First Vicksburg Attempt?

[tony_gunter]

If we're gonna talk Vicksburg, we need to visit the first staging location for the troops, right? Right?

Fort Taylor, Key West

 

[bdtex]

Where did the troops go next?

 

[tony_gunter]

Where did the troops go next?

Ship Island, Mississippi then New Orleans, Baton Rouge … by the time they reached Vicksburg they didn't have enough to take the city.

 

[bdtex]

Ship Island, Mississippi then New Orleans, Baton Rouge … by the time they reached Vicksburg they didn't have enough to take the city.

Lotta deaths and disability from disease reduce the ranks?

 

[tony_gunter]

Lotta deaths and disability from disease reduce the ranks?

Too much area to garrison, and Butler had contradictory goals: establish a government in Louisiana and open the river.

He didn't have enough men for both, so he chose to focus on carving out his own little Federal fiefdom in the Teche region: New Orleans to Donaldson to Brashear City.

 

[Stryker65]

Lotta deaths and disability from disease reduce the ranks?

I would definitely think so. Butler's/Banks's army is the strangest story ever -- composed entirely of New Yorkers and New Englanders battling it out in Louisiana. If anything, a midwestern army would have been better suited to the flora and fauna down there.

 

[Caddo Militia]

I would definitely think so. Butler's/Banks's army is the strangest story ever -- composed entirely of New Yorkers and New Englanders battling it out in Louisiana. If anything, a midwestern army would have been better suited to the flora and fauna down there.

Capt. John De Forest (12th Connecticut Inf.), in his memoir A Volunteer's Adventure, described a Union camp near New Orleans: "Sitting in my tent, with the sides looped all around, I am drenched with perspiration. I come in from inspection (which means standing half an hour in the sun) with coat and trousers almost dripping wet, and my soaked sash stained with the blue of my uniform. There is no letup, no relenting, to the heat. Morning after morning the same brazen sun inflames the air till we go about with mouths open like suffering dogs. Toward noon clouds appear, gusts of wind struggle to overset our tents, and sheets of rain turn the camp into a marsh, but bring no permanent coolness. The night air is as heavy and dank as that of a swamp, and at daybreak the rotten odor of the earth is sickening.

It is a land moreover of vermin, at least in this season. The tent hums with them like a beehive, audible rods away; as Lt. Porter says, they sing like canary birds. When I slip under my mosquito bar, they prowl and yell around me with the ferocity of panthers. Tiny millers and soft green insects get in my eyes, stick to my perspiring face, and perish by scores in the flame of my candle. Various kinds of brilliant bugs drop on my paper, where they are slain and devoured by gangs of large red ants. These ants rummage my whole habitation for rations, crawl into my clothing and under my blanket at night, and try to eat me alive."

 

[H. J. Durgin]

Thanks a whole lot for sharing with us tony_gunter. Great topic too.

 

[gary]

Too much area to garrison, and Butler had contradictory goals: establish a government in Louisiana and open the river.

He didn't have enough men for both, so he chose to focus on carving out his own little Federal fiefdom in the Teche region: New Orleans to Donaldson to Brashear City.

True that. Butler's command was vast in scope and he was between Camp Moore in the north, the Confederate forces at Mobile to his east and Dick Taylor's forces in Western Louisiana. A bolder general may have made something of it (like a young Napoleon in Italy) but you can't expect a fat spoon laden lawyer to waddle far into battle. Heck, to Farragut's chagrin he evacuated Baton Rouge after his men defeated Breckenridge there.

I would definitely think so. Butler's/Banks's army is the strangest story ever -- composed entirely of New Yorkers and New Englanders battling it out in Louisiana. If anything, a midwestern army would have been better suited to the flora and fauna down there.

Not quite. There were midwestern regiments like the 4th Wisconsin, 6th Michigan and 21st Indiana Infantry. They were hated by Gen. Thomas Williams and the feeling was mutual. However, after their offficers fell at Baton Rouge, Williams told them he would lead them himself in their counter-attack and died doing so. They grudginingly admired him for that. Funny but all the named midwestern regiments did not remain infantry. The 4th Wisconsin was mounted, the 21st converted to heavy aritllery before the Port Hudson siege and the 6th Mich after it.

The New Yorkers/New Englanders were largely the nine-month regiments Banks brought with him to Louisiana.

 

[ColonelBuckwalter]

If we're gonna talk Vicksburg, we need to visit the first staging location for the troops, right? Right?

Fort Taylor, Key West

View attachment 529939

View attachment 529940

View attachment 529941

View attachment 529942

View attachment 529943

View attachment 529944

View attachment 529945

View attachment 529946



View attachment 529948

How many troops were staged there?

 

[tony_gunter]

How many troops were staged there?

I think I'm wrong about them staging on the keys. They staged at Fort Morgan, Virginia and sailed straight to Ship Island, Mississippi.

 

[ColonelBuckwalter]

I think I'm wrong about them staging on the keys. They staged at Fort Morgan, Virginia and sailed straight to Ship Island, Mississippi.

I was about to say. I've been there working and it's not a big place. I can't imagine an invasion force there. Wouldn't be enough space for everyone to lay down.