Capture of the USS Water Witch
Vernonburg, Chatham County, Georgia
Marker Inscription
Capture of the USS "Water Witch". In May, 1864, the USS "Water Witch" (80 officers and men and 4 guns), Lt. Comdr. Austin Pendergrast, USN, was on patrol duty in Ossabaw Sound. On the 31st, Flag Officer Wm. W. Hunter, CSN, assigned Lt. Thos. P. Pelot, CSN, to command a boat expedition designed to surprise and capture the vessel. This expedition - 15 officers and 117 men, in 7 boats - arrived at Beaulieu Battery via Skidaway Narrows late on June 1st, only to find that "Water Witch" was cruising in St. Catherine's Sound. She retuned to Ossabaw Sound next day and anchored for the night in the mouth of the Great Ogeechee River, about 1 1/2 miles S.S.E. of Raccoon Key. About 2 A.M. the 3rd - a dark and stormy night - the boat party approached "Water Witch" in two columns, pulling cautiously with muffled oars. When hailed, Lt. Pelot gave the order to board. The boats closed in, and the boarding parties cut through the nettings and swarmed over the rails. After a desperate fight with cutlass and pistol, in which Lt. Pelot - the first aboard - was killed, his men cleared the deck and the ship was theirs. Lt. Jos. Price, CSN, assumed command. To prevent her recapture, he moved the ship through Hell Gate and up Vernon River to the protection of Beaulieu Battery, whose guns turned back such an attempt on the 5th. At Beaulieu, Lt. W. W. Carners, CSN, reported on board, assumed command, and moved "Water Witch" up-river to White Bluff to refit her and to receive her new crew. 025-51 GEORGIA HISTORICAL COMMISSION 1957
Erected by Georgia Historical Commission
The Story
In the spring of 1864, Confederate sailors devised a daring night raid to seize a Union gunboat patrolling the Georgia coast. On a dark, stormy June night, boarding parties rowed with muffled oars up to the USS Water Witch, cut through her nettings, and captured her in a fierce hand-to-hand fight that killed their commander, Lt. Thomas Pelot.
Why it matters
The capture of the Water Witch was a rare Confederate naval success, illustrating the constant struggle over the Union blockade that slowly strangled the South.
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Related people
- · Thomas P. Pelot
- · Austin Pendergrast
Themes & tags
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