Remembering the “Dade Massacre”

Just over a hundred years ago, the state of Florida created Dade Memorial Park to commemorate 108 US soldiers killed by Seminole Indians in 1835, an engagement at the time labeled “Dade’s Massacre.” Whereas the event itself briefly gained much attention throughout the United States and triggered the Second Seminole War (1835–42), the site’s creation and interpretations tell us much about the factors that shaped historical memorialization in public spaces in Florida and the Deep South. Specifically, this article examines the role of settler colonialism theory and Native American perspectives in the setting’s evolution into today’s Dade Battlefield Historic State Park.