Battle of Fort Brooke

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Battle of Fort Brooke
Part of American Civil War
Date October 16 – October 18, 1863 Location Tampa, Florida Result Union victory
Combatants
United States of America (Union)	Confederate States of America
Commanders
A.A. Semmes	John Westcott
Strength
USS Tahoma, USS Adela	2nd Florida Infantry, Company A
Casualties
16	Unknown

Lower Seaboard Theater

Fort Sumter - Santa Rosa Island - Fort Pulaski - Forts Jackson and St. Philip – New Orleans – Secessionville – Simmon's Bluff – Tampa – Baton Rouge – 1st Donaldsonville - St. John's Bluff - Georgia Landing - 1st Fort McAllister - Fort Bisland – Irish Bend – Vermillion Bayou - 1st Charleston Harbor – 1st Fort Wagner – Grimball's Landing – 2nd Fort Wagner – 2nd Fort Sumter – 2nd Charleston Harbor - Plains Store – Port Hudson - LaFourche Crossing – 2nd Donaldsonville – Kock's Plantation – Stirling's Plantation - Fort Brooke - Gainesville - Olustee - Natural Bridge

The Battle of Fort Brooke was a minor engagement fought October 12 through October 18, 1863, near Tampa, Florida, during the American Civil War.

Two Union Navy ships, USS Tahoma and USS Adela, bombarded Fort Brooke on October 16, 1863, as a diversion, while a landing party under Acting Master T.R. Harris disembarked at Ballast Point and marched 14 miles to the Hillsborough River to capture several enemy steamers. Harris and his men surprised and captured the blockade runner Scottish Chief and the sloop Kate Dale. The Confederate defenders destroyed the steamer A.B. Noyes to preclude her capture.

On its way back to the ship, Harris's force was surprised by a detachment of the garrison, the 2nd Florida Infantry Battalion, causing casualties in a brief, but sharp exchange.

[edit] References

• National Park Service battle description
• Kennedy, Frances H., ed., The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998, ISBN 0-395-74012-6.