Port Hudson State Historic Site

Port Hudson State Historic Site
Map of the United States
Location	East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
Nearest city	Port Hudson, Louisiana
Coordinates	30°40′56″N 91°17′05″W / 30.68222°N 91.28472°W / 30.68222; -91.28472Coordinates: 30°40′56″N 91°17′05″W / 30.68222°N 91.28472°W / 30.68222; -91.28472
Governing body	Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism; Office of State Parks

The Port Hudson State Historic Site is located on the Mississippi River north of Baton Rouge in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, just outside the limits of Port Hudson. The site is the location of the longest siege in American history during the American Civil War from May 23 through July 9, 1863. The state of Louisiana maintains the site, which includes a museum about the siege, artillery displays, redoubts and interpretive plaques. Living history re-enactments are held each year.

Port Hudson National Cemetery is located nearby.

National Historic Landmark

Port Hudson was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 30, 1974. New housing developments and utility lines within the landmark are damaging both surface features (trenches and earthworks) and subsurface archeological resources.^[1]

Addition

An addition to this historic site includes 256 acres (1.04 km²) where African American troops made their first major assault in the Civil War. This addition was made possible by The Conservation Fund using its Battlefield Revolving Fund established by grants from The Gilder Foundation and contributions from a number of partners.^[2]

Archaeology surveys

Port Hudson & Vicinity, 1864.

A survey of Union Siege Battery 8 was conducted by archaeology students from Louisiana State University. Goals of the survey included locating the exact boundaries of the battery and finding evidence of a zigzag trench, or sap, that historical accounts say the Union troops dug from the battery to a short distance from the Confederate lines. The project will also produce a digital topographical map of the area so that park staff may overlay with historical maps.^[3]

Battery 8 is located in the northeast portion of the Union Siege lines (view 1864 map).^[4]

Gallery

Confederate siege gun mounted in the river fortifications, 1863.
View of Fort Desperate from the observation tower.
Outside the Fort Desperate earthworks looking west.
Fort Desperate, July 1863.
Foster Creek below Artillery Ridge looking west toward Fort Babcock.
Foster Creek west of the Alabama-Arkansas Redoubt looking north toward Artillery Ridge.
Captain Bainbridge's Battery A, 1st U.S. Artillery, 1863.
US Army 20-Pounder Parrott Rifle Model 1861.

Notes

↑ National Historic Landmark Database
↑ The Conservation Fund
↑ James Minton, Advocate Baker-Zachary Bureau, Students Dig Port Hudson History, October 6, 2009, Page 1B.
↑ Map of Port Hudson and vicinity Prepared by order of Major General N. P. Banks under the direction of Major D. C. Houston, Chief Engineer, Department of the Gulf and Captain Peter C. Hains, Corps of Engr's. 1864.

External links

Port Hudson State Historic Site - official site at Louisiana Department of Culture Recreation And Tourism
Port Hudson Photo Tour - CivilWarAlbum.com
Port Hudson Photos - The Wandering Rebel

Protected areas of Louisiana

Federal

National Historical Parks	Cane River Creole Jean Lafitte NHP and Preserve New Orleans Jazz

National Monuments	Poverty Point

National Marine Sanctuary	Flower Garden Banks

National Forests	Kisatchie

National Wildlife Refuge System	Atchafalaya Bayou Cocodrie Bayou Sauvage Bayou Teche Big Branch Marsh Black Bayou Lake Bogue Chitto Breton Cameron Prairie Cat Island Catahoula D'Arbonne Delta East Cove Grand Cote Handy Brake Lacassine Lake Ophelia Mandalay Red River Shell Keys Sabine Tensas River Upper Ouachita

State

State Parks	Bayou Segnette Bogue Chitto Chemin-A-Haut Chicot Cypremort Point Fairview-Riverside Fontainebleau Grand Isle Hodges Gardens Jimmie Davis Lake Bistineau Lake Bruin Lake Claiborne Lake D-Arbonne Lake Fausse Pointe North Toledo Bend Palmetto Island Poverty Point Reservoir St. Bernard Sam Houston Jones South Toledo Bend Tickfaw

State Historic Sites	Audubon Centenary Fort Jesup Fort Pike Fort St. Jean Baptiste Forts Randolph & Buhlow Locust Grove Longfellow-Evangeline Los Adaes Mansfield Marksville Plaquemine Lock Port Hudson Poverty Point Rebel State Rosedown Plantation Winter Quarters

State Preservation Area	Louisiana State Arboretum

State Forests	Alexander Indian Creek

State Wildlife Refuges	Elmer's Island Marsh Island Rockefeller St. Tammany State Terrebonne Barrier Islands White Lake Wetlands

Wildlife management areas	Acadiana Conservation Corridor Atchafalaya Delta Attakapas Barataria Preserve Bayou Macon Bayou Pierre Ben's Creek Big Colewa Bayou Big Lake Biloxi Bodcau Boeuf Bonnet Carre Spillway Buckhorn Camp Beauregard Catahoula Lake Clear Creek Dewey Wills Elbow Slough Elm Hall Floy Ward McElroy Fort Polk Grassy Lake Hutchinson Creek Indian Bayou Jackson Bienville Joyce Lake Boeuf Lake Ramsey Savannah Little River Loggy Bayou Manchac Marsh Bayou Maurepas Swamp Old River Control Ouachita Pass A Loutre Pearl River Peason Ridge Pointe-aux-Chenes Pomme de Terre Red River Russell Sage Sabine Island Sabine Salvador/Timken Sandy Hollow Sherburne Sicily Island Hills Soda Lake Spring Bayou Tangipahoa Parish School Board Thistlethwaite Three Rivers Tunica Hills Union Walnut Hill West Bay

Other

Private	Bird City Paul J. Rainey Wildlife Sanctuary

Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation & Tourism (web)
Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry (web)
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (web)