The Union Army's Marine Brigade burns the town of Austin, Mississippi for sheltering rebel forces

Operating along the Mississippi under its commander General Alfred Ellet, landing troops where needed, the Marine Brigade harassed Confederate forces up and down the river.  Faced with elusive and mobile Confederate units and a resistant civilian population, Ellet often responded actively.  When one of his ships was fired on, he turned on the riverside town of Austin in Tunica County, Mississippi and burned it to the ground in retaliation, later justifying his action saying the town stored weapons and seized small trading vessels.  (By John Osborne)  
Source Citation
United States, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series 1, Volume 25 Naval Forces on Western Waters (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1912), 128-129. 
Chronicles of the Great Rebellion Against the United States of America ... (Philadelphia: A. Winch, 1867), 55. 
How to Cite This Page: "The Union Army's Marine Brigade burns the town of Austin, Mississippi for sheltering rebel forces," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/39737.