Strobridge & Co. Lith & Wm. H. West'S Big Minstrel Jubilee. (ca. 1898) Wm. H. West's Big Minstrel Jubilee formerly of Primrose & West. , ca. 1898. Cincinnati ; New York: Strobridge Litho. Co. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2014637047/.
MODIFIED BY TAMPAPIX.

 SEE THE END OF THIS FEATURE FOR A CORRECTION OF MISINFORMATION FREQUENTLY
ACCOMPANYING THE DESCRIPTION OF THIS POSTER BY SELLERS ONLINE.
 

TampaPix photos from Nov. 22, 2009

This impressive old coastal defense gun situated along Kennedy Blvd. at Plant Park stands as a memorial for the Spanish-American War casualties of Hillsborough County in 1898 and memorializes the important role Tampa played in that war.

There are eight inscription panels surrounding the gun's monumental base with one stating that the gun was used at Ft. Dade for the defense of Tampa in 1898.  Up until World War II in January 1943,  this inscription was correct.  After that date, it is incorrect.

Since the mid-1800s, the Cuban people had been fighting on and off for their independence from Spain as Spain's cruelty to the people continued to increase.  These "Freedom Fighters" or "Mambi Army" as they were known, were greatly overpowered and outnumbered by the Spanish military regime.  The inhumane treatment of the Cuban people had caused Clara Barton and the American Red Cross to go there and tend to the them.  They were being herded into concentration camps  under deplorable conditions.  It is estimated that millions of Cubans died from the mistreatment, cruelty, starvation and disease. 

The Spanish-American War took place in the spring and summer of 1898 in the Caribbean on the island of Cuba and its surrounding waters and in the Pacific at the on the Philippines and its surrounding waters, both which were under control of the Spanish government.  America's involvement in the war was triggered by an explosion on the USS Maine, a United States Navy battleship docked in Havana Harbor.  It had been sent there as a show of strength and support for the Cuban people by President McKinley.  The U.S. War department used Tampa as the port of embarkation for the war, thus bringing thousands of troops and reporters to the area.

THE MAINE ENTERING HAVANA HARBOR, JAN. 25, 1898.


Photo courtesy of Naval History an Heritage Command

The explosion on the Maine took place on the evening of Feb. 15, 1898 causing a tremendous fireball to rise into the evening sky which was seen for miles and sending a shockwave which shook the ground and buildings, and shattered and rattled windows in all of Havana.  The explosion killed two officers and 250 enlisted men.  Fourteen of the injured later died, bringing the death toll to 266. Sent to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban revolt against Spain, she exploded suddenly, without warning, and sank quickly. After an investigation by the U.S. Navy dept, it was concluded that the explosion was caused by an underwater mine and on Apr. 24, 1898, The United States made a Declaration of War against Spain.

See a list of casualties in alpha order.  Only two officers were killed mainly due to them having retired for the evening to their quarters at the rear of the ship.  Capt. Sigsbee was a survivor. The explosion took place in the forward portion of the ship, where most of the sailors and marines were quartered.

 

Read an excellent account of the Maine and the war at the U.S. Naval History Website: Maine (Second-class Battleship) (navy.mil)

Rarely seen photos of the USS Maine.

READ MORE ABOUT THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE WAR AND CLARA  BARTON'S RED CROSS ACTIVITIES IN TAMPA, at TampaPix.com.
 

 


THE INSCRIPTIONS ON THE EIGHT-SIDED BASE (Starting in front, moving counter-clockwise)
 

ERECTED HERE IN 1927 BY GEN. JOE WHEELER CAMP NO.2
DEPT. OF FLORIDA. U.S.W.V.
 This inscription is no longer true

GENERAL JOE WHEELER CAMP NO. 2

The General Joe Wheeler Camp No. 2 was organized in Tampa. The camp was named in honor or Major General Joseph Wheeler (1836-1906) of the United States Volunteers, who had served as a Major General in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, and was a United States Representative in Congress from the State of Alabama at the start of the War with Spain.

Department of Florida, United Spanish War Veterans, August 14th, 1911, to August 1st, 1988

Photo of Gen. Wheeler taken at the Tampa Bay Hotel, 1898.  Courtesy of the Burgert Bros. collection at the Tampa-Hillsb. Co. Public Library System.

ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEY
VICTOR OF THE BATTLE OF MANILLA [sic] BAY MAY 1 1898

George Dewey (December 26, 1837 – January 16, 1917) was an admiral of the United States Navy, often referred to by historians as the "hero of Manila." He is best known for his victory in the Spanish territory of the Philippines (without the loss of a single life of his own forces due to combat; one man died of heat stroke) at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War. He was also the only person in the history of the United States to have attained the rank of Admiral of the Navy, the most senior rank in the United States Navy.

 
   

 

The USS Maine was a second-class pre-dreadnought 19th-century battleship of the United States Navy which exploded and sank in Havana Harbor, Cuba, on February 15, 1898.  The sinking precipitated the Spanish–American War and also popularized the phrase Remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain! Two hundred and sixty-six men lost their lives as a result of the explosion, and eight more died later from injuries. Captain Charles Sigsbee and most of the officers survived because their quarters were in the aft portion of the ship. Altogether, there were only 89 survivors, 18 of whom were officers. Originally thought to be caused by a Spanish mine, in subsequent years the cause of the sinking of the Maine became the subject of much speculation.

See more about the sinking of the Maine at Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross (tampapix.com)

Yellow Journalism and American propaganda ran rampant during this war. Afterward, there were portrayals of the North and South shaking hands for a free Cuba.


Photo courtesy of Library of Congress.

Thirty-one amazing photos of the Maine

  
   

The Tampa Bay Hotel was the headquarters where only the top-ranking officers were housed, it was not where the troops were encamped.  The troops were scattered all over Tampa , including Port Tampa, West Tampa, Tampa Heights and Ybor City.  For more about this and maps see Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross (tampapix.com)

Honorary member D. B. McKay was Tampa's three-time mayor Donald Brenham McKay (Jul. 29, 1868 – Sep. 8, 1960), grandson of Scottish immigrant James McKay, who also served as mayor.  D.B. was the owner and editor of the Daily Times newspaper and served several terms as Mayor from 1910 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1931.
   

THIS GUN ERECTED AT FORT DADE FOR THE DEFENSE OF TAMPA IN 1898
This inscription is no longer true.

PRESENTED TO TAMPA AS A MEMORIAL TO THOSE WHO SERVED IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN
 
   

 

THE ORIGINAL WAR MEMORIAL GUN WAS FROM FORT DADE

The true story of this memorial is a bit more complicated than the inscription describes. The Fort Dade gun described on the base was placed in Plant Park on November 13, 1927, but it is not the gun located there now. 

That original gun from Fort Dade was donated to a steel scrap drive in Jan. 1943 by the City of Tampa to the U.S. government during World War II. (More on this later.)

 


This was the original gun placed here for this memorial.  It was one of two eight-inch guns used at the McIntosh battery on the northern end of Ft. Dade, Egmont Key.

 

 

FORT DADE, EGMONT KEY
Maps & information from: Fort Dade (3) - FortWiki Historic U.S. and Canadian Forts

 

Egmont key was first surveyed by Spanish explorers in 1757. In 1761, the English named the island Egmont Key for the Earl of Egmont. With the rest of Florida, it passed back and forth between Spain and England and finally to the United States in 1827.  In 1847, concerns with hazardous navigation at the mouth of Tampa Bay led the construction of the first lighthouse. The Great Gale of 1848 swamped the island and all but destroyed the lighthouse.  In 1858, the lighthouse was replaced.

 

 

 

Defense considerations during the Spanish-American War in 1898 led to the construction of Fort Dade.  Being a sister fort to Fort Desoto it saw little to no action. The island was used as a Seminole prison at one time and as a quarantine station for passengers arriving from other countries.  The mosquitoes made living there unbearable at times.

 

 

 

 

 

  


EGMONT KEY FORTIFICATION
Most info presented here along with images are from Fort Dade (3) - FortWiki Historic U.S. and Canadian Forts

While the construction of many Endicott Period gun batteries was well underway in 1898 the number of operational batteries was not deemed sufficient to deter an attack by the Spanish fleet as war with Spain approached. From the emergency funds appropriated in the National Defense Act of 9 Mar 1898, the U.S. Army Engineering Department was allotted $ 5,585,000 to prepare temporary and permanent gun batteries and torpedo (mine) defenses against the Spanish threat.

Among the emergency projects was one to install twenty-six 8-inch breech-loading M1888 guns along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Of that number, Twenty-one were to be mounted on modified 15" Rodman carriages and five were to be mounted on the more current 8-inch barbette carriages, M1892.  The urgency of the situation apparently precluded the use of the then state-of-the-art disappearing carriages.

The list of batteries contemplated for construction is below. Some reached the point of having guns mounted before work was halted in January 1899. Some of the battery structures can still be seen while others no longer exist. The St. John's Bluff 8" Battery still exists and has been turned over to the National Park Service but is not yet open to the public (2021)

In 1916, as the U.S. prepared for the inevitable entry into World War I, the mining capability of Fort Dade was expanded on the north end of the key to include a new loading room, a service dynamite room, a new wharf, and a tramway. Other forces were acting on the armament at the fort and the guns of Battery Howard were removed for service overseas.

Apparently, it was around this time that the guns at Battery McIntosh were updated to disappearing carriages.  After the war ended the rapid disarmament saw all the gun batteries disarmed except for Battery McIntosh (1) and the guns removed by 1921.

TWO GUNS WERE LOCATED IN BATTERY MCINTOSH

Battery McIntosh had TWO guns, both made by Bethlehem Steel.  But their carriages were were not made by the same company.  Both were disappearing carriages of M1896 type, but Tampa's gun carriage #26 was made by Morgan Engineering in Alliance, Ohio.


The above chart shows gun #1 and its carriage was sent to Tampa.

 


 Battery McIntosh (1) - FortWiki Historic U.S. and Canadian Forts

 

This photo at right is often used to show Tampa's gun while located at battery McIntosh at Ft. Dade but this is GUN #2 which went to the City of St. Petersburg, Fla.

The 8-inch gun in place on its disappearing carriage at battery McIntosh, Ft. Dade, Egmont Key, 1918. 

The carriage allowed its crew to quickly raise the height of the gun (not just the angle) above the fort wall with the element of surprise, then quickly lower it for protection against enemy fire, effectively making it "disappear."

Below is Gun #1, the gun that was shipped to Tampa.  Photos from Battery McIntosh (1) - FortWiki Historic U.S. and Canadian Forts

The Tampa Bay hurricane of Oct 25, 1921 caused damage to many of the permanent post buildings and totally destroyed the boathouse and wharf. The high cost of repairs weighed heavily in the decision to close the post in 1923. Battery McIntosh (1) was deactivated and the post was put into caretaker status with a single caretaker on 25 May 1923. The government was unable to sell the surplus property and it remained on the quartermaster's books through 30 Jun 1935. Fires in 1925 and 1927 destroyed major permanent buildings including both of the 109 man artillery barracks and mess hall facilities. The U.S. Coast Guard took over the key in the late 1930s and used it as a small arms practice range. During World War II it was used for lookout posts. The key was designated a National Wildlife Refuge in 1974 and in 1989 Egmont Key State Park opened.  Read more about the 1921 hurricane here at TampaPix.
 

 

TAMPA GETS ITS EIGHT-INCH GUN

 

Sept. 9, 1927 - The committee from the Gen. Joe Wheeler group of Span-Am War veterans asked the County Commission to appropriate funds to help pay the cost of shipping the gun, which was offered to Tampa by the war department.  The commission made no promise to them except that they might consider it if the City also made an appropriation.

At Right:  Sep. 24, 1927 - The City of Tampa having offered $1,250 to help ship the gun, the County matched its appropriation.  The gun was estimated to weight 50 tons and was hoped that it could be mounted facing Lafayette St on the grounds of Plant Park.  Plans were to have engraved markers placed on the gun's base.

 

Oct. 31, 1927 - The gun, now described as 35 tons, was expected to be in Tampa on Nov. 4 and was being shipped up the bay.  The base was already built with a foundation of three feet and was thirty inches high and twelve feet in diameter.  Inscriptions were to be made on eight panels surrounding the base.  It was hoped to be ready for unveiling during Armistice Day ceremonies on Nov. 11.
 

The gun arrived in Tampa in two parts on Nov. 7

 

 

Nov. 11, 1927 - Tampa's Armistice Day celebration saw the longest patriotic parade since the nine years of the signing of the surrender of the Germans in WW1. No mention of the Ft. Dade gun was made in the lengthy article, which described the entire parade in detail.
 

 

  Dec. 11, 1927 - The memorial was nearly completed and plans for unveiling were expected to be made at the upcoming meeting of the Joe Wheeler camp.

Nov. 14, 1927 - Plans had yet to be made for the unveiling date of the memorial, with sidewalks still to be laid and and inscriptions not yet completed.

 

The new memorial was dedicated on Feb. 15, 1928; the 30th year anniversary of the sinking of the Maine.


 

THE DISAPPEARING GUN DISAPPEARS - JAN. 30, 1943.

   
In the summer of 1942, the U.S. Army sent Col. J. Worthington Proctor to Tampa from Atlanta to get consent from the City to cut up the memorial for scrap for "smelters and to be turned into deadly weapons against the Nazis and the Japs."   On Jan. 30th, 1943, a worker for a Miami contracting company began work cutting the gun to pieces with an acetylene torch. The first cuts separated the barrel from the trunions letting the barrel drop to the ground. Next were transverse cuts across the rear of the barrel where the diameter was 34 inches and the steel 13 inches thick.  The "sister" gun in St Pete was also being turned into scrap and most other memorial pieces in Tampa had already been turned into scrap during a drive sponsored by the newspapers last fall. The caption to a news photo three years later implies that the war veterans of the Joe Wheeler group consented to the scrapping.

 

TAMPA TIMES STAFF WRITER LEO STALNAKER, JR. IS FED UP WITH TAMPA'S DESECRATED WAR MEMORIALS

Leo Jr. was a son of Tampa's controversial tough on crime judge Leo Stalnaker, Sr.   Leo Sr.'s father was Imboden Stalnaker, the man who rescued Tampa's oldest home from destruction when he bought the old Stringer house from the City and had the parts transported to Ybor City where he rebuild the house.  The former Stringer property was bought by the city in order to build Tampa's new 1915 City Hall and Police station on it.  Stalnaker claimed the memorials were sacrificed in the "patriotic hustle of a scrap drive while many junk yards were piled high with iron and steel still unused."

See the history of Old City Hall here at TampaPix.


Seven months later the same Confederate memorial would suffer significant damage when a reveling Navy man climbed it to take a closer look and knocked the "marching off to war" Confederate soldier to the ground, shattering it in large pieces.  (Contrary to what is found on some websites, NEITHER OF THE SOLDIERS ARE UNION SOLDIERS.)

Oct. 28, 1946

 

 

THE APPEARANCE OF A NON-DISAPPEARING GUN - TAMPA GETS A REPLACEMENT - APRIL 1946

If you've done some research on this memorial, or you're familiar with Tampa history, you've probably found that every source that tells where our present gun came from says (more or less) "Later, an eight-inch (203 mm) gun was obtained from Fort Morgan, Alabama, and installed on the 1927 memorial's vacant base." 

NOT TRUE

WHERE DID TAMPA'S REPLACEMENT GUN COME FROM?

These articles state that Tampa's new gun was coming from "the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground" and "a Maryland Arsenal."  The Times' April 17 article just gives the general area as "Washington" (DC). 

 

Aberdeen Proving Ground - Wikipedia

Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) (sometimes erroneously called Aberdeen Proving Grounds) is a U.S. Army facility located adjacent to Aberdeen, Harford County, Maryland, United States. More than 7,500 civilians and 5,000 military personnel work at APG. There are 11 major commands among the tenant units. 

APG is the U.S. Army's oldest active proving ground, established on 20 October 1917, six months after the U.S. entered World War I.  The planning and construction were overseen by Brigadier General Colden Ruggles, who later served as the Army's Chief of Ordnance.  Its location allowed design and testing of ordnance materiel to take place near contemporary industrial and shipping centers. The proving ground was created as a successor to the Sandy Hook Proving Ground, which was too small for some of the larger weapons being tested. At the peak of World War II, APG had billeting space for 2,348 officers and 24,189 enlisted personnel.

 

THE NEW GUN ARRIVES - Apr. 19, 1946
 

The photo caption states that the "Government" gave this gun to Tampa's Spanish American War Veterans to replace the one THEY donated to a World War II scrap drive.  This implies that the war veterans themselves gave consent to scrap the first gun.

 

APRIL 25, 1946 - The new gun carriage was being put into place on the same base of the previous gun.  This one is claimed to weigh only 15 tons and is mounted on a railway car carriage instead of a disappearing carriage.  The gun is a Spanish-American War era gun which probably saw action during World War 1 as well.

There was no rededication or ceremony held for the replacement gun. This was all that was published in the local papers.

 

Below is an 8-inch Gun with Railway Mount model M1918, Mark I.  It is attached on a drop-frame railway car with structural steel under-frame mounted on Pennsylvania Railroad standard 70-ton trucks. The car is equipped with air brakes as well as hand brakes, and is provided with French State standard screw couplers and buffers. It was designed during WW1 to take advantage of the large number of 8-inch disappearing guns emplaced in our coast defenses that were rapidly being outranged by the weapons found on ships.  By removing them from their the disappearing carriages and mounting them on railway carriages, they could be used in France as heavy artillery during WW1. However, the war ended before they were fully fielded. 

After WW1, these weapons were utilized as mobile seacoast guns by the Coast Artillery. They could be utilized at many locations along the coasts, and were relatively easy to move and prepare for firing. The railway carriages had heavy "outriggers" that would brace the carriage against the recoil of the gun firing, and prevent damage to the tracks.

Photo and info courtesy of Andy Bennett at 8-inch Gun Railway Mount M1918 (archive.org) from Fort Story Archives.

 

THE MEMORIAL WE HAVE NOW IS MOUNTED ON THE UPPER PART OF SUCH A RAIL CAR CARRIAGE.

THIS PLAQUE BELOW IS POSITIONED ON THE GROUND DIRECTLY BELOW THE FRONT-FACING PANEL AS SEEN ABOVE.


Dedicated to Thomas H. Derrick, department commander of Florida United Spanish War Veterans, 1934-1935, by Department Auxiliary, U.S.W.V, June 19, 1935. (This was placed while the original gun was still there.)

 

 

 

 


 
 
 

 

 
The cannon points just to the left of the Falk Theatre, across Kennedy Blvd, formerly the Park Theater.  Park Theatre was opened in 1928 as a vaudeville/movie theatre. During the 1940's it was operated by Paramount Pictures Inc. through their subsidiary E.J. Sparks. By the early 50s, it was part of the Wometco chain.  In 1962 it became the David Falk Memorial Theatre, operated by the University of Tampa as a performance facility.  Falk/Park Theatre at Historic Theatres in Tampa

 

NOW, ABOUT THAT CORRECTION...

THIS IS NOT DEWEY'S FLAGSHIP, THE "OLYMPIA."

This poster's text and foreground has been altered by TampaPix from its original version at the Library of Congress which was a promotion for a minstrel show by William H. West titled "Remember the Maine"  with Mr. West as Capt. Sigsbee.  There are no copyright restrictions on the image.  (The poster portrays Capt. Sigsbee's appearance quite accurately.)  However, other than at the Library of Congress, the ship seen in the background is nearly always misidentified by sellers as Admiral Dewey's flagship, the OLYMPIA.  This NOT Dewey's flagship "Olympia," it is the USS Maine.  Ignoring the fact that a promotion for a show about the Maine which instead shows the Olympia in the background is ludicrous, it's even more ludicrous to portray the Olympia in HAVANA HARBOR, where the Maine exploded.  It would be rather oxymoronic to show the Olympia and promote "Remember the Maine."

But if the lunacy of it doesn't convince you, read on:  The Olympia was a cruiser, the Maine was a battleship.  Dewey battled in the Philippines. 

THE MAINE - Notice the gun turret bulging from the side of the ship.

The Olympia:
Photo from USS Olympia: This Old Steel Warship Has Survived Just About Everything And Is Still Floating | The National Interest

 
 

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