The Battle of Tampa Monument

The Battle of Tampa Monument. Hillsborough County Veterans Memorial Park. The Battle of Tampa, also known as the "Yankee Outrage at Tampa", was a minor engagement of the American Civil War fought June 30 - July 1, 1862, between the United States Navy and a Confederate artillery company charged with protecting the port of Tampa, a small but notable trade hub for the Confederacy., On June 30, USS Sagamore, a Union gunboat, came into Tampa Bay, opened her ports, and turned her broadside on the town. The gunboat then launched a boat flying a flag of truce. In his post-action report, Captain John William Pearson, CSA, reported to Gen. Joseph Finegan, CSA, what transpired. “I immediately manned one of my boats, met them in the bay, determined that they should not land on my shore, and on meeting the boat the lieutenant in command reported he had been sent by Captain Drake to demand an unconditional surrender of the town. My reply to him was that we did not understand the meaning of the word surrender; there was no such letter in our book; we don't surrender. He then said they would commence shelling the town at 6 o'clock, and I told him to pitch in. We then gave three hearty cheers for the Southern Confederacy and the Federal boat crew said nothing.... At 6 o'clock they promptly opened fire on us with heavy shell and shot, and after two from them we opened from our batteries, consisting of three 24-pounder cannons. Both parties then kept up a regular fire until 7 p.m." At that point, U.S.S. Sagamore withdrew. On July 1, between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m., the gunboat fired from beyond the range of the Confederate cannon. After a two-hour break for lunch, USS Sagamore fired two more rounds, weighed anchor, and sailed away. There were no Confederate casualties.