New Smyrna

After Union forces occupied Fernandina, Jacksonville, and St. Augustine Confederate blockade runners shifted their activities to more remote locations further south. According to the 1860 census only 1158 people lived in all of Volusia County. There were 27 families in New Smyrna and only three other towns in the county- Enterprise, Volusia and Sand Point (Titusville). Having learned that English ships were offloading weapons at New Smyrna, Flag Officer Samuel DuPont, commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, sent two ships the USS Henry Andrew and the USS Penguin to blockade Mosquito Inlet (modern day Ponce Inlet) the entry point to New Smyrna. He also ordered the two ships to locate and destroy/capture the blockade runners Katie and Caroline which were recently reported to be offloading guns there. The USS Penguin, under Acting Lieutenant Commanding T.A. Budd, anchored off the bar while the USS Henry Andrew, under Acting Master S.W. Mather, crossed it and proceed up the Hillsborough River (Indian River) to a point about 1/4 mile south of the North Causeway before anchoring near the east shore. Mather and Budd went ashore stopping at the Sheldon Hotel where they learned that the Katie was indeed hiding further upriver, south of the city. They decided to take six small boats and a total of 43 men to capture the Katie and seize its cargo. They departed early on the morning of the 22nd and located the abandoned blockade runner several miles up the river. Part of the small force sailed further south where they destroyed a small salt works near present day Oak Hill. The Federals had wrongly assumed that there were no Confederates in the vicinity. Captain Matthew Strain commanding a detachment of the 3rd FL Infantry had seen the Union party pass downstream to the south and were waiting for them concealed near the Old Stone Wharf. Just west of the wharf was the location where the arms and ammunition were being stored awaiting transport inland. The sailors discipline on the return trip was lax and the six launches were strung out along the river. The first two boats were close to the western shore when they were challenged by Captain Strain. When they attempted to land the Confederates opened fire killing all of the occupants of the lead boat including Captain Mather and Lieutenant Budd as well as five other seamen, seven more were wounded. Their Black pilot was captured and hanged. The men in the remaining boats landed on the east shore of the river until after dark when they made their way back to the USS Henry Andrew. The Federal Navy was embarrassed and embittered by what they felt was an ambush and would return a year later to exact revenge.

On July 26, 1863, several U.S. Navy gunboats, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Earl English, arrived off New Smyrna including the USS Sagamore, the USS Para, the USS Beauregard, and the USS Oleander. The Oleander took the Beauregard in tow and they drove inside Mosquito Inlet, the ships turned broadside directly in front of the Sheldon Hotel where the deceased Mather and Budd had first landed and opened fire. They would fire all day on Sunday the 26th and the following day, a total of over 280 shells. English dispatched a large landing party which headed into the town, and destroyed and burned numerous structures including what was left of Sheldon’s New Smyrna Hotel. The Federals captured one sloop loaded with cotton, a schooner without cargo, and caused the Confederates to set fire to other sloops in the harbor, some loaded with cotton. The southerners also burned large quantities of cotton stockpiled on shore. The Sheldons fled town to live with friends in modern day Glencoe. When they returned a year later they would be one of only three families still living in New Smyrna. The site of the Sheldon Hotel is shown below in Old Fort Park.