Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Jackson and St. Philip, forts

Two fortifications on the Mississippi River, 57 miles southeast of New Orleans, which command the lower approach to that city. Both were strongly fortified by the Confederates in the early part of the Civil War, and were passed by the fleet under Farragut, April 24, 1862.

Grave of Thomas J. Jackson.

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Although Farragut had passed these forts, and the Confederate flotilla had been destroyed, the fortifications were still firmly held. The mortar-fleet under Porter was below them. General Butler, who had accompanied the gunboats on their perilous passage on the Saxon, had returned to his transports, and in small boats his troops, under the general pilotage of Gen. Godfrey Weitzel, passed through bayous to the rear of Fort St. Philip. When he was prepared to assail it, the garrison was surrendered without

Forts Jackson and St. Philip and environs.

resistance (April 28), for they had heard of the destruction of the Confederate flotilla. The commander of Fort Jackson, fearing that all was lost, accepted generous terms of surrender from Commodore Porter. The prisoners taken in the forts and at the quarantine numbered about 1,000. The entire loss of the Nationals from the beginning of the contest until New Orleans was taken was forty killed and 177 wounded.