“Cannoneers, to your posts,” a Confederate officer cried above the chaos of rifle fire. Southern soldiers grouped into formations under orders from officers as they began to march toward the fray downfield.
The crowd continued to grow as the 25th annual Civil War re-enactment at Port Hudson near Jackson, La., kicked into action with the first cannon blast.
Battle cries engulfed the air as soldiers frantically ran from one side of the field to get into position and scan for an open shot at a Union solider in the distance.
“Ready! Aim! Fire!” a Confederate officer roared while the soldiers’ rifles fired in unison, consuming the men in a cloud of white smoke.
A ragtag group of Southern soldiers loaded a cannon facing the onslaught of Union troops who were slowly gaining ground. A Confederate officer raised his arm into the air as the cannoneers covered their ears. “Fire,” he yelled.
The shock from the cannon blast was immediate and could be felt as the ground shook and white smoke was carried into the wind. A few Union soldiers dropped to the ground and a taunt from the Confederates – “Come on, Yanks” – sent the Union troops further into disarray.
The crowd shouted as Confederates blasted a volley of rifle fire into the group of Federals until the battlefield was littered with Union bodies. The Southerners had taken the day.
The re-enactment this year commemorated the 150th anniversary of the siege of Port Hudson, and the events continued into Sunday.
The grounds of Port Hudson were scattered with white tents that would have been a common sight in the area during the siege, and patrons donning 19th century clothing walked the park’s grounds, visiting booths and conversing with members of the crowd.
The re-enactment serves to educate the public about the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River during the Civil War, which, according to Port Hudson curator Michael Fraering, is a lesser known part of history.
“Port Hudson is not well known because you’re talking about the same time historically as the siege of Vicksburg and the Battle of Gettysburg,” he said. “This was the longest siege in American military history. There have been longer battles, longer campaigns — but this was a siege. When the Federals came up and surrounded the rebs here, there was no getting out, no getting in. The rebs in here had to fight with what they had, who they had, for 48 days.”
University students also took part in the events this weekend, dressed in authentic 19th century clothing to perform a duel for the crowd.
History junior Andrew Delatte and political science, international studies and history junior John Ryan McGehee portrayed a duo who agreed to a pistol duel.
McGehee and Delatte stood back to back and waited for action as re-enactor Ryan Southall gave the crowd various facts about the history of dueling.
The duelers walked 10 paces, turned and fired shots while the crowd cheered and clapped as McGehee fell to the ground.
The students, along with microbiology sophomore Evan Rivere, also portrayed a Union medical group that tended to the wounded during the re-enactment.
Shane Marks traveled to Port Hudson from Lafayette to spend the weekend re-enacting like he has done for the past 10 years, portraying a Union soldier. The movie “Glory” got Marks interested in the Civil War, and he said he has been hooked since his first time participating in a re-enactment.
Many of the re-enactors don’t know what exactly is going to happen on the field, Marks said, and the commanding officers control much of the soldiers’ movements while in battle.
Figuring out who dies, when and where, is something that happens arbitrarily, Marks said.
“If someone points directly at you and shoots, you usually fall down,” he said. “[You] take a hit and try not to move for as long as you can.”
The interesting history doesn’t stop with Port Hudson museum officials or the museum inside the ground’s buildings – some visitors to the re-enactment held their own unique stories.
Charlene Berger visited Port Hudson on Saturday with her children and husband. This was the family’s first time at a re-enactment, and Berger said they wanted to bring their children to experience something that was special to their own family’s history.
Berger’s family lineage contains strong ties to the ground she was standing on, as one of her anscestors, Confederate officer Robert Leggett Pruyn, played a pivotal role in the siege.
According to Berger, Pruyn swam the Mississippi River twice during the siege to get help and send information to Confederate soldiers on the other side of the river in Pointe Coupee Parish, which was a major contribution to the battle. Pruyn went on to serve as the mayor of Baton Rouge in the early 20th century, she said, and is buried in the Baton Rouge National Cemetery.
An estimated 700 re-enactors participated this year because of the significance of the 150th anniversary of the siege, Fraering said, but re-enactors from across the South usually flock to Port Hudson each year because of the milder weather.
“This time of year is a good time of year for us weather-wise, and it’s a good time for re-enactors,” he said. “You go a little further north [and] they have much colder weather. So, Civil War re-enactors who want to participate in a program actually gravitate to the deeper South.”
Jim Hogg, a musician from Baton Rouge, held a booth at the re-enactment where he sold Civil War bullets in customized wooden boxes. He and his son, James Linden Hogg, performed a musical event for the crowd Saturday, as well.
Hogg strummed an acoustic guitar while Linden used a 230-year-old violin to create a song one would have heard during the late 19th century.
The family participated in the event, camping in one of the various white tents all weekend and cooking over a fire, to relive the rich history of the region, something Hogg said many of the re-enactors are present for.
“We don’t glory in the warfare,” Hogg said. “We want to be a record of living history, good and bad. We want to play our own part.”
“We don’t glory in the warfare. We want to be a record of living history, good and bad. We want to play our own part.”
