Two Veterans Legacy Program team leaders, Dr. Amy Giroux and Dr. Scot French presented preliminary research findings and future plans for the St. Augustine National Cemetery project at recent events hosted by area veterans groups.
In late July, French and Giroux spoked to a packed room at the monthly meeting of the Veterans Council of St. John’s County. Three weeks later, at the invitation of the West Point Society of North Florida, they participated in the 11th Annual Commemoration of the 1842 Parade and Ceremony in St. Augustine Marking the End of the Second Seminole War, and Honoring Those Who Perished In it.
Giroux presented her archival research into the identities of those buried at St. Augustine National Cemetery in graves marked “unknown.” She said many more Civil War veterans were buried there than originally thought. French discussed plans to create a biographical database of Seminole War veterans using US Army enlistment and service/casualty records, combined with other sources. He displayed several proof-of-concept data visualizations created by Mia Tignor, a Texts & Technology Ph.D. student, using casualty data taken from John T. Sprague’s 1848 book, The Origins, Progress, and Conclusion of the Florida War.