The Fall of Port Hudson, Louisiana - July 9, 1863

Peace Monument at Port Hudson, Louisiana

The longest siege of the War Between the States (or Civil War) came to an end 150 years ago today at Port Hudson, Louisiana.

For more than six weeks, Major General Franklin Gardner and a Confederate garrison of fewer than 4,000 men had kept at bay a Union army of more than 30,000 soldiers. In the process, they killed or wounded more of their enemies than were included their own command. Had Vicksburg not fallen five days earlier, they might well have continued to fight even longer.

To learn more about the fighting at Port Hudson, please read these previous articles first:

• Vicksburg and Port Hudson, the "other" battles of July 1863
• Fighting goes on at Port Hudson, Louisiana
• Port Hudson, Louisiana - July 7, 1863

Earthworks defended by Alabama and Arkansas units

On July 7, 1863, however, Union soldiers in the trenches surrounding the Mississippi River bastion north of Baton Rouge began to yell across the lines to their Confederate counterparts that Vicksburg had fallen. The news was passed up to General Gardner who penned a letter that night to the opposing commander, Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, seeking official confirmation.

Banks replied early on the morning of July 8th by declining a truce to discuss the surrender of Port Hudson, but also enclosing a dispatch he had received from General Ulysses S. Grant the previous day notifying him of the surrender of Vicksburg.

Union dead at Port Hudson National Cemetery

Because the primary purpose of the Confederate bastion at Port Hudson was to defend the stretch of of the Mississippi River that began at the nearby mouth of the Red River so that supplies could continue to flow from west of the Mississippi to the railroad at Vicksburg, the strategic value of the position ended when Vicksburg fell. Gardner accordingly wrote back to General Banks:

Having defended this position as long as I deem my duty requires, I am willing to surrender to you, and will appoint a commission of three officers to meet a similar commission appointed by yourself at 9 o'clock this morning, for the purpose of agreeing upon and drawing up the terms of surrender; and for that purpose I ask for a cessation of hostilities. Will you please designate a point outside of my breastworks where the meeting shall be held for this purpose? - Maj. Gen. Franklin Gardner, CSA (July 8, 1863).

Confederate garrison flag that flew over Port Hudson

Banks replied immediately by informing Gardner that he would direct that active hostilities end until further notice. He designated Brig. Gen. Charles P. Stone, Col. Henry W. Birge and Lt. Col. Richard B. Irwin to meet with three officers of Gardner's choice.  

The Confederate commander appointed Col. I.G.W. Steedman, Col. Henry W. Birge and Lt. Col. Marshall J. Smith to represent him in the surrender negotiations. The two groups of officers agreed to relatively simple terms and both commanding generals approved the agreement. The hour set for the official surrender of Port Hudson was 7 a.m. on July 9, 1863, 150 years ago today.

Confederate flag dug up at Port Hudson after the battle.

The surrender took place as expected. The Confederates stacked their weapons and furled their flags, with one exception. A Southern flag would later be dug up at Port Hudson where it had been buried prior to the surrender. It is now on display in the museum at Port Hudson State Historic Site, along with the official garrison flag of the post.

Although the Confederate officers agreed to surrender themselves and their men to become prisoners of war, General Banks ordered that the enlisted men and non-commissioned officers be paroled and released. The officers were sent away to northern prisoner of war camps.

Union losses in the siege of Port Hudson totaled roughly 10,000. These included 5,000 men who were killed and wounded in the disastrous assaults on the Confederate lines, as well as another 5,000 men who died of disease during the siege. Confederate losses were less than 1,000, including around 250 men who died of disease.

To learn more about Port Hudson State Historic Site, which preserves a large area of the battlefield, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/porthudson.

Port Hudson, Louisiana - July 7, 1863

Confederate gun at Port Hudson State Historic Site

150 years ago today, Major General Franklin Gardner (CS) at Port Hudson learned that Vicksburg had fallen three days earlier.

The news came not from the Union commander, Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, but from his soldiers themselves, who called across the lines to let the Confederate defenders of the Louisiana bastion know that they alone remained to defend the Mississippi River for the South. The intelligence was passed up through command to General Gardner, who penned a brief inquiry to General Banks and had it delivered through the lines under a flag of truce:

Museum Display of Heavy Artillery Shells at Port Hudson

GENERAL: Having received information from your troops that Vicksburg has been surrendered, I make this communication to ask you to give me the official assurance whether this is true or not; and, if true, I ask for a cessation of hostilities with a view to consider terms for surrendering this position. - Maj. Gen. Franklin Gardner, CSA (July 7, 1863).

It was a remarkable fact of the 19th century that commanding officers believed they could trust their enemies to be honorable and provide them with accurate information under such situations.

The siege at Port Hudson had continued longer than any other siege of the War Between the States (or Civil War). The first attempt by the Union army to storm the defenses of the Confederate bastion had ended in disaster (please see Fighting goes on at Port Hudson, Louisiana). Not only did it leave nearly 2,000 Union officers and soldiers dead, wounded or missing, the assault gave a significant boost to the morale of the surrounded Confederates. They had plenty of gunpowder and believed they could beat the Union army any time it chose to advance.

Field gun on display at Port Hudson

General Gardner and his men proved this again on June 13-14, 1863, when Banks attempted a three-pronged infantry assault on the fortifications of Port Hudson. The Confederates now had just over 3,500 men capable of fighting, while the Union army numbered more than 30,000.

The attack began at 11:15 in the morning of June 13 when more than 100 Union cannon opened fire on the earthworks and trenches of Port Hudson. After one hour of bombardment that could be heard in Baton Rouge and other towns throughout the region, General Banks demanded that Gardner surrender. The Confederate general replied that duty required him to defend his post and told Banks simply, "I decline to surrender."

Indiana Artillery firing on Port Hudson
Courtesy Library of Congress

The bombardment was resumed and continued through the night and into the pre-dawn hours of July 14, 1863. Then, at 3:30 a.m., the Union infantry began its assault. The attack was confused and poorly organized. Fog and the smoke of the bombardment created even more confusion in the dark. The result was a Confederate victory so lopsided that it was matched by few other engagements of the war. The Union army lost 1,792 men killed, wounded and missing. The Confederates lost only 47.

Even as their food and bullets ran out, the Confederates kept fighting. Reduced to eating rats and their own mules, they made up for their lack of bullets and artillery shells by salvaging the ones fired into the front of their earthworks by the Union army. They carried out quick raids against the Union infantry that was slowly digging its approach trenches toward them. When they learned that the Federals were trying to dig mines under their works to plant gunpowder in order to blow them up, the Confederates dug mines of their own and blew up the Union mines.

Looking out from Confederate lines at Port Hudson
Courtesy Library of Congress

One can not help but wonder what might have happened at Vicksburg had Gardner been in command there.

Gardner and his tiny command, in fact, held out longer than any other force under siege during the war. It was not until he learned that Vicksburg had fallen that he finally accepted the fact that there was no further need for sacrifice on the part of his men. Port Hudson was the southern defense for the stretch of the Mississippi River used to move supplies and men from west of the river to the railroad at Vicksburg. With Vicksburg in Union hands, Port Hudson no longer served a purpose for the Confederacy.

So, late in the day on July 7, 1863 - 150 years ago today, Gardner sent his inquiry through the lines asking for official confirmation from Banks that Vicksburg had surrendered. The Union commander would not reply until early the next morning, and for one more night the fighting continued to rage.

Please click here to learn about the surrender of Port Hudson.

Read more about Port Hudson battlefield at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/porthudson.

Fighting goes on at Port Hudson, Louisiana - July 5, 1863

Confederate Fortifications at Port Hudson

150 years ago today, as Union troops consolidated their hold on the newly captured city of Vicksburg, the fighting and misery continued down the Mississippi River at Port Hudson, Louisiana.

With the fall of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, Port Hudson became the last remaining Confederate
stronghold on the Mississippi. The siege there is remembered today as the longest in American history.

Inside the fortifications that ringed the little river community, Confederate general Franklin Gardner and his force of fewer than 5,000 men defied a Union army more than three times the size of their own along with the firepower of some of the most powerful warships of the U.S. Navy. It was a battle against overwhelming odds unlike any other ever fought on the North American continent and it went on for 48 days.

Confederate flag that flew over Port Hudson

After the fall of Memphis to the north and New Orleans and then Baton Rouge to the South, the Confederacy was in serious danger of being split in two. The loss of a way to move men and supplies from the states west of the Mississippi River to the armies battling east of the river would be a disaster from which the Southern nation likely would not recover. To attempt to preserve this tenuous lifeline, Confederate engineers fortified the high bluffs of Vicksburg to the north and Port Hudson to the South.

Located on the east side of the river just south of its confluence with the Red River, Port Hudson was an ideal position for defenses that would protect the southern approach to the stretch of the Mississippi that ran from the mouth of the Red up to Vicksburg. This would enable supplies coming by steamboat down the Red to continue to flow up the Mississippi to Vicksburg from which they could be shipped out by rail to all points east.

Port Hudson Peace Monument

The position was occupied by Confederate troops after they failed to retake Baton Rouge in 1862. Located at a sharp bend of the river, its high bluffs offered the ideal position for the emplacement of heavy guns. Work on the batteries continued through the winter of 1862-1863. Major General Franklin Gardner arrived late in December of 1862 to assume command of the position. His selection would prove to be an inspired choice.

Major General Nathaniel Banks, commanding the Union''s Department of the Gulf, was under pressure from Washington, D.C. to push north up the Mississippi, reduce Port Hudson and join forces with Major General Ulysses S. Grant for a final move on Vicksburg. Banks tried to accomplish this by swinging west into the bayous and driving north up the Atchafalaya River to its junction with the Red. He hoped this would enable him to bypass Port Hudson and force its evacuation. When he reached the Red River, however, expected troops and transports were not there. Grant had changed his plans and gone ashore near Port Gibson with his full army.

Gun taken from USS Merrimac and used at Port Hudson

Since he had no way to get his army north to join forces with Grant, Banks decided to move against Port Hudson with his own 17,000 man force. Orders were issued on May 18, 1862, and troops began to march north from Baton Rouge, rapidly covering the dozen or so miles between that city and the Confederate position at Port Hudson. Other parts of Banks' army came down the Red into the Mississippi and were landed at Bayou Sara near St. Francisville just north of Port Hudson.

Fighting broke out on May 21, 1862, as a miniscule force of Confederates opposed the oncoming Federals at the Battle of Plains Store west of Port Hudson. Resisting fiercely, they inflicted worse casualties than they received and then fell back into the trenches at Port Hudson.  By the night of May 22nd, the Confederate position was surrounded by Banks and his converging army.

Confederate earthworks at Port Hudson

General Gardner and his men dug in at a furious rate, extending and strengthening their defenses. They watched as the Union navy formed in the Mississippi and the Union army moved into position around them from all directions. They knew they were outnumbered and outgunned, but they determined to put up the fight of their lives.

The Southern soldiers got their first chance on May 27, 1863, when daylight broke over the woods and fields to the east and Union cannon opened fire on them from all directions. They responded furiously at first with their own cannon, but then slowed their rate of fire to conserve ammunition. They knew a massive infantry attack was coming and they got into position and ready to welcome it.

Union troops were trapped in this ravine during the first assault.

When the huge attack came, it was carried out by more soldiers than there were Confederates in the entire Port Hudson lines. Gardner was ready, however, and his skirmishers alone held back the attacking columns for more than an hour. Fighting from a tangled mess of felled trees and the ravines and ridges outside the main works, the Confederate skirmishers fought fiercely against overwhelming numbers.

When they finally withdrew into the main lines and the Federal troops tried to push forward, they found themselves wading into the fire of dozens of cannon and thousands of rifles. The fighting went on all day and all night. When the Confederates opened fire again the next morning, Banks decided his men had suffered enough and raised a flag of truce. Gardner granted the Union general's request for a ceasefire so his dead and wounded could be removed from the field.

The first attempt to storm Port Hudson left 1,995 Union soldiers dead, wounded or missing. The Confederates lost 235 men. The attack had been a bloody disaster for the Union army. There may have been only 4,000 Confederates at Port Hudson, but they were prepared to fight.

I will post more about the Siege of Port Hudson tomorrow.  You can read more about the battlefield at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/porthudson.

Vicksburg and Port Hudson - The "other" battles of July 1863

Confederate Cannon and the Mississippi River at Vicksburg

The nation is remembering the Battle of Gettysburg this week, and appropriately so, but seems a bit sad to me that we seem to have forgotten that another major and bloody battles took place at the same time on the bluffs of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Port Hudson, Louisiana.

These battles were as significant victories for the North as Gettysburg and even a greater disasters for the South. The fall of the Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 - 150 years ago this week - and Port Hudson on July 9, 1863, cut the Confederacy in two and opened the Mississippi River to the supply and warships of the Union.

Port Hudson Battlefield in Louisiana

The opening of the Mississippi was a vital part of the "Anaconda Plan" conceived by Gen. Winfield T. Scott, the aged hero of the War of 1812 and War with Mexico who commanded the U.S. Army at the beginning of the War Between the States. Combined with the blockade of the Southern coastline, the opening of the Mississippi would strangle the Confederacy by cutting off the movement of supplies, munitions, medicines and other necessities of its armies.

By July of 1863, only two great Confederate bastions remained on the river, Vicksburg in Mississippi and Port Hudson in Louisiana. In both places, Confederate armies dug deep into the earth and clung to earthwork fortifications in desperate fights for survival. They had fought desperately and hurled back attack after attack, covering the ground with the blood and blue uniformed bodies of Union soldiers.

Some of the Thousands who Died

At Port Hudson, just a 30 minute drive north of Baton Rouge today, 10,000 Union soldiers were reported killed, wounded or missing, compared to a Confederate loss of 750 in actual combat.

At Vicksburg, Union commanders estimated that they lost 4,835 men killed, wounded or missing. The Confederates estimated that their actual combat losses were 3,202 men killed and wounded.

So much blood was spilled on the bluffs at Port Hudson and Vicksburg that it is difficult to imagine the true cost in human suffering of the two battles. Combined, the two battles left nearly 19,000 men dead, wounded or missing.

I will tell you more about them over coming days, but it seemed appropriate, as the massive commemoration of Gettysburg begins, that we also remember the men of Vicksburg and Port Hudson.

You can read more about the battlefields by visiting:

• The Siege and Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi
• The Siege and Battle of Port Hudson, Louisiana

Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site - St. Francisville, Louisiana

Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site

One of the best known and most beautiful of the South's historic antebellum plantation homes, historic Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville has been a Louisiana landmark since 1834.

Named after a play its builders, Daniel and Martha Barrow Turnbull, saw on their honeymoon, Rosedown is now a state historic site and is open to the public year-round. In addition to preserving one of the finest collections of antebellum plantation structures in the nation, the park also preserves Rosedown's magnificent gardens which also date from the antebellum era.

Construction of the main house at Rosedown began in 1834. Framed by a beautiful avenue of live oaks, the facade of the Federal-Greek Revival style home is one of the most recognized in the South. Other surrounding plantation structures, including a doctor's office, kitchen, etc., were built in similar styles and many survive today.

Gardens at Rosedown Plantation

Rosedown's magnificent gardens date back to at least 1836, when Martha Turnbull made the first entry in her "garden diary" that survives today. Over the decades that followed she created one of the largest private gardens of the 19th century, importing exotic plants from Asia and other overseas destinations. Rosedown, in fact, was the site of one of the first known plantings of camellias in America and blooms from the original stock can still be seen there. The 28-acre gardens are also known for their azaleas and other beautiful flowering plants.

Camellia at Rosedown

The Turnbull family continued to live at Rosedown throughout the Civil War, despite the terrible violence that took place within earshot of the home during the Siege and Battle of Port Hudson. The home was not damaged during the shelling of St. Francisville by Union warships, although the arrival of Federal forces in the area meant freedom for the more than 100 slaves who lived and worked on the farm. After its fall in July of 1863, nearby Port Hudson became a major recruiting and training center for African American soldiers who came from area plantations to join the Union army.

Rosedown survived, however, and today is one of the most beautiful of the numerous historic plantations that line the Mississippi River from Natchez down to St. Francisville. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/rosedown.

Port Hudson State Historic Site - Zachary, Louisiana

Confederate Earthworks at Port Hudson

Although its story is often overshadowed by that of the Battle of Vicksburg, which took place at the same time, the Siege and Battle of Port Hudson was one of the monumental confrontations of the Civil War.

After a failed attempt to retake Baton Rouge in August of 1862, Confederate forces in Louisiana withdrew about 30 miles up the Mississippi River to Port Hudson. A small community located atop high bluffs overlooking a bend of the river, Port Hudson offered the ideal place for a citadel to prevent Union warships from reaching the vital junction of the Mississippi and Red Rivers.

Garrison Flag that flew over Port Hudson

Over the months that followed, the position was heavily fortified and by early 1863 a Confederate force of around 7,500 men held the position and manned the heavy guns that aimed down on the channel of the Mississippi. A flotilla of Union warships commanded by Admiral David G. Farragut tried to blast its way past Port Hudson on March 14, 1863, but only two of the vessels made it. The U.S.S. Mississippi was destroyed and the other ships had to turn back. Port Hudson had proved its worth as a defensive position.

Cannon at Port Hudson, Louisiana

Determined to eliminate the Confederate bastion, Union General Nathaniel P. Banks moved against it with more than 30,000 men in May of 1863. The severely outnumbered Confederates dug in even deeper and devastated the Union army in its two major attempts to storm the works. An attack on June 14, 1863 went so bad for the Federals that they suffered casualties of 1,792 men compared to only 47 of the Confederates, giving Southern General Franklin Gardner one of the most lopsided tactical victories of the Civil War.

Port Hudson held out until after the fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi, in July of 1863. The fall of that city gave Union ships coming down the Mississippi access to the river's confluence with the Red River and there was no longer any reason for the Confederates in Louisiana to continue to hold out. Gardner surrendered on July 9, 1863, having withstood until then the longest total siege of the Civil War.

To learn more about the Siege and Battle of Port Hudson and to see photos of Port Hudson State Historic Site and other points of interest in the area, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/porthudson.