Florida Joins the Union

By William E. Males

Florida has been the lure of many throughout the country as the perfect environment to escape the bitter cold winters and to enjoy year round fun in the sun whether on sea or land. Even though this season we too have experienced some record breaking cold fronts, this southeastern peninsula of the country has long been a virtual paradise for many who have made it their home. Here in the Sunshine State throughout the whole year sports and outdoor activities are aggressively pursued and played hard. Funny thing, we even have Tampa’s very own Tampa Bay Lightning ice hockey team here.

But, back when Florida was just an overgrown tropical peninsula waiting to have its unique richness recognized for the valuable asset it is by the Union, the gulf coast and the Tampa Bay area was virtually a private paradise for only those who knew how to navigate through it and live harmoniously with its abundance variety of sometimes hostile wildlife. Prior to 1821 before the United States acquired Florida, it was primarily the home of the Seminoles and a few hardcore adventurists and determined settlers.

With all of Florida’s rivers, inlets, bays and sounds, and hundreds of square miles of backwaters, the whole coast became refuge and hideouts for pirates, runaway slaves, slave and rum smugglers, and contrabandists. For those who were familiar with the coast there were hundreds of remote, yet easily accessible places for hideout, hidden ports and places for rendezvous with traders from as far away as Cuba. This slow but steady increase in ruffian trade activity and settlement was initially viewed as an unwelcome invasion by the Seminole Indians, whose growing resentment toward the settlers was progressively becoming a problem for the Union.

Since much of the non-native trade and traffic going on in the area was due to the smugglers and contrabandists, there wasn’t anything to regulating the trade activity with the Indians.  The traders, knowing that they were on the Seminoles’ home turf, were quick to trade and negotiate with the Indians to maintain their own good terms and safe havens. This of course was allowing the Indians limited access to guns and other metal weapons, as well as the rum. This was not proving to be a favorable addition in the eyes of the government for them. With already frustration over the intrusion of the unwelcome settlers simply seeking to create a life for their families, the Seminoles were quickly becoming more brazen in their rebellion against those who were not offering anything, but just appeared to be stealing the land for themselves.    

It was all this unregulated activity that prompted officials in Washington to consider the establishment of a military outpost somewhere in the untamed and isolated shores of Tampa Bay. With the mouth of the Hillsboro River emptying into the bay and providing a waterway access inland it seemed to be a natural site for a fort to serve as an outpost to provide defense from possible foreign invasion and to try and thwart the Indians from acquiring more arms and rum from the Cuban traders.

It was only three short years after Florida was acquired that orders were officially given to Colonel George Mercer Brooke to proceed with the Fourth Infantry Regiment to Tampa Bay to locate and establish an official outpost which would serve as a southern naval depot of the United States. Within two weeks Colonel Brooke and his men sailed into the wide open dark green waters of Tampa Bay. They chose for their landing point the southeastern point of the inter bay peninsula separating Old Tampa Bay and Hillsboro Bay known as Gadsden Point, now the site of Mac Dill Air Force Base. From there Colonel Brooke’s troops proceeded through the marsh and palmetto scrubs up the shoreline to the mouth of the Hillsborough River where they found the mouth of the rivers and its waters to be the happy habitat of an over abundance of large alligators.

Despite the less than friendly welcoming committee, Colonel Brooke decided to situate the military post on the east bank of the mouth of Hillsboro River. The fort, named after the Colonel, was officially established January 22, 1824. It was a small and modest fort that was destined to go through several stages and struggles that would help shape it into the city that it is today. From its primitive beginnings as a small fort, to a modest community, to an international city of education, science and global commerce, Tampa Bay has continued to lure people to a place still full of youthful ambition that continues to make history by inspiring, and fulfilling, dreams.