National Security Origins: Covert Ops in the 1800’s
The some of the origins of covert action in the America’s is not what most people think! “One of the longest unwritten chapters in the history of the United States is [the treatment] of relations between Negroes and Indians. The Indians were already here when the white man came and the Negros brought soon after… found among the Indians one of their means of escape.” Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Journal of Negro History, 1920. This presentation is a snapshot of those interactions in the Spanish Territory of Northeast Florida in the 1800s. Specifically, the focus is on the covert action origins that evolved into the original 50 US Code section/paragraphs that defined covert action in its earliest text. These words sprang from the facts surrounding the so called, Patriots Rebellion involving Spain, Fort Mosé, the Black Seminoles, the Red Seminoles, and the United States in Georgia and Florida in the early 1800s.
About this Lecture
Lectures of Opportunity offer U.S. Naval War College (NWC) students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to learn more about national and international socio-political subjects that may be of relevance to the NWC community.