Southwest Florida is home to rich tapestry of military history that many residents may not be aware of.

Two organizations here in Lee County are looking to change that.

The Cape Coral Museum of History hosted a special military history event on Nov.9 featuring Gary Butler, the executive director of the Military Heritage Museum in Punta Gorda.

As a part of the museum’s 2021 speaker series, the event saw Butler highlighting many of the fascinating historical military sites that are all over Lee County and the region.

The Cape Coral Museum of History put on this free event to not only educate the public on the history that surrounds them, but also to raise awareness and support for their shared mission of historical preservation.

The museum’s presentation and Butler’s knowledge showcased that military history in Southwest Florida goes deeper than many realize and featured many historical sites that can be visited still today.

Some of the oldest date back to the Seminole Wars, going back as far as the 1830s, and then all the way up through both World Wars.

The oldest of these sites are military forts used in the 1800s to wage the Seminole Wars. Also known as the Florida Wars, these battles would become the longest and most expensive of the Indian Wars in both human and monetary terms. They also would end in many of the Native Americans in Florida being relocated to Oklahoma.

One of these forts is named Fort Denaud in Labelle. This fort was established in 1837 and was abandoned and reoccupied multiple times over the course of the multiple Seminole Wars.

Another fort from this time period was Fort Ogden, namesake of the Florida town of the same name. Established in 1841, Fort Ogden was the site of a failed peace treaty between the Seminole tribe and the U.S.

As for the Civil War, Fort Myers is home to the only battle fought in Florida during the war’s duration. Florida was only 16 years old when the war began. However, the state was crucial towards providing food and clothing to the Confederacy. Because of the state’s role as a producer of goods for the South, Union Navy ships patrolled and blockaded the coast from Tampa to Fort Myers. The only battle fought in Florida came towards the end of the war, as the Union blockades began to weaken Florida’s ability to deliver goods. Fort Myers was occupied by an all African-American Union unit in February of 1865. At that time, the Confederate Cattle Guard Battalion was deployed from Fort Meade, just northeast of Tampa. The battalion attacked Fort Myers, killing several of the African- American soldiers. The Union forces held out however, and fought off the Confederate battalion.

During the great wars of World War I and World War II, Florida played a crucial role in the formation and training of pilots for the wars. Due to the weather and its flat terrain, Florida proved to be ideal for flight schools during the wars. More than 42,000 Floridians served in World War I alone.

Two of the largest airfields used in World War I are in Arcadia. In 1917,the U.S. Army began building the Calstrom and Dorr Airfields there. The town proudly dubbed itself the aviation capital of Florida. Planes would be shipped from New York and reassembled on the airfields in Arcadia. Here, they would be used to train new cadets before they headed off to fight in World War I. From 1941 to 1945, around 1325 cadets graduated to earn their silver wings.

Fort Myers also is home to two major Air Force sites from World War II. One of these is Buckingham Army Field, a gunnery school constructed in 1942 to train bomber pilots for the war. The 7,000- acre field cost around $10 million to construct.

Another familiar military landmark in Fort Myers is Page Field. Originally a civilian airport, the field was leased by the U.S. War Department in 1942 and used to train pilots through the end of the war. More than 48,000 gunners graduated from Page Field before it closed in 1945. Page Field’s auxiliary base, Punta Gorda Army Airfield, would go on to become the Punta Gorda Airport in modern times.

You can learn more about all of these historical military sites in Florida and much more by visiting the Military Heritage Museum in Punta Gorda. The museum, at 900 W. Marion Ave., features exhibits from the Revolutionary War all the way through Afghanistan, and is operated thanks to the volunteer work of the many veterans who help run the museum.

It is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Admission is $12; $10 for veterans and active duty military, $9 for youths 5-13. Tickets may be pre-purchased at militaryheritagemuseum.org.