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The siege of Port Hudson was the final engagement in the Union campaign to recapture the Mississippi River in the American Civil War. While Union General Ulysses Grant was besieging Vicksburg upriver, General Nathaniel Banks was ordered to capture the lower Mississippi Confederate stronghold of Port Hudson, Louisiana, to go to Grant's aid. When his assault failed, Banks settled into a 48-day siege, the longest in US military history up to that point. A second attack also failed, and it was only after the fall of Vicksburg that the Confederate commander, General Franklin Gardner, surrendered the port. The Union gained control of the river and navigation from the Gulf of Mexico through the Deep South and to the river's upper reaches.
Bayou Teche is a 125-mile-long (201 km) waterway in south central Louisiana in the United States. Bayou Teche was the Mississippi River's main course when it developed a delta about 2,800 to 4,500 years ago. Through a natural process known as deltaic switching, the river's deposits of silt and sediment cause the Mississippi to change its course every thousand years or so.
The Vicksburg campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi River. The Union Army of the Tennessee under Major General Ulysses S. Grant gained control of the river by capturing this stronghold and defeating Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's forces stationed there.
XIX Corps was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War. It spent most of its service in Louisiana and the Gulf, though several units fought in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.
Richard "Dick" Taylor was an American planter, politician, military historian, and Confederate general. Following the outbreak of the American Civil War, Taylor joined the Confederate States Army, serving first as a brigade commander in Virginia and later as an army commander in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. Taylor commanded the District of West Louisiana and opposed United States troops advancing through upper northwest Louisiana during the Red River Campaign of 1864. He was the only son of Zachary Taylor, the 12th president of the United States. After the war and Reconstruction, Taylor published a memoir about his experiences.
The Red River campaign, also known as the Red River expedition, was a major Union offensive campaign in the Trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War, the campaign taking place from March 10 to May 22, 1864. It was launched through the densely forested gulf coastal plain region between the Red River Valley and central Arkansas towards the end of the war. The offensive was intended to stop Confederate use of the Louisiana port of Shreveport, open an outlet for the sugar and cotton of northern Louisiana, and to split the Confederate lines, allowing the Union to encircle and destroy the Confederate military forces in Louisiana and southern Arkansas. It marked the last major offensive attempted by the Union in the Trans-Mississippi Theater.
The Battle of Plains Store was fought on May 21, 1863, in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, during the campaign to capture Port Hudson in the American Civil War. Union troops advancing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, clashed with 600 Confederates at a road junction. The initial Confederate force withdrew, but 400 more Confederates arrived from Port Hudson. Some of the Confederate reinforcement overran Union artillery and routed a Union regiment, but were unable to capture the guns. Union reinforcements advanced to the front, attacked part of the Confederate force and drove them from the field. The Confederates withdrew to Port Hudson, which was almost entirely surrounded by Union troops the next day. Port Hudson was under siege until the defenders surrendered on July 9.
The trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War was the scene of the major military operations west of the Mississippi River. The area is often thought of as excluding the states and territories bordering the Pacific Ocean, which formed the Pacific coast theater of the American Civil War (1861–1865).
The lower seaboard theater of the American Civil War encompassed major military and naval operations that occurred near the coastal areas of the Southeastern United States: in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Port Hudson, Louisiana, and points south of it.
The Battle of Fort Bisland was fought in the American Civil War between Union Major General Nathaniel P. Banks against Confederate Major General Richard Taylor during Banks' operations against the Bayou Teche region in southern Louisiana.
The Battle of Irish Bend, also known as Nerson's Woods or Franklin, took place during the American Civil War. It was fought between Union Major General Nathaniel Prentice Banks against Confederate Major General Richard Taylor during Banks's operations against the Bayou Teche region near Franklin, the seat of St. Mary Parish in southern Louisiana.
The Battle of Vermilion Bayou or Battle of Pinhook Bridge was fought on April 17, 1863, the third battle in a series of running battles between Union Major General Nathaniel Prentice Banks and Confederate Major General Richard Taylor. The battle was fought after both the Battle of Fort Bisland and the Battle of Irish Bend. On October 9, 1863 a skirmish with Confederate & Federal cavalry occurred at the same location.
The Company A, Arizona Rangers was a cavalry formation of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
The 52nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was a regiment of infantry that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was one of the 18 Massachusetts regiments formed in response to President Abraham Lincoln's August 1862 call for 300,000 men to serve for nine months. The regiment was recruited in Franklin and Hampshire Counties and rendezvoused for mustering in at Camp Miller in Greenfield, Massachusetts. The 52nd Massachusetts was assigned to the Department of the Gulf under Major General Nathaniel P. Banks and shipped for Louisiana. The regiment participated in the Bayou Teche campaign in western Louisiana during April and May 1863 and then saw combat during the Siege of Port Hudson.
The 13th Massachusetts Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The unit was organized at Camp Meigs near Boston during the fall of 1862. Its members were mustered in at various times over the fall and the officers mustered into federal service on November 3, 1862. It was assigned to the Department of the Gulf commanded by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks and departed Massachusetts by steamship on January 20, 1863.
The Mississippi River was an important military highway that bordered ten states, roughly equally divided between Union and Confederate loyalties.
The Battle of Henderson's Hill, also known as the Bayou Rapides, saw a reinforced Union Army division led by Brigadier General Joseph A. Mower opposed by a regiment of Confederate Army cavalry and attached artillery under Colonel William G. Vincent. That evening, during a rainstorm, Mower sent one infantry brigade on a circuitous march to gain the rear of Vincent's command. The brigade's subsequent attack surprised and captured most of the Confederates. Mower could not exploit his minor victory because the arrival of additional Federal army and naval units was delayed. This clash occurred during the Red River campaign of the American Civil War which saw Major General Nathaniel P. Banks' Union army try to seize Shreveport, Louisiana, from its Confederate defenders led by Lieutenant General Richard Taylor.
The 2nd Louisiana Cavalry Regiment was a unit of mounted volunteers recruited in Louisiana that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Breazeale's Cavalry Battalion was formed in July 1862 and was augmented by five additional companies in September 1862 to form a regiment. It served for the entire war west of the Mississippi River in the Trans-Mississippi Department. The regiment fought at Georgia Landing, Fort Bisland, Irish Bend, and Brashear City in 1863 and Henderson's Hill and Mansfield in 1864. Afterward, the regiment fought in minor skirmishes before the Trans-Mississippi's final surrender on 26 May 1865.
The 4th Louisiana Infantry Regiment was a unit of volunteers recruited in Louisiana that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Formed in May 1861, the regiment served in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The unit fought at Shiloh and Baton Rouge in 1862 and at Jackson in 1863. A detachment served during the Siege of Port Hudson and was captured. In 1864, the regiment fought in the Atlanta campaign where it lost heavily at Jonesborough. At Nashville in December 1864 most of the men were captured. The survivors were consolidated with several other units and fought at Spanish Fort in April 1865. The remnant surrendered in May 1865.
The 1st Louisiana Field Battery was an artillery unit recruited from volunteers in Louisiana that fought in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The battery mustered into Confederate service in October 1861. The unit traveled to Fort Jackson in early 1862 and took part in the defense of Forts Jackson and St. Philip. The soldiers became prisoners when the forts surrendered and the battery reformed at Franklin after their prisoner exchange. The battery fought at Fort Bisland and Irish Bend in 1863. Later in the year the battery engaged Union shipping on the rivers in several actions. In 1864 the battery briefly fought at Mansfield before its commander was killed while engaging Union gunboats in late April. The unit also fought at Mansura and Yellow Bayou. The battery was in Texas when the Trans-Mississippi Department surrendered in May 1865.
References
- Jones, Terry L., Historical Dictionary of the Civil War. Scarecrow Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8108-4112-6.