K-12 Instructional Materials

Bringing the Cemetery to the Classroom

K-12 Instructional Materials

The University of Central Florida’s Veterans Legacy Program brought a cohort of K-12 teachers from a variety of schools and grade levels to create curricular materials for the project. Using the research done in UCF’s undergraduate and graduate history classes, the teachers have developed materials that are engaging and that connect the National Cemetery material to the state standards. These instructional materials appear on this website and are available to teachers throughout Florida (and beyond). They cover a wide variety of grade levels and approaches. We hope that you will find some of them useful for your classroom. Also, you can, of course, use the biographies and the “virtual tour”—which contains QR codes associated with the biographies—to create your own classroom activities.

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Curricular Materials
Elementary School
- All About Veterans (Kindergarten)
- What is a Veteran? (Kindergarten)
- Seminole War Battles in P.E. (1st-5th Grades)
- ▶ Lesson Plan
- ▶ ArcGIS StoryMap: Mapping the Geography of the Second Seminole War
- Veteran Timeline Project (2nd Grade)
- Second Seminole War Research Project (2nd Grade)
- Seminole War Scavenger Hunt (3rd Grade)
- Seminole War Sleuth (3rd Grade)
- ▶ Lesson Plan
- ▶ Finding Sources PPT
- Veteran Map Activity (3rd Grade)
- ▶ Teacher Packet
- ▶ Student Packet
- ▶ Veteran Map Activity PPT
- Discovering our Veterans: Carving their Stories out of Primary Sources (4th Grade)
- Both Sides of Seminole Battles (4th Grade)
- Close Read: American Perspective of Seminole Changes (4th Grade)
- Analyzing Sources: Second Seminole War (4th Grade)
- ▶ Lesson Plan
- ▶ Close Reading Strategies
- ▶ Analyzing Sources Learning Scale PPT
- ▶ Second Seminole War Student Map Activity PPT
- ▶ Trail of Tears Oral History
- Contributions of Immigrants to the United States (4th Grade)
- Seminole War Research Project (4th Grade)
- ▶ Lesson Plan
- ▶ Seminole Student Primary Source Packet (Used with the permission of Osceola History)
- ▶ Seminole Teacher Packet (Used with the permission of Osceola History)
- ▶ Building Connections Seminole War Presentation
- Experiences of World War I Nurses
- English Language Arts Writing Practice (4th - 5th Grades)
- ▶ Writing Practice - Lives & Legacies of US Veterans
- ▶ Writing Prompt - “Jewish Americans in World War II”
- ▶ Writing Prompt - “Italian American Veterans”
- Reading & Presenting Biographies (4th - 5th Grades)
- Close Read of African American Veterans (4th - 5th Grades)
- African Americans in the Civil War DBQ (4th - 5th Grades)
- Female Vietnam Veterans (4th - 5th Grades)
- ▶ Lesson Plan
- ▶ Unlocking the Mysteries of Primary Sources PPT
- Discovering our Veterans and their Relation to France (5th Grade)
- Gifted Program Veteran Research Project (5th Grade)
- ▶ Lesson Plan
- ▶ Introduction PowerPoint
- ▶ Military Branches PowerPoint
- ▶ Major Conflicts PowerPoint
- ▶ Public Documents PowerPoint
- ▶ Product Creation PowerPoint
- Studying Veterans through Literature: Restart (5th Grade)
- ▶ Lesson Plan (5th Grade)
- ▶ Lesson Powerpoint
- Immigrant Veterans (5th Grade)
- Taking Care of U.S. Veterans (4th - 8th Grades)
- ▶ Teacher Packet
- ▶ Student Packet
Middle & High School
- How do Historians Create a Story? (9th - 12th Grades)
- Major David Moniac (9th - 12th Grades)
- Seminole War DBQ (9th - 12th Grades)
- Oral History of the Seminole Wars (Honors 8th - 12th Grades)
- Historical Fiction During the Seminole Indian Wars (11th - 12th Grades)
- Florida & the Spanish-American War (9th - 12th Grades)
- ▶ Lesson Plan (9th - 12th Grades)
- ▶ Map
- ▶ Nelson Burial Card
- ▶ Walden Burial Card
- ▶ Worksheet
- Spanish-American War: Disease & Its Impacts (9th - 12th Grades)
- ▶ Lesson Plan
- ▶ Nelson Burial Card
- ▶ Nelson Enlistment
- ▶ Parks Burial Card
- ▶ Parks Enlistment
- ▶ Demographics Worksheet
- ▶ Solving a Mystery Worksheet
- ▶ Typhoid Article
- ▶ Close Reading Article
- African Americans in WWI- Overcoming Discrimination (9th - 12th Grades)
- World War I Through the Eyes of an African American- A Case Study (9th - 12th Grades)
- World War I: The Impact on Diverse Americans (9th - 12th Grades)
- World War One Veterans: Sorting Out the Evidence (10th - 11th Grades)
- World War I Epitaphs (9th - 12th Grades)
- ▶ Lesson Plan
- ▶ Epitaph Intro PowerPoint
- WWI Video Documentaries Group Presentations (9th - 11th Grades)
- WWI Florida Veterans Biographical “Storymaps” (8th - 10th Grades)
- ▶ Teacher Packet
- ▶ Student Packet
- Letters Home: American Soldiers on the European Front (11th Grade)
- Florida Soldiers in World War I France War Memorials (11th Grade)
- Florida Soldiers in World War I France Biography Poems (11th Grade)
- WWII African American Veterans Social Media Project (9th -12th Grades)
- WWII Veterans In St. Augustine (6th - 12th Grades)
- Remembering Vietnam War Veterans (10th Grade)
- ▶ Lesson Plan
- ▶ Lesson Powerpoint
- Iraq & Afghanistan JROTC Project (10th - 12th Grades)
- ▶ Lesson Plan
- ▶ Sample Presentation- Christian B. Williams (USMC)
- ▶ Christian B. Williams (USMC) Tribute PowerPoint
- ▶ Basic National Cemetery Field Trip Etiquette & Coin Ceremony PowerPoint
- Legacy Play (6th - 12th Grades)
- ▶ Lesson Plan
- ▶ Monologue Video Example
- Veterans’ Post-Service Contributions & Legacies (9th - 12th Grades)
- ▶ Lesson Plan
- ▶ Census Mini-Lesson Powerpoint
- ▶ Gallery Walk & Discussion Powerpoint
- The Greatest Sacrifice (11th Grade)
- Bay Pines National Cemetery Research Project & Field Trip (9th - 12th Grades)
- ▶ Lesson Plan
- ▶ Field Trip Intro PowerPoint
- Who Should Be the Icon on the VA Website?
Veteran Primary Source Packets (By Conflict)
Bibliographical Resources
K-12 Mini Themed Tours of St. Augustine National Cemetery
- Mini-Themed Tour Introductory Materials
- ▶ Classroom Introduction
- ▶ Cemetery Introduction
- African Americans - Hidden Heroes: Finding the Forgotten
- ▶ Teacher Notes
- ▶ Tour Powerpoint
- U.S. Civil War
- ▶ Teacher Notes
- ▶ Tour Powerpoint
- Immigrants
- ▶ Teacher Notes
- ▶ Tour Powerpoint
- Multiple Conflicts
- ▶ Teacher Notes
- ▶ Tour Powerpoint
- Second Seminole War
- ▶ Teacher Notes
- ▶ Tour Powerpoint
- Women
- ▶ Teacher Notes
- ▶ Tour Powerpoint
- World War II
- ▶ Teacher Notes
- ▶ Tour Powerpoint
Grade-Leveled Biography Resources

Elementary School (PDF)
Middle School (PDF)
High School (PDF)
Virtual Tour

The files linked below contain color photographs of each of the 140+ headstones corresponding to the biographies of Florida veterans on this website. To create a virtual tour of a cemetery for your classroom, print whichever subset of pages match your lesson goals. You may use the QR codes to access the biographies.

Florida National Cemetery - Virtual Tour Images - Surnames A through K (PDF)
Florida National Cemetery - Virtual Tour Images - Surnames L through Z (PDF)
St. Augustine National Cemetery - Virtual Tour (PDF)
Aisne-Marne American Cemetery - Virtual Tour (PDF)
Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery - Virtual Tour (PDF)
Bay Pines National Cemetery - Virtual Tour (PDF)
World War I Resources

The year 2018 marks the centennial of the end of World War I. Our work commemorates the role American forces played in finally ending the Great War. After the movement of the First Battle of the Marne in September of 1914, a stalemate characterized much of the war along the 400 mile Western Front. Repeated battles, particularly Verdun and the Somme, in 1915 and 1916, sought to change the course of the war, but the front changed little. In April 1917, the United States entered the war, joining the Allies. Yet, the US did not have a tradition of a large, standing military during peacetime. When President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war, the US military numbered fewer than 350,000 men. To make a difference in the war, the US faced the monumental task transforming the US military into a massive fighting force.

In the spring of 1918, the German military leadership organized a major offensive, believing they could reach Paris and end the war before the Americans could make a difference for the Allies. At the same time, the US military, under the command of General John Pershing, became the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), which trained more than 4 million troops, and sent 2 million to fight in France. After more training in France, AEF troops joined the British and French by the spring and summer of 1918. US forces fought with the Allies, plugging holes in the line, and leading battles, including the Meuse-Argonne Offensive—the AEF sector of the final push to end the war. Fought from September 26–November 11, 1918, the Meuse-Argonne remains the largest and bloodiest battle in US history. Over 1.2 million Americans fought, 95,000 of which sustained injuries. Over 26,000 gave their lives. US troops remained in France for months after the war, burying the dead and rebuilding war-torn France. Many suffered from the flu pandemic, which killed an estimated 20–40 million people worldwide.

Our work highlights the experiences and contributions of Floridians in World War I. In 1917, Florida was a sparsely populated stated of 925,641 people. When the call for war went out, however, Floridians were ready to serve. In 1917–1918, 42,030 Floridians joined the various branches of the military. This represented 4.5% of the state’s population, which was larger than the national average of 3.9%. Over 35,000 Floridians joined the Army. Nearly 6,000 Floridians joined the Navy and Coast Guard, including about 200 women, who served as Yeoman-F in the US Navy. Another 200 Floridians joined the Marine Corps. African-Americans made up a large portion Floridians that served in a segregated US Army (the only branch that allowed African-Americans to serve). Despite obstacles at home and in the service, African-Americans proudly served, making up 36% of Florida’s soldiers, with over 13,000 joining the Army.

Floridians served with honor. Many served in Florida or at other military installations in the US working to supply the massive undertaking. Thousands served in combat. Of the 1,220 Floridians who died in World War I, the families of nearly two hundred elected to have their loved ones buried in France. The rest were returned to the US for final burial. France awarded 63 Croix de Guerre to Florida service members, and 2 men earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. Floridians who survived the war continued to contribute to their communities, to our state, and to our nation. Many other World War I veterans also moved to Florida later in life, with thousands of veterans of the Great War buried in national and private cemeteries in our state.

Our work tells us much about Florida history in the first half of the twentieth century. The stories of veterans buried in the Florida National Cemetery, St. Augustine National Cemetery, the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, and the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, where we conducted our research, collectively develop a narrative of the diverse history of our state. Through these stories, we learn about the experiences of Floridians, black and white, who sought to find opportunities and improve their lives. We also see that like today, many Floridians migrated to our state, coming from other parts of the US and from a variety of places in Europe and the Caribbean. We see that while all faced struggle, African-Americans, living in the Jim Crow South, faced white-led legal discrimination, entrenched segregation, and systematic violence.

Floridians who served in the AEF, whether they saw combat in France or not, all played key roles in the war effort. Florida served as a site for military training, shipbuilding, and agricultural production. The civilian population worked in war industries, bought Liberty Bonds, conserved food and other goods, all to support the war effort. The resources below intend to help students learn more about the American role and the experiences of Floridians in World War I.

The Forgotten: African American Soldiers in World War I

Florida Soldiers in France: World War I
Second Seminole War Resources
Using US Military Enlistment and Casualty Data to Identify and Memorialize Second Seminole War Veterans at St. Augustine National Cemetery

A visit to St. Augustine National Cemetery is the ideal starting point for field research on Florida’s Second Seminole War. There teachers, students, and tourists with an interest in history will find the famous Dade Monuments—three pyramids erected by the St. Augustine Garrison in 1842 to “cover vaults containing the individually unidentified remains of 1468 soldiers of the Florida Indian Wars.” Nearby stands an obelisk, erected in memory of US soldiers who died in the war. An inscription on the south side, facing the pyramids, references efforts to record the names of those interred: “A minute record of the officers who perished and are here or elsewhere deposited as also a portion of the soldiers has been preserved and placed in the office of the Adjutant of the Post where it is hoped it will be carefully and perpetually preserved.”

While the records referenced on the monument have not yet been found, a comprehensive list of US veterans who perished in the Seminole War—including the 100 who died under the command of Major Dade—can be found in the appendix to book by John T. Sprague, The Origins, Progress, and Conclusion of the Florida War (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1848). Who were these men? Where were they born? When and where did they enlist? When, where, and—perhaps most importantly—how did they die?

To find the answers, students in three UCF classes—Dr. John Sacher’s Jacksonian America, Dr. Caroline Cheong’s Intro to Public History, and Dr. Scot French’s Texts & Technology in History—collaborated on the transcription of Sprague’s appendix and related enlistment records to make a searchable database and create a demographic profile of those who died. Mia Tignor, a Texts & Technology Ph.D. student and graduate intern with the Center for Humanities and Digital Research, produced a series of interactive displays using transcribed data and a visualization tool called Tableau Public. We invite teachers, students, and anyone interested in this subject to explore these interpretive displays of demographic data, and look forward to adding more as our research on Seminole War veterans at St. Augustine National Cemetery expands.
- Second Seminole War Packet
- ArcGIS StoryMap: Mapping the Geography of the Second Seminole War
Click the map to access the visualizations.
St. Augustine National Cemetery Interment Visualizations
Who’s Buried/Memorialized at
St. Augustine National Cemetery?
A VLP Data Visualization and Digital Prosopography

The 21st century is the age of Big Data. What constitutes “big data” for historians researching the lives of Veterans buried and/or memorialized in national cemeteries? “For us, as humanists,” write the authors of The Historian’s Macroscope: Big Historical Data, “big is in the eyes of the beholder. If it’s more data than you could conceivably read yourself in a reasonable amount of time, or that requires computational intervention to make new sense of it, it’s big enough!”

For this VLP-sponsored research project we have extracted biographical and military service data from 2,707 US National Cemetery Interment Control Forms associated with individuals buried and/or memorialized at St. Augustine National Cemetery. See below to explore the summarized data for every individual, and view the associated interment forms that have been digitized and made publicly accessible courtesy of Ancestry.com in partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs/National Cemetery Administration (VA/NCA).

What can this biographical data – aggregated, analyzed, and visualized to reveal hidden patterns – tell us about the community of Veterans buried and memorialized at St. Augustine National Cemetery? How might we use the patterns this data reveals to create a digital prosopography (or collective biography) of those interred at St. Augustine? The visualizations below, created with a tool called Tableau Public, represent our initial findings and suggest intriguing possibilities for further research. Please click on the images to access the interactive visualizations.

US Military Burials & Memorializations by Conflict

This visualization shows US Military Burials & Memorials by Conflict, based on interment form data for St. Augustine National Cemetery.

Why are there so many burials associated with the Seminole Wars? The numbers are skewed toward the Seminole War era (1835-42) because the Dade Pyramids – named in honor of Maj. Francis Dade and the 108 men who perished under his command – cover burial vaults long believed to contain (as stated on the original plaque) “the individually unidentified remains of 1468 soldiers of the Florida Indian Wars.” New cemetery research indicates that as few as 150 bodies are interred in the vaults, but interment control forms count all of the Seminole War Veterans memorialized by the Dade Pyramids, even if they are not buried in the cemetery.

Please note: Veterans serving in more than one conflict are listed here under their first conflict only. For a visualization showing Individuals by Number of Conflict see below.

Branch of Service

This visualization shows the distribution of burials and memorializations at St. Augustine National Cemetery by Branch of Service.

What explains the predominance of US Army burials/memorializations relative to those associated with other branches? This is partly due to the US Army’s stature among the branches during the Seminole Wars (1835-42), when the St. Augustine military cemetery was first opened to Veterans beyond the local post, and partly due to the memorialization of nearly 1500 Seminole War casualties – all them officers, surgeons, or soldiers in the US Army – by the Dade Pyramids and nearby obelisk.

US Army Burials & Memorializations by Section

This visualization shows US Army Burials and/or Memorializations by Section within St. Augustine National Cemetery. While the Dade Pyramids (abbreviated PYRM) represent the largest grouping of US Army Veterans at St. Augustine, burials of Army Veterans can be found in every section of the cemetery. See site map for key. The three pyramids [PYRM] are shown as squares with Xs near the Dade Monument.

What explains the spatial distribution of US Army burials throughout the cemetery? US Army Veterans have been buried and memorialized at St. Augustine since the early nineteenth century. As the cemetery expanded, new sections were opened, and the distribution of US Army Veterans reflects that expansion over time.

Age at Death (If Known)

This visualization shows the Age at Death (If Known) for US Military Veterans buried and/or memorialized at St. Augustine National Cemetery.

What explains the variations across decades, with a spike in the 20s and again in the 50-80 age range? The column for those Veterans aged 20-30 highlights the sacrifice of young men who died in service, their numbers multiplied by the nearly 1500 Seminole War casualties memorialized at the cemetery. The three tall columns showing those who died in their 50s, 60s, 70s (another data cluster) call our attention to Veterans who completed their service and lived to middle-age and beyond.
Count of Deaths by Year
This visualization shows the Count of Deaths by Year (If Known) for those buried in St. Augustine National Cemetery.

Which years stand out, and why? Most of the spikes align with major military conflicts:

Seminole War (1835-1842)

Civil War (1861-1865)

Spanish American War (1898)

World War I (1917-1918)

World War II (1941-1945)

Korea (1950-1953)

Vietnam (1959-1975)

Persian Gulf War (1990-1991)

Afghanistan (2001-present)

Iraq War (2003-2011)
Please note: The image displayed only shows part of the span of years. Please click the image to open the interactive visulaization to see all of the spikes.
African American Burials

This visualization shows the number or African American Burials relative to Whites/Unknown.

Why is the number of African American burials at St. Augustine noteworthy? Neither headstones nor interment control forms indicate race or ethnicity, thus obscuring the historical contributions of African Americans within the military and their significant presence within the national cemeteries. VLP-sponsored student research into census data and military records has allowed us to identify more than 100 African Americans buried and memorialized at St. Augustine. Further research will allow for more nuanced visualization of burials by national origin and ethnicity as well.

Individuals by Number of Conflicts

This visualization groups individuals buried or memorialized at St. Augustine National Cemetery by the number of military conflicts with which they were associated.

Why are so many individuals associated with zero conflicts? This grouping includes includes Veterans who served during peacetime, as well as civilians (spouses, children) who were buried with a Veteran family member.
CLIO Tours

These customized tours use student-authored entries within the CLIO heritage tour app for use on the road or in the classroom. The tours incorporate National Cemeteries and other related military sites into educational driving routes.
Early Second Seminole War
St Augustine Military History and Cemetery
VisualEyes Resources

Harry Carson

This map and timeline follow the life of Harry Carson. Harry immigrated to the United States from Russia and served in the U.S. military during World War I. You can follow his journey to learn about the contributions of immigrants to the United States.

Harry Carson VisEyes

Harry Gittleman

This map and timeline follow the life of Harry Gittleman. Harry's parents immigrated to the United States from Austria and Poland and Harry grew up in a Jewish neighborhood in New York. You can follow his journey as he worked as a tailor and fought in World War II.

Harry Gittleman VisEyes

Terence Halligan

This page traces the life story and military service of Terence Halligan. Follow along to learn about his immigration to the United States, childhood in New Jersey, military training, and military service during World War II.

Terence Halligan VisEyes

Amasa Edward Hoyt

This page traces the life story and military service of Amasa Edward Hoyt. Follow along to learn about how he joined the military at the age of 15 and finally saw military service during World War II.

Amasa Edward Hoyt VisEyes

Fred O. Kalinchuk

This project traces the life story and military service of Fred Kalinchuk. Follow along to learn about his birth in Russia, immigration to the United States, service in France during World War I, and post-service life in Cleveland and Florida.

Fred O. Kalinchuk VisEyes

Frieda Lambrecht

Frieda immigrated to the United States with her family in 1926. She was a nurse for many years before serving during World War II.

Frieda Lambrecht VisEyes

Earl LaPan

Earl J. LaPan was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. Early in his career as an artist he lived in New Jersey. He later moved to Florida, probably around 1933.

Earl LaPan VisEyes

Charles "Carlo" Leonetti

This project traces the life story and military service of Charles “Carlo” Leonetti. Follow along to learn about his immigration to the United States from Italy, two periods of military service, and career as a distinguished artist.

Charles “Carlo” Leonetti VisEyes

Alexander Lucas

This project traces the life story of Alexander Lucas, an African American who was drafted into service during World War I and attained the rank of sergaent. Follow along to learn about his life.

Alexander Lucas VisEyes

Merrill Hart McGlamery

This project traces the life story and military service of Merrill Hart McGlamery.

Merrill Hart McGlamery VisEyes

David Moniac

This project traces the life story and military service of David Moniac. Moniac was the first Native American admitted to the United States Military Academy and he fought during the Second Seminole War. Read on to learn about his childhood and family in Alabama, studies at West Point, and military service.

David Moniac VisEyes

James Moore

James Moore served in US Army during World War II and the Korean War. This project traces his military service and life experiences before and after his service.

James Moore VisEyes

Peter Nadzeika

This project traces the life and military service of Peter Nadzeika. Follow along to learn about his family's immigration history, his youth in New Jersey, his military service, and his time in Florida.

Peter Nadzeika VisEyes