The Battle of Cockle Creek, October 5, 1861, was a minor naval engagement off Chincoteague, Virginia early in the American Civil War.
In 1861 the citizens of Chincoteague voted 138-2 to remain loyal to the Union, despite Virginia's vote for secession on May 23—the island was the only part of Virginia to do so. With little need for slaves because of its poor cropland, Chincoteague's economic survival depended on selling seafood to northern cities.
Though loyal to the Union, Chincoteague was surrounded by Confederate sympathizers in Virginia and Maryland. Chincoteague Bay, Sinepuxent Bay, and Pocomoke River all served as routes to Maryland and Delaware which the Confederates were using to smuggle arms north into the two border states. They also had plans to prey on Union shipping entering and leaving Delaware Bay: at the center of these plans was the schooner Venus.
On July 4, 1861, 418 men from the barrier islands in Maryland and Virginia met at Chincoteague to celebrate the 85th anniversary of American independence. All who were present signed a draft declaration prepared by Dr. George Schereer which pledged support for the United States against its enemies. Captain Edward Whaley Sr., a War of 1812 veteran, shouted, "I will defend the old flag to my last drop of blood, against the lazy, slave-holding aristocrats and their lackeys in Richmond."
On July 5, the declaration, and letters addressed to the commanding officers of the U.S. Navy at Hampton Roads, were dispatched aboard the sloop Jenny Sharpley. The letters detailed the importation of arms through Chincoteague Inlet and up the Pocomoke River to Confederate sympathizers; the islanders also requested the right to ship oysters to northern ports and for protection by the Federal Navy. When Jenny Sharpley arrived at Hampton Roads, the packet was delivered to Flag Officer S. H. Stringham. Stringham ignored the letters, but was enraged that Jenny Sharpley had broken through the Union Blocking Squadron and the islanders had been able to board his ship without being challenged.
Sir: I must bring to your immediate attention the plight of the loyal citizens of the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia. I was informed by my brother, in a letter posted at Snow Hill, that you were delivered intelligence which warned of the running of arms to rebels in that area. The Union cannot afford to lose the rice and bean crops from that area, nor can we afford to lose the inland routes between lower Delaware and Chincoteague, if navigation is cut on Chincoteague or Sinepuxent Bays. I mean in no way to sound disrespectful to you, Sir; however, if that area is to be preserved, immediate protection for the loyal residents should be forthcoming, quickly.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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