June 12, 1863, The New York Herald
Its Defences Described by a Confederate Prisoner.
We have received the following account of the defences of Port Hudson, of the strength of its garrison and its means generally to resist the efforts now being made to reduce it from a young Kentuckian who happened to be in Arkansas at the breaking out of the rebellion, and who was compelled to join the rebel troops raised in that State. His regiment was part of the brigade of General Beal, which soon after the battle of Corinth, or Pittsburg Landing, was sent to Port Hudson, where it has ever since remained. John Harris, our informant, is a native of Kentucky, and is now on his way to his native State, he having joyfully taken the oath of allegiance to the Union government and forever abjured that of disunion and Jeff. Davis. Mr. Harris was in Arkansas when that State seceded, and such was the wild excitement of the people, instigated by the wilder ravings and unbridled denunciations of Hindman and others of his stripe, that there was no alternative for young men but to volunteer and to swell the ranks of the redoubtable Hindman. He consequently joined the Fourteenth Arkansas regiment, which at its first organization numbered twelve hundred men, but which at the time of his capture mustered only one hundred and eighty of the original command. He continued with his regiment throughout its whole career up to the moment of his regiment throughout its whole career up to the moment of his capture, and was present, in the battles of Pea Ridge, I-u-k-a and Corinth, in all of which the rebels were defeated. But Mr. Harris came out scatheless in all. He was never absent from duty, either through wounds or sickness.
PORT HUDSON.
In November last Beal’s brigade was ordered to move with all haste into Port Hudson. There were not many troops there then, and the force now in it was hurriedly concentrated there. Fortifications were then only talked about, though a general plan of fortifications, and in accordance with which the present defences were constructed, had been already drawn out. The troops, soon after their arrival, were put to constructing the works, and unceasing activity was rigidly enforced. In a short time the works began to assume a regularity and a strength which evinced their purpose and the use to which they would ere long be put. This stirred the soldiers to increased exertion, and in a short time the extensive semicircle of outworks of rifle pits and abatis, from which poured the deadly shower of iron hail that greeted our first assaulting parties, was completed. Port Hudson is situated on a bend of the Mississippi, on the eastern shore, the sweeps taken by the river above and below leaving it in a position to completely command the approaches either way. The more outer works consist of intrenched abatis, extending in the form of a semicircle for some nine or ten miles. Beyond these the country was considered to be favorable for the defenders of the post, but from this they have been driven, and our forces completely infest it. The place, naturally strong, has been fortified with great skill and ability. The outer intrenchments bristle with cannon of heavy calibre, which sweep all the approaches. Some forty siege guns, besides lighter field batteries, are in position here, together with two one hundred and twenty-pounders. Great reliance is placed on the strength of these works; but there are interior lines of defence upon which the rebels can rally in case of being driven back. These were not of much consequence at first, but some time before the late attack considerable labor had been expended on them. These works are not of a continuous character, like the semi-circle of outer works, but are detached, erected on positions favorable to the rebels in case they were compelled to fall back and abandon their outer defences. Heavy siege guns are planted on these fortifications. Between these works and the town itself are several swamps and thick undergrowth, adding considerably to the strength of the place. The water defences consist of ten batteries, numbering between thirty and forty guns, some of them being eleven-inch and others thirteen-inch bore. One of these batteries is stationed on a bluff eight feet high. Another battery, the most westerly of the water defences, is situated below the mouth of Thompson’s creek. There is also a mortar battery, intended for throwing hot shell. The guns generally are thirty-twos and forty-twos. These batteries were erected early in the war, but the land defences were principally built after the advance of the Union forces to Baton Rouge.
GENERAL FRANKLIN GARDNER, chief in command at Port Hudson, is a native of the State of New York, a graduate of West Point, to which he was appointed from Iowa. He served with distinction in Mexico; but, on the breaking out of the rebellion, he joined the rebels, and on the 6th of May, 1861, his name was stricken off the roll of the United States Army. The troops under him were for the most part previously commanded by General Beal, who is still, however, in command as subordinate to General Gardner. Mr. Harris computes the whole rebel strength at between four and five thousand men, consisting of the following regiments or parts of regiments: –
The Fourteenth, Seventeenth, Sixteenth and Fifteenth Arkansas; the First and Thirty-ninth Missouri; the First, Thirty-first and Thirty-ninth Alabama; parts of the Forty-second, Forty-eight, Forty-ninth and Fifty-fifth Tennessee and the Ninth Louisiana battalion.
General Maxey commands a brigade of troops.
GENERAL GARDNER’S STAFF.
Lieutenant Alce Dupre, Aid-de-Camp.
Lieutenant T. F. Willson, A. A. A.
Captain J. H. Spratley, A. Q. M.
Captain John J. Wheadon, A. C. S.
Lieutenant R. M. Rogers, Ordnance Officer.
THE CONDITION OF THE TROOPS is represented as almost perfect. Previous to the late terrible assault upon their works they had every confidence in their strength and ability to repel any attack made upon them; but the numbers and determination of our troops on that occasion has reduced their vain boastings very considerably.
THEIR AMMUNITION GIVING OUT.
Added to this is the fear, that even in the event of their otherwise being able to hold out till reinforcements could reach them, their stock of ammunition is not sufficient for a protracted siege. There are no means of manufacturing it within the post, and there is no possible way by which it can be brought there from the outside.
SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS.
Provisions also are getting scarce. The rations served out to the troops consist of seven ounces of beef and three-quarters of a pound of meal, with the bran in, daily. No tea or coffee is supplies. Salt is very scarce, but molasses and sugar are pretty plentiful. Tobacco sells at two dollars and a half a plug. Gold sells for four dollars and a half premium over Confederate scrip. Greenback are much sought after, and are worth two dollars and twenty-five cents over their Confederate congeners. There are none but military in the post, the former residents of the place having all fled on the approach of our troops.
THE UNION LINES.
The Union troops having landed at once proceeded to invest the city in regular form. In making their approach several encounters occurred between the skirmishers on either side, but with little loss. The rebels gradually fell back within their breastworks, leaving the Union troops at liberty to form their camps and to prepare for a regular siege.
CAPTURE OF MR. HARRIS.
It was in one of these affairs beyond their own lines that Mr. Harris was captured, together with sixty others. On the day previous to his capture a cavalry reconnoissance had been sent out from our lines, accompanied by a light field piece. This gun sent a few unexpected discharges amongst them, scattering the men at the outposts in all directions. To prevent a repetition of these favors a force of three hundred rebels was ordered to intercept our cavalry, and to form an ambuscade and to inflict all the injury possible upon them. But the rebels were caught in their own trap. Instead of a cavalry reconnoisance being made, as on the previous day, they were started from their concealment by the skirmishers of General Augur’s division, which was advancing in full force. But a slight resistance was made, when the three hundred rebels fled, of this number sixty were captured, among whom was Mr. Harris. He looked upon his capture as a very fortunate event indeed, as did many others of the party, at least to the number of forty, who gave proof of it by taking the oath of allegiance and abandoning forever the rebel cause. The prisoners were only detained a day or two at Port Hudson, when they were sent to New Orleans and thence North. Mr. Harris is still in the city, but will soon be on his way to his home in Kentucky. For his service of two full years he only received as pay from the rebel government $184.16 Confederate paper. Mr. Harris was a prisoner when the assault upon the rebel works was made by our troops. He subsequently conversed, however with some of his late comrades who had been made prisoners on that day, and they informed him that the negro regiment fought with great bravery, and with a fury which was excited by the deadly hate and rage with which the rebels fell upon them. The encounter between the negroes and their late masters was described as a most deadly one, all idea of quarter or cessation from struggle being unthought of till our men were withdrawn. Mr. Harris says that notwithstanding the strength of the place it must fall, and that speedily, before the force brought against it and the necessities of the post – a weak garrison, straightened provisions and a lack of ammunition.