and began opening fire on Fort Brooke initiating the Battle of Tampa. The gunboat launched 20 men bearing a flag of truce to shore. Captain Pearson sent 18 men to meet Drake's men in a brief conference. Drake's ultimatum was for Captain Pearson to surrender Fort Brooke and Tampa unconditionally. However, Pearson only responded with "we do not understand the meaning of the word surrender; there is no such letter in our book; we don't surrender." Drake told them that Tampa would be shelled as a consequence and Pearson responded with "pitch in." The conference ended with both parties returning to their positions and resumed firing on each other at 6:00 pm. One hour later the USS Sagamore lowered its flag and anchored two miles offshore for the night. The next day on July 1 Captain Drake resumed firing on Fort Brooke. The Sagamore was now out of range of Fort Brooke's artillery. By noon the guns of the Sagamore became quiet. Pearson decided to order the Confederate flag hoisted above the fort causing the Federal ship to respond with gunfire. Captain Drake decided to leave Tampa Bay conceding a victory to Captain Pearson. On March 27, 1863, a Union gunboat called the Pursuit appeared in Tampa Bay. It was an opportunity for Captain Pearson to have his revenge from the attack by Captain Drake and an incident involving a Union ramming of a blockade runner. Captain Pearson devised a plan to disguise his men as blacks and paddle out to the Federal gunboat as fugitive slaves. The captain of the Pursuit believed they were fugitive slaves and ordered his men to rescue them at Gadsden Point. When the Federal forces met Pearson's disguised fugitive slaves they were met with a hail of bullets. Four Federals were wounded and they managed to escape back to the Pursuit. One week later on April 3, 1863, the Tahoma and Beauregard were sent to Tampa to bombard the town in response to the daring attack off Gadsden Point. Battle of Olustee After 18 months in Tampa, Captain Pearson's Oklawaha Rangers were ordered to Clay Landing on November 23, 1863. Five days later they were ordered to Camp Finegan until they were forced to evacuate February 8, 1864. Union General Truman Seymour had landed in nearby Jacksonville with intentions of moving inland to Tallahassee in hopes of cutting off Florida from the Confederacy. General