Port Hudson
Civil War Louisiana

American Civil War
May 21-July 9, 1863

In cooperation with Major General Ulysses S. Grant's offensive against Vicksburg, Union Major General Nathaniel P. Banks's army moved against the Confederate stronghold at Port Hudson on the Mississippi River.

On May 27, after their frontal assaults were repulsed, the Federals settled into a siege which lasted for 48 days. Banks renewed his assaults on June 14 but the defenders successfully repelled them.

On July 9, 1863, after hearing of the fall of Vicksburg, the Confederate garrison of Port Hudson surrendered, opening the Mississippi River to Union navigation from its source to New Orleans.

At the battle of Port Hudson, Louisiana, May 27, 1863, the African American soldiers bravely advanced over open ground in the face of deadly artillery fire. Although the attack failed, the black solders proved their capability to withstand the heat of battle.

Result(s): Union victory

Location: East Baton Rouge Parish and East Feliciana Parish

Campaign: Siege of Port Hudson (1863)

Date(s): May 21-July 9, 1863

Principal Commanders: Major General Nathaniel P. Banks [US]; Major General Franklin Gardner [CS]

Forces Engaged: XIX Army Corps, Army of the Gulf [US]; Confederate forces, 3rd District, Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, Port Hudson [CS]

Estimated Casualties: 12,208 total (US 5,000; CS 7,208)

A Grand Army of Black Men: Letters from African-American Soldiers in the Union Army 1861-1865
Almost 200,000 African-American soldiers fought for the Union in the Civil War. Although most were illiterate ex-slaves, several thousand were well educated, free black men from the northern states

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American Civil War Book Titles

Irish Rebels, Confederate Tigers: A History Of The 6th Louisiana Volunteers
A predominately Irish brigade from New Orleans. This regiment fought in Virginia during the entire Civil War, since New Orleans was captured so early in the war and the 6th Louisiana virtually became orphans in regards to State support.
Mutiny at Fort Jackson: The Untold Story of the Fall of New Orleans
Soldiers primarily recruited from large German and Irish populations. The Confederacy had done nothing to encourage poor white men to feel they had a place of honor in the southern republic. The mutineers actively sought to help the Union cause. Benjamin "Beast" Butler enjoyed the support of many white Unionists in New Orleans
In Camp and Battle With the Washington Artillery of New Orleans
Describes all major actions from the First Battle of Bull Run to the final surrender at Appomatox. A must read for all Civil War buffs. First published in 1885, Reissued in a limited edition that is an exact reproduction of the original, with a few additions
The Capture of New Orleans, 1862
On April 24, 1862, Federal gunboats made their way past two Confederate forts to ascend the Mississippi River, and the Union navy captured New Orleans. A hard look at the selection of military and naval leaders, the use of natural and financial resources, and the performances of all personnel involved. .

The Black Civil War Soldiers of Illinois: The Story of the Twenty-Ninth U.S. Colored Infantry
Study in the lives of black recruits in the Civil War era, and a journey into the hinterlands of an American racial pathos. Throughout this study, Miller explores in detail the biographies of individual soldiers, revealing their often convoluted histories
Slaves to Soldiers: African-American Fighting Men in the Civil War
Hope and Glory: Essays on the Legacy of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment
This volume brings together scholarship on the history of the 54th, the formation of collective memory and identity, and the ways Americans have responded to the story of the regiment and the Saint-Gaudens monument in Boston
Campfires of Freedom: The Camp Life of Black Soldiers During the Civil War
African-Americans - both freemen and ex-slaves - enlisted for a variety of reasons, from patriotism to sheer poverty. Like many of their white counterparts, they attributed theological significance to the war

Freedom for Themselves: North Carolina's Black Soldiers in the Civil War Era
The processes by which black men enlisted and were trained, the history of each regiment, the lives of the soldiers' families during the war, and the experiences of the colored veterans and their families living in an ex-Confederate state
A Boy Lieutenant: Memoirs of Freeman S. Bowley 30th United States Colored Troops Officer
A must read for High School and College African-American Studies
Strike the Blow for Freedom: The 6th United States Colored Infantry in the Civil War
The recruitment, training, battles and finally the mustering out of the 6th. The 6th shared some of the same influences that shaped the formation of many military units of that time
The Negro's Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted During the War for the Union
In this classic study, Pulitzer Prize-winning author James M. McPherson deftly narrates the experience of blacks--former slaves and soldiers, preachers, visionaries, doctors, intellectuals, and common people--during the Civil War

The Night the War Was Lost
With the fall of the critical city of New Orleans in spring 1862 the South lost the Civil War, although fighting would continue for three more years. On the Mississippi River, below New Orleans, in the predawn of April 24, 1862, David Farragut with fourteen gunboats ran past two forts to capture the South's principal seaport.

Tirailleurs: A History of The 4th Louisiana and The Acadians of Company H
Soldiers from West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. This book follows them through the Civil War and uses diaries, letters, and memoirs to allow the soldiers to tell their own story. From a bloodbath at Shiloh's Hornet's, Nest, to the Battle of Nashville.
Louisianians in the Civil War
Red River Campaign: Politics and Cotton in the Civil War
Fought on the Red River throughout Central and Northwestern Louisiana, this campaign is a study in how partisan politics, economic need and personal profit determined military policy and operations in Louisiana and Arkansas during the spring of 1864.

Civil War History Documentary DVD Movie Titles

Civil War Combat: America's Bloodiest Battles
The violent mayhem of the hornet's nest at Shiloh, the valiant charge on the sunken road at Antietam, the carnage in the wheat field at Gettysburg, and the brutal fighting at Cold Harbor
Civil War Journal - The Conflict Begins
These four programs from the History Channel series Civil War Journal cover critical aspects of the early days of the war.
Civil War Journal
Collector's Edition 4-DVD Set
Made exclusively for Books Are Fun. Discs include: · Stonewall Jackson · Sherman and the March to the Sea · West Point Classmates-Civil War Enemies · Robert E. Lee · Battle of 1st Bull Run · The 54th Massachusetts · John Brown s War · Destiny at Fort Sumter
Gettysburg / Gods and Generals
The tide of the war changes during three fierce days of combat at Gettysburg [Disc 1] the gripping saga of the tactics command errors and sacrifices behind the bloodiest battle ever fought on U.S. soil. Gods and Generals [Disc 2] reveals the spirited allegiances and fierce combat of earlier Civil War struggles

History Channel Presents The Civil War
From Harper's Ferry, Fort Sumter, and First Bull Run to Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg. The most legendary Civil War battles in brilliant detail. A selection of the soldiers and legendary leaders.
The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
Here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one
The Blue and the Gray
The Complete Miniseries
The Civil War proved a backdrop for this 1982 miniseries. Complete and uncut three disc set. Two families divided by the War Between the States. A Southerner caught when he becomes a war correspondent for the Northern newspaper. He finds himself  where history's in the making from the Battle of Bull Run to Abraham Lincoln's assassination
Blue Vs. Gray - Killing Fields
Relive the most vicious fighting of the Civil War, in which General Ulysses S. Grant forcibly reversed the tide of the conflict by paying with the blood of thousands. It was a desperate time for the Union

Baton Rouge Louisiana City History and current weather

Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress.
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