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In 1861 the citizens of Chincoteague voted 138-2 to remain loyal to the Union, despite Virginia's vote for secession on May 23—the island was the only part of Virginia to do so. With little need for slaves because of its poor cropland, Chincoteague's economic survival depended on selling seafood to northern cities.
Though loyal to the Union, Chincoteague was surrounded by Confederate sympathizers in Virginia and Maryland. Chincoteague Bay, Sinepuxent Bay, and Pocomoke River all served as routes to Maryland and Delaware which the Confederates were using to smuggle arms north into the two border states. They also had plans to prey on Union shipping entering and leaving Delaware Bay: at the center of these plans was the schooner Venus.
On July 4, 1861, 418 men from the barrier islands in Maryland and Virginia met at Chincoteague to celebrate the 85th anniversary of American independence. All who were present signed a draft declaration prepared by Dr. George Schereer which pledged support for the United States against its enemies. Captain Edward Whaley Sr., a War of 1812 veteran, shouted, "I will defend the old flag to my last drop of blood, against the lazy, slave-holding aristocrats and their lackeys in Richmond."
On July 5, the declaration, and letters addressed to the commanding officers of the U.S. Navy at Hampton Roads, were dispatched aboard the sloop Jenny Sharpley. The letters detailed the importation of arms through Chincoteague Inlet and up the Pocomoke River to Confederate sympathizers; the islanders also requested the right to ship oysters to northern ports and for protection by the Federal Navy. When Jenny Sharpley arrived at Hampton Roads, the packet was delivered to Flag Officer S. H. Stringham. Stringham ignored the letters, but was enraged that Jenny Sharpley had broken through the Union Blocking Squadron and the islanders had been able to board his ship without being challenged.
The Navy subsequently stonewalled the islanders' requests for several months, but Chincoteague remained loyal, despite growing Confederate forces at the county seat, Drummondtown. However, during a September 2 cabinet meeting, President Lincoln was handed a letter by Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase. Addressed to Flag Officer Stringham, it read:
Sir: I must bring to your immediate attention the plight of the loyal citizens of the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia. I was informed by my brother, in a letter posted at Snow Hill, that you were delivered intelligence which warned of the running of arms to rebels in that area. The Union cannot afford to lose the rice and bean crops from that area, nor can we afford to lose the inland routes between lower Delaware and Chincoteague, if navigation is cut on Chincoteague or Sinepuxent Bays. I mean in no way to sound disrespectful to you, Sir; however, if that area is to be preserved, immediate protection for the loyal residents should be forthcoming, quickly.
On the evening of September 28, eight small boats were spotted rowing toward Chincoteague Inlet from the mainland. An alarm bell was rung in front of W.H. Watson and Company warehouse, and 94 armed men from Chincoteague responded, taking up positions along their warehouses and docks. It soon became clear that the boats were not attacking Chincoteague, but marking the channel with lanterns, so two sloops and a large schooner could enter the inlet.
By dawn, the three ships had anchored near Cockle Creek and a British flag that had been flying from the schooner, Venus, had been replaced by the Confederate banner. On the afternoon of the 25th, an oyster sloop commanded by Edward Whaley Jr., and crewed by William Lynch, John Jester, Henry Savage, and Robert Snead set off to Hampton Roads to again warn the Navy. Whaley and crew were escorted in guard boats to the flagship, the steam frigateUSSMinnesota, and presented to Captain Goldsborough; they then ate with their host in Minnesota's great cabin. Four sailors from Minnesota, armed with rifles and cutlasses, accompanied the men back to Chincoteague with the pledge of immediate aid.
Meanwhile, Venus had rapidly been converted into a privateer of ten guns: in addition to cannon, 1,000 New England rifles, shot, and three tons of powder had been put aboard. The 135-foot (41-meter) schooner, with her broad beam and shoal draft, would have been ideal to prey on shipping entering or leaving Delaware Bay.
However, at 9 a.m. on October 5, two boats from Louisiana were launched and attacked Venus with howitzers. Louisiana herself was then piloted through Chincoteague Inlet and opened fire with her 32-pounder. Next, a Virginian force of 300 cut off the Louisiana's boats, but the Federal crews attacked and boarded Venus. The heavy fire from Louisiana shut down the Virginian defenses, and the Federal boarding party set fire to Venus, which burned to the water line before sinking in Cockle Creek. The two accompanying sloops were captured and taken to Norfolk as prizes of war. On hearing the news, Winfield Scott is said to have ordered Chincoteague oysters and Bermuda onions at Willard's Hotel.
In early December, Venus′s rifles and cannon were salvaged from the wreck; her gear is likely still buried in her so-far-undiscovered hull.
Aftermath
Louisiana remained at Chincoteague until late December. Two days after the battle, she captured the schooner S.T. Carrison with a cargo of wood near Wallops Island. On 14 October Louisiana′s Commander Murray witnessed the administration of the oath of allegiance to the United States to Chincoteague's citizens. Louisiana′s boats, led by Lieutenant Alfred Hopkins, surprised and burned three Confederate vessels at Chincoteague Inlet on October 28 and 29. On December 8, 4,000 Federal troops secured the remainder of the Eastern Shore of Virginia for the Union.
Although a minor skirmish, the Battle of Cockle Creek eliminated the Confederate threat to Delaware Bay and strengthened Union control over Maryland's and Virginia's Eastern Shores.
Worcester County is the easternmost county of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 52,460. Its county seat is Snow Hill. The county is part of the Lower Eastern Shore region of the state.
The Pocomoke River stretches approximately 66 miles (106 km) from southern Delaware through southeastern Maryland in the United States. At its mouth, the river is essentially an arm of Chesapeake Bay, whereas the upper river flows through a series of relatively inaccessible wetlands called the Great Cypress Swamp, largely populated by Loblolly Pine, Red Maple and Bald Cypress. The river is the easternmost river that flows into Chesapeake Bay. "Pocomoke", though traditionally interpreted as "dark water" by local residents, is now agreed by scholars of the Algonquian languages to be derived from the words for "broken ground."
USS Hartford, a sloop-of-war steamer, was the first ship of the United States Navy named for Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. Hartford served in several prominent campaigns in the American Civil War as the flagship of David G. Farragut, most notably the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864. She survived until 1956, when she sank awaiting restoration at Norfolk, Virginia.
The Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries was the first combined operation of the Union Army and Navy in the American Civil War, resulting in Union domination of the strategically important North Carolina Sounds.
USS Stars and Stripes was a 407-ton steamer acquired by the U.S. Navy and put to use by the Union during the American Civil War.
The second USS Louisiana was a propeller-driven iron-hull steamer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Albatross was a screw steamer rigged as a three-masted schooner acquired by the Union Navy during the beginning of the American Civil War. She was outfitted as a gunboat with heavy guns and used in the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.
Sinepuxent Bay is an inland waterway which connects Chincoteague Bay to Isle of Wight Bay, and is connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Ocean City Inlet. It separates Sinepuxent Neck, in Worcester County, Maryland from Assateague Island, and West Ocean City, Maryland from downtown Ocean City. Islands in the Sinepuxent Bay include Horn Island and Skimmer Island. It is crossed by the Harry W. Kelley Memorial Bridge on U.S. Route 50 and the Verrazano Bridge on Maryland Route 611. The bay is the location of the islands that compose the Sinepuxent Bay Wildlife Management Area. Historically the area was referred to by various names including Sinepuxent, Sene Puxon, Synepuxent, Cinnepuxon, et al.
USS Yankee was a steam-powered side-wheel tugboat acquired by the Union Navy just prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War.
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USS Arthur was a bark acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
USS Adolph Hugel was a schooner acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
USS George Mangham was a schooner acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Union Navy as a gunboat in support of the Union Navy blockade of Confederate waterways.
USS Patriot was a schooner acquired by the Union Navy during the American Civil War.
The third USS Union was a heavy (1,114-ton) steamer with a powerful 12-inch rifled gun purchased by the United States Navy during the American Civil War.
USS Southerner was a schooner purchased by the Union Navy to be used as a sunken obstruction in the waterways of the Confederate States of America. She was part of what was called the "stone fleet".
USS T. A. Ward was a 284-ton schooner was purchased by the Union Navy during the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.
Chincoteague Bay is a lagoon between the Atlantic barrier islands of Assateague and Chincoteague and the mainland of Worcester County, Maryland and northern Accomack County, Virginia. At the bay's northern end, where it narrows between Assateague and Sinepuxent Neck, it becomes Sinepuxent Bay; Chincoteague Bay's southern end drains into the Atlantic Ocean via Queen Sound and Chincoteague Inlet. No major river flows into Chincoteague Bay—its largest tributaries are Newport Creek in Worcester County and Swans Gut Creek in Accomack County.
The history of human activity in Chincoteague, on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, begins with the Native Americans. Until European explorers possessed the island in the late 17th century, the Chincoteague Indians used it as a place to gather shellfish, but are not known to have lived there; Chincoteague Island lacked suitable soil for their agriculture. The island's name derives from those early visitors: by one popular tale, chincoteague meant "Beautiful land across the water" in their language.
References
Rew, Lillian Mears, Assateague & Chincoteague: As I Remember Them (1980), n.p., quoted in "Chincoteague During Wartime", Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce History Notes, accessed 31 August 2010.
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