A view behind the lines of the 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery in Fort Hudson, Louisiana. An area has been cleared out of the forest, leaving an open space which has at least one gun in the center, surrounded by standing Union soldiers under the command of either Captain Clayton Cox (1842-1866) or Captain Chambers Cox (1840-1866). The men and artillery are standing behind an earthwork reinforced with circular bales of cotton. It is cotton from these bales that is littering the ground, looking like snow. vol 4, Framing the War, p. 74 -- Used cotton bales to shield the 20-pound parrot rifles. Note the house carved into the tree trunk in the left foreground and company number above it. "It was in front of this battery that the Union and Confederate lines came nearest to each other. Soldiers threw messages back and forth. Port Hudson fell after Vicksburg; Confederates held on tight to this port town 25 mi. north of Baton Rouge. Fell on July 8, 1863. Cost the Union nearly 10,000 men -- dead, wounded or physically impaired from disease or exposure -- compared with Southern losses of 871.
United States. Army. Indiana Heavy Artillery Regiment, 1st (1863-1866) United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Military personnel Artillery Port Hudson (La.)--History--Siege, 1863 Albumen prints. (aat)
Place
Port Hudson (La.)
Source
Oversized Items United States Civil War, Huntington Digital Library
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