On October 18, 1863, a Union task force of 85 soldiers found the celebrated blockade runners Scottish Chief and Kate Dale hidden in a remote anchorage in the Hillsborough River near this site and set the ships afire. Owner-skipper James McKay, I, had slipped through the Federal blockade six times. The alarm reached Tampa Town, and mounted rebels caught up with the raiders at Ballast Point. Three Unionists and six Confederates were killed in the only Civil War skirmish fought at Tampa Bay.