The Siege of Port Hudson:
"Forty Days and Nights in the Wilderness of Death"

Confederate fort after the siege. (Massachusetts MOLLUS Collection, U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, PA) W e eat all the meat and bread in the fort...eat all the beef--all the mules--all the Dogs--and all the Rats around us. So wrote a soldier who had been inside the Confederate defenses at Port Hudson, Louisiana, during one of the longest sieges in American military history. For 48 days in 1863, he and his fellow troops defended a fort that stood on top of a bluff above the Mississippi River; for all of those 48 days, Federal soldiers pummeled the Southerners with cannon shot and rifle fire. Finally, just five days after the Confederates were defeated at Vicksburg, Port Hudson surrendered to the Union. With these two victories, the North could finally claim undisputed control of the Mississippi River. Though the Civil War would rage on for almost two more years, the siege at Port Hudson, and the battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg--which all occurred the same week--together struck a blow from which the South never recovered.

TABLE OF CONTENTS About This Lesson Getting Started: Inquiry Question Setting the Stage: Historical Context Locating the Site: Maps 1. The Mississippi Valley 2. Port Hudson & its defenses Determining the Facts: Readings 1. The Setting for the Siege 2. The Mule Diet at Port Hudson 3. The Account of Pvt. Henry T. Johns 4. The Letters of John William DeForest Visual Evidence: Images 1. Confederate cannon inside Port Hudson 2. Confederate "rat holes" within the fort 3. Confederate earthworks 4. Federal siege camp in a ravine 5. Federal artillery battery 6. African­American troops at Port Hudson Putting It All Together: Activities 1. The Life of a Soldier 2. The Hero 3. Debating Siege Warfare 4. Your Community Under Attack Supplementary Resources

RELATED INFORMATION How to Use a TwHP Lesson Lessons on Related Topics TwHP Home National Register Home About the National Register How the National Register Helps Teachers Contact TwHP This lesson is based on the Port Hudson Battlefield, one of the thousands of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

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