ExploreSouthernHistory.com - Siege & Battle of Port Hudson, Louisiana
ExploreSouthernHistory.com - Siege & Battle of Port Hudson, Louisiana
Battle of Port Hudson, Louisiana
A cannon aims out over Port Hudson State Historic
Site, where Confederate and Union troops fought
the longest siege of the Civil War.
Battle of Port Hudson
Miles of original trenches and
earthworks can still be found
at the Port Hudson battlefield
in Louisiana.
Original Confederate Flag
Two of the original Southern
flags that flew over Port
Hudson during the siege are
on display in the museum.
Site of a Union Battery
An interpretive panel near the
museum marks the site of a
Union battery that bombarded
Confederate positions.
Siege & Battle of Port Hudson - Zachary, Louisiana
Port Hudson State Historic Site
Alabama-Arkansas Redoubt
Well-preserved earthworks
mark a position held by men
from Arkansas and Alabama
during the siege.
Copyright 2011 by Dale Cox
All rights reserved.
Located atop high bluffs overlooking an old
channel of the Mississippi River, Port
Hudson State Historic Site preserves 909
acres of the scene of the 1863 Siege and
Battle of Port Hudson, Louisiana.

The battlefield entrance is located on U.S. 61,
20 miles north of downtown Baton Rouge
and 12 miles south of St. Francisville. The
park preserves original fortifications, Union
battery positions and the scene of heavy
fighting during the battle.

The grand Union strategy of the Civil War
was the "Anaconda Plan" developed by Gen.
Winfield Scott in 1861. By imposing a naval
blockade of the Southern coastline and then
retaking the Mississippi River, Scott's plan
would eventually strangle the Confederacy to
death. By early 1862, the blockade was in
effect and attention turned to the Mississippi
River.

The Union Navy stormed passed the forts
below New Orleans in April of 1862 and
warships soon anchored off Baton Rouge as
well. Confederate forces attacked the latter
city on August 5, 1862, during the Battle of
Baton Rouge. The attack failed, however, and
the Southern troops withdrew up the river to
Port Hudson.

With New Orleans and Baton Rouge in Union
hands, the situation on the Mississippi was
critical for the Confederacy. Up the river,
VIcksburg, Mississippi had been strongly
fortified, but a similar choke point was
needed to bloke Federal ships from going up
the Mississippi and into the vital Red River
as well. Port Hudson, located atop high bluffs
overlooking a sharp bend of the river, proved
to be the ideal location for a second primary
citadel.

Beginning on August 15, 1862, Confederate
forces planted a series of river batteries
armed with heavy cannon along the bluff and
then constructed a 4 1/2 mile long line of
breastworks and earthen forts to protect the
rear of the position from land attacks.

The strength of the unfinished position was
first tested on September 7, 1862, when
Commander David Dixon Porter attacked
Port Hudson with the U.S.S. Essex and the
U.S.S. Anglo-American. The Confederate
gunners, some of whom came from the
famed ironclad C.S.S. Arkansas after that
ship was destroyed at Baton Rouge, used
plunging fire from the bluffs to pound the
Union warships. The Essex alone suffered
14hits and the naval attack failed.

The task of taking Port Hudson now fell to
Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, a political
appointee from Massachusetts. He moved
north from New Orleans to Baton Rouge in
early 1863. Recognizing that a crisis was
building, the Confederate high command
sent Maj. Gen. Franklin Gardner to take
command at Port Hudson. A professional
soldier and hard-fighting commander, he
proved to be an excellent choice.

Gardner immediately set to improving the
defenses of Port Hudson and the works
there became a masterpiece of military
engineering. He used the high bluffs and
deep ravines surrounding the town in the
design of his lines and focused on creating
clear fields of fire for his cannon.

The Union Navy again tested the batteries of
Port Hudson on the night of March 14, 1863.
Commanded by Admiral David G. Farragut, a
line of warships and gunboats moved within
range of the Confederate positions shortly
before midnight.

The Southern forces now had twenty pieces
of artillery aimed out over the river and they
opened a devastating fire on Farragut's
ships. Two vessels, the admiral's flagship
U.S.S. Hartford and the U.S.S. Albatross, got
through, but the others did not. The U.S.S.
Mississippi, a steam frigate, was demolished
by the Confederate batteries and went up in
an explosion so powerful that it could be
heard as far away New Orleans.

Rather than moving immediately on Port
Hudson, Gen. Banks instead delayed,
involving himself in smaller operations while
General Gardner and his Confederate
garrison had even more time to prepare their
defenses and stockpile munitions and
provisions.

As the weeks passed and Gardner prepared,
events developed elsewhere that finally
forced Banks and his 30,000 men to move.

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had begun his move
on Vicksburg. It was now critical that Banks
launch a similar attack on Port Hudson and
he finally began to move on May 11, 1863.
The advance was led by bridge-builders from
the 3rd Louisiana Native Guards, an African-
American regiment, and the Brig. Gen.
Benjamin Grierson's cavalry brigade, which
had just completed a famed raid through
Mississippi.

Fighting broke out at the Battle of Plains
Store on May 21, 1863, as the two wings of
Banks' army approached Port Hudson.
Plains Store was located just under 4 miles
east of the main Confederate defenses. The
600 or so Confederate defenders there fell
back to the main line after inflicting 150
casualties on the Union 1st Division of the
XIX Corps. The Siege and Battle of Port
Hudson was now underway.

Harassed by Confederate cavalry, the main
Union army surrounded the Confederate
positions at Port Hudson the next day. Due to
this harassment, it took Banks five days to
get his army fully into position for his first
attack. This gave Gardner critical time to
further strengthen his defenses and move
some of his heavy cannon from the river
batteries into the fortifications facing the
Union army.
Against the advice of some of his more
experienced generals, Banks decided to
storm Port Hudson. He had 30,000 men to
oppose the 7,500 commanded by Gardner
and felt he could easily force his way through
the Confederate defenses and take the
position.

The Navy announced the attack with an all
night bombardment of the Confederate
works and then the Union infantry moved
forward at 6 a.m. on May 27, 1863. The
Confederates were ready.

Thousands of Union soldiers attacked
straight into an area of deep ravines fronting
Gardner's northern defenses. The rugged
terrain broke up the attacks and funneled the
men into a position ringed on three sides by
Southern troops. The assault degenerated
into a blood bath. With the attack stalemated
by 10 a.m., the 1st and 3rd Louisiana Native
Guards were ordered to attack near the point
where the northern end of the Confederate
line intersected with the Mississippi River.
They fought courageously, but were driven
back.

As this fighting was underway, 30 pieces of
Union artillery bombarded the Confederate
earthworks on the east side of Port Hudson.
The shelling was followed by an infantry
attack by Brig. Gen. T.W. Sherman's Division.
Like the attack on the northern defenses, the
attack on the east failed. The Union soldiers
charged into brutal Confederate fire and the
name of Slaughter's Plantation, where some
of the attacking forces formed, took on new
meaning.

By the end of the day, the assault was over.
Thousands of Union soldiers lay dead and
wounded and the victory shouts of Gardner's
Confederates echoed over the battlefield.

As his nearly shattered army recuperated,
Banks began regular siege operations
against Port Hudson. The Confederates took
advantage of this to strengthen their position
more. They even collected spent Union
bullets from the earthworks and sewed them
into canister loads to fire back at the
Federals in the next attack. They did not have
to wait long.

On June 13, 1863, Gen. Banks ordered a
one-hour bombardment of the Confederate
lines. He then sent in a demand that Gardner
surrender the works. The Southern general
refused and the Union troops surged forward
again at 3:30 the next morning.

The attack was poorly planned and further
disrupted by early morning fog. Three
assaults were driven back and by the time
the smoke of June 14th cleared, Banks had
suffered 1,792 casualties compared to only
47 in the Confederate lines. The Union
general did not try again.

The siege went on until July 9, 1863, when
Gardner learned that Vicksburg had fallen
and his courageous effort to hold Port
Hudson no longer served a purpose. His
men, who had been reduced to eating rats
and mules, stacked their arms and gave up
their works.

An estimated 10,000 Union soldiers were
killed, wounded or died from illness during
siege. The Confederates suffered a loss of
750, nearly half of whom had died from
sickness. The longest siege of the Civil War
came to an end with the surrender of roughly
6,500 Confederate soldiers.

Visitors can now tour key areas of the
battlefield at Port Hudson State Historic Site.
The park features preserved earthworks,
exhibits, more than 6 miles of trails,
overlooks, an outstanding museum and a
picnic area. It is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4
p.m. Cost of admission is $4 per person,
with seniors and children age 12 and under
admitted free.

A map of a driving tour of additional battlefield
sites not in the park can be obtained at the
museum. It includes the river batteries,
Plains Store battle site and Port Hudson
National Cemetery.

The park is located on U.S. 61 20 miles north
of Baton Rouge and 12 miles south of St.
Francisville. Please click here to visit the
official website for directions and more
information.
Fort Babcock
Traces can still be seen of the
earthworks thrown up by
Union troops on a ridge within
point blank range of the
Confederate defenses.
Artillery Exhibit
Two of the heavy guns that
once loomed out from the
Confederate batteries at Port
Hudson are on display at the
park.
Cannon from the Merrimac
This gun from the Port
Hudson batteries was taken
from the captured frigate
U.S.S. Merrimac before she
was converted into a
Confederate ironclad.
Trail at Port Hudson
Miles of trails lead through the
preserved areas of the Port
Hudson battlefield. This pic
was taken from a position
where Union troops had to
raise a white flag in order to
withdraw from a failed attack.
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