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Oyster Wars

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Oyster Wars
Oyster War engagement in 1886
Date1865–1959
Location
Chesapeake Bay
Potomac River
Parties
Casualties and losses
Unknown deaths and arrests
Unknown deaths

TheOyster Warswere a series of sometimes violent disputes betweenoyster piratesand authorities and legalwatermenfromMarylandandVirginiain the waters of theChesapeake Bayand thePotomac Riverfrom 1865[1]until about 1959.

Background

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In 1830, theMaryland General Assemblypassed legislation which authorized only state residents to harvestoystersin its waters.[2]Maryland outlaweddredging,while Virginia continued to allow it until 1879.[3]In 1865, the Maryland General Assembly passed a law that required annual permits for oyster harvesting[2]and this has been described as the start of the Oyster Wars.[1]

Clashes

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After theCivil War,the oyster harvesting industry exploded. In the 1880s, the Chesapeake Bay was the source of almost half of the world's supply of oysters.[4]New England fishermen encroached on the Bay after their local oyster beds had been exhausted, which prompted violent clashes with local fishermen from Maryland and Virginia.[4]Watermen from different counties likewise clashed.[4]

Government responses

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Oyster pirates in 1884. Part of the Library of Congress notation is "ShipsJulia Hamilton"though the drawing features" pirate "night dredgers.

Maryland

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In 1868, Maryland founded the Maryland Oyster Police Force, nicknamed the Oyster Navy, which was the predecessor of the modernMaryland Natural Resources Police.It was headed byNaval AcademygraduateHunter Davidsonand was responsible for enforcing the state's oyster-harvesting laws, but it was an inadequate force to compete with the more heavily armed watermen.[4][5]

Virginia

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Virginia made its own attempts to fight illegal oystering. In the 1870s, Virginia imposed license fees, seasonal limits, and other measures to prevent over harvesting and preserve the oyster population.[6]However, the cash-strapped commonwealth had limited enforcement capabilities—especially after it sold its three-vessel maritime police fleet at auction.[7]After violence broke out between oyster tongers, individual small boat oystermen using hand held tongs to collect oysters,[8]and more affluent oyster dredgers, Virginia banned oysterdredgingin 1879.[9]

Whenarmed and organized dredgers,many from Maryland,[9]violated the ban, Virginia GovernorWilliam E. Cameronfound an opportunity to boost his popularity by taking on the pirates.[7]Cameron personally led an expedition against the illegal dredgers. On February 17, 1882, Cameron's force, consisting of thetugboatVictoria J. Peedand thefreighterLouisa,engaged pirates at the mouth of theRappahannock River.[10]The governor's raid resulted in the successful convictions of 41 dredgers and the forfeiture of seven boats.[11]The raid represented the high point of the governor's term.[12]

When Cameron's popularity sank and dredgers returned to the bay, the governor undertook a second expedition. Cameron once again used thePeedbut the steamerPamlicobecame his flagship.[13]Cameron's second expedition was not very successful. Captured dredgers were acquitted or escaped indictment in court.[14]The opposition press also mocked the governor for failing to capture theDancing Molly,[15]a sloop run by three women who managed to outrun the governor's ships.[14]The Norfolk Academy of Music lampooned the governor's expedition in an April 1883 comic opera,Driven from the Seas: or, The Pirate Dredger's Doom.[16]In 1884, Cameron established the "Board on the Chesapeake and its Tributaries," which led to improved law enforcement and better fishery management.[17]

In 1959, the Potomac River Fisheries CommissionerH. C. Byrdordered the fisheries police disarmed after an officer killed a Virginia waterman who was illegally dredging. The move was credited with bringing an end to the violent conflicts.[18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abWhite, Christopher (2009).Skipjack: The Story of America's Last Sailing Oystermen.New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 240.ISBN978-0-312-54532-1.RetrievedMarch 16,2011.
  2. ^ab"Oyster Wars".Baltimore Sun.RetrievedOctober 13,2010.
  3. ^"Reshaping Virginia (1877 to 1901)".Virginia Memory.Library of Virginia.RetrievedFebruary 28,2011.
  4. ^abcdKimmel, Ross M. (Winter 2008)."Oyster Wars: The Historic Fight For the Bay's Riches"(PDF).The Maryland Natural Resource.Maryland Department of Natural Resources: 4–6.RetrievedMarch 15,2011.
  5. ^"An Evolving Force: Natural Resources Police Celebrates 150th Anniversary".Maryland Department of Natural Resources. March 30, 2018.Retrieved8 October2019.
  6. ^Moore, James Tice (July 1982). "Gunfire on the Chesapeake: Governor Cameron and the Oyster Pirates, 1882–1885".The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.90(3): 367–377.JSTOR4248570.
  7. ^abMoore, pp. 367–368.
  8. ^Botwick, Bradford; McClane, Debra A. (2005). "Landscapes of Resistance: A View of the Nineteenth-Century Chesapeake Bay Oyster Fishery".Historical Archaeology.39(3). Springer: 94–112.doi:10.1007/BF03376696.JSTOR25617272.S2CID159782897.
  9. ^abMoore, p. 368.
  10. ^Moore, p. 369.
  11. ^Moore, p. 370.
  12. ^Moore, p. 371.
  13. ^Moore, p. 372.
  14. ^abMoore, p. 373.
  15. ^Moore, p. 374.
  16. ^Moore, p. 375.
  17. ^Moore, p. 376.
  18. ^Keiner, Christine (2009).The Oyster Question: Scientists, Watermen, and the Maryland Chesapeake Bay Since 1880.Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. pp. 174–175.ISBN978-0-8203-2698-6.RetrievedMarch 15,2011.

Further reading

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Media related toOyster Warsat Wikimedia Commons

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