Artillery Ridge

Artillery Ridge was the site of pre-siege Confederate campsites and later became one of the Union staging areas for the May 27 assault. Ravines on the backside of the ridge provided a protected area for Union campsites, while the ridge offered an excellent position for three Union siege batteries. On the morning of May 27, Union forces used the trail leading from the "D" intersection to the creek bottom as their approach to the Confederate works. In Colonel Halbert E. Paine's account, the attackers faced a destructive rifle fire from concealed Confederates using thickets, trees, fallen timber ridges, ravines, rifle pits, and networks of earth and log construction, and after advancing to within two hundred yards of the fortification, they were met by concentrated artillery and infantry fire.

Louisiana · United States