Bombardment of Greytown (1854)

Thu Jul 13, 1854

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The Bombardment of Greytown was a naval bombing and invasion by the U.S. warship USS Cyane on this day in 1854 against the town of Greytown in the Miskito Kingdom (modern day Nicaragua), razing the city to the ground.

The town was completely destroyed by massive fires set by marines who came ashore, rather than the bombardment itself. The attack was in response to attempts by the British government to charge taxes on ships that used the town as a port, among other grievances.

In response to international outrage, President Franklin Pierce issued a statement acknowledging that, while it would have been more satisfactory if the Cyane’s mission could have been completed without the use of force, “the arrogant contumacy of the offenders rendered it impossible to avoid the alternative either to break up their establishment or to leave them impressed with the idea that they might persevere with impunity in a career of insolence and plunder.”