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Story Archives: Cannon fire & chaos on the Ouachita during Civil War, 1863
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Cannon fire & chaos on the Ouachita during Civil War, 1863
 (13th in a series)
From April to June 1863, an Englishman named Arthur James Lyon Fremantle traveled from Brownsville, Tex., to New York by foot, horse, carriage, stage, railroad and steamer during the American Civil War.
In May, his journey took him from Shreveport to Monroe by stage, and down the Ouachita River on a sternwheeler to Fort Beauregard at Harrisonburg after Rebel canon fire repelled an attack by four Union gunboats. In another four months, a federal land assault staged from Natchez would capture the fort.
From Harrisonburg, Fremantle traveled down the Ouachita to Trinity in Catahoula Parish and then across Concordia to Vidalia. The next day he crossed the Mississippi into Natchez, just two months before the Union soldiers began an occupation the city.
Fremantle was a 28-year-old British colonel who like many in the world was curious about the Civil War. He decided to travel to the South as a tourist and observe the war and military tactics first hand. He would relate his journey to friends back in England who were amazed by his stories. He witnessed the Battle of Gettysburg, met many of the leading generals of the Confederacy and observed the great hardships faced by Southern civilians during the devastating year of 1863 when both Louisiana and Mississippi were invaded.
His diary of his travels was later published in a book: "Three Months in the Southern States." There may be no better snapshot of the state of chaos in both Louisiana and Mississippi as the Union army and navy swarmed the region during the Vicksburg and Port Hudson campaigns.
Fremantle left England on March 2 and 20 days later arrived at Havana, Cuba. Because the North had blockaded Southern ports and held possession of New Orleans and the Mississippi River from her mouth northward to Port Hudson, his best route to get to America was through Mexico. His ship landed just south of Texas and the Rio Grande.For the full story, subscribe to the The Concordia Sentinel's NEW E-Edition! |
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