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Battle of Tampa 1862

Battle of Tampa: Tampa Battlefield Florida
Image: American Battlefield Protection Program, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.

Key facts

Date30 June 1862 – 1 July 1862Wikidata
Year1862Wikidata P580 (start time)
Era19th century (1800–1913)derived from year
LocationUnited StatesNatural Earth (modern borders)
ContinentNorth AmericaNatural Earth
War / conflictAmerican Civil WarWikidata P361
Coordinates27.9415, -82.4559Wikidata P625

About the battle

The Battle of Tampa, also known as the "Yankee Outrage at Tampa", was a minor engagement of the American Civil War fought June 30 – July 1, 1862, between the United States Navy and a Confederate artillery company charged with "protecting" the village of Tampa, Florida. Although small, Tampa's port was a key hub of trade for Central Florida, and several blockade runners from Tampa regularly slipped past the Union naval blockade that extended down the Atlantic coast around to Florida's west coast.

On June 30, 1862, the Union gunboat USS Sagamore steamed into Tampa Bay to demand the surrender of the small Confederate (CSA) garrison at Fort Brooke. This demand was rebuffed by Captain John William Pearson, to which Captain A.J. Drake of the Sagamore responded with a warning that his ship would open fire at 6:00 p.m. that same day. The gunboat began a long-range bombardment of the fort and town that evening as scheduled, to which the fort responded by returning fire with its three larger canons. Neither side inflicted real damage or suffered any casualties, and after firing several more rounds the next morning from beyond the range of the fort's guns, the Sagamore returned to its blockade station near the mouth of Tampa Bay.

Later, more aggressive Union attacks resulted in the destruction of several moored blockade runners during the Battle of Fort Brooke in October 1862 and a brief occupation of Fort Brooke by Union…

Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Tampa (revision 1380714241), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.

Location

27.9415, -82.4559 · United States

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Nearby battles

Other battles of the American Civil War

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Browse more: battles in United States · North America · 19th century battles

Further reading