Capture of USS Water Witch "Daring Commando-Style Raid"  June 3, 1864

The USS Water Witch was a 378 ton side-wheel steamer that the Union had used at the beginning of the war to help blockade the mouth of the Mississippi River. In 1864 the Water Witch, with a crew of 68 officers and men commanded by Lt. Austin Pendergrast, was serving off the coast of Georgia and assisting with the blockade of Savannah.

On May 31, seven small boats manned by 130 armed Confederate seamen were towed down the Savannah River by the small steamer CSS Firefly to the Isle of Hope. The seamen, commanded by Lt. Thomas P. Pelot, were beginning a daring commando-style raid to capture Water Witch, which was frequently stationed in Ossabaw Sound. Because the Union ship was not there on the night of the 31st, the Rebels camped on shore. The next night, with the Water Witch reported to be anchored in the sound, the Rebels rowed out in their seven boats, but they could not find the ship in the darkness and so returned to shore just before daylight.

On the night of June 2, the Rebel raiders ventured out into the sound once more. This time they spotted the Water Witch, which was lit up by flashes of lightning, and rowed silently toward her. At 2:00am five of the small boats touched the Union ship at different spots at about the same time, and the Rebels quickly scrambled up the sides. Lieutenant Pelot, reported to be the first aboard the Union ship, was immediately shot through the heart. Within 15 minutes the Rebels had subdued the Union crew and captured the ship. Five other raiders were killed during the short, vicious fight, including the pilot who had been brought along to navigate the ship back to the Georgia mainland.

Because of the loss of the pilot, the captured ship was grounded in the shallow sound three times, and many of the provisions that were captured with the ship had to be jettisoned to lighten the vessel the last time it went aground. It took all day of June 3 for the Confederates to bring the Water Witch to the nearby coast.

Fascinating Fact:  The Water Witch was one of of the Union ships run out of the Mississippi River by Confederate ships during the October 12, 1861, Battle at the Head of the Passes.


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