 The submarine on display beside Bayou St. John, 1890s | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 CSA | |
| Fate | Scuttled, c. April 25, 1862 |
| Status | Museum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Submarine |
| Length | 20 ft (6.1 m) |
| Beam | 3 ft (0.91 m) |
| Height | 6 ft (1.8 m) |
| Propulsion | Hand-cranked propeller |
| Armament | Spar torpedo (presumed) |
The Bayou St. John Confederate Submarine is an early military submarine built for use by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.
The submarine is constructed of riveted iron, 20 feet (6.1 m) long, 3 feet (0.91 m) wide and 6 feet (1.8 m) deep, with a hand-cranked propeller. [1]
No period documentation for the submarine is known to exist, and its original name and many details about it remain unknown. The submarine was rediscovered in 1878 during the dredging of Bayou St. John where it joins Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, Louisiana, where the submarine was presumably scuttled to prevent it falling into Union hands after the capture of New Orleans. It was put on display beside the Bayou at Spanish Fort Amusement Park as a curiosity, incorrectly identified as the Confederate submarine Pioneer . [1] [2]
The traditional identification as the Pioneer was not questioned seriously until historical research in the late 20th century showed the Pioneer to be of a different design than the one retrieved from Bayou St. John. The Bayou submarine and the Pioneer may have undergone trials at about the same time, and confusion of the two may date back to contemporary accounts; it is not clear which one was constructed first. [2]
In 1908 the submarine was moved to the grounds of Camp Nicholls Confederate Home on Moss Street, beside Bayou St. John. [1] At some point probably in the 1930s the interior of the submarine was filled with concrete in an attempt at preservation that later generations of conservators found questionable. [3]
In 1942 the submarine was acquired by the Louisiana State Museum and moved to Jackson Square. After being in various displays around the Square it was placed in the shelter of the arcade on the ground floor of the Presbytere in 1957, where remained until 1998. [1]
The submarine was then transported to Baton Rouge, where the old concrete was removed as part of restoration efforts. Afterwards, it was placed on display at the Capitol Park Museum - Baton Rouge. [1]
Baton Rouge is the capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish. Since 2020, it has been the second-largest city in Louisiana after New Orleans; Baton Rouge is the 18th-most-populous state capital. According to the 2020 United States census, the city-proper had a population of 227,470; its consolidated population was 456,781 in 2020. The city is the center of the Greater Baton Rouge area—Louisiana's second-largest metropolitan area—with a population of 870,569 as of 2020, up from 802,484 in 2010. Baton Rouge is the fourth most populous city proper in the Deep South region of the southeastern United States.
West Baton Rouge Parish is one of the sixty-four parishes in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Established in 1807, its parish seat is Port Allen. With a 2020 census population of 27,199 residents, West Baton Rouge Parish is part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area.
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The Louisiana State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Louisiana and is located in downtown Baton Rouge. The capitol houses the chambers for the Louisiana State Legislature, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as the office of the Governor of Louisiana. At 450 feet (137 m) tall and with 34 stories, it is the tallest skyscraper in Baton Rouge, the seventh tallest building in Louisiana, and tallest capitol in the United States. It is located on a 27-acre (110,000 m2) tract, which includes the capitol gardens. The Louisiana State Capitol is often thought of as "Huey Long's monument" due to the influence of the former Governor and U.S. Senator in getting the capitol built. The building's construction was completed in 1931. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982.
Henry Watkins Allen was a member of the Confederate States Army and the Texian Army as a soldier, also serving as a military leader, politician, writer, slave owner, and sugar cane planter.
Spanish Fort, also known as Old Spanish Fort, Fort St. Jean, and Fort St. John, is a historic place in New Orleans, Louisiana, formerly the site of a fort and later an amusement park.
Jean-Jacques-Alfred-Alexandre "Alfred" Mouton was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. Although trained at West Point, he soon resigned his commission to become a civil engineer and then a sugarcane grower, while also serving as a brigadier general in the Louisiana State Militia.
New Orleans, Louisiana, was the largest city in the South, providing military supplies and thousands of troops for the Confederate States Army. Its location near the mouth of the Mississippi made it a prime target for the Union, both for controlling the huge waterway and crippling the Confederacy’s vital cotton exports.
Louisiana was a dominant population center in the southwest of the Confederate States of America, controlling the wealthy trade center of New Orleans, and contributing the French Creole and Cajun populations to the demographic composition of a predominantly Anglo-American country. In the antebellum period, Louisiana was a slave state, where enslaved African Americans had comprised the majority of the population during the eighteenth-century French and Spanish dominations. By the time the United States acquired the territory (1803) and Louisiana became a state (1812), the institution of slavery was entrenched. By 1860, 47% of the state's population were enslaved, though the state also had one of the largest free black populations in the United States. Much of the white population, particularly in the cities, supported slavery, while pockets of support for the U.S. and its government existed in the more rural areas.
The Old Louisiana State Capitol, also known as the State House, is a historic government building, and now a museum, at 100 North Boulevard in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. It housed the Louisiana State Legislature from the mid-19th century until the current capitol tower building was constructed from 1929-32.
Pioneer was the first of three submarines privately developed and paid for by Horace Lawson Hunley, James McClintock, and Baxter Watson.
The Pentagon Barracks, also known as the Old United States Barracks, is a complex of buildings located at the corner of State Capitol Drive and River Road in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the grounds of the state capitol. The site was used by the Spanish, French, British, Confederate States Army, and United States Army and was part of the short-lived Republic of West Florida. During its use as a military post the site has been visited by such notable figures as Zachary Taylor, Lafayette, Robert E. Lee, George Custer, Jefferson Davis, and Abraham Lincoln.
Magnolia Cemetery is a 10-acre (4.0 ha) cemetery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The foundation of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, dates to 1721, at the site of a bâton rouge or "red stick" Muscogee boundary marker. It became the state capital of Louisiana in 1849.
The Capitol Park Museum is a branch of the Louisiana State Museum located at 660 N. 4th Street, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
1st Regiment Indiana Heavy Artillery was a heavy artillery regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was nicknamed the "Jackass Regiment". Before being converted into an artillery unit in 1863, it served as the 21st Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
The 17th Louisiana Infantry Regiment was a unit of volunteers recruited in Louisiana that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The regiment formed at Camp Moore in September 1861 and served during the war in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The unit stayed in New Orleans until February 1862 and then moved north to Corinth, Mississippi. The regiment first saw action at Shiloh in April 1862 while serving in Patton Anderson's brigade. Afterwards, the regiment redeployed to the Vicksburg area and repelled Sherman's attack at Chickasaw Bayou that December. In 1863 the regiment took part in the Vicksburg campaign, first fighting at Port Gibson and then at the Siege of Vicksburg in William Baldwin's brigade. On July 4, 1863, the regiment was surrendered along with all other Confederate soldiers at Vicksburg. The soldiers were paroled and went home. The regiment reported to a parole camp at Shreveport, Louisiana, in January 1864. The regiment was on garrison duty in western Louisiana for the remainder of the war, before disbanding in May 1865.
The 26th Louisiana Infantry Regiment was a unit of volunteers recruited in Louisiana that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The regiment formed in April 1862 in New Orleans and served during the war in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. After the Capture of New Orleans, the regiment marched to Mississippi and stayed in the area of Jackson and Vicksburg. It fought at Chickasaw Bayou in December 1862. The regiment defended the city during the Siege of Vicksburg and was captured when it fell. The soldiers were paroled and went home. The regiment was not declared exchanged until August 1864, but many soldiers never reported for duty. What remained of the regiment spent most of the rest of the war near Pineville, Louisiana, on garrison duty, and disbanded in May 1865.
The 1st Louisiana Regular Battery was an artillery unit recruited from volunteers in Louisiana that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The battery was accepted into Confederate service in October 1861. The battery fought at Baton Rouge in August 1862, then it transferred to the west bank of the Mississippi River and fought at Georgia Landing in October. In 1863, it fought at Fort Bisland and Vermillion Bayou. The battery was attached to Tom Green's Texas cavalry brigade for the remainder of the year and fought at Second Donaldsonville. In 1864, the battery did not come into action at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, but it fought at Mansura and Yellow Bayou. The battery was at Tyler, Texas, at the end of the conflict.
