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This, however, required not less than sixty- eight vessels of 1,000 tons, a veritable fleet, which, quitting New York on the 3rd of May, on the 10th of the same month ascended the Bay of Espiritu Santo, and discharged their cargoes, without dues, in the port at Tampa Town.
There was a fine harbor to which reinforcements and fresh supplies of ammunition might be sent to them by ships from Cuba, or from Tampa Bay. With these tidings they hurried back to Anhayea. They had now reached the month of November, 1539.
The facilities for taking care of the troops at Tampa were inadequate. When transports reached Tampa to take the troops to Santiago, officers wildly scrambled to get their men on board.
They found 25,000 troops, cavalry, infantry, and artillery, most of them regulars, already encamped in the sandy pine barrens surrounding the little city, and took their place among them. At Port Tampa, nine miles away, lay the fleet of transports provided to carry them to Cuba. Here they had lain for many days.
On his way from Port Tampa to Cuba the boat stopped at Key West, and for the hour in which she discharged cargo Swanson went ashore and wandered aimlessly. The little town, reared on a flat island of coral and limestone, did not long detain him.
This bay is divided into two long roadsteads, those of Tampa and Hillisboro, the narrow entrance to which the steamer soon cleared. A short time afterwards the batteries of Fort Brooke rose above the waves and the town of Tampa appeared, carelessly lying on a little natural harbour formed by the mouth of the river Hillisboro.
On the morning of March 30th a party of Indians was encountered, charged upon, and routed, and the same party were next day met and driven into the swamp. The column proceeded on its march and arrived at Tampa Bay on April 5th. They here learned that Colonel Lindsay had preceded them one day, being obliged to return for necessary subsistence.
"E. J. McClernand, "Assistant Adjutant-General." Second Endorsement. "Office of the Ordnance Officer, "Lafayette Street Bridge, "Tampa, Fla., June 5, 1898. "Respectfully referred to Lieut. John H. Parker for his information. "Jno. T. Thompson, "1st Lieut., Ordnance Dept, U. S. A." It will be seen from the first endorsement that a certain amount of discretion was left to the detachment commander.
The members of the Gun Club remained at Tampa Town, for the purpose of setting on foot the preliminary works by the aid of the people of the country. Eight days after its departure, the Tampico returned into the bay of Espiritu Santo, with a whole flotilla of steamboats. Murchison had succeeded in assembling together fifteen hundred artisans.
To take another example: When our army embarked at Port Tampa it was the business of some officer somewhere to know the exact capacity of every transport and the numerical strength of every regiment. Then it was some one's business to prearrange the distribution of troops by assigning one or more designated regiments to one or more designated steamers and giving necessary orders to the colonels.
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