Corpus Christi History by Murphy Givens

The summer of John Kittredge

John W. Kittredge, in charge of the Union blockade on the Texas coast in 1862, captured blockade runners, burned salt works, destroyed warehouses, and kept the coast in a frenzy of fear. Now, in the dog days of August, he had the vessels he needed to attack Corpus Christi.
   To the people of Corpus Christi, he was "that pirate Kittredge." They knew he was coming. The city's provost marshal, Charles Lovenskiold, ordered several shellcrete houses to be torn down and the rubble loaded aboard three old ships. They were sailed to the Aransas Pass and sunk in an area called Corpus Christi Bayou to block Kittredge's entry into the bay.
   The man sent to prepare a defense of the city was a Confederate major, 26-year-old Alfred M. Hobby. Hobby ordered the gunboat General Bee and dispatch boat Breaker to guard the Aransas Pass, and a schooner to guard the Corpus Christi Pass.
   Kittredge's four-ship flotilla arrived on Tuesday morning, Aug. 12. The sunken sloops blocking his way hardly slowed him down. The gunboat Sachem tied on to each and towed them out of the way. Kittredge proceeded into the bay with the Corypheus, Reindeer, Belle Italia, and Sachem. Kittredge, on the Corypheus, chased the dispatch boat Breaker near McGloin's Bluff; the ship was beached and set afire at Indian Point.
   That night, Kittredge anchored off Water Street. Next morning, he landed under a flag of truce and met Hobby at Ohler's Wharf. Kittredge said he intended to inspect U.S. government facilities in the town. Hobby told him the U.S. government had no facilities in Corpus Christi and, furthermore, he had the forces to prevent Kittredge from coming ashore. After an exchange of threats, Kittredge gave Hobby 48 hours to evacuate the inhabitants.
   The battle began on Saturday, Aug. 16, when the Confederates fired their three cannons from behind a sand-bank battery located at the foot of Belden Street. A shot passed through the mainsail of the Corypheus; another left a gaping hole in the Sachem's side; other shots struck the rigging of the ships, which returned fire.
   No shots were fired on Sunday, but early Monday Kittredge landed a shore party of 30 men in a gambit to take the battery. The men carried rattail files to use to spike the guns. The Reindeer, its guns filled with shrapnel, moved in to support the attack. Kittredge's men were turned back by a cavalry charge. Kittredge reclaimed his shore party, moved his ships out of range of the battery, and began to bombard the city.
   The next morning, Kittredge's flotilla sailed back to Aransas pass. The town's inhabitants straggled back to find homes shot up and spent shells lying around.
   A month later, Kittredge returned to Corpus Christi under a flag of truce. He wanted to remove the family of Union sympathizer (and later governor) E.J. Davis. He was told to come back in 10 days for an answer. Confederate authorities had some intelligence about what Kittredge's next move might be.
   Caught in Flour Bluff
   The Union commander had gone ashore before around Flour Bluff to supplement his shipboard fare with fresh eggs and butter. This time, a trap was laid by Capt. John Ireland and Kittredge was captured, along with his seven-man gig's crew, without a shot being fired. He was taken to the town he had so recently bombarded, and crowds of people came out to see "that pirate Kittredge." He gave his parole and was sent North. Kittredge was later court-martialled and discharged over some unkown incident with an ordinary seaman.
   Corpus Christi found practical uses for the shells and cannon balls fired by Kittredge's ships. Four cannon balls became large roller bearings in John Anderson's grist mill on Water Street. Others were used as door stops; people called them "Kittredges." One was used to prop up an iron wash tub that was missing a leg; it exploded and shattered the wooden leg of a Confederate veteran. That was the last casualty in the battle of Corpus Christi in the summer of 1862.
   This is the second of two columns. The first part can be found here.
  

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