Each year, on the weekend after Christmas (as close to the original date as possible), the Dade Battlefield Society sponsors a reenactment of the battle that started the Second Seminole War.

[1][2] The United States government negotiated the Treaty of Moultrie Creek in 1824, placing the Seminoles on a reservation that included the site of the future battle.

Dade, another commanding officer, and the entire left flank, consisting of one-half of the troops, were killed in the first volley.

During his tenure, one "Colonel Dill", claiming that he was seeking escaped slaves, was detained and was ordered to return to his residence.

General Jesup ordered that all government employees and express riders were barred from passing through Fort Armstrong for the purpose of looking for runaway slaves.

[11] In 1984, after several years' work, the Sumter County Historical Society would place a marker at the site of Fort Armstrong.

[16][17] In 1919, United States representative Henry Jackson Drane of Florida, who had visited the Dade Battlefield area in 1884, introduced another bill for the creation of a memorial at the site.

[18] In 1910, two Florida newspapers, the Leesburg Commercial and the St. Lucie Tribune, encouraged legislators to place a marker on the site of the massacre.

[19] At the state level, an attempt to create a memorial park on the site of the Dade Massacre was made in the early 1920s.

Before his term in the Florida Legislature, Lake County judge J. C. B. Koonce held pre-trial hearings at the park's site.

[14] In 1921, the state of Florida appointed Koonce, Fred C. Cubberly (the author of the book The Dade Massacre[22]), and Mrs. A. M. Roland as commissioners of the Dade Memorial Park[23] and authorized them to purchase 80 acres of land at and surrounding the site of the massacre from three local families and a local company for $2,000 (USD).

[27] In 1922, Representative Drane and Chief Clerk Nathan Hazen of the Ordnance Department arranged to have two guns shipped to the Dade Memorial Park.

[30] Plans eventually changed to include a parade, a barbecue, concerts, addresses by dignitaries,[31] and a full reenactment.

[29][33] During World War II, Dade Memorial Park served as a United States Army installation.

[20] In an effort to restore the park to the conditions at the time of the battle, the Division of Natural Resources removed the archway, the monuments,[26] and the statue of the pelican.

[32] In 1987, the state constructed a 5-foot (1.5-meter) high and 150-foot (46-meter) long berm on the baseball field's outfield to enhance visitors' view of the reenactment.

[42] A Tampa television station aired segments about a commemorative hike led by Laumer from the Hillsborough River to the park from December 27, 1988, to the day of the reenactment on January 1, 1989.

A record crowd of 4,500 people attending the reenactment on January 1, 1989, prompted the Dade Battlefield Society to consider the construction of an amphitheater.

The sword was placed on display in a case containing a money belt and a sash that belonged to Lt. William Basinger, one of Dade's officers.

[53][54] In 1996, the Dade Battlefield State Historic Site hosted the first annual World War II Commemorative Day.

Since the first event, the commemoration has grown to include reenactors representing both the Allies and the Axis, vendors, music, encampments, vehicles, and food.

During the visit, elders Billy Cypress and Bobby Henry and park ranger Chuck Wicks explained both sides of the conflict to the group.

[57] To generate interest in the park, members of the Dade Battlefield Society organized events such as a bluegrass festival and an arts and crafts show.

In addition, residents organized Friends of Dade Battlefield, a group formed to generate interest in the park.

Swallow-tailed kites had visited the park, and the Dade Battlefield Society decided to create a festival to educate the public about the birds.

[62] Monuments indicating the locations of the officers' deaths stretch from the park's entrance to about 300 feet (91 meters) south.

[63] The reenactment takes place in a cleared area in the pine woods about 200 yards (meters) from the site of the actual battle.

[67] Considered to lie in the Central Highlands, the park is generally flat, with an average elevation of 69 feet (21 meters) above sea level.

In the 1970s, the Florida DEP prescribed controlled burns to prevent the park's pine flatwoods from succeeding into an oak hammock.

[46] In 2012, the Sumter County Master GardenerCommunity Beautification Committee designed and replanted several of the park's landscapes in the public areas with native and endemic plants.