Holding Baton Rouge.

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Aug 25, 2012
When the Union took new Orleans in May of 1862, the Confederate Army abandoned Baton Rouge. The Union Army did not send enough soldiers to really hold Baton Rouge and in August of 1862 General Breckenridge was sent with 5,000 men to take it. This resulted in the Battle of Baton Rouge. Even though Breckenridge failed to take the city, the Union soon abandoned the city. Later when the Union advanced on Baton Rouge it was again abandoned by the Confederates.

To me it would seem like Baton Rouge should have been an important place to hold. Yet each side seemed to have not been willing to expend much energy to hold it. What am i missing here? Were both sides so weak that they simply did not have the forces to expend?
 
The two more important strongholds on the Mississippi were Port Hudson just north of Baton Rouge and further up the river "The Gibraltar of the Confederacy" Vicksburg. That's why you see more of an investment in men and war material in the north to take those places and for the Confederates to hold them. Baton Rouge wasn't as strategic, although it was on the river.
 
Manpower shortage on both sides. Butler was stretched thin and too busy stealing spoons.

When Banks assumed command, he had to watch the Confederates as far as Mobile, as far west as Alexandria. Even when he invested Port Hudson, cries came from New Orleans that the natives were restless. Baton Rouge was important like Springfield Landing (Bank's immediate supply depot for Port Hudson). Unlike Grant, Banks didn't have a large corps of observation to keep Logan's cavalry or Taylor's men at bay at the same time.
 
When the Union took new Orleans in May of 1862, the Confederate Army abandoned Baton Rouge. The Union Army did not send enough soldiers to really hold Baton Rouge and in August of 1862 General Breckenridge was sent with 5,000 men to take it. This resulted in the Battle of Baton Rouge. Even though Breckenridge failed to take the city, the Union soon abandoned the city. Later when the Union advanced on Baton Rouge it was again abandoned by the Confederates.

To me it would seem like Baton Rouge should have been an important place to hold. Yet each side seemed to have not been willing to expend much energy to hold it. What am i missing here? Were both sides so weak that they simply did not have the forces to expend?

So I dusted off a couple of books and came up with somewhat of a timeline for Baton Rouge during the CW:
the dusty books are.....
The Civil War in Louisiana by John D. Winters and The Battle of Baton Rouge 1862 by W.A. Spedale

Jan. 26, 1861-Baton Rouge is the Capitol of Louisiana and scene of Louisiana Secession Convention voting to secede from the Union.

April 25, 1862-City abandoned and cotton burned because....FARRAGUT!!!!!!!!!! (La. gov moves to Opelousas, La.and later to Shreveport)

May 7, 1862-USS Iroquois arrives at BR and demands it's surrender which apparently happens because no one is really around to reply.

May 13, 1862-Natchez, Mississippi surrenders because FARRAGUT!!!!!!!!!

May 18, 1862-Vicksburg is not impressed with FARRAGUT!!!!!!! and refuses to surrender. (also with the fleet is General Thomas Williams and about 1500 troops sent by Butler in N.O.)

May 28, 1862-FARRAGUT!!!!!! returns to Baton Rouge and bombards same because some "guerrillas" shot at some sailors in a dingy attempting to contact someone on shore to wash dirty laundry. Distraught residents row out to meet Admiral F! and plead for mercy.

May 29, 1862-US Gen. Williams and troops return from Vicksburg and take up residence in B.R.

June 20, 1862-Union fleet and Gen. Williams with troops depart for Vicksburg again.

July 26th, 1862-Union fleet and Gen. Willams with troops return after failure in Vicksburg again.

July 27, 1862-CS General Earl Van Dorn sends General Breckenridge from Vicksburg with about 4000 troops to attempt to retake B.R.

August 5, 1862-Battle of Baton Rouge. Both sides have roughly 2600 troops apiece. The Confederates are repulsed with help from gunboats on the Mississippi River. CSS Arkansas was aslo dispatched from Vicksburg during this time to participate in the battle but had engine failure and was burned by her crew a few miles above B.R.

Sidebar-CS Lt. Alexander H. Todd in killed by CS partisan rangers thinking he is part of a Union force. Lt. Todd is Mary Todd Lincoln's half brother.

After the battle both sides abandon B.R. until December 17, 1862 when the Union army returns with 10,000 troops. Confederate forces move to Port Hudson, La. some 30 miles above B.R. on the Mississippi River and fortify the town with heavy artillery bearing on the river and earthen forts/rifle pits surrounding the town.

December 28, 1862-Union troops burn the Louisiana Capitol building.

The rest of the war is fairly uneventful for B.R. but Union troops remain until the end of hostilities.

After the war Baton Rouge once again becomes the capitol of Louisiana.
 
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