The Capture of New Orleans 1862

The Capture of New Orleans 1862 PDF Author: Chester G. Hearn
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 9780807140918
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
On April 24, 1862, Federal gunboats made their way past two Confederate forts to ascend the Mississippi, and the Union navy captured the city of New Orleans. How did the South lose its most important city? In this exhaustively researched, authoritative, well-argued study, Chester Hearn examines the decisions, actions, individuals, and events that brought about the capture of New Orleans - and forever weakened the Confederate war machine. Hearn directs his inquiry to the heart of government, both Union and Confederate, and takes a hard look at the selection of military and naval leaders, the use of natural and financial resources, and the performances of all personnel involved. The decisions of Jefferson Davis, Stephen R. Mallory, and three Confederate secretaries of war, he holds, were as much to blame for the fall of New Orleans as David Farragut's warships. Hearn also scrutinizes the role of Major General Mansfield Lovell and evaluates the investigation that ended his career. Hearn's explorations bring us into a flourishing New Orleans and introduce Louisiana leaders Thomas O. Moore and the debilitated old men sent to prepare the state for war: Major General David E. Twiggs and Commodore Lawrence Rousseau. We follow their trifling efforts to defend the lower Mississippi and General Lovell's frustrations in attempting to arm forts and obtain cooperation from the navy, and we come to understand the dismay of such leaders as P.G.T. Beauregard and Braxton Bragg as they witnessed this bungling. Hearn traces the building of the ironclads Manassas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and investigates the reason for their failure to defend New Orleans.

The Capture of New Orleans 1862

The Capture of New Orleans 1862 PDF Author: Chester G. Hearn
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 9780807140918
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
On April 24, 1862, Federal gunboats made their way past two Confederate forts to ascend the Mississippi, and the Union navy captured the city of New Orleans. How did the South lose its most important city? In this exhaustively researched, authoritative, well-argued study, Chester Hearn examines the decisions, actions, individuals, and events that brought about the capture of New Orleans - and forever weakened the Confederate war machine. Hearn directs his inquiry to the heart of government, both Union and Confederate, and takes a hard look at the selection of military and naval leaders, the use of natural and financial resources, and the performances of all personnel involved. The decisions of Jefferson Davis, Stephen R. Mallory, and three Confederate secretaries of war, he holds, were as much to blame for the fall of New Orleans as David Farragut's warships. Hearn also scrutinizes the role of Major General Mansfield Lovell and evaluates the investigation that ended his career. Hearn's explorations bring us into a flourishing New Orleans and introduce Louisiana leaders Thomas O. Moore and the debilitated old men sent to prepare the state for war: Major General David E. Twiggs and Commodore Lawrence Rousseau. We follow their trifling efforts to defend the lower Mississippi and General Lovell's frustrations in attempting to arm forts and obtain cooperation from the navy, and we come to understand the dismay of such leaders as P.G.T. Beauregard and Braxton Bragg as they witnessed this bungling. Hearn traces the building of the ironclads Manassas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and investigates the reason for their failure to defend New Orleans.

The Capture of New Orleans 1862

The Capture of New Orleans 1862 PDF Author: Chester G. Hearn
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807140910
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
On April 24, 1862, Federal gunboats made their way past two Confederate forts to ascend the Mississippi, and the Union navy captured the city of New Orleans. How did the South lose its most important city? In this exhaustively researched, authoritative, well-argued study, Chester Hearn examines the decisions, actions, individuals, and events that brought about the capture of New Orleans - and forever weakened the Confederate war machine. Hearn directs his inquiry to the heart of government, both Union and Confederate, and takes a hard look at the selection of military and naval leaders, the use of natural and financial resources, and the performances of all personnel involved. The decisions of Jefferson Davis, Stephen R. Mallory, and three Confederate secretaries of war, he holds, were as much to blame for the fall of New Orleans as David Farragut's warships. Hearn also scrutinizes the role of Major General Mansfield Lovell and evaluates the investigation that ended his career. Hearn's explorations bring us into a flourishing New Orleans and introduce Louisiana leaders Thomas O. Moore and the debilitated old men sent to prepare the state for war: Major General David E. Twiggs and Commodore Lawrence Rousseau. We follow their trifling efforts to defend the lower Mississippi and General Lovell's frustrations in attempting to arm forts and obtain cooperation from the navy, and we come to understand the dismay of such leaders as P.G.T. Beauregard and Braxton Bragg as they witnessed this bungling. Hearn traces the building of the ironclads Manassas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and investigates the reason for their failure to defend New Orleans.

The Union's Capture of New Orleans During the Civil War

The Union's Capture of New Orleans During the Civil War PDF Author: Charles River Charles River Editors
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781985884533
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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Book Description
*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the campaign and occupation written by Benjamin Butler and others *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the women (calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordered that hereafter when any female shall by word, gesture, or movement insult or show contempt for any officer or soldier of the United States she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation." - Benjamin Butler's General Order No. 28 In 1860, New Orleans was just as unique a city as it is today. It was racially and linguistically diverse, with many French, German, and Spanish speakers, and a population of white, black, and mixed-race inhabitants. Louisiana's population was 47% slave and also had one of the largest numbers of free blacks in the country. Situated near the mouth of the continent's largest river, the Mississippi, it was an international center for trade and industry. New Orleans was the sixth largest city in the country and the largest in any of the states that would end up joining the Confederacy. The volume of trade through its port was second only to New York, and the city's commercial ties with England and Spain and cultural ties with France meant that the European powers would be looking closely at how the city fared in the Civil War, especially after it was occupied by Union forces. The Lincoln administration, fearful of European meddling in the war effort, had to constantly keep European opinion in mind when dealing with the captured city, and the story of New Orleans in the Civil War is one of far-reaching political, racial, and social tensions. Given its importance, it's somewhat surprising in retrospect that the Union managed to capture New Orleans in an easier manner than places like Vicksburg and Atlanta. Admiral David Farragut's naval forces battered their shaky Confederate counterparts and were able to get over a dozen ships upriver past a couple of crucial Confederate forts along the Mississippi. By May 1862, Union forces occupied the city and General Benjamin Butler became its military governor, leaving the last true bastion of Confederate defenses on the Mississippi at Vicksburg. When Grant captured that in July 1863, the Union controlled the entire river and essentially cut the Confederacy in two. In many ways, the occupation of New Orleans for the rest of the war is as intriguing a story as the campaign to capture it. Butler was a political general, and while he would go on to be a politician in the North after the war, he became the most reviled man in the South as a result of his reign in New Orleans. During a governorship that helped earn him the moniker "Beast," Butler became notorious for several acts, including seizing a massive amount of money that had been deposited in the Dutch consul's office. But it was General Order No. 28, which said any woman in town who insulted a member of the Army would be treated like "a "woman of the town plying her avocation" (in other words, she'd be treated as a prostitute) that earned widespread condemnation across the nation, and even abroad in England. Butler was considered so brutal in the South that Confederate president Jefferson Davis personally ordered that he should be executed if he was captured. As it turned out, he never was, and when he was recalled east, he served in commands for the duration of the war before going on to a distinguished political career. The Union's Capture of New Orleans during the Civil War: The Campaign for the Confederacy's Most Important Mississippi River Stronghold chronicles the history of the campaign and the occupation of New Orleans by the Union in 1862.

The Night the War Was Lost

The Night the War Was Lost PDF Author: Charles L. Dufour
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803265998
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
"Long before the Confederacy was crushed militarily, it was defeated economically," writes Charles L. Dufour. He contends that with the fall of the critical city of New Orleans in spring 1862 the South lost the Civil War, although fighting would continueøfor three more years. On the Mississippi River, below New Orleans, in the predawn of April 24, 1862, David Farragut with fourteen gunboats ran past two forts to capture the South's principal seaport. Vividly descriptive, The Night the War Was Lost is also very human in its portrayal of terrified citizens and leaders occasionally rising to heroism. In a swift-moving narrative, Dufour explains the reasons for the seizure of New Orleans and describes its results.

A Mortal Blow to the Confederacy

A Mortal Blow to the Confederacy PDF Author: Mark F. Bielski
Publisher: Savas Beatie
ISBN: 1611214904
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Abraham Lincoln knew if the Union could cut off shipping to and from New Orleans, the largest exporting port in the world, and control the Mississippi River, it would be a mortal blow to the Confederate economy. Union military leaders devised a secret plan to attack the city from the Gulf of Mexico with a formidable naval flotilla under one commander, David G. Farragut, a native New Orleanian. Jefferson Davis also understood the city’s importance—but he and his military leaders remained steadfastly undecided about where the threat to the city lay, sending troops to Tennessee rather than addressing the Union forces amassing in the Gulf. In the city, Confederate General Mansfield Lovell, a new commander, was thrust into the middle and poised to become a scapegoat. He was hamstrung by conflicting orders from Richmond and lacked both proper seagoing reconnaissance and the unity of command. In the spring of 1862, when a furious naval battle began downriver from the city at Forts Jackson and St. Philip, the joyous celebrations of Mardi Gras turned into the Easter season of dread as the sound of the distant bombardment reached New Orleans, portending an ominous outcome. History has not devoted a great deal of attention to the fall of New Orleans, a Civil War drama that was an early harbinger of the dark days to come for the Confederacy. In A Mortal Blow to the Confederacy: The Fall of New Orleans, 1862, historian Mark F. Bielski tells of the leaders and men who fought for control of New Orleans, the largest city in the South, the key to the Mississippi, and the commercial gateway for the Confederacy.

The Civil War in Louisiana

The Civil War in Louisiana PDF Author: John D. Winters
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 9780807117255
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description
This comprehensive history fills an important gap in the story of the Civil War. Too often the war waged west of the Mississippi River has been given short shrift by historians and scholars, who have tended to focus their attention on the great battles east of the river. This book looks in detail at the military operations that occurred in Louisiana—most of them minor skirmishes, but some of them battles and campaigns of major importance. The Civil War in Louisiana begins with the first talk of secession in the state and ends with the last tragic days of the war. John D. Winters describes with great fervor and detail such events as the fall of Confederate New Orleans and the burning of Alexandria. In addition to military action, Winters discusses the political, economic, and social aspects of the war in Louisiana. His accounts of battles and the men who waged them provide a fuller story of Louisiana in the Civil War than has ever before been told.

Starving the South

Starving the South PDF Author: Andrew F. Smith
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0312601816
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
'From the first shot fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, to the last shot fired at Appomattox, food played a crucial role in the Civil War. In Starving the South, culinary historian Andrew Smith takes a fascinating gastronomical look at the war and its aftermath. At the time, the North mobilized its agricultural resources, fed its civilians and military, and still had massive amounts of food to export to Europe. The South did not; while people starved, the morale of their soldiers waned and desertions from the Army of the Confederacy increased.....' (Book Jacket)

Occupied City

Occupied City PDF Author: Gerald M. Capers
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813194458
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
New Orleans is the largest American city ever occupied by enemy forces for an extended period of time. Falling to an amphibious Federal force in the spring of 1862, the city was threatened with the possibility of Confederate recapture even as late as 1864. How this tension affected the lives of both civilians and soldiers during the occupation is here examined. Gerald M. Capers finds that the occupation policies of General Benjamin F. Butler and General Nathaniel P. Banks were successful and that Butler's harsh policies were by no means as vicious as legend would have it. Banks at first reversed Butler's harsh policies, but was gradually compelled to become less lenient. Banks did succeed in establishing a civil government under Lincoln's orders, but Congress refused to recognize the civil government and imposed a reconstruction government at war's end. Life for the average resident of New Orleans, Capers states, was much better during the occupation than it was for Southerners in areas still in Confederate control. Relative economic decline had begun in the 1850's but New Orleans even enjoyed a war boom during the last two years. And although America's only brief experience as an occupation force at the time had been in Vera Cruz during 1846, Butler and Banks performed their duties well.

The Vicksburg Campaign

The Vicksburg Campaign PDF Author: Christopher Richard Gabel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Government publications
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description
The Vicksburg Campaign, November 1862-July 1863 continues the series of campaign brochures commemorating our national sacrifices during the American Civil War. Author Christopher R. Gabel examines the operations for the control of Vicksburg, Mississippi. President Abraham Lincoln called Vicksburg "the key," and indeed it was as control of the Mississippi River depended entirely on the taking of this Confederate stronghold.

Mutiny at Fort Jackson

Mutiny at Fort Jackson PDF Author: Michael D. Pierson
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807887021
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
New Orleans was the largest city--and one of the richest--in the Confederacy, protected in part by Fort Jackson, which was just sixty-five miles down the Mississippi River. On April 27, 1862, Confederate soldiers at Fort Jackson rose up in mutiny against their commanding officers. New Orleans fell to Union forces soon thereafter. Although the Fort Jackson mutiny marked a critical turning point in the Union's campaign to regain control of this vital Confederate financial and industrial center, it has received surprisingly little attention from historians. Michael Pierson examines newly uncovered archival sources to determine why the soldiers rebelled at such a decisive moment. The mutineers were soldiers primarily recruited from New Orleans's large German and Irish immigrant populations. Pierson shows that the new nation had done nothing to encourage poor white men to feel they had a place of honor in the southern republic. He argues that the mutineers actively sought to help the Union cause. In a major reassessment of the Union administration of New Orleans that followed, Pierson demonstrates that Benjamin "Beast" Butler enjoyed the support of many white Unionists in the city. Pierson adds an urban working-class element to debates over the effects of white Unionists in Confederate states. With the personal stories of soldiers appearing throughout, Mutiny at Fort Jackson presents the Civil War from a new perspective, revealing the complexities of New Orleans society and the Confederate experience.