 |
For
Yazooans the War Between the States at first seemed
far away. For its first full year, though scores of
Yazoo boys had already enlisted and many were fighting
in distant Virginia, life at home went on quietly. And
in those early, heady days of the conflict, most Yazooans
expected things to remain that way.
Then
in the Spring of 1862, in rapid succession, came stunning,
sobering Confederate losses nearer home in the Western
Theater. Union victories at Pea Ridge in Arkansas and
Shiloh in Tennessee brought the war to Mississippi’s
doorstep. The U.S. Navy entered the Mississippi River
in force from both north and sough, quickly capturing
New Orleans and Baton Rouge, then Memphis. With Vicksburg
as President Lincoln’s next target, and Admiral
Farragut steaming toward it, Yazoo City and Yazoo County,
in the space of a few weeks, found themselves almost
in the center of the storm.
|
| |
During the rest of the war, the Yazoo
River was controlled by Union gunboats, and Yazoo County
saw many raids out of their Vicksburg stronghold by
Federal Expeditions. Yazoo City itself was temporarily
occupied six times.
A
few of the most important military actions in Yazoo
County were these:
On
May 22, 1863, General U.S. Grant dispatched 12,000 troops
to meet Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, who
was said to be massing a large force to relieve Vicksburg.
The Union troops were placed under General Frank Blair.
In the Yazoo County village of Mechanicsburg, Blair
met Colonel W. Wirt Adms’ Mississippi Calvary.
Greatly outnumbered by the Union troops, the Confederates
were forced back toward the Big Black River. Southeast
of Mechanicsburg, the Confederates rallied and made
one last attempt to stop the Union advance, but were
outgunned by the Union artillery. However, the Union
expedition returned to Vicksburg.
A
historic event occurred on July 12, 1863, when one of
the first underwater mines was used to sink the Union
ironclad, the USS Baron DeKalb, which still rests on
the bottom of the Yazoo River and can still be seen
during times of low water. You can visit the gravesite
of the designer of that mine in Glenwood Cemetery.
A
Confederate Navy Yard at Yazoo City produced the Ironclad
Ram CSS Arkansas in the summer of 1862, which single-handedly
blazed its way into the midst of the huge Yankee fleet
besieging Vicksburg. Causing great damage, it was among
the reasons leading the U.S. Navy to call off the siege
and return downstream.
A
Yazoo native, Lt. Charles “Savvy” Read,
who served at stern-gunner on the Arkansas, went onto
a swashbuckling career as a Confederate privateer, once
capturing 21 small ships in 21 days off the coast of
New England until he was captured while attempting to
hi-jack a Yankee vessel tied up to a dock in the harbor
of Portland, Maine.
In
February and early March 1864, a strong Union force
out of Vicksburg occupied Yazoo City while raiding up
the river for cotton, mules and other needed supplies.
Almost half of the expedition was African-American troops
of the First Mississippi Calvary (African descent) and
Eighth Louisiana Infantry (African descent). In an effort
to regain or destroy the booty being collected on the
Yazoo City waterfront, some 1,300 Confederates, composed
of Texas and Tennessee cavalry brigades commanded by
General Sul Ross and R.V. Richardson, attacked the occupiers
on March 5. Heavy fighting in the main streets of downtown
Yazoo City left 31 Federal dead, 121 wounded and 31
missing. The Southerners losses were 6 dead and 51 wounded.
The Union expedition hastily abandoned Yazoo City the
next day.
On
April 22, 1864, another surprising and most uncommon
event occurred on the Yazoo River two miles upstream
from Yazoo City. A Federal gunboat, the tinclad USS
Petrel, tied up to the river bank near the mouth of
Tokeba Bayou, was attacked and captured by a combat
patrol from the 11th and 17th Arkansas Consolidated
Mounted Infantry. Accurate fire from the opposite bank
by two 10-pound Parrot rifles partially disabled the
vessel, causing part of its crew to flee. Then Arkansas
boys swimming across the swift-flowing muddy waters
took their prize.
On
May 19, 1864, Federal troops again came into Yazoo City
and got out of hand. Despite the efforts of the provost
guards, they burned the courthouse, the lawyers’
offices, and several dwellings.
By
the last few months of the war, Yazoo County had been
so overrun by the frequent raids of the enemy that there
was little of value left and the county had practically
no strategic value.
|
