Tampa Chapter

Sons of the American Revolution

March 2016

         

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Contents

          Meeting announcement

          Revolution History note

          Program Schedule

          National Congress - Boston

          Children of the American Revolution

          Misc. reminders and information

 

Meeting Announcement

The Tampa Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution will be meeting on Saturday, March 19, 2016, at a new location, the Lutz Branch Library is 101 Lutz-Lake Fern Rd. W. in Lutz. Here is a link to their map.  Compatriot John Sessums tells us there is road construction and road closures in the area.   Doors open at 10:00 for set-up and social time with the formal meeting to begin (10:30) with a business section, along with other news of interest. This month's meeting be a presentation by Compatriot Cy Gamber and some of his friends from the FBI on "Avoiding Senior Fraud".  This will not be a luncheon meeting.

 

You President and Program Committee need your feedback on the various locations selected for meeting sites during this spring and whether you would like to return to a luncheon meeting. 

 

 

 

American Revolution Notes:

          This month we return to an event that took place during the current month while at the same time continuing our focus on lesser known events or groups.

          This month it’s the Battle of Nassau (March 1776) and the groups are the fledgling U S Navy and the Continental Marines. 

          At the beginning of war the Continental army was woefully short of gunpowder.  Early in 1776 200 barrels of gunpowder had been transferred from Virginia to the island of New Providence in the Bahamas. Esek Hopkins, America’s first naval commander, came up with the idea of taking his small flotilla to the island, landing some marines and bringing the gunpowder back for Washington.

          The flotilla of 8 small ships with 200  marines (commanded by Samuel Nicholas) set sail on Feb 17, 1776.  On March 3 the ships approached the Harbor mouth but were repulsed by cannon fire from the fort.   Hopkins moved his force to the east and landed 200 marines and 50 sailors on the beaches there.  The guns from the fort again opened fire but rather quickly fell silent.  An officer from the local militia approached The Americans to ascertain their objective. Nicholas explained that the Americans were only there to get the gunpowder from the fort and would not attack or pillage the town.  With that, the local militia surrendered the fort allowing the marines to take the fort without a shot.  The local British governor, upon learning of the agreement moved quickly to remove as much of the powder as possible prior to the Americans taking the fort.  The Americans were able to get 40 barrels of gunpowder and a few cannons. The Americans stayed for two weeks loading supplies onto their ships before departing for New England.

          Although a small and relatively bloodless affair that netted only a pittance of the powder, it is remembered as the debut operation of the American Navy and the 1st amphibious landing of the marines.

 

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Program Schedule

April— JROTC Recognition

                   American Legion Post #5 Tampa

                   3810 W. Kennedy Blvd.,

                   Time to be announced

May— History of Ft. Brooke (possible joint meeting with C.A.R.)        

                   Tampa Bay History Center

                   801 Old Water Sreet

                   Time to be announced

Sept—Donald Miller speaking on his new book Lafayette: His Extraordinary Life   and Legacy.

Oct— Law Enforcement and Fire Fighter Recognition

Nov.— First Thanksgiving controversy revisited by Compatriot Bob Yarnell 

Dec—  Officer Installation

 

National Congress - Boston

For those of you thinking about going to the National Congress in Boston on July 8 - 13, the following message was received recently from NSSAR 

 
Gentlemen,
The registration for Boston Congress is not going to be ready before the end of April. I will have to get the needed changes done by Blackstone first. That will not be earlier than about mid-April.  Then I will  beta test it with a group of individuals and finally will release it to the  general membership once that is completed.  I will also provide  instructions on filling it out on the Congress web site prior to allowing  registration.  
 
Please pass this on to the membership so they know what is going on.
 
Thank you for your patience.
 
Paul Callanan

 

There is additional information about Congress on the NSSAR website at www.sar.org _________________________________________________________

Children of the American Revolution

Your Past President, Dick Young, represented the Florida Society, SAR as the FLSSAR Treasurer at the March 5 formal banquet of the Annual Meeting of the Florida Society, Children of the American Revolution.  Bonnie Sopher, daughter of Tampa Chapter Compatriot Terry Sopher served as the 2015/2016 President of the FSCAR and was presented with the SAR C.A.R. Btonze Medal of Appreciation.  As extracted from their national website:

            The National Society of the Children of the American Revolution, founded in 1895, is the oldest patriotic youth organization in our country. Membership is open to descendants of        patriots of the American Revolution.  Members gain valuable leadership experience in           conducting meetings, following parliamentary procedures and standard protocol, serving             as delegates and speaking before groups at local, state and national conferences. The   responsibility and privilege of selecting officers helps members gain an understanding of   the democratic process.

Membership is open to any boy or girl up to age 22 with proof of lineage.  Please consider whether your children, grandchildern, nieces and nephews would benefit from membership in the C.A.R.  Additional information can be found at www.nscar.org.  Or feel free to contact Compatriot Dick Young (dyoung22@aol.com) or Mimi Leroy-Marler, Senior President of Ft. Brooke Society (Tampa) of C.A.R. (profbarry@hotmail.com)

 

The Florida Society, SAR Color Guard was represented by the Tampa and St. Petersburg Chapters and presented the colors at this same banquet. 

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Misc. Notes and reminders:

 

Chapter Website—remember you can find information about the chapter and programs on the chapter website.      http://www.tampasar.org/

 

One of the duties of the Chapter Chaplain is to send cards to our members that are sick. Another is to send a sympathy card to the family of a member who has passed away. If you know of anyone that should be the recipient of these cards please mention it to Chaplain John Sessums at our next meeting.

 

Chapter officers and committee chairman are encouraged to send any pertinent information they wish included in the newsletter to the editor.

 

You President and Program Committee need your feedback on the various locations selected for meeting sites during this spring and whether you would like to return to a luncheon meeting.