The Oyster Wars were a series of sometimes violent disputes between

oyster pirate 300px, Oyster pirates on the Chesapeake Bay in 1884 Oyster pirate is a name given to persons who engage in the poaching of oysters. It was a term that became popular on both the West Coast of the United States and the East Coast of the United St ...

s and authorities and legal

watermen A waterman is a river worker who transfers passengers across and along city centre rivers and estuaries in the United Kingdom and its colonies. Most notable are those on the River Thames and River Medway in England, but other rivers such as the ...

from

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

in the waters of the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

and the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

from 1865 until about 1959.

Background

In 1830, the

Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamb ...

passed legislation which authorized only state residents to harvest

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

s in its waters. Maryland outlawed

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

, while Virginia continued to allow it until 1879. In 1865, the Maryland General Assembly passed a law that required annual permits for oyster harvesting and this has been described as the start of the Oyster Wars.

Clashes

After the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, the oyster harvesting industry exploded. In the 1880s, the Chesapeake Bay was the source of almost half of the world's supply of oysters. 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. Watermen from different counties likewise clashed.

Government responses

250px, Oyster pirates in 1884. Part of the Library of Congress notation is "Ships ''Julia Hamilton''" though the drawing features "pirate" night dredgers.

Maryland

In 1868, Maryland founded the Maryland Oyster Police Force, nicknamed the Oyster Navy, which was the predecessor of the modern

Maryland Natural Resources Police The Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) is the law enforcement arm of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), tasked with enforcing laws on the state's public lands and waterways, protecting fish and wildlife, and leading search ...

. It was headed by

Naval Academy A naval academy provides education for prospective naval officers. See also * Military academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally pro ...

graduate Hunter Davidson and was responsible for enforcing the state's oyster-harvesting laws, but it was an inadequate force to compete with the more heavily armed watermen.

Virginia

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. However, the cash-strapped commonwealth had limited enforcement capabilities—especially after it sold its three-vessel maritime police fleet at auction.Moore, pp. 367–368. After violence broke out between oyster tongers, individual small boat oystermen using hand held tongs to collect oysters, and more affluent oyster dredgers, Virginia banned oyster dredging in 1879.Moore, p. 368. When armed and organized dredgers, many from Maryland, violated the ban, Virginia Governor

William E. Cameron William Evelyn Cameron (November 29, 1842January 25, 1927) was a Confederate soldier who became a Virginia lawyer, journalist, and politician. He served as the 39th Governor of Virginia from 1882–1886, elected as the candidate of the Rea ...

found an opportunity to boost his popularity by taking on the pirates. Cameron personally led an expedition against the illegal dredgers. On February 17, 1882, Cameron's force, consisting of the

tugboat A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...

''Victoria J. Peed'' and the freighter ''Louisa'', engaged pirates at the mouth of the

Rappahannock River The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It traverses the entir ...

. The governor's raid resulted in the successful convictions of 41 dredgers and the forfeiture of seven boats. The raid represented the high point of the governor's term. When Cameron's popularity sank and dredgers returned to the bay, the governor undertook a second expedition. Cameron once again used the ''Peed'' but the steamer ''Pamlico'' became his flagship. Cameron's second expedition was not very successful. Captured dredgers were acquitted or escaped indictment in court.Moore, p. 373. The opposition press also mocked the governor for failing to capture the '' Dancing Molly'', a sloop run by three women who managed to outrun the governor's ships. 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''. In 1884, Cameron established the "Board on the Chesapeake and its Tributaries," which led to improved law enforcement and better fishery management.Moore, p. 376. In 1959, the Potomac River Fisheries Commissioner H. C. Byrd ordered 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.

References

External links

{{Fishing history Chesapeake Bay History of Maryland Maritime history of Virginia History of fishing Oysters Maritime incidents in the United States 19th century in the United States 20th century in the United States 19th-century conflicts 20th-century conflicts Internal wars of the United States Riverine warfare Fishing conflicts