Captain James McKay
was born in
Scotland
on
May 17, 1808.
He
left
Scotland
as a young man and became a mariner and spent most of his time at sea.
Captain McKay, his wife Matilda, and their four
children, George, Sarah, James and John, immigrated to the
United States
in 1846.
Later that year, they moved to
Tampa
where McKay opened a general store and a sawmill.
He
also invested in local real estate and purchased two schooners that he used
to transport cargo from
Tampa
to
Cuba,
Central and
South
America.
In 1858, Captain McKay began purchasing herds of cattle to transport to
Cuba.
He became a
most respected resident. They had four more children, Donald, Marion,
Matilda and Almeria. Captain McKay was elected Mayor of Tampa on
February 12, 1859.
Tampa,
under McKay’s leadership rented
Fort
Brooke
until April 1861 when Confederate troops occupied the fort and declared
marshal law in
Tampa...
In October 1861, Captain
McKay was on board his steamer, the
Salvor. In Havana, Cuba, he "sold" the Salvor to Mr.
John McLenan who renamed the vessel the M.S. Perry.
You will see evidence that the
M.S. Perry was
supposed to be bound to
Nassau,
Bahamas,
from
Havana,
Cuba.
The ship was flying the British flag and the question
arises "did the U.S. Navy violated neutrality by ceasing a British ship, the
ship on which James McKay was a passenger?"
To further complicate matters, McKay had contracts with the United States
Army. This evidence is brought out in the hearing.
The
video is of the "living history" Admiralty Court hearing for James McKay (of
Tampa).
McKay was arrested in mid-October, 1861, and charged with treason.
His case was actually sent to
the Federal Grand Jury in
Key West.
McKay was imprisoned at
Fort
Taylor
at Key
West pending the grand jury session..
We
created a complaint hearing (U.S. District Judge William Marvin’s admiralty
court). This was added in order to present the spectators with the story of
James McKay in this Tampa Bay area historical event. We also have
McKay present during the hearing.
These
two items are the only main deviations from the actual course of McKay's run
through the justice system during the American Civil War.
The remainder of this event is based on known
records using a "theatrical license" to bring to light and connect these
events and present them in a timely manner.
We used various
copies of documents and letters taken from official sources as supporting
evidence.
Where possible, we used the actual names of the people involved in this event
as well as the ships names and manifests.
After
the trial there was a post-hearing presentation to the spectators on the
outcome of the fate of James McKay. This is also on the video which
was video taped at Heritage Village, Largo, Florida on October 17, 2008.
