Colonel James Gadsden
Posted by: 
sfwife
N 27° 52.046 W 082° 29.648
17R E 352904 N 3083414
Florida Historical Marker in Tampa.
Waymark Code: WM21QN
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 08/20/2007
Views: 65
James Gadsden was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1788. After graduation from Yale University, he joined the US Army and served as an army engineer during the War of 1812. Gadsden was an aide to General Andrew Jackson during the First Seminole War (1817-18) and was promoted to the rank of colonel. After retiring from the military in 1821, Gadsden helped negotiate the 1823 Treaty of Moultrie Creek with the Seminole Indians, calling for their relocation to a reservation. Gadsden proposed that a fort be constructed in the Tampa Bay area, near the proposed boundary of the reservation. The pocket of land between Hillsborough Bay and Tampa Bay, which later became part of MacDill Air Force Base, was designated Gadsden's Point. This marks the place Gadsden lefta note on a staff for Colonel George Mercer Brooke, asking Brooke to meet him to choose the site for the fort. The fort, constructed in 1824 where the Hillsborough Bay and Hillsborough River meet in downtown Tampa, was named Fort Brooke. Gadsden also negotiated the Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832 that called for Florida's Native Americans to be removed. Many of the Seminoles resisted relocation, leading to the Second Seminole War in 1836. Gadsden left Florida in 1839 to return to Charleston. President Franklin Pierce appointed him the minister to Mexico and in 1853 he negotiated the purchase of land from Mexico that became part of New Mexico and Arizona. This transadction is known as the Gadsden Purchase.
Marker Number: none
Date: 2005
County: Hillsborough
Marker Type: City
Sponsored or placed by: Hillsborough County Historical Advisory Council
Website: [Web Link]
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