In 1886, Henry Plant’s steamship the Mascotte connected Havana, Cuba, with Tampa’s first cigar factory, established by Vincente Martínez Ybor. The thriving communities of Cuban cigar workers that developed in West Tampa and Ybor City placed Tampa at the center of the movement to free Cuba from Spanish rule. In February 1895, the S.S. Mascotte carried the message to rebel forces, wrapped in a cigar, that the Cuban War of Independence had begun. 

Tampa at War offers an unprecedented look at a defining period of Tampa’s past. Rare artifacts, photos, and the first-hand accounts of Cuban revolutionary leader José Martí, First Sergeant Henry A. Dobson, American Red Cross Nurse Catherine Pilgard, newspaper correspondent Richard Harding Davis, and George Prioleau, Chaplain, 9^th Cavalry, bring to life the opulence and hardship, celebration and conflict that transformed Tampa during the Cuban War of Independence and the Spanish-American War.



In the summer of 1898, the Tampa Bay Hotel served as the U.S. Army headquarters for the invasion of Cuba. Visitors to the exhibit will learn that the arrival of over 30,000 troops and three million dollars brought an economic boon to local businesses, but not all residents benefited equally. Tampa at War asks visitors to consider the lasting effects of this tumultuous period on race relations and community building in Tampa.
 
Tampa at War was made possible by the generous support of The Jacarlene Foundation.