May, 1863. |
 |
| The defenses of Port Hudson. |
May 24. |
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found it necessary to take immediate measures for driving Johnston from his rear, and for that purpose he dispatched Sherman, with a large force.
The result will be noticed hereafter.
He also prepared to send an expedition under General Herron to assist Banks in the reduction of Port Hudson, when he received intelligence of events at that stronghold which made the expedition unnecessary.
Let us observe what those events were.
We left General Banks investing Port Hudson, or Hickey's Landing,1 late in May.
His troops were commanded by Generals Weitzel, Auger, Grover, Dwight, and T. W. Sherman, and the beleaguered garrison were under the command of General Frank K. Gardner, as we have observed.2 The troops with which Banks cross-ed the river at Bayou Sara formed a junction on the 23d
with those which came up from Baton Rouge under Auger and Sherman, and the National line on that day occupied the Bayou
Sara road, about five miles from Port Hudson.
At Port Hudson Plains, Auger, on his march, encountered and repulsed a force of Confederates under Colonel Miles, the latter losing one hundred and fifty men; and on the day of the investment
the Confederates were driven within their outer line of intrenchments.
Weitzel, who had covered
1 See page 598. We have before observed that Port Hudson was on a high bank or bluff, on the east side of the Mississippi, at a sharp bend. Its fortifications were well arranged for defense. Below the landing known as Hickey's, the first batteries were on a bluff about forty feet above high-water mark. There three series of batteries extended along the river above Port Hudson to a point on Thompson's Creek, the whole continuous line being about three miles in length. Above the creek was an impassable marsh, making an excellent flank defense. From the lower battery began a line of land fortifications of a general semicircular form, about ten miles in extent, and terminating at Thompson's Creek. The guns with which these works were armed were very heavy, and there were light batteries that might be moved to strengthen any part of the line.
2 See page 620.
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