"Guide to 19th century or Seminole period breastworks?" Topic

I'm just getting started and thinking about focusing on the Seminole Wars. I want to make my own modular log breastworks to recreate the Battle of Camp Izard. I've seen the incredible swamp and riverine terrain made of the Seminole War and want to focus on the expedient fortifications. Any guides or tips our there?

The Seminoles were mainly Hitatachi Creeks with recent Muskogee Creeks and other minor tribes flowing into Florida after the Creek Wars.

As such their fortified towns was a mix of the old style from their heritage in GA and AL. Plus a developed style based on the material in Florida and experience in past wars.

The traditional town wall was a palisades of tall pines buried upright side by side. The curves in the trunks allowed for natural firing ports. The limited use of long spears was often as part of town defense and not in open field battle. The palisades defenses were augmented by firing pits, used so effectively by the Chickasaw, located inside near the gate and outside the wall. These were composed of felled trees, dirt and other entangling vegetation which made the hard to cross in an assault and hard to see from a distance.
The tactic seems to have been a strong defense along the firing pit line with supporting fire from the wall holes. Once the pits had been cleared the wall was not considered defendable. Once at the wall the firer could rake the interior with ease. So the retreat began before the wall was captured. So when inside most natives had left. In the Creek wars it was viewed as essential to not start the attack until the town had been surrounded. In Florida it was more difficult to conduct undetected encircling moves.

I was asking this from a technical aspect of terrain building. There are several blogs and videos on building stockade forts and 18th century blockhouses that could be adapted, but mostly tutorials on building earthen emplacements or breastworks. I'm confident now that its just a cross between the techniques used to build wooden stockades and building fences.

As far as Seminole architecture, they brought aspects of the Creek square grounds with them, although this has not been represented well archaeologically. However, the Seminole did not adopt defensive architecture. These villages were open and usually surrounded by grazing lands and fields. As the war proceeded, the villages become more compacted and rudimentary in more secluded areas, but still never employ walls. Numerous villages and semi-permanent encampments were burned during the war, but they were rarely the site of engagements as the Seminole typically opted to abandon the settlement prior to the arrival of US troops. I'll probably make some wooden structures and north-Florida style chickees for the campaign, but don't expect to focus too heavily on engagements in villages or forts. The breastworks, on the other hand, are more compelling defensive structures (for wargaming) such as those seen at Dade's Battle, Camp Izard, and various temporary encampments such as the Fort King Road site that later became Fort Dade.