Siege of Port Hudson

Siege of Port Hudson
Part of the American Civil War
A Fierce Assault on Port Hudson, Newspaper illustration of the attacks on the fortifications of Port Hudson.
Date May 22 – July 9, 1863 (1 month, 2 weeks and 3 days) Location East Baton Rouge Parish and East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
Nathaniel P. Banks	Franklin Gardner
Units involved
XIX Corps[1]	Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, Port Hudson[1]
Strength
~30,000–40,000	~7,500
Casualties and losses
~5,000 killed and wounded 707 killed in combat 3,336 wounded 319 missing ~5,000 died of disease[1]	~750 killed and wounded 250 died of disease 6,340 surrendered

The siege of Port Hudson (May 22 – July 9, 1863) was the final engagement in the Union campaign to recapture the Mississippi River in the American Civil War. While Union General Ulysses Grant was besieging Vicksburg upriver, General Nathaniel Banks was ordered to capture the lower Mississippi Confederate stronghold of Port Hudson, Louisiana, to go to Grant's aid. When his assault failed, Banks settled into a 48-day siege, the longest in US military history up to that point. A second attack also failed, and it was only after the fall of Vicksburg that the Confederate commander, General Franklin Gardner, surrendered the port. The Union gained control of the river and navigation from the Gulf of Mexico through the Deep South and to the river's upper reaches.