Remembering Barbara Dupre: Houma woman was a pioneer in Lions Club International
June 16, 2015
Giving Back
June 17, 2015
Just south of Thibodaux and north of Raceland, the rusted spider-work of an old railroad trestle spans Bayou Lafourche, near a quiet neighborhood of graceful older homes with well-tended, expansive lawns.
The only indication that anything of significance ever occurred nearby is a white sign with black letters, easily overlooked or ignored.
The marker says that history happened at that place, 152 years ago this week.
The Battle of Lafourche Crossing, fought June 20-21, 1863, was a victory for occupying federal troops, but cast no decisive shadow on the outcome of the Civil War overall. The sizes of the armies and the tally of casualties on both sides make clear that this was no Shiloh or Gettysburg.
But for people living in Lafourche Parish it was part of the nightmare war had made, a war resulting in harsh federal occupation for years after its end.
It is also a reminder, like other scattered local skirmish and
battle sites, that Lafourche and Terrebonne parish institutions do little to preserve or promote their unique places in the overall mosaic of U.S. history. A wealth of sites throughout the Bayou Region have stories to tell, including portions of the railroad line leading to and from the former Lafourche Crossing depot, as well as places of conflict in and near Houma and Thibodaux.
RIVER SEIGES AND RAILROAD TIES
Local officials have expressed little interest in seeking grants for development of Civil War tourism. In many cases, knowledge of the region’s unique history in relation to the war is minimal or lacking. The Louisiana Office of Culture, Recreation and Tourism has maintained plaques at a few key locations, such as the one at Lafourche Crossing. That office, under the direction of Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, last year unveiled a plaque commemorating the Battle of Georgia Landing.
Historian and former Nicholls State University professor Chris Pena, who now lives in Tennessee, says preservation and commemoration are vital for local communities.
“It is important to know what occurred in our neck of the woods, so that we do have an appreciation or what our ancestors went through, civilians and soldiers,” said Pena, whose book “Scarred By War: Civil War in Southeast Louisiana” (AuthorHouse 2004) provides intricate detail of an almost separate war waged in the region west of New Orleans.
That Lafourche Crossing and other local events are not high on the national radar in terms of the war does not diminish importance, said Denis Gaubert, a Thibodaux attorney and historian.
“It was memorable enough for those who were there,” Gaubert said of Lafourche Crossing. “There was fierce hand-to-hand combat, which was infrequently seen in the Civil War, lots of use of bayonets.”
Lafourche Parish and Thibodaux in particular were already well acquainted with the results of war by 1863. Union forces with legions of liberated slaves behind them poured into the city after Confederate defenders failed to stem their invasion from Donaldsonville in 1862 at Georgia Landing in Laba-dieville.
The Lafourche Crossing battle occurred within a larger context of attempts by both sides, Union and Confederate, to control the Mississippi River in 1863.
Union forces were in full control of New Orleans.
At Vicksburg Gen. Ulysses S. Grant began a May siege. Union Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks laid siege to Port Hudson, north of Baton Rouge. Union forces were holding Brashear City – now Morgan City – and the Confederate forces coveted their rich supplies of rations and weapons.
A capture of Brashear City, historical accounts indicate, would also allow for an approach to Port Hudson for a potential repelling of the Yankee forces.
The chess moves of superior officers – with the Union leaders intent on fortifying Brashear and the Confederates eager to take it – resulted in Thibodaux being virtually abandoned by the Yankees. A small force of Union troops had moved south to Lafourche Crossing, intent on protecting the railroad, whose tracks were essential for troop movements all the way from New Orleans to points west.
MASSED FEDERALS
On June 20, 1863, arriving Confederate forces – including Texas cavalry units – surprised the Union skeleton crew at the Thibodaux garrison, causing some to flee toward Lafourche Crossing, four miles to the south, and imprisoning others.
Thibodaux residents took to the streets and cheered the Texas troops, believing their redemption was at hand.
Advancing Confederates also seized the railroad depot and garrison in Schriever, sending Union soldiers on a retreat over railroad tracks to Lafourche Crossing as well.
Union Lt. Col. Albert Stickney was charged with protecting the crossing, strategically vital for troop movements on New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western rail line, already compromised at Schriever. Troops arrived by train from points east and a cannon was set up in the railroad trestle where it rises above what is now La. Highway 308.
The current trestle was rebuilt in years following the war, and in 1863 a wooden bridge crossed bayou Lafourche. Pena said he believed the stone embankments that form the base of the trestle were already in place.
Geographically the area was quite different from its appearance today. Bayou Lafourche was wider and deeper, still fed by the Mississippi River then. Huge river steamers traveled up and down the bayou, which on the La. Highway 308 side was sided by a levee described as 12 feet high in spots.
North of the crossing the old Chatchie Plantation house – since burned and rebuilt – was converted into a field hospital, particularly necessary because a number of the Union troops evacuated to the crossing were severely ailing.
Stickney’s troops included members of the 23rd Connecticut, 26th Massachusetts, 26th Maine and 176th New York infantries, the 42nd Massachusetts, 21st Indiana Heavy Artillery and 25th New York Light Artillery.
LIMITED MISSION
Faulty intelligence and problematic communications made for conflicting estimates of how large the rebel threat to Lafourche Crossing was – and a false assumption that the railroad crossing was the chief target of Confederate troops.
Late on the afternoon of June 20, a Confederate force was fired on by Union artillery, while advancing from Thibodaux on the La. Highway 308 side of the bayou.
Rebel soldiers retreated back to Thibodaux and reported on the strength of Union forces and the presence of artillery.
The next morning Col. James P. Major, who had checked Union forces from advancing toward Thibodaux at Chacahoula, rode into the city, with orders from Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor to head out toward Brashear City, cutting off any escape route for federals from there.
To keep Stickney’s blue-coats occupied during that maneuver, a major ordered Col. Charles Pyron and his Second Texas Cavalry to feign an attack on Lafourche Crossing, where the Union force
A sign along La. Highway 308 in Thibodaux marks the area where the Battle of Lafourche Crossing was Fought 152 years ago this week. Once of the bloodiest battles in the region, the fight was a victory for occupying federal troops.
Union troops guarding a crossing at this spot, replaced by the current trestle, drove off an attacking force of Con-Federated on June 20-21 1863. The trestle spanning Bayou Lafourche is seen here from the Thibodaux side of La. Highway 308 where bloody fighting occurred.
