three months and was honorably discharged at Tampa Florida on or about the twentieth day of May in the year A.D. one thousand eight hundred and thirty six"
Hall's Company of Florida Volunteers: "Corporal in the company commanded by Hiram Hall in the Regiment of                   commanded by Wm J Baly in the war with the Indians in Florida that he volunteered at St Marks Florida on or about the                       in the year AD one thousand eight hundred and                 for the term of three months and continued in actual service for the term of three months and was honorably discharged at the Fort Pleasant on or about the          in the year one thousand eight hundred and                        "
Ellis' Company Florida Volunteers: "Sergeant in the Company commanded by Thomas C Ellis Cpt. in                   Regiment of commanded by Col George Reed that he volunteered at Ft. White on or about the                                in the year AD one thousand Eight hundred and                     for the term of three months           and was actually engaged in the war for the said three months and was honorably discharged at Newnansville Florida on or about             in the year AD one thousand eight hundred and     "

In this post, I want to focus on the first term of service claimed by Seth Howard which is for a 3-month term of service from February 1836 through May 1836 with the Louisiana Volunteers. When I initially saw this, I was confused. Seth Howard had been living in Florida since 1812 (per his Armed Occupation Act of 1842 application) and I have records showing him to be in Florida each year from 1828 through 1835.

But as I continued to complete literature searches for various topics such as "Hillsborough County", "the Second Seminole War", and "Dade's Massacre", I was getting a better handle on what was happening in the Territory of Florida during this period. As noted in my previous post, it is almost certain that Seth Howard would have taken refuge at Fort Brooke in Tampa when Bvt-Major Dade arrived and then subsequently marched out to meet his horrific fate at the battle that immediately became known as "Dade's Massacre". Seth Howard would still have been within the protective picket lines of Fort Brooke when General Gaines and Colonel P.F. Smith, commander of the Louisiana Volunteers, arrived in February 1836.

Learning this background, it made me wonder: Could Seth Howard have joined the Louisiana Volunteers after they arrived at Fort Brooke? He was likely still a single man because his Armed Occupation Act of 1842 application notes that he is "a single man over the age of 18 able to bear arms". So, he didn't have a wife and children that he would be leaving alone at the fort. His homestead had likely been burned as it is noted that General Gaines and all the men who marched out with him "…passed by the ruined plantations of Mr. Simmonds and others, who had been murdered or who had barely escaped with their lives to Fort Brooke." (narrative by Captain James Barr entitled, "A Correct and Authentic Narrative of the Indian War in Florida with Description of Maj. Dade's Massacre, and an Account of the Extreme Suffering, for Want of Provisions, of the Army—Having Been Obliged to Eat Horses' and Dogs' Flesh, &c. &c."). Is it possible that he wanted retaliation against the Seminoles who had destroyed his homestead? Was he looking for a way to earn money now that his crops and livestock had been burned? The Louisiana Volunteers were given $30 for their service when they mustered-in back in New Orleans. Was he just curious to go on the march and see what the Seminoles had done to the surrounding land? I feel that any one of these is a good enough reason for him to have volunteered his services and it likely could have been a combination of all three.

But nowhere in my literature review did I find any mention of men from Florida joining the Louisiana forces. I was determined to try to find the answer.

Initially, Seth Howard was given credit for his service under "Captain Butts Florida Militia Florida War" and received Warrant No. 65.931 for 40 acres.

This warrant was eventually canceled, and he was given a warrant for 80 acres based on two different terms of service. I will do a separate blog post with his entire 49-page (!) Bounty Land Application at a later date. There was quite a bit of back and forth between the Clerk of the Court of Hillsborough County for the benefit of Seth Howard to the Office of the Commissioner of Pensions trying to get Seth Howard a Warrant for 160 acres (which WAS issued but never sent. It was canceled before sending it to Seth Howard and the 80-acre warrant was sent in its place.)

Within the application, much argument is made regarding a second term of service under Captain Hall's company that the auditor would not give Seth Howard credit for, but little to no argument, or explanation, is given for the eventual non-credit of his service "under Captain Butts of the Louisiana Volunteers." I hypothesize that this MIGHT be because he was initially granted credit for this service, but, by the time he realized they were taking it away from him, he had a better handle on the "proof" that they would require and he knew that he would be unable to provide that proof (as you will see as I explain it more as you read on).

I located the "Index to compiled service records of volunteer soldiers who served during the Florida War in organizations from the state of Louisiana" on familysearch.org which was described as follows: "This filming reproduces "an alphabetical card index to the compiled service records of volunteer soldiers belonging to units from the state of Louisiana who served in the Florida War during the year 1836. The index contains most of the names of Louisiana soldiers to which references were found in the records used in compiling the service records. The cards give the name of the soldier, his rank, and the unit in which he served. There are cross-reference cards for soldiers' names that appeared in the records under more than one spelling.""

Perfect! Exactly what I needed! But as I flipped through the index cards, it became obvious that these were for volunteer soldiers from Louisiana who served in 1837 and 1838.

I also saw that there was an "Index to compiled service records of volunteer soldiers who served during the War of 1837-1838 in organizations from the state of Louisiana" which promised the following: "On this microfilm "is reproduced an alphabetical card index to the compiled service records of volunteer soldiers belonging to units from the state of Louisiana who served in Florida in a campaign referred to be these records as the War of 1837-38. The index contains most of the names of Louisiana soldiers to which references were found in the records used in compiling the service records. The cards give the name of the soldier, his rank, and the unit in which he served. There are cross-reference cards for soldiers' names that appeared in the records under more than one spelling.""

And, sure enough, this record set had the index cards of all the Louisiana Volunteers who served in the various companies under the command of Col. Smith in 1836. For whatever reason, the two record sets are each labeled as the other within familysearch.

Flipping through the index cards, I got a feel for the various companies commanded by Colonel P.F. Smith while in Florida in 1836. Here is a list of all the companies listed:

Abadi, Joseph I
Burt, Alex F
Barr, James
Williams, I.W.
Ker, Croghan
Marks, Henry H
Smith, Thomas S
Thistle, Hezekiah
Marks, F
Magee, William
Rogers, W A
Lee, John G
There was also a 13th "company" which appeared far less frequently than the other twelve. It was described in different ways but was often listed as "Edward's or Lewis' Company".

Seth Howard reported that he was in "Captain Butts' Company" on his original application/affidavit. In a subsequent affidavit, he noted that he was a private in "Captain Butt or Bart's Company." From the list above, the names of two captains are close to these: Captain James BARR and Captain Alex BURT.

The index does show that there was a Private named Seth Howard who served in the Louisiana Volunteers commanded by Col. Smith.

"United States, Indexes to Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers (NARA M629, M694, M872), 1784-1858, 1899-1901", database, *FamilySearch* (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9Z5-D1X?cc=2120733 : 15 June 2024), > image 555 of 1247.

But Seth Howard is shown as being part of the vague "Edward's or Lewis' Company".

So, my next step was to request the Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR) from NARA (if you are not familar with what a CMSR is, please read this explanation by Bob Vecke of Gopher Records). When it arrived, it was only 3 pages long. The first page was the same index card shown above. The second page was a scan of the envelope containing the CMSR. The third page was the only one cotaining any additional information.

**Compiled Military Service Record,** Seth Howard, Private, Lewis or Ewards Company, Smith’s Regiment Volunteer Militia; Compiled military service records, with indexes, of soldiers who served in volunteer organizations enlisted for service during the Indian Wars, 1817-58; ; Record Group 94; Box 371; National Archives Building, Washington, DC.

Seth Howard only appears on a payroll for "Edward's' or Lewis' Company". He is not listed on any muster roll. This lends credence that this Seth Howard was not in New Orleans when the companies were mustered in and out officially.

Next, I looked for "Edwards" and "Lewis" in the Index to compiled service records of volunteer soldiers who served during the War of 1837-1838 in organizations from the state of Louisiana (which, as discussed above, is actually the index of those who serviced in 1836 under the command of Col. P.F. Smith). There were two men with the surname Edwards, and interestingly, one was part of Cartain Burt’s Company and the other was part of Captain Lewis’ Company. Seth Howard had reported that he was part of Captain “Butts” or “Barts” Company and he showed up on a payroll for Captain “Lewis or Edwards” Company. These records seemed to be correlating, but I had not yet figured out how.

"United States, Indexes to Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers (NARA M629, M694, M872), 1784-1858, 1899-1901", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99Z5-DRT?cc=2120733 : 15 June 2024), > images 371-372 of 1247.

There were multiple men named “Lewis”, but one made sense to me.

Theodore Lewis was the Quartermaster. He would have overseen payroll. Hence that is why his name is on the payroll on which Seth Howard is listed. At least, that was my current working theory at that point in my research.

I have attempted to find copies of the muster rolls and payrolls from these organizations, but I have come up short. A search of the catalog of holdings of the Louisiana State Archives does not indicate that they have them. I knew that they might exist at NARA, but I am still learning in this area and I could not readily find them in their list of holdings. They certainly do not appear to be part of their digitized collection. More on this later.

At this point in my research, I went back over everything I had gathered and what I had learned. In all my readings, the number of men that sailed with General Gaines is always described as a force of 1,100 men, of which about 900 were Louisiana Volunteers. So, I took 900 and divided it by 12 (to represent the 12 companies that I had found which are listed above). That gave me a nice round number of 75. Then I took 900 and divided it by 13 (as if the "Edwards' or Lewis' Company" was a 13th company). This gave me 69.23. To me, this supports my theory that there was no such company of Lewis or Edwards.

Next, I looked for each man who voted in the 1835 election at the Tampa Precinct alongside Seth Howard within the index of those who served as Louisiana Volunteers in 1836.

United States, Florida, Voters Registers, Florida territorial and state election records, 1826-1865 Hamilton - Jackson (June 1845), Image 824 of 1928 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-F3ZL-VZ5G?i=824&cat=542643 *(Highlighting added by this researcher for a seperate research project)*

None of these names appeared in the index. This fact makes me feel like the Seth Howard who served with the Louisiana Volunteers ISNT the pioneer Seth Howard of Hillsborough, Florida. Surely, at least one other able-bodied man from Tampa would have also joined the Louisiana Volunteers, but to this point in my research, I have been unable to find one.

Then I checked the 1830 Federal Census and searched for "James Howard" and "Seth Howard". There were no men listed as the head of household with either of these names in Louisiana. I did the same thing in the 1840 Federal Census, with the same result. However, very little stock can be put into this as the same search within Florida of these same two record sets would also produce the same results and based on other records, I know that Seth Howard resided in Florida in 1830 and 1840.

Next, I went through the entire index and cataloged every volunteer who was listed as being in the Company of "Edward or Lewis". My working hypothesis in doing this was that these men might also be the men that only show up on the payroll, the same as Seth Howard, and thus could be in a similar situation as him (i.e., living in the Territory of Florida and joining up with the Louisiana Volunteers once they arrived at Fort Brooke). Here is the list of men and you can look them up on the index if you are so inclined:

Brute, Thomas (Pvt)
Burnete, William D (4 Sgt)
Bussy, Thomas H (Pvt)
Callahan, Charles (Pvt)
Cornell, William H B (1 Lieut)
Davenport, Ambrose (1 Sgt)
Davidson, Richard (Pvt)
Dupern, Alphonse (1 Lieut)
Edwards, Charles
Graham, Aor Augustus (Pvt)
Green, S (Pvt)
Greever, J (Pvt)
Hero, Andrew (Pvt)
Howard, Seth (Pvt)
Judge, James (Pvt)
Kipp, Edw R (Pvt)
McCarthy, William (Pvt)
McCrocklin, Hamilton (Pvt)
McKee, William (Pvt)
McManus, Hugh (Pvt)
Moody, James (Pvt)
Morrison, I (Pvt)
Mubhulen, T (Pvt)
Rauc, Robt Lee (Sgt)
Robinson, Wm (Sgt)
Smith, Joseph (Pvt)
Till, James (Sergt)
Warder, Hiram (Pvt)
White, Fisher A (Pvt)
White, Michael (Pvt)
Yates, Joseph (Pvt)

I then looked up each man's name in the Index of the Florida Militia Muster Rolls, Seminole Indian Wars. Seth Howard went on to volunteer for additional terms of service in the Second Seminole War. If my theory was right that these men who only showed up on the payroll were also residents of the Territory of Florida, then they would likely also have volunteered for additional terms of service, just like Seth Howard. Only a handful of names on the list matched with names indexed in the "Florida Militia Muster Rolls, Seminole Indian Wars". When I looked each up in the appropriate volume, the transcription of each muster roll revealed that none of these matching names were for any additional service in the Second Seminole War. This fact makes me feel like the Seth Howard who served with the Louisiana Volunteers ISNT the pioneer Seth Howard of Hillsborough, Florida.

Next, I looked for any lands patented in Florida that were the result of a Bounty Land Warrant issued to a man matching any of the names on the list above. Seth Howard was a resident of the Territory of Florida before the start of the Second Seminole War. He remained a resident of the State of Florida afterward. He applied for, and received, two Bounty Land Warrants for his service in the Second Seminole War. If my theory was right that these men who only showed up on the payroll were also residents of the Territory of Florida, then they would likely also have applied for Bounty Land for their service in the Second Seminole War as a Louisiana Volunteer. My search provided no lands patented in Florida as a result of a Bounty Land Warrant issued to any man appearing on the list of men indexed as having served for the Louisiana Volunteers in 1836.

Researcher's Note: Lands did not have to be patented in the same state in which the service occurred. I am simply playing the odds and assuming that the soldiers stayed in Florida to keep my search results at a manageable number. I may go back and look each one up within the premise of "-Any State-" if going this quicky route doesn't give me the answers that I need.

After coming up empty-handed in Florida, I looked for any lands patented in Louisiana that were the result of a Bounty Land Warrant issued to a man matching any of the names on the list above. My search provided three lands patented in Louisiana as a result of a Bounty Land Warrant issued to men who appeared on the list of men indexed as having served for the Louisiana Volunteers in 1836.

These land patents were all found on the Bureau of Land Management website.

Finding these three land patents in Louisiana is a fact that makes me feel like the Seth Howard who served with the Louisiana Volunteers ISNT the pioneer Seth Howard of Hillsborough, Florida.

Finally, I searched land patented in ANY state under the name of Seth Howard.

Serach results from the Bureau of Land Management website.

I wanted to make sure that none of the lands patented to a man named Seth Howard could be attributed to service in the Regiment of Louisiana Volunteers commanded by Col. PF Smith in 1836 during the Florida war. After reading each land patent, none of them fit the bill. So, now I knew that no other man named "Seth Howard" had claimed to serve under the command of P.F. Smith as part of the Louisiana Volunteers in 1836 and received bounty land due to this service. This fact makes me feel like the Seth Howard who served with the Louisiana Volunteers COULD BE the same Seth Howard who was a pioneer who settled in Hillsborough.

So, if you've been keeping track, I've listed a lot more items in the column of "not the same Seth Howard" than in the column "same Seth Howard," but the thing that I can't get past is: he claimed this service on his original application. He walked into the clerk of the court's office in Hillsborough in 1850 and orally made his affidavit by memory. It's not like the Clerk had an alphabetized list of every muster roll from the Seminole War. A veteran simply stated his claim, the letter was sent to the Office of the Commissioner of Pensions, and the auditors compared the service listed in the application to the muster rolls and payrolls, etc., that they had on file there. He made the claim! He obviously thought that it could be proven. And there IS a man by the name of Seth Howard in the records for the Louisiana Volunteers.

My theory on why he didn't argue about this service being disallowed is the following: It HAD been allowed initially (per the 40 Bounty Land Warrant attached above), so by the time he realized that the Office of the Commissioner of Pensions was no longer counting it towards the calculation for Bounty Land, 1) it wasn't a big deal because he thought that he had more than proved sufficient service under Captain Hall and Captain Ellis to receive 160 acres and 2) he had to provide an affidavit from the Captain of the Company or two affidavits from other members of the company. Based on what I've been able to piece together thus far, there weren't any other local Volunteers living in Florida for him to call upon to give affidavits.

At this point in my research, I wanted an expert opinion. I had spent over 150 hours on Seth Howard's Bounty Land Application, his fleeing to Ft. Brooke at the start of the Seminole War, and then his possible service with the Louisiana Volunteers. I had also spent around $400 on records at this point. Did I keep throwing time and money at this? I wanted to talk to folks knowledgeable about the Seminole Wars and see if any of this research even passed the sniff-test.

I saw online that the 2024 Convocation of Seminole War Historians was being hosted near me, but it was being held the weekend of my daughters' senior and junior prom! And with the craziness of hair and pictures and everything that goes into making Prom weekend perfect for not one, but TWO, teenage daughters meant that there was no way I was going to be able to attend.

I also saw that there was going to be a Seminole War reenactment at one of the state parks in my county on a different weekend. I knew that members of the Seminole Wars Foundation might be there and that I could pick their brains. So, off I went!

It was a lot of fun enjoying the living-history booths and seeing the period clothing. I searched for folks from the Seminole War Foundation, but none of the volunteers at the event were able to point me in the right direction. I discussed my research with some of the folks who were putting on the reenactment, but none of them had the right knowledge-set to help me with my question.

So, with the rest of the Saturday afternoon stretching out before me, I decided to drive to the address listed for the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. It was a lengthy trip that took me down dirt roads and eventually led me to the base of a long driveway with a wrought-iron gate. I got the heebie-jeebies and decided not to make the trek down the heavily wooded driveway. You could tell this was a neighborhood where folks keep guns and I didn't want to scare anyone who might think that I was trespassing. I believe that the foundation is run within a person's home and is not located at a business address, and I have since learned that I needed to make an appointment before just showing up.

Fortunately, the day was not all lost since on my way to the address in Bushnell, I passed right by Dade's Battlefield State Park. I decided to drive back and stop and walk around and soak up the history of this time and place and event that I had been doing so much research on. And I am so glad that I did! Because (SPOILER) I do continue my research into Seth Howard's possible service with the Louisiana Volunteers and Dade's Battlefield figures prominently in his story!

Coming back home, I re-doubled my efforts to get in touch with someone from the Seminole Wars Foundation. I finally connected with a man named Patrick Swan who hosts the podcast "Seminole Wars Authority". I highly recommend this podcast to anybody interested in learning more about the Seminole Wars.

Patrick was kind enough to send my research around to many notable researchers and experts on the Second Seminole War. Those who replied were Chris Kimble, John & Mary Lou Missell, and Jesse Marshall. I can't even begin to express how appreciative I am that they all took the time to read and review my research and the encouragement that they gave me. It set me off on a journey towards many more hours of research!

Without fail, they all confirmed that there was no legal reason that would have prevented Seth Howard, a resident of Florida, from joining the Louisiana Volunteers after they arrived in Florida. One quote that stuck out to me from these seasoned researchers was, "When it comes to conflicting sources, I'll take a sworn affidavit by the person involved before a piece of bureaucratic paperwork filled out after the fact any day." Hmmm. Good to know. And I have taken this advice to heart as it has become applicable to lots of projects that I am working on regarding service records for many of my ancestors.

Refortified, and on the advice of these experts, I made a renewed effort to find muster rolls and payrolls for Captain P.F. Smith's Regiment of Louisiana Volunteers from 1836. I hired a researcher to go to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. in search of these records. The bad news is that NARA did not have these records. The archivist suggested that we reach out to the Louisianna Adjunct General's Office, but after contacting the historian there, he confirmed that they do NOT have the payrolls or muster rolls in question.

So, I did what any rational (HAHAHAHA!) researcher in my situation would do: I gave the in-person researcher the go-ahead to scan the CMSRs for 1000+ folks who were part of the LA Volunteers in 1836. Let's not discuss the cost of this endeavor. Let's definitely not discuss the cost in front of my husband.

So, what did I learn from these records? There were 1,205 soldiers and over 2000 scans. My degree is in Actuarial Science, so in short, I LOVE data and can flip through and analyze it to my heart's content. I looked at the complete record set a handful of different ways after receiving it and I tried to look at it in ways that would help shed light on Seth Howard specifically as well as Floridians volunteering.

First, let's go big-picture: I reviewed all the CMSR's for the Louisiana Volunteers. Not everyone who was listed on Captain Burt's muster-in roll was listed on the "Lewis or Edwards" Payroll. But, everyone who was listed on the "Lewis or Edwards" payroll AND had a muster-in recorded, was mustered in under Captain Burt. Here is the compilation of the records if you would like to review them.

Most of the Louisiana Volunteers included in the list above mustered-in February 2nd/3rd and mustered-out May 12th. If we exclude those, we are left with the following folks.

When I excluded those volunteers who died, were officers, or listed a confusing February 12th muster-in date instead of February 2nd/3rd, I was left with the following folks who most closely resemble Seth Howard's payroll situation (i.e., he was not the only person who does not appear on a muster-in or muster-out roll). Five men fall into this situation in addition to Seth Howard and here is the file containing their CMSRs.

I thought ah-ha! Maybe these guys are Floridians who also joined up with the Louisiana Volunteers. I looked for each of their names using the following resources:

1) The Applicants for the Armed Occupation Act of 1842

2) The Bureau of Land Management website

3) The 1840 Census within the territory of Florida

4) The Muster Rolls for the Seminole Wars

But no luck. I couldn't find any of their names.

Remember how I wasn't sure if Seth Howard would have joined Captain Burt's Company or Captain Barr's Company because, on his pension application, he noted that he served under "Butt" or "Bart"? The good news from this analysis is that we now know that everyone who appears on the Lewis/Edward payroll AND has a muster-in date, all mustered in under Captain Burt's company. Thus, even though Seth Howard does not appear on Captain Burt's muster-in roll, we can now officially conclude that he was in Captain Burt's Company and NOT Captain Barr's Company.

Researcher and Seminole Wars expert Jesse Marshall had pointed out to me in one of his messages that the company of Captain Burt was much larger than the other companies.

American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. United States: Gales and Seaton, 1861.

American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. United States: Gales and Seaton, 1861. https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_State_Papers/YxZFAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22captain+abadie%27s+company%22+%22field+and+staff%22&pg=PA1068&printsec=frontcover

To help shed some more light on this, I ordered the Bounty Land Applications for the three men that I found who are also listed in the Index as having been in "Captain Edwards' or Lewis' Company". In addition, I ordered the Bounty Land Applications for one participant in Captain Barr's Company and one participant in Captain Burt's Company. I had hoped that this would give me a feel of what records exist for each company and the men who served within the said companies.

One of these records, the Bounty Land Application for a man named Ambrose Davenport, was able to shed some light on the situation. Here is his CMSR.

Compiled Military Service Record, Ambrose Davenport, 1st Sgt, Lewis or Ewards Company, Smith’s Regiment Volunteer Militia; Compiled military service records, with indexes, of soldiers who served in volunteer organizations enlisted for service during the Indian Wars, 1817-58; Record Group 94; Box 370; National Archives Building, Washington, DC.

In his Bounty Land application, the following explanation is given for Burts/Edwards Company:

Note that he was originally in Captain Burt's company, but because it was so large, it was "made into a Battalion" and he then served under Captain Edwards' Company.

Also, when reviewing the CMSR for Captain Burt, it appears that he was taken out of the field on April 10th, so this likely is when his large company was split between Captains Lewis and Edwards.

**Compiled Military Service Record,** Alex F Burt, Captain, Burt’s Company, Smith’s Regiment Volunteer Militia; Compiled military service records, with indexes, of soldiers who served in volunteer organizations enlisted for service during the Indian Wars, 1817-58; Record Group 94; Box 370; National Archives Building, Washington, DC.

So far, this all tracks. Burt's company was way larger than a standard company (per Jesse Marshall: the standard number was suposed to be 64 privates and not the 75 like I had theorized above) and when he became furloughed by General Scott, his company was given over and split between Edward and Lewis.

Finally, it appears that only two payrolls survived to be included in the CMSRs for the Louisiana Volunteers. The first, obviously, is the payroll for "Lewis or Edwards Company", i.e., Captain Burt’s orginal company. The second was for "Capt F Mark's Company". Interestingly, I found six examples on the payroll for Capt. Marks' Company of folks ending their service early and having substitutes assigned.

**Compiled Military Service Record,** Various Volunteers, Marks’ Company, Smith’s Regiment Volunteer Militia; Compiled military service records, with indexes, of soldiers who served in volunteer organizations enlisted for service during the Indian Wars, 1817-58; Record Group 94; Boxes 369 - 373; National Archives Building, Washington, DC.

Except for Pvt Newton, they were all substituted out on February 24, 1836. Per the "War in Florida" published in 1836 by Woodburne Potter, the Louisiana Volunteers arrived at Fort King on February 22, 1836, only to find that General Clinch had moved his forces to Fort Drane and the provisions at Fort King to be woefully lacking. Thus, the LA Volunteers marched the 22 miles to Fort Drane. The detachment returned to Fort King with provisions and General Clinch on the 24th. (Potter, Woodburne. The War in Florida: Being an Exposition of Its Causes, and an Accurate History of the Campaigns of Generals Clinch, Gaines, and Scott. United States: Lewis and Coleman, 1836. pp 141-142.).

BUT. The point is this: the guys above who enlisted back in New Orleans were substituted out. Those substitutes had to be men living in Florida at the time. The following are the CMSRs for the substitutes noted above:

These 6 men should be Florida residents in 1836. I checked the same four resources noted above for their names. The only promising hit that I got was on Francis Rogers. There was a Francis Rogers in Phillip Dell's Mounted Vol Militia. Some of the names on this same muster roll are folks that I recognize from my research into Alachua/Newnansville/Columbia County in and around that time.

Florida Militia Muster Rolls Seminole Indian Wars, Volume 3, p 76.

This is far from definitive that this is the same Francis Rogers, but it gives me a lead to pursue. Unfortunately, he did not receive bounty land, so there isn't an application to order. Or maybe he applied and was denied? I still need to check on that because, after all, Seth Howard was not approved based on his service with the Louisiana Volunteers. BUT! My point is that Floridians were most certainly joining up with the LA volunteers. I think we can say that is definitive based on the research laid out in this post.

Here are my conclusions:

- Floridians definitely joined up with the Louisiana Volunteers

- An affidavit by Seth Howard in his Bounty Land Application is a trustworthy source

- Seth Howard notes in his affidavit that he joined "Captain Butts" company. Previously, I had surmised that he either meant Barr or Burt. I can now conclude that he joined Burts Company.

THUS: Floridian Seth Howard joined the Louisiana Volunteers under the command of Captain Burt. He marched out on February 13, 1836, with Captain Burt's Company and would have marched past his burned settlement in Simmons Hammock. Also, he would have arrived at Dade's Battlefield on February 20, 1836, and he would have likely helped bury the massacred soldiers found there.

I strongly believe that this is just about as conclusive as it gets without direct evidence. All the facts point here.

What did Seth Howard experience while marching with and serving alongside Captain Burt's Company in the Louisiana Volunteers commanded by P.F. Smith? Luckily, we have many first-hand accounts that we can reference and glean facts and tidbits from. Look for a later blog post laying this all out! I am so excited to share everything that I have learned!

Did Hillsborough County Pioneer Seth Howard Serve with the Louisiana Volunteers?

A Father for Harriet C Weeks Howard: John Weeks’ Land Entry Case File

Muster Rolls for the Seminole Wars in Florida