The Civil War at Ocean Springs Chronology (1861 - 1865)
January 9, 1861 - Mississippi became the second state to leave the Union.
January 13, 1861 - Confederate forces occupy Ship Island.
March 4, 1861- Lincoln inaugurated at Washington D.C.
April 12, 1861 - Bombardment of Fort Sumter, Charleston, S.C. by Confederate forces of P.G.T. Beauregard.
July 21, 1861 - Battle First Bull Run fought in Virginia.
September 18, 1861 - The Live Oak Rifles, Company A, 3rd Regiment Mississippi Infantry, were sworn into State service. They had been organized in the spring of 1861 by A.E. Lewis, State Senator James B. McRae, and the Ramsay Family of west Jackson County. Originally 48 volunteers. Organized with the intent of protecting the coast between Ocean Springs and West Pascagoula. They fought in Kentucky, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas.
September 16, 1861 - Confederate forces abandon Fort Twiggs and burn the brick lighthouse at Ship Island.
December 4, 1861 - Vanguard of 18,000 Union troops lands at Ship Island under the command of Major-General Benjamin F. Butler for the assault of New Orleans.
March 1, 1862 - Ship launch from the USS Hartford anchored at Ship Island visits Biloxi and Ocean Springs. First Union soldiers to land at Ocean Springs. Did not see over ten people. Met John and Julia Egan, Irish immigrants. Egan was US Postmaster at Ocean Springs (1856-1861). Union soldiers took Egan's letter balance, fifty New Orleans newspapers, and a number of dilapidated guns, rifles, and muskets.
April 25, 1862 - Admiral David G. Farragut captured the City of New Orleans.
May 31, 1864 - After grounding off the extensive flats off Ocean Springs, the USS Cowslip and USS Narcissus, both gunboats, went about twenty-five miles up the Tchoutacabouffa River and destroyed salt works, boats and ferries. They also captured six pleasure yachts. Sawmills and logs were not destroyed. The USS Vincennes went up Fort Bayou to cut out a schooner. It had been scuttled, but two Confederate officers, Major Toby and Captain Wilkinson, were captured while they slept
August 5, 1864 - Battle of Mobile Bay fought between Union Navy under Farragut and Confederate force under Franklin Buchanan.
The Civil War Comes to Ocean Springs
by Ray L. Bellande
At the time of the Civil War (1861-1865), the population of Ocean Springs consisted of about one hundred people. They made their livelihoods by fishing and oystering, farming, logging, saw milling, and making charcoal. The tourist industry was in its infancy as the Ocean Springs Hotel had been built in 1853. Other hostelries operating north of the steamboat wharf on Jackson Avenue were the Seashore House, Morris House and Egan House. There may have been a structure near Marble Springs, situated on Old Fort Bayou and present day Iberville Drive.
As the Mississippi coast was not a commercial agricultural area, the slave population was small. The 1860 Federal Slave Census of Jackson County, Mississippi indicates that there were only about one thousand slaves at Jackson County in 1860. Very few families at Ocean Springs were affluent enough to possess slaves. On September 18, 1861 or about eight months after Mississippi seceded from the Union, the Live Oak Rifles, Company A, 3rd Regiment Mississippi Infantry, were sworn into state service. The company had been organized in the spring of 1861, by A.E. Lewis, State Senator James B. McRae, and the Ramsay family of West Jackson County. There were initially forty-eight volunteers mobilized with the intent of protecting the Mississippi coast between Ocean Springs and West Pascagoula. Instead the unit fought in Kentucky, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. Of the two hundred ten men of the Live Oak Rifles who marched out of Ocean Springs in 1861, only seven returned in 1865.
During the late years of the Civil War, the defense of the Mississippi Gulf Coast was in the hands of Colonel Abner Clayton Steede (1828-1901) who commanded the 9th Mississippi Calvary known as Steede's Mounted Partisan Rangers. Steede was born at Uniontown, Alabama and moved to Jackson County in 1850. His forces were small and relied on guerilla tactics. Steede is believed to have owned land at Ocean Springs after the war. With the Union blockade in the Mississippi Sound and many local farmer mustered into various military units, food supplies, especially corn, were scarce. Mrs. Josephine Bowen Kettler (1845-1933+), daughter of Reverend Philip P. Bowen, lived at Ocean Springs until starvation drove her family to Eucatta, Mississippi in 1862. In an interview with Schuyler Poitevent (1875-1936) in 1933, she related the following:
"We had no bread. We had to eat sweet potatoes all the time; and once we sent a nigger slave seventy-five miles for a bushel of corn meal and he could get only a part of it, and after we sifted the meal for bread we parched the husks and used them for coffee. We would roll a fish in a paper and green leaves and cover it with hot ashes and bake it that way, for we had neither lard nor tallow to fry with".
Mrs. Kettler also told of a telegraph operator named Steel. The last time she saw him the Yankees were shooting at him as he fled down the branch. Later in the conflict local conditions ameliorated as indicated by a letter dated June 27, 1864, from Fred Wing (1814-1895) of Ocean Springs to Moses Greenwood at Mobile concerning conditions at Ocean Springs stated:
"We are well and get along pretty smoothly. Breadstuffs are high, corn $12 to $14 per bushel, but then contra, we have fish and oysters for the trouble of catching and fruit in abundance. Chickens and eggs we raise and if hard pressed go out and shoot a rabbit".
In a letter to Governor Pettus, W.A. Champlin, a War Tax Collector from Handsboro, who constantly moved through Jackson County to avoid capture by the Yankees wrote the following about Ocean Springs:
On last Monday a number (of Yankees) from Ship Island landed at Ocean Springs and staid till Tuesday at the house of one John H. Brown, who resides there, and claims to be a British subject, though he has made a large fortune in New Orleans. Many women, some calling themselves Ladies entertain these Yankee officers, and walk with them on the streets, and load them with Bouquets, etc. when they depart. They threaten to arrest me, and Stop my collection of the War Tax, and I do not know when it may be done, as I am constantly moving about. I am sorry to say among traitors on shore, who would sell any one for a small consideration. Since New Orleans has fallen (April 25, 1862) a large number of small vessels some say one hundred are trading with the coast by license of Lincoln's commander, buying wood, charcoal, lumber, etc. and much of this is doubtless for the Enemy's use. This will if continued greatly demoralize the people on the Coast, who are very poor and needy and in my opinion ought at once to be stopped.
In December 1861, the Union forces of General Benjamin F. Butler began arriving at Ship Island. They were massing for the invasion of New Orleans. A contingent of sailors and marines associated with this force landed at Ocean Springs on March 1, 1862. They came from a launch assigned to the USS Hartford, which was Admiral David G. Farragut's flagship. The New York Herald of March 25, 1862, reported the incident as follows:
We now steered for Ocean Springs, and on landing we found we were on Eagan's Wharf, which is well built and is several hundred yards in length. On it is a railroad track used for transporting goods from the boats, which land there. We seated ourselves on the car and the marines were our steam, or rather motive power.
Here we met but one sore-faces Creole. Of course, we let him go, but he followed us. On leaving "the cars", we passed through a dilapidated building (This could have been the Seashore Hotel), by another, and we were in Ocean Springs, and were the first landing party of Union men who have been here since the war. Our footsteps were directed to the Post Office, where we found Mrs. J. Eagan in charge. Mrs. E. is a good looking lady from the Emerald Isle, of a fiery temper, and with finger nails ling enough to do some tall scratching with. Her better half, John, arrived soon after we entered the domains of the Confederate States of America Post Office Department. He wore an angry look and a seedy coat; was tall in stature and in his speech; had a contemptuous air and an air of onions; was not a Northerner or Southerner but was born in Ireland; was a postmaster under Buck (President Buchanan) who illthrated him, and now he was one of Mr. Davis' postmasters. He had returned all his stamps, but kept his letter balance to balance his accounts. Colonel Jones could not see his balance in that light, and after weighing the thing in his mind came to the conclusion not to be found wanting in the scales of duty, and carried off Eagan's balance because it bore these significant characters---P.O.D.U.S. (Post Office Department United States). Eagan was mad, but Mrs. Eagan was madder, and she gave us a little bit of Irish advice. Ocean Springs is a beautiful place and well adapted for a watering place. It is smaller than Biloxi, which place was built up under the influence of the Southern land excitements. Ocean Springs is almost entirely deserted and we did not see over ten persons there. The object of our visit being eminently successful, and having taken about fifty New Orleans papers, we prepared to return. Bidding Eagan & Co. goodbye, we "took the cars" for the end of the wharf were we found that the Hartford's launch crew had made a seizure of quite as number of guns, rifles, and muskets, all of them in dilapidated condition. They were probably brought there for the purpose of complying with an order to the citizens to send their old arms to New Orleans to be repaired. We put them in the boat and started for the New London.
The city of New Orleans fell to Union forces on April 25, 1862. In desperation, many coast people began a contraband trade with the enemy at Ship Island and New Orleans. Tar, pitch, turpentine, lumber, charcoal, wood, and livestock were exchanged for coffee, flour, shoes, clothing, and medicine. Early in the war, coast residents had bartered salt with inland farmers who provided corn, potatoes, vegetables, and fresh or smoked meat.
In August 1949, Joseph Lewis "Dode" Schrieber (1873- 1951) related the following tale of his step-father, German immigrant, Joseph Letzler (1832-1908), to Ellis Handy (1891-1963), creator of "Know Your Neighbor", in The Gulf Coast Times.
Joseph Letzler was trying to make his way overland from New Orleans to Ocean Springs sometimes during the fall of 1863. He was without food and traveled through the Honey Island swamp area and was either just crossing or had crossed the Rigolets when he was arrested by Negro Federal troops. He was three days without food and had no particular reason for any sectional loyalty in a foreign country. He asked for food but was told he must either enlist with the federal forces or be confined. He served for some eighteen months with Company E Louisiana Infantry and later received a federal pension. After the close of the war Letzler came to Ocean Springs.
The Union Navy Western Gulf blockading squadron, which patrolled the Mississippi Sound occasionally made forays up the local bayous and rivers. One such incident reported by a correspondent for The New Orleans Weekly Times on June 18, 1864, follows:
On Tuesday, May 31st, the gunboat, USS Narcissus, Wm. G. Jones, commanding, and the USS Cowslip, Robert Canfield commanding, went on an expedition up the Back Bay of Biloxi in command of Lieutenant Commander W.F. Fitzhugh of the US steamer Sebago. At 10 o'clock A.M., we grounded on the extensive flats off Ocean Springs, not having sufficient water to cross. After hard labor for twenty-four hours, by heaving at anchors and lightening the vessels of their iron platings, we succeeded in crossing the flats. There have been several attempts since the war to penetrate into the rivers on the Back Bay of Biloxi but they have always failed. But through the perseverance and energy of Lt. Commander Fitzhugh and the commanders of the Cowslip and Narcissus, we have succeeded in getting over the difficult shoals. The Cowslip and Narcissus went twenty-five miles further up the Chucatabuff (Tchoutacabuffa) River than any steamer previous to or since the war. They destroyed all the salt works and boats and ferries on the way, and also brought down six very fine pleasure yachts. In addition, the Federal raiders captured two very important officers, Major Toby and Lieutenant Wilkinson, of the Rebel army. The launch of the USS Vincennes, with acting Master Billings in charge was also on the expedition and rendered very efficient service. Also, the 3rd cutter, in charge of Boatswain Smith of the Vincennes, who volunteered to go to Fort Bayou at midnight to cut out a schooner, which was in the bayou was apart of the flotilla. When Smith arrived there he found the schooner scuttled by the rebels. He went up to a house and surrounded it and demanded admittance, and captured the Major and Lieutenant in their beds. This has been a bad blow to the rebels as they never expected that our gunboats could cross the shoals. We also captured a new boiler shaft and everything complete suitable for a small propeller. The inhabitants on the river banks received us with joy and at some places the ladies serenaded us. The country through which we passed is one of the most beautiful I ever saw. Fruits in abundance, and cattle by hundreds were to be seen. We passed several very extensive saw-mills and the creeks were full of pine and cypress logs. We did not destroy the saw-mills, as they will be useful to Uncle Sam some future day. All the boats we could not bring off, we destroyed. Everyone did his duty. The commanders and officers of the Cowslip and Narcissus were up night and day, wet to the skin for three days, as it rained steadily the whole time. The rebels must bless the Yankees for bringing them rain. We also brought off one deserter and several refugees. Since my last report, the Narcissus has captured two more boats from Mobile and the Cowslip one.
Many families from the Ocean Springs area fought in the Civil War. Among them were: Bellande, Bellman, Bosarge, Bowen, Carco, Carroll, Catchot, Cox, Cruthirds, Davis, Fayard, Fountain, Fournier, Gill, King, Krohn, Lecand, Letzler, Mon, Noble, O'Keefe, Pons, Quave, Ramsay, Ryan, Scarborough, Seymour, Van Cleave, Vaughn, Westbrook, Woodcock, and Zirlott.
When those who survived the conflict returned home, one can only surmise that they were heavily scarred from the ordeal. The shrimp, oysters, and fish were still in the bay. The Ocean Springs Hotel reopened. Life would go on. By 1870, the railroad reached town and the economy would get better.
Camp of Confederate Veterans
In early April 1903, a temporary camp of Confederate Veterans was organized at Ocean Springs. E.N. Ramsay was elected captain and Dr. H. Shannon, secretary. Attendees were: Enoch N. Ramsay, W.D. Bullock, W.G. Bullock, Julian Fayard, etc. (The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, April 10, 1903, p. 3)
REFERENCES:
Cyril E. Cain, Four Centuries of the Pascagoula, Volume II, (Cain: State College, Mississippi-1962), p. 66-67.
H. Grady Howell, Jr., To Live and Die in Dixie, (Chickasaw Bayou Press: Jackson, Mississippi-1991), p. 135 and 311.
Schuyler Poitevent, Broken Pot, (unpublished manuscript in the Department of Archives and History at Jackson, Mississippi), Chaper 7 (Biloxi Bay), pp. 3-4.
Charles Sullivan, The Mississippi Gulf Coast: Portrait of a People, (Windsor Publications: Northridge, California-1985), pp. 89, and 97.
M. James Stevens Collection, Biloxi Public Library, Biloxi, Mississippi-Book No. 25.
The Daily Herald, "Biloxi’s Hardships During Civil War’, May 28, 1930.
The Daily Herald, "A Bit Of Civil War History", May 31, 1930.
The Historian of Hancock County, "Civil War Days", October 1994, p. 3.
The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, "Death of Col. A.C. Steede", November 15,
1901, p. 3.
The Pascagoula Democrat-Star, "Ocean Springs Locals", April 10, 1903.
1860 Federal Slave Census of Jackson County, Mississippi
