A Rattler cannonball embedded above the upper middle window?
150 years ago today “a rather unsporting raid by Confederate cavalry nets 20 crew members of the USS Rattler as they attend church services at Rodney, Mississippi.”[1]
Apparently the ship’s comander was also captured in church, but the USS Rattler continued to patrol the Mississippi near Rodney until it sunk as a result of a gale on December 30, 1864.
Rodney, Mississippi is currently considered a ghost town. According to historic marker the Rattler shelled the Presbyterian church when the crew members were captured at services.
some devout crew members captured!
- [1]Fredriksen, John C. Civil War Almanac. New York: Checkmark Books, 2008. Print. page 350.↩
