Tampa

A brief clash unfolded at Tampa, Florida on June 30 and July 1, 1862, pitting United States naval forces against a Confederate artillery unit tasked with defending the town. Some called it the Battle of Tampa, while others referred to it as the "Yankee Outrage at Tampa." The confrontation ranked among the lesser engagements of the Civil War, yet Tampa's harbor mattered considerably as a trading center for the central part of the state, with vessels running the blockade slipping out from there with some regularity, evading Union ships stationed along the Atlantic seaboard and around Florida's western shore.

The USS Sagamore, a Union gunboat, arrived in Tampa Bay on June 30, 1862, seeking the surrender of the modest Confederate force holding Fort Brooke. Captain John William Pearson refused the demand, prompting the Sagamore's commander, Captain A.J. Drake, to declare that his vessel would commence shelling at six that evening. True to this warning, the gunboat launched a bombardment from a distance against both the fort and the surrounding town once the appointed hour arrived. Three heavier guns at the fort answered the attack. The exchange proved harmless to both sides, producing neither significant damage nor a single casualty. Additional shots followed the next morning, fired from a position outside the reach of the fort's artillery, after which the Sagamore withdrew to resume its post near the entrance of Tampa Bay as part of the blockade.

Union forces would return with greater intensity in subsequent months. The Battle of Fort Brooke in October 1862 saw several blockade runners docked there destroyed, and by May 1864 Union troops had taken temporary control of the fort itself.

Background

At eleven in the morning on April 13, 1862, word spread through Tampa that a Union schooner had dropped anchor behind an island lying two miles from town. Fearing the vessel might be nothing more than a ruse, Confederate forces stationed pickets along every road leading into the settlement to raise the alarm if needed. Robert Watson, who served with the "Key West Avengers" under Captain H. Mulrennan in a Florida volunteer company, recorded his suspicions in his diary, writing that he and his comrades believed the Yankees had already put men ashore somewhere below their position, using the schooner merely to distract them while the real force circled around to attack from behind.

Roughly sixty minutes later, a boat left the schooner flying a flag of truce, and two Confederate boats went out to meet it. The Union men aboard called for Tampa's surrender. Watson's account describes how Major Thomas flatly refused, prompting the Federal officer to allow twenty-four hours for the evacuation of women and children before an assault would begin. Rather than showing fear, the Confederate soldiers responded with three cheers, visibly deflating the Union officer, who had apparently expected a frightened and compliant garrison. Captain Smith instructed his men to gather their belongings and move them upriver, reasoning that if the enemy proved too strong and a retreat became necessary, nothing could be carried away in the chaos. Heavy picket duty continued around the clock. The following day, April 14, Watson noted that no enemy had yet appeared, though his fellow soldiers remained watchful.

By that summer, officials in Washington were developing broader strategy aimed at tightening the naval blockade through the capture of key Confederate ports, following the model set by New Orleans, which had fallen in April 1862, along with other targets along the Mississippi River, Vicksburg chief among them. Union military planners widely understood that choking off Confederate trade would hasten the war's end, since the Confederacy depended heavily on imported goods and could not sustain a prolonged conflict without the necessary supplies and equipment. This understanding shaped the pressure Union land forces would eventually bring to bear on the Confederacy at numerous points as the war progressed.

Battle action

On the thirtieth of June, the Union gunboat USS Sagamore steamed into Tampa Bay, threw open her gun ports, and swung her broadside toward the town. From her deck she lowered a boat carrying twenty sailors under a white flag of truce. What followed was later described by Captain John William Pearson, CSA, in a message to Gen. Joseph Finegan, CSA. According to Pearson, he quickly gathered eighteen men into one of his own boats and rowed out to intercept the approaching Federals, refusing to let them set foot on Confederate ground. When the two boats met, the Union lieutenant announced that Captain Drake had sent him to demand the town's unconditional surrender. Pearson responded that the concept was foreign to them, that no such word existed in their vocabulary, and that surrender simply would not happen. The lieutenant warned that shelling would begin at six o'clock, to which Pearson answered that they should go right ahead. The Confederates then raised three cheers for their Confederacy while the Union boat crew offered no reply. True to his word, the enemy began firing shell and shot precisely at six, and after absorbing two rounds, the Southern side answered with its own artillery, three 24-pounder cannon making up its battery. Both sides traded fire steadily until seven that evening, at which point Sagamore pulled back. The next day, July 1, the ship resumed firing between ten in the morning and noon, though this time staying safely outside the reach of the Confederate guns. Following a two-hour pause for a midday meal, the vessel loosed two final rounds before raising anchor and departing for good. The Confederates suffered no losses in the engagement. In his account of the action, Pearson made special note of Captain James Gettis, a Hillsborough County resident originally hailing from Pennsylvania, praising his firm command over one of the Confederate gun batteries.

Aftermath

The following October brought a larger clash at Tampa known as the Battle of Fort Brooke. During this fight a Union gunboat once more shelled the fort, and under cover of the bombardment a small landing party slipped ashore unnoticed. These raiders located several Confederate blockade runners concealed along the Hillsborough River, destroyed them, and then withdrew.

By May 1864 Union forces made their way back to Tampa for another operation. The Confederate cause had weakened considerably by this point, and the men who once defended Fort Brooke had already been sent to serve at posts of greater urgency. Sailors from the USS Adela came ashore in Tampa and met no resistance at all. They seized or wrecked whatever supplies remained inside the empty fort, then withdrew from the town after spending two days there. Among the items abandoned in the Hillsborough River during that raid were two cannons from Fort Brooke, which were later recovered and restored. Today they stand on display at Plant Park, located on the campus of the University of Tampa.