New Orleans in 1862

Union Fleet in New Orleans, 1862

New Orleans was the largest city in the South at the start of the Civil War with a population over 160,000. (In fact it was larger than several other major Southern cities combined.) It was a major source of military supplies and men for the Confederate cause early in the war.  Some of the troops included the Washington Artillery, Zouaves, and many of the Louisiana Tigers, especially the Irish unit called the Wharf Rats. These troops left the city early in the war usually going by train to Virginia where battles were raging.

New Orleans was also the home to some of the first African American soldiers in the war. A unit called the 1st Louisiana Native Guard was originally on the side of the Confederacy, composed of freemen of color who did not serve in a combat role but were a "home guard". When the Union forces captured New Orleans, this same unit joined the Union cause. Its ranks then were filled with runaway slaves who were fighting to abolish slavery.  (For more on this see the Louisiana State Museum's site for the Cabildo at Louisiana State Museum cabildo and also the wikipedia site at 1st Louisiana Native Guard Wikipedia.com) Some of the Union Army's 1st Louisiana Native Guard troops were in combat at the battles at Port Hudson, Louisiana.

New Orleans was the second most important port in all of America, only behind New York City. All of the commerce on the Mississippi River and its tributaries -- the Ohio, the Missouri, and other rivers -- had to pass through New Orleans before heading into the Gulf of Mexico and then overseas. Various commodities like rice and sugar and especially bales of cotton were always abundant on the wharfs of New Orleans. The cotton, in particular, was placed in the holds of ships bound for England and France.

Cotton was King. Fortunes were made in selling cotton to Europe to feed its hungry textile mills, and New Orleans was the key port for cotton exports. It should be noted, at this point, that this rich industry in cotton and other enterprises in the South were built on the backs of enslaved people. New Orleans was a major center for the slave trade as well as the cotton trade. It would be many more months before President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation took effect, but the political and moral issue of human slavery in America was nevertheless significant already. The slavery issue would grow in importance to the nation to the point where, from the Union perspective, the war would have two major goals -- preserve the Union and free the slaves.

New Orleans had regular commerce with the North. It was a historic and international city with close links with many major foreign powers and the gateway to the Caribbean Sea and South America. Many foreign nations had consulates located in New Orleans as well; the city had a huge foreign-born population. Controlling New Orleans meant controlling the Mississippi River which in turn split America into two parts. In addition to river and sea travel, New Orleans became a center for railroad travel in the South. Thus, the city and port had tremendous economic, diplomatic, and strategic military value.

For all of these reasons, New Orleans was a priority target for the US Navy at the start of the Civil War. At first the Federals were satisfied to blockade New Orleans. The Rebels responded at the Battle of the Head of Passes, a naval skirmish near the mouth of the river. Then by April of 1862, a Union plan was devised to capture the city by sea, going up the Mississippi River.

The man in charge of defending New Orleans from a Federal invasion was Confederate General Mansfield Lovell; he replaced General David Twiggs who was old and in ill health. Lovell was born in the North in Washington DC, had graduated from West Point, served in the Mexican War, and just before 1861 lived in New York. The most likely candidate to defend New Orleans would have been General PGT Beauregard, who was from New Orleans and knew the area and the people well, or even Braxton Bragg who was born in the South. Nevertheless, Lovell was placed in command.

Despite its importance, there seemed to be an odd lack of concern and even incompetence by the Confederate government to properly protect the city. The government in Richmond, Virginia seemed to think New Orleans was invulnerable from attack because there were two large forts down river protecting the city and other smaller forts and barriers around the city like Fort Pike and Fort Macomb in Eastern New Orleans. Confederate soldiers who could have been used to defend the city -- making a defense similar to that in the War of 1812 -- had been removed from the city and sent upriver to oppose Union forces coming down the Mississippi valley. (At this time General Ulysses S. Grant was moving through Tennessee towards Mississippi and had just fought at the Battle of Shiloh.) So, by the time the Union Fleet began its attack from the Gulf of Mexico, there were only about 3,000 unprepared militia troops left to defend the city.

In the end, everything depended on the two great forts and their big guns south of the city, which were on either side of the river near each other -- Fort St. Philip and Fort Jackson.  The man the Union chose to get past these forts and capture New Orleans was a 61 year old sailor named Admiral David Farragut.

Farragut was born in the South, in Tennessee. His wife was from the South too, and they lived just before the start of the war in Norfolk, Virginia. (This meant that the Confederate general who defended New Orleans, Lovell, was originally from the North; and the Union officer, Farragut, chosen to capture the city for the Federals was originally from the South.) Nevertheless, Farragut was totally opposed to secession and moved to New York state just before the start of hostilities in 1861. Farragut had served his country at sea for many years, having been in combat in the US Navy in the War of 1812 fighting against the British.

Admiral Farragut 1863 by Mathew Brady

The Rebels had tried to prepare three ironclad ships to help defend the city, the CSS Louisiana, CSS Mississippi (which was still under construction), and the CSS Manassas, an ironclad ram which had one cannon. The Louisiana's engine was not operable and she had trouble using her guns. None of these ships proved very effective in battle. The Rebels had some other smaller vessels which were also not effective. Furthermore, command of these Confederate ships was divided and not fully under Lovell's control, which lent to confusion during combat. All of these ships were stationed just above the Forts Jackson and St. Philip which were about 75 miles south of New Orleans.

Farragut had about 40 warships with over 240 heavy cannons. He greatly outgunned the Rebel forts, whose cannons -- it would later be learned -- had inadequate penetrating power. Farragut's fleet overcame natural obstacles at the mouth of the river and proceeded to the forts where another obstacle, a chain across the river, was located. The chain, bouyed on rafts and ship hulls, was designed to slow down the Union fleet while the Rebel cannons fired on the attacking warships.

In reality the chain had little effect as Union sailors were dispatched to break a hole in the chain for ships to pass. The Union fleet, complete with siege mortars on some ships, fired over 13,000 shells on the forts for 96 hours starting on April 18, 1862.  The Rebel forts still stood, despite the tremendous pounding from the Union fleet.

Finally, Farragut in a bold move charged forward with 13 warships which passed by the forts and then up river, defeating the Rebel fleet easily, then going past smaller Rebel land-based batteries at Chalmette near the old battlefield of 1815. By April 25th the guns of some of Farragut's ships were pointed at the city of New Orleans. The river was high at this time making it possible for the Union cannons on their warships to aim directly at buildings in the city. Other Union ships remained down river near the forts as did Union transport vessels carrying Union infantry under the command of General Benjamin Butler.

The situation for the Confederates was now grave. There were not enough troops or cannons to defend the city, and any resistance could have meant a pointless and destructive battle for the city. So the poorly armed and inexperienced Rebel militia under Lovell evacuated New Orleans. Any equipment that could help the Federals was evacuated to Vicksburg or destroyed. Countless bales of cotton were either burned or dumped into the river. The city was now an "open city" which meant it would no longer fight.

Union officers came ashore and demanded that the mayor, John T. Monroe, surrender the city. Spurred on by an angry pro-Confederate crowd, Monroe at first stalled for time. Monroe tried to get General Lovell to take responsibility for the surrender, but he refused as he was planning to evacuate his troops, giving the issue back to Monroe. Monroe refused saying he would bring the issue to the city council. The city council in turn refused and said they needed time to discuss the issue.

Farragut with Union soldiers came ashore and set up cannons at Lafayette Square near the City Hall (today called Gallier Hall).  He decided that General Butler could deal with the issue of surrender as the general was arriving with troops to govern the city. Meanwhile, word finally came to the city that the two forts, Jackson and St. Philip, had been abandoned or surrendered by the Confederates. Finally, Union ground troops arrived in New Olreans under Benjamin Butler on May 1, 1862. Confederate rule in New Orleans had reached its end.

The Union lost 39 men and had 171 wounded. Confederate casualties were higher -- 85 killed, 113 wounded, 900 prisoners-of-war. Though the loss of any man is a tragedy, by Civil War standards where thousands of men were lost in a single battle often for no real purpose, the cost of taking the city of New Orleans was small indeed.

The Confederate States of America had lost its largest, richest city and most vital international port after the first year of the war.  Although the Civil War would drag on until 1865, the fall of New Orleans was arguably "the night the war was lost" to use the expression of a noted New Orleans historian, Charles "Pie" Dufour. The loss of New Orleans was a profound economic, strategic, and psychological defeat for the South from which it never could recover. (See the book The Night the War Was Lost by Charles L. Dufour.)

Sources and Further Reading:
A Short History of New Orleans by Mel Leavitt, 1982.
Queen New Orleans by Harnett T. Kane, 1949.
The Night the War Was Lost by Charles L. Dufour, 1960.
Encyclopedia of the Confederacy, vol.3, Richard  N. Current, Editor-in-Chief, 1993
Wikipedia article Capture of New Orleans, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_New_Orleans . Wikipedia article David Farragut, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Farragut .
Both images are in public domain from Wikimedia Commons -- Union Fleet in New Orleans is from Campfires and Battlefields by Rossiter, 1894 and David Farragut by Matthew Brady, 1863. For more on the 1st Louisiana Native Guards see
Louisiana State Museum Cabildo website at http://www.crt.state.la.us/louisiana-state-museum/online-exhibits/the-cabildo/the-civil-war/  and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Louisiana_Native_Guard_%28United_States%29

The New Basin Canal, 1832 - 1838

Celtic Cross monument for the Irish workers

Between 1832 and 1838 thousands of Irish immigrants died in the swamps north of Old New Orleans. The Irish, who had been victims of politcal and religious persecution at the hands of the British Empire which then controlled Ireland, came to New Orleans seeking employment and a new life in a new land. Some came directly from Ireland while others came from cities up north in the USA, especially from Philadelphia.  


    When the Irish arrived in America, they discovered that prejudice and discrimination existed here too. Many Irish immigrants, most of whom were poverty-stricken and poorly educated, were greeted with signs which said: "No Irish Need Apply." This meant that no one would hire the Irish except for the hardest and worst types of manual labor.


    When the New Orleans Canal and Banking Company planned to build a canal which went from Lake Ponchartrain to the center of the business district of New Orleans, cheap labor was needed. The canal was called the New Orleans Navigation Canal, but it was usually referred to as the New Basin Canal. This construction would increase city commerce as the lake was actually a bay open to the Gulf of Mexico through the Rigolets and Chef Pass waterways to the east. The canal would thus provide an alternate route to the city besides the Mississippi River, at least for smaller vessels.

New Basin Canal at left, West End Park 1915

     In the ante-bellum South, slaves were considered too valuable a commodity to ruin or lose in a project such as this -- using pick and shovel to dig a large ditch through swamps filled with snakes, alligators, and disease-carrying mosquitoes. So, the banking company decided to use Irish immigrants. Desperate for any work, the Irish could be paid very little; and if they died from the terrible working conditions in the hot, humid swamps, new Irish immigrants fleeing from terrible conditions back home could always take their place.


    The Irish, and also some German immigrants, dug the canal from 1832 to 1838. It is not known for certain just how many Irish died in the process. The generally accepted estimate is around 10,000 people. (Many probably died from Yellow Fever spread by mosquitoes from the swamps. In New Orleans history this disease appeared several times and was called Yellow Jack.)  Some may have been buried in local cemeteries; others may have been buried near the construction site.

New Orleans in 1834

    Today the canal no longer exists. It was filled in during the 1950's, and the canal route became a  modern boulevard and expressway.  (The New Basin Canal begins by the pier reaching into the lake at the top center-left of the map; it runs south, then southeast into the city. The waterway to its right is Bayou St. John.)


    All memory of the Irish who died has disappeared, except in 1990 the Irish Cultural Society of New Orleans established a monument to the fallen Irish. A Celtic Cross now stands in their memory on the neutral ground (median) on Ponchartrain Blvd, which is near to where the canal once started, coming from the lake. 


-- Adrian


Sources and further reading:  "The Irish and the New Basin Canal of New Orleans" by Adrian McGrath, Irish Eyes newspaper, Vol 1, No. 6, July 1994. Lake Ponchartrain by Catherine Campanella, Images of America series, Arcadia Publishing, 2007. "New Basin Canal" article at Wikipedia.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Basin_Canal

My favorite source on Irish history in old New Orleans is a great book by Fr. Earl F. Niehaus called The Irish in New Orleans 1800 - 1860. Fr. Niehaus discusses the canal and many other topics in Irish New Orleans in his excellent book published by LSU Press in 1965.


The photograph is one I took of the Celtic Cross on the neutral ground on Ponchartrain Boulevard.


The old map is from Wikimedia Commons and is in public domain, from 1834 designed by Zimpel. The old photo is from Wikimedia Commons from 1915 from the Library of Congress and in public domain.

Jean Lafitte: Rogue, Pirate, and Hero

This old drawing depicts a meeting among the three men who saved the city of New Orleans from a massive British invasion in 1814 -- Governor William C. Claiborne, General Andrew Jackson, and the buccaneer Jean Lafitte.  Claiborne handled the politics. Jackson handled the army. And Lafitte handled the pirates.

Without the help of this man of questionable repute, New Orleans would almost certainly have fallen to the British Army.  The Americans desperately needed Lafitte's stores of gunpowder and flints for their firearms; and Lafitte's pirates would man most of the American cannons on the battlefield at Chalmette. Precise gunners, with, shall we say, much professional experience on the high seas, the pirates slaughtered the invading Redcoats as they marched against the American lines near the levee of the Mississippi River just south of New Orleans.

Many of the facts of Lafitte's life are unsure. Where was he born? Maybe in France or in the Caribbean. Where did he die?  Maybe in Louisiana or Texas or in Mexico or somewhere in the Caribbean. He was an absolute hero in the city of New Orleans, but he is still seen as a scoundrel and a man of mystery. He and his brother, Pierre, were smugglers and did a very successful business peddling stolen goods in the city. For his own security, he set up a base in Grand Terre Island in Barataria Bay, about 100 miles south of New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico.

Pierre would operate the family trade in New Orleans, while Jean ran the buisness in Barataria -- organizing privateer raids and transferring the stolen goods by small boats through the swamps and bayous to New Orleans. These activities, needless to say, annoyed the United States government which eventually sent warships to smash Lafitte's base in Barataria and imprison many of Lafitte's pirates.

Despite this, Jean Lafitte decided to support the Americans when the British plotted to invade New Orleans in 1814. The British had actually offered Lafitte British citizenship and land grants in British-held areas of the Caribbean in exchange for his help in the invasion. Additionally, should he refuse to help, the British threatened to attack and destroy his base.

The odds were certainly with the British. They had a large navy and a large army of seasoned troops who had experience fighting the French under Napoleon. They were well equipped (they even had a new technologically advanced weapon called the Congreve rocket), and had high morale. The Americans, on the other hand, had faced defeat after defeat by the British elsewhere on American shores.

American troops had fled in terror at the Battle of Bladensburg in Maryland as the British infantry advanced with a bayonet charge. The British burned the White House, and President James Madison and First Lady Dolley Madison had to evacuate the city. (Dolley Madison is credited with saving priceless American documents, as she fled the White House, including the Declaration of Independence and the original copy of the US Constitution.) The American situation looked bleak indeed.

Now at New Orleans Andrew Jackson did not have much of a professional army to speak of. He had some regular US Army troops; but many were Tennessee and Kentucky volunteers, civilian volunteers including Freemen-of-Color and Creoles from New Orleans, Choctaw Indians, and some sailors and Marines.  But Jackson had one other force ... Lafitte and his pirates.

Lafitte's reasons for supporting the Americans are unclear. But it is clear Lafitte felt it was in his interests to support them and not the British. Andrew Jackson arrived in New Orleans to find the city poorly prepared. He needed supplies and men. Jackson therefore met with Lafitte and made a deal. Lafitte's men would be pardoned and freed from jail if they agreed to help the Americans against the British. As a result many of the pirates served on the battlelines at Chalmette where the Battle of New Orleans actually occurred, about four miles downriver from the city.

The American victory on January 8, 1815 at Chalmette was stunning. Several British generals, including the overall commander Edward Pakenham, were killed and over 2,000 redcoats died of wounds. (Pakenham was actually the brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington who would defeat Napoleon at Waterloo.) The Americans suffered only minor casualties. Much of the credit for this victory went directly to Lafitte and his pirates. Andrew Jackson would later become a US president largely because of this incredible victory.

Lafitte eventually moved his smuggling business (including a trade in smuggled slaves) to Galveston, and it was said he died at sea in a battle with Spanish ships.

He was a scoundrel, a pirate, a rogue, and a hero.  Jean Lafitte remains one of the greatest romantic figures in all of New Orleans history.

(Note: The sketch above is from Wikimedia Commons which states it is an engraving originally from a book published in 1837 called The Pirates Own Book: Authentic Narratives of the Most Celebrated Sea Robbers by Charles Ellms from a copy on Guttenburg.org.  The map is an early 19th century map from Wikimedia Commons in public domain depicting the main battle on the East Bank of the Mississippi River in Chalmette a few miles below New Orleans. For more information on Jean Lafitte and the Battle of New Orleans see  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Lafitte Also see the books The Pirate Lafitte and the Battle of New Orleans by Robert Tallant and Lafitte the Pirate by Lyle Saxon.)