Major Bennett's Lunette

During the summer of 1863, this ridgeline was swept by musket-fired miniè balls and the shrieking and exploding fire of Union and Confederate cannon during the Port Hudson campaign involving Union General Nathaniel P. Banks' Nineteenth Army Corps and Confederate General Franklin K. Gardner's Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana garrison at Port Hudson. Within these small earthwork fortresses during the 48-day siege, Lieutenant Asa W. Harman commanded a detachment of Company A artillerymen from the 1st Alabama Infantry at this lunette. These riflemen manned a 24-pound 5.82-inch rifled gun, and Harman's well-aimed shots and shells troubled the Union infantry and artillerymen facing this position and disabled two guns of the 1st U.S. Artillery in quick succession.

Louisiana · United States