New Orleans in the American Civil War
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.
In April 1862, the
The prompt surrender of the city had saved it from serious damage, so it remains notably well-preserved today.
Early war years
The early
New Orleans soon became a major source of troops, armament, and supplies to the
The city was initially the site of a
Early in the Civil War, New Orleans became a prime target for the Union Army and Navy. The U.S. War Department planned a major attack to seize control of the city and its vital port, to choke off a major source of income and supplies for the fledgling Confederacy.
Fall of New Orleans
The political and commercial importance of New Orleans, as well as its strategic position, marked it out as the objective of a
.The main defenses of the Mississippi River consisted of two permanent forts,
On April 16, after elaborate reconnaissance, the Union's fleet steamed into position below the forts and prepared for the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip. On April 18, the mortar boats opened fire. Their shells fell with great accuracy, and although one of the boats was sunk by counter-fire and two more were disabled, Fort Jackson was seriously damaged. However, the defenses were by no means crippled, even after a second bombardment on April 19. A formidable obstacle to the advance of the Union main fleet was a boom between the forts, designed to detain vessels under close fire if they attempted to run past. Gunboats were repeatedly sent at night to endeavor to destroy the barrier, but they had little success. US Navy bombardment of the forts continued, disabling only a few Confederate guns. The gunners of Fort Jackson were under cover and limited in their ability to respond.
At last, on the night of April 23, the gunboats Pinola and Itasca ran in and opened a gap in the boom. At 2:00 a.m. on April 24, the fleet weighed anchor, Farragut in the corvette Hartford leading. After a severe conflict at close quarters with the forts and ironclads and fire rafts of the defense, almost all the Union fleet (except the mortar boats) forced its way past. The ships soon steamed upriver past the Chalmette batteries, the final significant Confederate defensive works protecting New Orleans from a sea-based attack.
At noon on April 25, Farragut anchored in front of the prized city. Forts Jackson and St. Philip, isolated and continuously bombarded by the mortar boats, surrendered on April 28. Soon afterwards, the infantry portion of the combined arms expedition marched into New Orleans and occupied the city without further resistance, resulting in the capture of New Orleans.
New Orleans had been captured without a battle in the city itself and so it was spared the destruction suffered by many other cities of the American South. It retains a historical flavor, with a wealth of 19th-century structures far beyond the early colonial city boundaries of the French Quarter.
The city was in Confederate hands for 455 days.
New Orleans under Union Army
The Federal commander,
Most notorious to city residents was
Among Butler's other controversial acts was the June hanging of
Maj. Gen.
Civil War heritage
A number of significant structures and buildings associated with the Civil War still stand in New Orleans, and vestiges of the city's defenses are evident downriver, as well as upriver at Camp Parapet.
On Camp Street, Louisiana's Civil War Museum at
Notable New Orleans people of the Confederate military
- P.G.T. Beauregard, Confederate general and inventor
- Judah P. Benjamin, United States Senator, Confederate Attorney General, Secretary of War and Secretary of State
- Albert G. Blanchard, Confederate general
- Harry T. Hays, Confederate general
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
External links
- New Orleans Civil War photo album
- Confederate Memorial Hall museum
- "The Washington Artillery, 5th Company, at the Battle of Perryville"—Article by Civil War historian/author Bryan S. Bush
- Online exhibit about the Civil War at Louisiana State Museum
Further reading
- Grace King: New Orleans, the Place and the People (1895)
- Henry Rightor: Standard History of New Orleans (1900)
- John Smith Kendall: History of New Orleans (1922)
- Clara Solomon and Elliott Ashkenazi (ed.), The Civil War diary of Clara Solomon : Growing up in New Orleans, 1861-1862. Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press (1995) ISBN 0-8071-1968-7.
- ISBN 0-8071-2689-6.
- Albert Gaius Hills and Gary L. Dyson (ed.), "A Civil War Correspondent in New Orleans, the Journals and Reports of Albert Gaius Hills of the Boston Journal." McFarland and Company, Inc.(2013) ISBN 978-0-7864-7193-5.