The Dam Works

By May 8, rising water behind Bailey's dams allowed the lighter draft gunboats Fort Hindman, Neosho, and Osage to cross the upper rapids, but on May 9 two barges in the dam broke loose and only the 177-foot gunboat Lexington was ready to dash through the opening and reach deeper water, followed by the three gunboats waiting behind the dam while the rest remained trapped. Bailey then began another dam at the upper rapids, built with small tree dams from the Pineville side and a larger crib dam from the Alexandria side, and between May 10 and 12 the remaining boats struggled over the upper shoals; Chillicothe barely passed, while Carondelet and Mound City grounded on the reefs and blocked the way until Bailey and Lieutenant Colonel Uri Pearsall of the 99th Colored Infantry built a bracket dam and finally had the vessels hauled over the rocks by 3,000 men using blocks and tackle, windlasses, and five-inch hawsers. Even then the largest boats still had to pass the lower rapids through a 70-foot opening in the lower dam, and on May 12 Mound City crossed before crowds lining the banks, followed that evening by Carondelet and Pittsburg and on May 13 by Louisville, Chillicothe, Ozark, and two tugs, proving the dams had freed the fleet. With the fleet below the rapids, General Banks ordered the withdrawal from Alexandria, much of the town burned during the retreat, Confederate cavalry harassed the Union column through Avoyelles Parish, Taylor made a stand near Mansura, and a final attack came on May 17 at Yellow Bayou near Simmesport; the next day Bailey built a floating bridge across the Atchafalaya from 25 transport vessels, after which Banks's forces moved to Baton Rouge, Porter's fleet and Sherman's troops went up the Mississippi to Vicksburg, and the Red River Campaign ended.

Pineville, Louisiana · United States