The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Tampa's Oaklawn Cemetery-- Part 2

Members of Tampa's pioneer families are buried at the cemetery along with 13 Tampa mayors and one governor of Florida. The fact that most graves were designated with wooden markers explains why there are so many mass burials from Fort Brooke and Yellow Fever epidemic.

A walking tour is offered.

One interesting story belongs to J. T. MAGBEE, one of Tampa's first lawyers, a member of the Florida State Constitutional Convention, Florida state senator, early newspaper editor and a circuit court judge.

he was also known as a "scalawag" because he quickly sided with northern carpetbaggers after the Civil War. One time, locals took advantage of his propensity for strong drink which caused him to pass out cold in the street. They poured a mixture of molasses and cornbread on the passed out judge's body. Local night-roaming pigs found the mixture to their liking and they ate it as well as the poor judge's clothes causing quite an incident.

JOHN P. WALL was a mayor of Tampa and a surgeon in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He moved to Tampa in 1869 where his wife and daughter died from Yellow Fever. he then began a lifelong campaign to eradicate the disease. He was one of the first to determine the disease came from mosquitoes.

Interesting People. --Old B-R

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