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Port Hudson

en.wikipedia.org

Originally aired on January 23, 1998 - In part 178 of our Civil War series, Virginia Tech history professor James Robertson discusses the events surrounding Port Hudson.

#178 – Port Hudson

In the spring of 1863, a disgusted Union soldier stationed along the Mississippi River declared that “when God was through creating the Earth he took all the leftover pieces and dumped them into a place called Port Hudson, Louisiana”. That Billy Yank had reason to think as he did. By mid-1863 the North controlled all but a 150 mile section on the Mississippi. The northern boundary of the strip was Vicksburg, Mississippi. At the southern end, only twenty-five miles from Baton Rouge was Port Hudson.

They were the only Confederate strongholds left on the great river. Both stood on high ground where the Mississippi made sweeping bends. Both towns were heavily defended by artillery. One of the major offensives of the Civil War began in May of that year when General U. S. Grant advanced on Vicksburg with his army.

General Nathaniel Banks with a second Union force was to move northward and assist Grant. Yet, the ever ambitious Banks, who seriously aspired to be President, somehow altered his assignment and made for Port Hudson. Banks had 30,000 soldiers, more than Grant had for the campaign against Vicksburg. In addition, a fleet of gunboats was at Banks’ disposal.

The Port Hudson garrison consisted of but 6,800 Confederates entrenched in four and half miles of earthen fortifications. Yet those earthworks, plus the natural impediments of steep ravines, thick woods, and meandering bayous made Port Hudson as impregnable as Vicksburg.

On May 27th, Banks launched attacks against the two flanks of the Southern lines. The vagueness of his orders, the uneven terrain, and a lack of cooperation among Union commanders brought a disaster. Banks lost 2,000 men. Confederate casualties were fewer than 500.

This May 27th engagement also marked the first assault in American history by organized black soldiers. Two regiments of Louisiana freedmen threw themselves against the enemy works. Of 1,080 blacks in that attack over 300 were killed and wounded. Among the fatalities was a color bearer, who accepted the flag that morning with the vow: “Colonel, I will bring back the colors with honor or report to God the reason why not.” This black soldier was killed early in the action.

Banks refused to back off. After all his political future was at stake. So he called up more soldiers and on June 14 attacked again. At 4am Union troops assailed the Confederate center. The battle ended in mid-morning. Federals has suffered 1,800 losses to less than 200 casualties for the Southerners.

The two Union offensives in May and June had produced between blue and gray a twelve to one disparity in battle losses. Banks then determined to starve the Confederate garrison into submission. For three weeks Southern soldiers battled hunger and sickness. An Arkansas soldier noted late in June that the men had eaten, “all the beef, all the mules, all the dogs, all the rats”.

On July 4th Grant captured Vicksburg. That left the Port Hudson defenders isolated. On July 9th, weary Confederates raised the white flag over Port Hudson. Abraham Lincoln had received the news of Vicksburg with the comment, “the father of waters again goes unvexed to the sea”. That was not so until Port Hudson fell. Only then did the Mississippi River become an unobstructed Union highway. An ecstatic General Banks told his wife: “We have taken from the Confederates the power to establish an independent government. You can tell your friends that the Confederacy is an impossibility.”

Banks never became President. The Civil War lasted two more years. Port Hudson became a ghost town. The positive note of that campaign was the courage displayed in combat by black soldiers. “Port Hudson,” the New York Times declared, “settles the question that the Negro race can fight.”  

Dr. James I. "Bud" Robertson, Jr., is a noted scholar on the American Civil War and Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Virginia Tech.