The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-06-03
VICTORIES WROUGHT BY PEACE
IMPROVEMENTS At FORT BROOKE
REsERVATIoN.

Years - Same Spirit OF EFoSEesS
Noted Thror ghOut All south Flor
ida-Heroes of FIOrida's Indian
Wars-Indian names of Rivers,
Streets and Towns in Florida.
Tampa, Fla, May S1-If the old army
officers OF afty years or more
ago could rise from their graves
and revisit to-day the ancient
Fort Brooke Military Reservation
where they fought both the then savage
Indians and the insidious diseases OF what
the poet called '@Tampa's deadly shore
where death and danger lurked, they
would be amazed at the wonderful VIC
tories that peace has achieved during the
past quarter of century in this section
of the state.
Now that the long years of litigation
over the ownership Of the reservation nave
come to an end, the march of modern I'M
provement has been rapid in its work over
that badly neglected portion of steadily
developing city. Where once only the war
cry of the Indians and the crack of the
soldiers rifles were heard, the sharp blast
of the modern steam whistle is constantly
Ie'N7--A-9
ers railway locomotives and adjacent fac
tories. The silence and gloom of the for
ests of Tampa Bay have given way 10 the
hum and hustle OF a growing city's busy
traffic, the final magnitude of which the
prophetic eye can hardly measure
And so II is everywhere in South Flor
iAa so long cosed TO modern railways
and their attendant developments. The
old Indian villages have given place to
thriving towns and cities and many OF
them covt the sites of bloody Indian bat
tlefielas. The shrill whistle of the passing
locomotive even breaks the stiffness and
secius on of the spot where Maj. Dade
and his heroic little band like Gen. Custer
and his braves in the far West, were mas
sacred in cold blood, only one soldier
battered ANA broken for life, escaped the
vengeance of the Indians. But the names
of the gallant Dade ana the other heroes
of those terrible battles, as should be the
case, are everywhere linked with the
grand developmt nts of peace. They mark
the towns and COUNTIES and streets ana
forts that cover the now rapidly develop
ing section CT South Florida. So shall q
81 ateful people, now enjoying the fruits
of their heroic struggles here, keep ever
in henored remembrance the names of
the gallant ldiers who dared disease
and death Throughout all this region to
open it up to the arts cf peace and Chris
tan civiliza ton.
Where the INDIAN canoes and the little
steamers and vessels of the whites once
moved over the waters of Tampa bay,
and Hillsborough river, at its mouth, oppo-
site Fort Brooke Reservation, may now
be seen great ocean steamships and sail
ing vessels. All the front of the Reserva-
ton at the mouth of the river is lined with
substantial YhaFves and big warehouses,
along the rear of which the railway tracks
are run. Most of these valuable improve
ments are of recent date, and the sound of
the busy hammer and saw of the carpen-
ter, Indicates more important improve
ments in the future. The presence and
operations of several vowerful dredges in
front of the Reservation, indicate the
early securing of a deep water channel
up to the newly constructed and extensive
wharves. Without discussing the right
or wrong of our nations past or present
Indian policy, all these grand modern i'm
provements may be said to illustrate how
in this Land of ours, the sword of war,
with all it's sufferings and sacrifices,
makes way for the peace THAI brings In
its pathway, the progress, development,
security to life and property, that creates
states, and makes them prosperous and
permanent
And of our savages, foes of other and
earlier days in the history of our whole
country, their names and deeds go sound
ing down the ages" with those Of our own
heroes. Our towns cities, streetes, clubs,
forts. etc, as well our mountains and
rivers, keep their names ever fresh in
the minds of succeeding generations. The
most aristocratic social clubs in the land
bear Indian names-and we have the
Seminole. the Tomochichi, the Norum-
bega, the Mohawk, the Seneca, the Osce-
ola, etc.; and of the Indian names of
rivers our poets never tire of singing.
And therefore it is that with the march
of time and the advent of wonderful de-
velopments like those I see all about this
once quiet Fort Brooke Reservation, the
names and deeds of the warriors of other
days and their Indian foes are kept alive.
And so long as poetry and song go hand
in hand with material progress, these
names will remain as reminders of the
sturdy men and women, who, in the early
history of this land, were the heroes and
heroines who endured the dangers and
terrible sufferings of Indian warfare in
order that the arts of peace and the be-
nignant influences of a Christian civiliza-
ton might cover this land as the. waters
cover the great deep.
Sidney Herbert.