12/Jul/2009
American History in Your Backyard
Have you been to
Port Hudson?
By Madeline Casey
Visitors
to Port Hudson State Historic Site just west of Zachary find something
far beyond an ordinary nature trail. Winding trails weave through a
thick forest just one mile from the Mississippi and even in the hot
summer months, the trees protect visitors from the sun.
But rewind almost 150 years, and the terrain changes dramatically.
At the heart of the American Civil War, Port Hudson hosted the longest and bloodiest siege of the entire war. The once busy port city was actually located on the bluffs beside the river, and the forests of today lay chopped to the ground in preparation for the battle that was sure to come.
Port
Hudson was known to be an instrument of victory for both the North and
South. Whoever captured Port Hudson had complete control over the
Mississipi from Natchez to New Orleans. The South needed this in order
to secure the flow of supplies from Texas via the Red River, while the
North desperately wanted to cut off this important vein for the South.
Ideal Port Hudson
The
battles that took place at Port Hudson were a true turning point in the
Civil War. It was the South’s last stronghold on the Mississippi and
the only port standing between the North’s complete control of the
mighty river.
A Federal victory at the Battle of Baton Rouge forced Confederate soldiers to occupy Port Hudson, 22 miles north of Baton Rouge. Meanwhile, Admiral David G. Farragut’s armada took control of New Orleans and Baton Rouge and continued moving up the Mississippi to meet other Union naval forces.
By August 1862, the 160 miles of river between Port Hudson and Vicksburg, Miss. represented the final Confederate advantage in the war.
The geographic makeup of Port Hudson was ideal for Confederate defenses, both on the river and land. A series of 60- to 80-foot bluffs overlooked a sharp bend on the river, giving a perfect view of approaching Union forces.
“ The bluffs along the river are made of soil blown here from the Midwest during the ice ages,” Michael Fraering, curator at the Port Hudson State Historic Site, explained. “These naturally eroded over time, so the bluffs, gullies and ravines worked in favor of the Rebel soldiers.”
Before
the siege at Port Hudson, a serious conflict proved the power of the
port’s location to Confederate forces. On March 14, 1863, nine Federal
ships and 16,000 men on the ground attacked Confederates in an attempt
to gain access to the river north of Port Hudson. All Federal vessels
ran aground at the bend in the river and after three hours of
thunderous cannons and explosions, Federal troops lost 100 men compared
to the Confederate’s zero.
May 27
Attack
Following the March
14 attack, Federals brought troops in from the North and South to surround Port
Hudson. Defended by General Franklin Gardner and his 6,800 sick and hungry
Confederate soldiers low on ammunition, it seemed as if the fort could not last
long against the 40,000 Union soldiers.
Outnumbered
more than five to one, the Confederates fought one of the best fights of the
Civil War, causing the Union to lose four times as many men as the British did
at
The North launched
two major assaults against Port Hudson under command of general N.P. “Nothing
Positive” Banks, formerly speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
On May 27,
the Federals launched their first offensive, consisting of seven major attacks
along the line of Confederate earthworks. The battle lasted 12 hours and
recorded 2,000 casualties, most of which were Union troops.
In addition
to the breaks between attacks, Confederates had already prepared their terrain
for battle. Not only did they use the existing forest for cover, they cut down
many trees to give them a better line-of-sight than the enemy.
They also
fortified the port by building a 4.5-mile wall made of dirt. Combined with two
miles of surrounding river batteries, the Confederates had their entire
territory safeguarded against the approaching soldiers.
“The Rebels
didn’t have any wooden or brick forts but they did have dirt walls thick enough
to stop a cannon ball,” Fraering said.
This
ultimately became a very important advantage since the earthworks were easily
rebuilt.
"Confederate
soldiers would work in the safety of night to repair walls almost as easily as
they had been broken down,” Fraering said.
Though the
Federals eventually retreated from this attack, this battle served as a
monumental event for the
These brave
soldiers pushed through to the Confederate front and led the way for more than
180,000 other African-Americans who eventually served in the Union army.
Forty-Eight
Day Siege
What eventually
became a victory for the North served as a small triumph for the South. For 48
sweltering days and muggy nights, the Confederate forces held off the North’s
repeated attacks during that
As the
Confederates continued to fight, Union forces surrounded the area and blocked
all potential entrance or exit of troops and supplies. For almost two months,
no fresh Confederate troops, food or supplies entered Port Hudson.
These
desperate times called for desperate measures. Records from the siege at Port
Hudson declare that these Confederate troops often resorted to eating “mules,
horses and rats.”
Some of the
best-conserved earthworks from the Civil War are those at
The area
deemed
Confederates
constructed exterior rifle pits and prepared rat holes, or modern land mines,
to slow the progress of the Union approach.
June 14
Attack
The Federal troops
regrouped and changed their tactics for their second attack on June 14. Instead
of launching seven uncoordinated offensives, Banks and his troops planned only
two minor assaults and one major attack on the Confederate center.
Because the
Confederate field of fire made it dangerous for the northern troops to approach
the Confederate works, the
Union saps
were trails of zig-zag trenches built to protect soldiers from Confederate
sharpshooters. Soldiers would open fire with an artillery charge and then “edge
the line” with a grenade attack and bayonet charge.
But their
grenade attacks were never effective against the Rebels.
“The
grenades never exploded inside the earthworks because Rebel soldiers caught
them in blankets like trampolines, then used the grenades against Federal troops,”
Fraering said.
The battle on
June 14 proved to be another victory for the South, as more than 1900 Federals
died in the 5-hour attack.
Fruitless
Victories
These previous
successes for the Confederate soldiers were fruitless in the end.
On
July 7, word reached Port Hudson that
In 1974, the U.S.
Department of the Interior designated the Port Hudson battlefield a National
Historic Landmark. Today, it features outdoor cannon displays, a picnic area,
artifacts and an audio/visual program about the historic battle.
There
are also six miles of winding trails through the woods where visitors can
journey back to the sites where more than 40,000 Federal and Confederate
soldiers fought 150 years ago. In fact, this site is among the best-conserved
Civil War battle sites in
A museum rests near the
entrance to Port Hudson. Inside there are many artifacts, such as letters
written by soldiers from the Civil War battle, a Confederate Flag flown in the
war and a genealogy database that lists all soldiers present during the siege
at Port Hudson.
Finally, the 642 acres of
Port Hudson offer a wildlife park for nature lovers. Among the animals spotted
are white tail deer, wild turkey, bobcat and even coyote.
Email Madeline at madeline.leigh.casey@gmail.com
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