Louisiana in the American Civil War

Coordinates: 31°N 92°W / 31°N 92°W / 31; -92
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the Confederate state of Louisiana between 1861 and 1865. For the ship, see CSS Louisiana. For other uses, see Louisiana (disambiguation).

Louisiana
Flag of Louisiana
Flag

Admitted to the Confederacy
March 21, 1861 (3rd)
Population
  • 708,002 total
  •  • 376,276 (53.15%) free
  •  • 331,726 (46.85%) slave
Forces supplied
  • - Confederate troops: 50,000[1]

- Union troops: 29,000 (24,000 black; 5,000 white)[2][3] total
GovernorThomas Moore
Henry Allen
Lieutenant Governor
Senators
Representatives
List
Restored to the UnionJuly 9, 1868
History of Louisiana
flag United States portal
Seal of the Confederate States of America
Confederate States
in the
American Civil War
Dual governments
Territory
Allied tribes in
Indian Territory

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.

Louisiana declared that it had

U.S. Congress. For the latter part of the war, both the U.S. and the Confederacy recognized their own distinct Louisiana governors.[4]: 1–9  Similarly, New Orleans and 13 named parishes of the state were exempted from the Emancipation Proclamation, which applied exclusively to states in rebellion against the Union.[5]

Politics and strategy in Louisiana

Secession

Main article: Louisiana secession

On January 8, 1861, Louisiana Governor

planter and slave holder
, Moore acted aggressively to engineer the secession of Louisiana from the Union by a convention on January 23. Only five percent of the public were represented in the convention, and the state's military actions were ordered before secession had been established—in defiance of the state constitution, which called for a popular referendum to establish a convention. Moore attempted to justify these actions, saying: "I do not think it comports with the honor and self-respect of Louisiana as a slave-holding state to live under the government of a Black Republican president", using an epithet for Republicans used by many Democrats at the time.

The strategies advanced to defend Louisiana and the other

ironclads, to safeguard the mouth of the Mississippi from the U.S. Navy. All of these strategies were failures.[6]

In March 1861, George Williamson, the Louisianan state commissioner, addressed the Texan secession convention, where he called upon the slave states of the U.S. to declare secession from the Union in order to continue practicing slavery:

With the social balance wheel of slavery to regulate its machinery, we may fondly indulge the hope that our Southern government will be perpetual ... Louisiana looks to the formation of a Southern confederacy to preserve the blessings of African slavery ...

— George Williamson, speech to the Texan secession convention (March 1861).[7]

One Louisianan artillery soldier gave his reasons for fighting for the Confederacy, stating that "I never want to see the day when a negro is put on an equality with a white person. There is too many free niggers ... now to suit me, let alone having four millions."[8]

Union plans

Main article: Mississippi River in the American Civil War
Approaches to New Orleans, Department of the Gulf Map No. 5, February 14, 1863.[9]

The Union's response to Moore's leveraged secession was embodied in U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's realization that the Mississippi River was the "backbone of the Rebellion." If control of the river were accomplished, the largest city in the Confederacy would be taken back for the Union, and the Confederacy would be split in half. Lincoln moved rapidly to back Admiral David Dixon Porter's idea of a naval advance up the river to both capture New Orleans and maintain Lincoln's political support; by supplying cotton to northern textile manufacturers and renewing trade and exports from the port of New Orleans. The U.S. Navy would become both a formidable invasion force and a means of transporting Union forces, along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. This strategic vision would prove victorious in Louisiana.[10][11]: 10–78 

Notable Civil War leaders from Louisiana

A number of notable leaders were associated with Louisiana during the

LSU
) at the start of the war.

postbellum U.S. Senator as a Democrat. Other brigadiers of note included Alfred Mouton (killed at the Battle of Mansfield), Harry T. Hays, Chatham Roberdeau Wheat (commander of the celebrated "Louisiana Tigers" of the Army of Northern Virginia), and Francis T. Nicholls (commander of the "Pelican Brigade" until he lost his left foot at Chancellorsville). St. John Lidell was a prominent brigade commander in the Army of Tennessee.[13]: 166 [14]

Albert Gallatin Blanchard was a rarity—a Confederate general born in Massachusetts
.

Governor Thomas Overton Moore, came held office from 1860 through early 1864. When war erupted, he unsuccessfully lobbied the Confederate government in Richmond for a strong defense of New Orleans. Two days before the city surrendered in April 1862, Moore and the legislature abandoned Baton Rouge as the state capital, relocating to Opelousas in May. Thomas Moore organized military resistance at the state level, ordered the burning of cotton, cessation of trade with the Union forces, and heavily recruited troops for the state militia.[15]

Battles in Louisiana

Battles in Louisiana during the American Civil War.

Battles in Louisiana tended to be concentrated along the major waterways, like the

Red River Campaign
.

Battle Date
Battle of the Head of Passes October 12, 1861
Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip April 18, 1862
Capture of New Orleans April 25, 1862
Battle of Baton Rouge August 5, 1862
Battle of Donaldsonville I August 9, 1862
Battle of Georgia Landing October 27, 1862
Battle of Fort Bisland April 12, 1863
Battle of Irish Bend April 14, 1863
Battle of Vermilion Bayou April 17, 1863
Battle of Plains Store May 21, 1863
Siege of Port Hudson May 22, 1863
Battle of Milliken's Bend June 7, 1863
Battle of LaFourche Crossing June 20, 1863
Battle of Donaldsonville II June 28, 1863
Battle of Goodrich's Landing June 29, 1863
Battle of Kock's Plantation July 12, 1863
Battle of Stirling's Plantation September 29, 1863
Battle of Bayou Bourbeux (aka Grand Coteau) November 3, 1863
Battle of Fort DeRussy March 14, 1864
Battle of Henderson's Hill March 21, 1864
Battle of Mansfield (aka Sabine Cross-Roads) April 8, 1864
Battle of Pleasant Hill April 9, 1864
Battle of Blair's Landing April 12, 1864
Battle of Monett's Ferry April 23, 1864
Battle of Calcasieu Pass May 6, 1864
Battle of Mansura May 16, 1864
Battle of Yellow Bayou May 16, 1864

Restoration to Union

Following the end of the Civil War, Louisiana was part of the Fifth Military District.

After meeting the requirements of

US Constitution
to abolish slavery and grant citizenship to former slaves, Louisiana's representatives were readmitted to Congress. The state was fully restored to the United States on July 9, 1868.

As part of the Compromise of 1877, under which Southern Democrats acknowledged Republican Rutherford B. Hayes as president, there was the understanding that the Republicans would meet certain demands. One affecting Louisiana was the removal of all U.S. military forces from the former Confederate states.[16] At the time, U.S. troops remained in only Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida, but the Compromise saw their complete withdrawal from the region.

See also

Notes

Abbreviations used in these notes
Official atlas: Atlas to accompany the official records of the Union and Confederate armies.
ORA (Official records, armies): War of the Rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies.
ORN (Official records, navies): Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.

References

  1. ^ Sacher, John M. Confederate Soldiers | 64 Parishes. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  2. ^ Hunter, G. Howard. Unionist Troops in Louisiana | 64 Parishes. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  3. ^ Sacher, John M. Civil War Louisiana. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  4. ISBN 0-8071-1945-8
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0-521-22979-1
    .
  6. ^ Hearn, pp. 2-31.
  7. ^ Winkler, E.W. (1861). Journal of the Secession Convention of Texas. Texas. Retrieved September 8, 2015.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ISBN 0-19-509-023-3
    . Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  9. ^ Official atlas: plate XC.
  10. ^ Chester G. Hearn, The Capture of New Orleans, 1862 (LSU Press, 1995)
  11. ISBN 0-87338-486-5
    .
  12. ^ Hearn, pp. 22-31.
  13. ISBN 0-8317-3264-4
    .
  14. ^ Hearn, p. 129.
  15. ^ Hearn, pp. 2-3.
  16. ^ Woodward, C. Vann (1966). Reunion and Reaction: The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. pp. 169–171.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Louisiana in the American Civil War.
Preceded by
List of C.S. states by date of admission to the Confederacy
Ratified Constitution
on March 21, 1861 (3rd) 		Succeeded by

31°N 92°W / 31°N 92°W / 31; -92

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