Monthly Archives: September 2025

The air hung heavy and still on the morning of Saturday, September 23, 1848, a stillness that felt less like peace and more like a held breath. The few hundred residents of the tiny village of Tampa and the soldiers stationed at Fort Brooke, surrounded by a largely unsettled Florida wilderness, had no modern warnings. The only signals were the phosphorescent glow that lit up the bay that night and an ominous, oppressive sultriness. Continue reading →