The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Tampa's Egmont Key

Egmont Key is an island off the entrance to Tampa Bay, Florida.

A new lighthouse was constructed in 1858 to replace the one completed in 1848 that was immediately put out of commission by the Great Hurricane of 1848 and another one in 1852. The new tower was 87 feet high with an Argard kerosene lamp and Fixed Frensel lens.

Confederate troops occupied Egmont Keyat the beginning of the Civil War, but took the lens with them when they were forced to leave the island.

The Union Navy used Egmont Key as a base for their Gulf Coast Blockade. Union troops raided Tampa at one time in a futile search for the lens.

And, I'd Never Heard of It. --Old B-Runner

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