Lake Providence Disinformation

[tony_gunter]

McPherson landed at Lake Providence, scouted the terrain, and four days later said ahhhh heck naw and sent all but one company of Bissell's Engineers north to cut the river at Ashton. By early March, he reported to Grant that the canal would be viable in a week or so.

Looking at the papers in St Louis, I see reports that Bayou Macon is totally unsuitable as a route because it is too full of snags. But 1860 papers in Louisiana advertise steamboat travel as far north on Bayou Macon as Caledonia without the addition of water created by the canal carrying the floodwaters of the Mississippi. If I have the location of Caledonia correct, that's nearly as far north as Ashton. And I have an account from a wife of one of Bissel's engineers stating that the Sam Young steamed down to Lake Providence from Ashton shortly after entering Bayou Macon.

Were the Federals attempting to hide the viability of this route from the Confederates or from Federal high command?

 

[tony_gunter]

"Almost totally impassable for boats"

 

[tony_gunter]

Not sure who the intended target was, but it worked. Newspapers nationwide published the information, both north and south. As far as I know, it's the only time in U.S. history tiny Bayou Macon made the national news.

Side note: there was a real fear amongst river men that cutting into Bayou Macon was playing with fire, that the river would permanently change course creating a new route for the Mississippi River through the Red River and out through the Atchafalaya into the gulf, leaving New Orleans and Baton Rouge high and dry.