Confederate naval operations on the Great Lakes

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Confederate agents in Canada developed several pans to raid shipping on the Great Lakes , damage Great Lake ports. destroy locks at important places and generally create havoc on the Great Lakes. The plans were to stop vital shipping on the Great Lakes, to tie up Union troops and influence the anti war movement centered around the Great Lakes. The Copperheads seemed to believe they could have their "Armies" take over some areas if enough havoc could be created, for example Illinois supposedly had 85,000 Copperheads in their "Army" ready for a chance to strike. The key to sucess of capturing steamers and arming them with cannon to sail about the Great lakes in the name of the Confederacy would be to capture or disable the U.S.S. Michigan the only real warship on the Great Lakes. Two major plots to do so occurred.

Plot 1: In 1863, 22 Confederate sailors were sent to Canada to be joined there by 32 escaped Confederate prisoners living in Canada and recruited by Confederate agents. The plan was to capture two steamers near Detroit, sail to Johnson Island , capture the crew of the Michigan and use the three ships to take the prisoners for Johnson Island to Canada. The plan was candled when it appeared the Union had discovered the plot the the Confederate sailors mostly returned South.

Plot 2: In September 1864 a similar plot was put into action. It was basically the same plan, but the Confederates from Canada would capture the Philo Parsons, capture the crew of the Michigan and release the prisoners from Johnson Ilsand. The raid on the Philo Parson was a sucess, and the Stars and Bars flew over a ship on the Great Lakes for the first time. The Confederates capture the Island Queen as well. The plan soon fell apart. The crew of the Michigan were likely warned. It did not help matters that as the Philo Parsons reached Johnson Island they realized they were short of cord wood and had to turn around and go back and get some. The Crew of the Michigan had been warned of a plot being afoot and when the normal routine routine of the Philo Parsons was changed, probably knew what was up. The crew of the Phio Parsons refused to return to the waiting guns of the Michigan and the short lived Confederate ship retired to Canada.

This is the only known "Confederate" naval action on the Great Lakes. Although a failure it was an interesting plan and the disruption of shipping on the Great Lakes would have hindered the union war effort. The issue I see is that disruption of the flow of vital supplies though the Great Lakes and the diversion of Union troops to the region was Plot 1 could have had a major impact on the Union war effort, however by September of 1864 a successful operation was probably too late to have a huge military impact on the Union War effort, but Confederate raiders shelling Great Lake ports, disrupting Great Lakes shipping, Son of Liberty uprisings in Great Lake Cities, and such, could have well upset the race for president. This is one of those "what ifs" that might have changed the war.
 
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Very interesting.
The vessels:
USSMichigan.jpg

The U.S.S Michigan

PParsons.jpg

The Philo Parsons

IslandQueen1.JPG

The Island Queen

All images from:
http://celticowboy.com/CSATX12a.htm
 
Some of the targets in the Great Lakes could easily have been destroyed. The Union got almost all it's copper from Michiagn. The loading docks could have been destroyed by a Confederate supporter with a bucket of pine tar and a match. Huge amounts of grain sent to Eastern State and even over seas was loaded from unprotected wooden elevators on wooden docks. Very few commercial ships on the Great Lakes had any cannons on them so even a small steamer with a small cannon or two could stop shipping if the Michigan was sank, disable or take over. It would be hard to estimate how many Union soldiers and cannons would have be diverted to the Great Lakes. I would believe that even temporary Confederate control of the Great Lakes just before the 1864 presidential election would have had an impact.
 
I think this is all pretty interesting. Frankly, I never gave a thought to any of it before.
 
Generally, I think that the confederates were overly too optimistic about their ability to take "Michigan", even if they may be able to ambush her. After all, they were only isolated squad, without any support.
 
We need to remember there is another player here. How willing would Canada be to having trade on the Great Lakes disrupted by the CSA? They were tolerant of Confederate agents and escaped POWs, but for example, the St Albans raiders were arrested in Canada, though they were later released, but the recovered "loot" was returned to the US. The type of actions described would disrupt Canadian commerce as well, and whatever prior support or "looking the other" way the Confederates relied on would disappear in short order.
 
The plan was to get the officers of the Michigan to a party with women and drinks and then drug the officers. Only one officer was allowed off the ship at any one time and this plan could not work.
 
Today I read, or looked over, Rebels on Lake Erie by Charles E. Frohman. This book contains much about the Confederate prisoners held on J Johnson's Island. The book also contains many of the papers connected to the Philo Parsons affair and his made me think about this thread. If a couple thousand Confederates were freed and went to Canada, other than political repercussions, would not have greatly influenced the Civil War. However 2,000 escaped prisoners running around Ohio burning building and raping and killing would have had a caused some real problems.
 
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