There has been a controversy in Tampa over a Confederate memorial statue that is in front of the Hillsborough County Courthouse. The County Commission is anticipated to vote to remove it to Oaklawn Cemetery this July 19. My wife and I drove The Wonder Falcon downtown to see the statue before it was moved:
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Then we drove to Oaklawn Cemetery that is about six blocks north of where the statute presently is. Oaklawn cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Tampa. This marker commemorates the Battle of Fort Brooke where Tampa fought off an attack by a US Navy warship:
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We also saw the grave site of some 2,000 year old Indian remains that were reburied in Oaklawn. The Indian graves are under the slab ringed in red brick. The other two markers in the foreground are grave makers for unidentified soldiers and settlers from Fort Brooke. They date back to 1825 and the Seminole Indian wars.
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The plaque reads:
Here lie the buried remains
of a small band of
Native Americans who perished
about 2000 years ago.
These remains were discovered
in 1987 during construction
of the Tampa Convention
Center.
Let us honor the memory
of these and all Native Americans
who have lived and cherished
the land we call Florida.
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