The Daily Dispatch: August 12, 1863., [Electronic resource]

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The loss of artillery at Port Hudson.

--The chief fighting in the gallant defence of Port Hudson seems to have been done with the musket; and the country will be astonished to learn the deficiency of heavy artillery in our works there. A Confederate officer gives the New Orleans True Della a statement of the number and character of the guns:

At first most of the guns that arrived were old fashioned ordnance. There were a couple of 42 pounders, a couple of 32 pounders, and a couple of 24-pounders, all smooth bore, with one 8- inch sea-coast howitzer. None of them had breech-eights, and they were but a poor armament for a place that was to be cannonaded by over 100 guns of the most improved make. Then came a couple of Parrott guns, a 30 and a 20-pounder, which had been captured in Virginia--one of them a present to Miles's legion from President Davis, but they were of the earliest pattern. A rifled 32-pounder and some rifled 24-pounders came afterwards; and, finally, one 10- inch and one 8 inch columbiad. At the time of the investment of the place there were but nineteen heavy guns at Fort Hudson, classified as follows: 10-inch columbiads, 2, 8 inch columbiad, 1, 8 inch howitzer, 1; rifled 32-pounder, 1; rifled 24 pounders, 5; 32 pounder Parrott, 1; one 20-pounder Parrott; smooth-bore 42's, 32's and 24's, two each, and one 12- pounder rifled piece — giving a weight of metal of 770 pounds, not equal to a single broadside of the Hartford, Richmond, or Mississippi.