Canter Brown, Jr. continues to evidence his mastery of nineteenth century Florida in his latest book, Tampa Before The Civil War, which chronicles Tampa from 1824 to 1860.
In January 1824, Col. George Mercer Brooke and James Gadsden selected on the northeast bank of the Hillsborough River a site for a military post, named in honor of the colonel, Fort Brooke. From this fort would evolve modern-day Tampa.The frontier has always been a lure for ambitious men, and Florida was no exception. Depicted are the maneuvers of the James Gadsden and Richard S. Hackley factions as they strived for the spoils.
Would-be developers were, however, initially stymied by the Army who had little tolerance for civilians and maintained a sizeable military reservation.
Fort Brooke, thus for some years, was populated by its soldiers and a miniscule number of white settlers, but frequent visitors were Seminoles, Black Seminoles, and the Spanish and Cuban fishermen from the rancheros at Charlotte Harbor.
The garrison departed to Fort King (Ocala) in July 1832, the developers moved into the void. In 1833, tracts were sold at Tampa Bay, and in 1834 Hillsborough County, which included nearly all of west central Florida, was created with the county court to then sit at Tampa.
Events leading up to the reactivation of Fort Brooke in December 1834, the subsequent Third Seminole War (1835-42), and its affects on Tampa Bay are concisely accounted.
The 1840s saw a new inflow of citizens, including the Manatee River sugarcane planters, Armed Occupation Act settlers, and military bounty act recipients, but still statehood in 1845 found Hillsborough with only 466 whites and 370 blacks, all but six of the latter slaves.
Described are the organization of County and Village of Tampa governments and the formation of churches, public schools, and a Masonic lodge.
Natural disasters and yellow fever epidemics periodically occurred and are presented. The great hurricane of September 1848 devastated Tampa and is a reminder of nature's awesome power.
The 1849 crisis with the Seminoles and the Billy Bowlegs War of 1855-58 are succinctly explained.
Finally, we are acquainted with the final years of the 1850s, when Tampa, now numbering about 1,000 inhabitants, resorted to vigilante violence to redress moral and legal dilemmas, but also underwent a spiritual revival, which would soon be sorely needed with the upcoming Civil War.
Dr. Brown lives in Tallahassee where he is working on a second volume of a history of the Florida Supreme Court.
Tampa Before The Civil War is a 207-page book, complemented with numerous illustrations. It can be ordered from the University of Tampa Press, 401 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, FL 33606.
This review was published in The Herald-Advocate (Wauchula, Fla.) of December 23, 1999.
Thursday, January 11, 2001