Fort DeRussy
Civil War Louisiana

American Civil War
March 14, 1864

The Union launched a multi-purpose expedition into Rebel General E. Kirby Smith's Trans-Mississippi Department, headquartered in Shreveport, Louisiana, in early 1864. Major General Nathaniel P. Banks and Rear Adm. David D. Porter jointly commanded the combined force.
Porter's fleet and Brigadier General A.J. Smith's XVI and XVII Army Corps detachments of the Army of the Tennessee set out on March 12, 1864, up the Red River, the most direct route to Shreveport.Banks with the XIII and XIX Army Corps advanced by way of Berwick Bay and Bayou Teche.
After removing various obstructions that the Rebels had placed in the river, the major impediment to the Union expedition was the formidable Fort DeRussy, an earthen fortification with a partly iron-plated battery designed to resist the fire of Union ironclads that might come up river.
Union Brigadier General A.J. Smith's command had embarked on transports at Vicksburg and then disembarked at Simsport, on the 12th, about thirty miles from Fort DeRussy. Smith sent out some troops on the morning of the 13th to determine if any enemy was in their path. This force dispersed and chased an enemy brigade, after which, Smith set his men in motion up the Fort DeRussy road. They did not proceed far before night.
Early the next morning, the 14th, they continued the march, discovering that a Confederate division threatened their advance. Always mindful of this threat, Smith had to place part of his command in a position to intercept these Rebel forces if they attacked.
Upon arriving at the fort, the enemy garrison of 350 men opened fire. Smith decided to use Mower's division, XVI Army Corps, to take the fort and set about positioning it for the attack. Around 6:30 pm, Smith ordered a charge on the fort and about twenty minutes later, Mower's men scaled the parapet, causing the enemy to surrender.
Fort DeRussy, which some had said was impregnable, had fallen and the Red River to Alexandria was open.
Result(s): Union victory
Location: Avoyelles Parish
Campaign: Red River Campaign (1864)
Date(s): March 14, 1864
Principal Commanders: Brigadier General A.J. Smith and Brigadier General Joseph Mower [US]; Lieutenant Colonel William Byrd [CS]
Forces Engaged: 3rd Division, XVI Army Corps [US]; Fort DeRussy Garrison (approx. 350 men) [CS]

Estimated Casualties: 317 total (US 48; CS 269)

Union River Ironclad 1861-65
At the start of the American Civil War, neither side had warships on the Mississippi River. In what would prove the vital naval campaign of the war, both sides fought for control of the river. While the Confederates relied on field fortifications and small gunboats, the Union built a series of revolutionary river ironclads

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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	Naval Strategies of the Civil War: Confederate Innovations and Federal Opportunism Compare and contrast the strategies of the Southern Secretary of the Navy, Mallory, against his rival in the North, Welles. Mallory used technological innovation and the skill of individuals to bolster the South's seapower against the Union Navy's superior numbers	Confederate Ironclad 1861-65 Every aspect of Confederate ironclads is covered: design, construction, armor, armament, life on board, strategy, tactics, and actual combat actions.
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

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Sources:

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

Fort DeRussy Civil War Louisiana

American Civil War March 14, 1864

Fort DeRussy
Civil War Louisiana

American Civil War
March 14, 1864