In the history of
warfare, there are probably few instances of naval forces being captured by
ground forces, especially cavalry. However, that is exactly what happened in
Mississippi during the Civil War near Yazoo City. The result was the loss of a
Union vessel and, most likely, a bit of an embarrassment to the U.S. Navy.
In April 1864, Union
Colonel Hiram Scofield was ordered by Major General Stephen A. Hurlbut to
occupy Yazoo City. The town had already been taken by
Federal troops a month or so earlier, so the expedition would be a return trip.
With three infantry units, a section of artillery, Osband’s mounted brigade (including
the 3rd United States Colored Cavalry) and the 10th
Missouri Cavalry, moved overland toward Yazoo City. Ordered to cooperate with Scofield’s
ground troops were two Union gunboats, the Petrel
and the Prairie Bird (above), both of which
moved up the Yazoo River on April 18. Both vessels were “tinclads,” meaning
they were gunboats converted from river steamers. Although they were generally
known as “tinclads,” they were not covered in tin. Instead, they were generally
protected by wooden “armor,” if at all. During this expedition, the Petrel was commanded by Acting Master
Thomas McElroy.
On April 21, the Petrel engaged with Confederate artillery
batteries posted at Yazoo City. After the Petrel was damaged in the exchange of
gunfire, McElroy decided to dock her on the west bank of the Yazoo near the mouth
of the Tokeba Bayou to make repairs. (The site is now part of an old bend in the river seen here on the left of the aerial photo). The
Prairie Bird, meanwhile, dropped back
downriver out of range of the Confederate guns at Yazoo City. Thus, the Petrel was isolated above the town. After
sending a landing party ashore, McElroy went below deck to eat his dinner,
confident that all was in order. It was 2:00 p.m. After finishing his meal,
McElroy returned to the deck. As he did so, Confederate troops hidden along the
river bank opened fire on the Petrel.
The Confederates
who were suddenly peppering the Petrel with gunfire belonged to Col. John Griffith’s
11th and 17th Arkansas Consolidated Mounted Infantry. An
Arkansan with ties to Mississippi, Col. John Griffith (right) had seen a lot of action
in the region already, and was always good for a fight. Seeing the Petrel
isolated above Yazoo City, the combative colonel asked General Wirt Adams for
permission to try and capture the Petrel
with his regiment. Adams was reluctant to approve the plan (since capturing
gunboats with cavalry was a bit unusual) but granted Griffith’s request. Along
with two artillery pieces (10-pounder Parrott rifles from Owens' Arkansas
Battery), Col. Griffith positioned his men, including a number of
sharpshooters, about 400 yards from the Petrel.
Covered by the dense tree line along the banks, Col. Griffith’s fire took the
crew of the Petrel by surprise. As
cannon fire erupted, Kimble Ware, the Petrel’s pilot, made an attempt to turn
her around and get out of range of the Confederate guns. Unfortunately, the Petrel ran aground approximately 200
yards from the river bank. As the crew scrambled to back the Petrel off the sand bar, two artillery shots
plunged through the stern, one puncturing a steam pipe and the other cutting
through the gun deck and exploding the boilers. Another slammed into the
magazine, mortally wounding the Gunner’s Mate, Charles Seitz, who lost both
legs in the explosion. To escape being scalded, most of the crew jumped into
the river and swam to shore. Most escaped capture and eventually made it to the
safety of the Prairie Bird.
Before the ship was abandoned, McElroy ordered
the engineers to torch the boat. As hot coals were being placed along the rails,
the Confederates boarded the vessel and extinguished the flames. First to reach
the Petrel was Sergeant Joseph A.
Garing of Wood's Mississippi Regiment, who had been operating as a scout for
Griffith’s men. According to a postwar account, Garing “pulled off his shoes
and hat, swam to where she [the Petrel]
was, received the surrender, then swam back and the vessel was pulled to east
bank.” Those left to surrender included McElroy, Kimble Ware (the pilot) and
Quartermaster John Nibble. With the fire out, the victorious Confederates
removed the Petrel’s eight 24-pounder
howitzers, a significant prize. Initially sent to Canton, these guns were
eventually forwarded to Mobile, Alabama. After salvaging other valuables from
the boat, the Confederates burned the Petrel
to the water line. The unlikely capture of a U.S. navy gunboat by Confederate
cavalry was complete.
The three Union
sailors captured by Griffith’s men went to prison, most likely to Libby Prison
in Richmond. They were released in the fall of 1864, along with other naval
personnel, in exchange for the release of an equal number of Confederates. Upon
release from prison, many of the men lacked sufficient food and clothing and when
back in Union hands were each provided with “blankets, shirts, drawers,
stockings, shoes, wine, spirits, preserves, milk and every conceivable good
thing.” Of course, similar complaints of
ill treatment came from Confederate soldiers who had languished in northern
prisons. No doubt, both were equally true.
After the war, John
Griffith, the Confederate colonel who engineered the capture of the Petrel, returned to Arkansas, where he
continued to resist Federal authority during Reconstruction. Moving further
west to Texas, Griffith settled in Taylor and Kimble counties and helped form the
local governments there. On March 7, 1889, he was gunned down by brothers Joab
and Mack Brown under mysterious circumstances. He is buried in Kimble County,
Texas, next to his wife Catherine.
Gluckstadt, located between Madison
and Canton, is a growing community. Housing developments, new schools and
businesses are moving to the area at a rapid pace. This is not the first time
folks have moved to the area from someplace else, however. In fact, Gluckstadt was
originally settled by German immigrants seeking a better life. Their story –
and how the land became available – is tale of hard work and perseverance.
The area now known as Gluckstadt was
originally called Calhoun Station. As it was located on the Jackson, New
Orleans and Great Northern Railroad, Calhoun attracted the attention of Union
forces during the Civil War. During the Siege of Jackson in July, 1863, a Federal column composed of both
infantry and cavalry moved up the railroad toward Canton. On July 16, the
infantry, commanded by Col. Charles R. Woods (left), captured the depot at Calhoun and
destroyed about one mile of track and a railroad bridge. The depot was burned,
along with whatever supplies were stored there. Ironically, Woods’ brigade
consisted of several German-speaking regiments from Missouri. Organized chiefly
through the Turner Society, which was a German-American athletic and social
organization in St. Louis, the 3rd, 12th and 17th Missouri (U.S.) regiments
were so heavily German in their makeup that the brigade was known as the
“German Light Brigade.” 
Forty years later, German-Americans
returned to Calhoun, although no longer as combatants. In 1905, several
immigrants, including members of the Klaas, Kehle, Fitsch, Schmidt and Weilandt
families, came to Madison County, Mississippi, from Klaasville, Indiana. Klaasville
is located in Lake County, Indiana. Founded in 1837, Lake County is so named
because it borders Lake Michigan. Situated on prairie land only a half-mile
from the Illinois state line, Klaasville was founded by Heinrich Klaas in 1850,
who was the first German immigrant to the area. Within ten years, ten or fifteen
families had settled in Klaasville, where they erected a church (the Church of
St. Anthony) and established a cemetery in 1860. A common frame building, the
church was constructed at a cost of $500. In 1878, an addition was made to the
church and a steeple added. Unable to build a house for the priest until 1866,
the first few priests at St. Anthony’s lived with the Klaas family. The little
town itself included a store, schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop, a carpenter, a
wagon maker, shoemaker and a tailor. Heinrich Klaas, born in 1800, died in 1882
and is buried in the St. Anthony Cemetery (above right). 
Back in Mississippi in 1896, two
Chicago investors named Edward M. Treakle and Gorton W. Nichols purchased land
from James B. Yellowley, who had come to Madison County in 1853 from North
Carolina. With the land they purchased, Treakle and Nichols formed the Highland
Colony Company and began marketing the property to northern settlers. After
surveying the property and dividing it into lots, the developers established
what is today the town of Ridgeland. Enticed by the promise of good farm lands
in the sunny south, immigrants began moving into the area around the beginning
of the 20th Century, among them several families from Klaasville. At a cost of
$22,000, nine families initially purchased land and moved all of their
household goods and farm equipment, including livestock, to Madison County in
1905 and named their new environs Gluckstadt, meaning “Lucky Village.” Not only
were they lured by the good soil, but were likely escaping an area that was
increasingly anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic. Within a few years, Indiana
would explode with Ku Klux Klan activity, and most of the violence was aimed at
Catholics. Through the 1920s, the Klan frequently targeted Catholic churches
and schools. At the height of the Klan’s influence in Indiana, the
secret society claimed over 250,000 members, and was the largest KKK
organization in history.
After moving to Madison County, the first wave of
immigrant families worked hard to make it in their new land. Three years after
arriving, though, they discovered that they did not own the land they thought
they had purchased, as the Highland Colony Company never actually owned
the property they offered for sale, having only taken an option on the land.
After hiring a law firm in Jackson to try and work something out, in the end
the families had to purchase the same land twice. It is not readily apparent if
the problems with the Highland Colony Company were a result of fraud or
negligence, but there is some indication that other legal difficulties followed
the investors in other states as well. Despite these difficulties, more German
immigrants arrived (above), including the Miller, Minninger , Carr, Aulenbrock, Haas and
Weisenberger families from 1914 into the 1920s.
Within a few years, a Catholic Church was established
by the community. Served by German-speaking priests, the first church building
was constructed in 1911. The building also functioned as a school. By 1917, a
new church, St. Joseph, was constructed at a cost of $1,750. The church was
destroyed in a fire and was replaced in 1929. The first priest for the mission
parish, the Rev. A.P. Heick (left), died the same year. In 1968, the second church was
also lost in a fire. After several years of harvest festival fundraisers, a
third church was constructed in 1975. Today, the parish of St. Joseph includes
approximately four hundred families and the annual German Festival attracts
thousands of tourists. Gluckstadt, founded more than a century ago, continues
to grow, perhaps finally earning the nickname “lucky.”
