Earthen Walls, Iron Men: Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, and the Defense of Red River (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Earthen Walls, Iron Men: Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, and the Defense of Red River Cyril M. Lagvanec Earthen Walls, Iron Men: Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, and the Defense of Red River. By Steven M. Mayeux. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-57233-576-9. Maps. Photographs. Illustrations. Appendixes. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xiv, 370. $45.00. Earthen Walls, Iron Men by Steven M. Mayeux is a detailed account of the history of Fort DeRussy and the fighting that occurred in its vicinity during the American Civil War. The history of the fort previously had been only “little tidbits here and there” (p. xiii), but over the span of eleven years Mayeux collected these pieces together and transformed them into a monograph of some real worth. Indeed, the book is something of a labor of love for the author, and contains a very personal note as he is a direct descendant of a participant in the events described in the narrative. Mayeux begins with the origins of Fort DeRussy, which was first named Fort Taylor in honor of the commander of the district, Richard Taylor. The author writes of the fort’s construction and armament. Its composition was quite stout and its armament capable of dealing great destruction to wooden vessels. However, it was no Confederate Gibraltar. [End Page 958] Not once, but twice, Fort Derussy was taken by Union forces and systematically demolished. The first time occurred in May of 1863 during Nathaniel Banks’s Bayou Teche campaign when the Rebels abandoned the fort. The drive up the Bayou Teche played itself out as a major raid against Louisiana’s sugar parishes, and when the Yankee marauders departed, the Confederates reoccupied, rebuilt, and rearmed Fort DeRussy. Then in March of 1864, Banks’s army again took the fort after a brief, yet sharp, assault as part of the unfolding Red River campaign. After Banks’s defeat upriver and his subsequent retreat, the twice-destroyed site was finally abandoned. Along with the construction and composition of the fort and the Union captures, Mayeux delves into numerous aspects of the times and of related places. He provides the reader with an entire chapter on Fort DeRussy’s outer works, such as Fort Humbug and the raft of felled trees collected in the waters of the Red River. This does much to explain the fortification’s successes and failures as the location was never taken by the United States Navy, but rather by the Army. There are detailed passages about winter quarters, the cotton trade between the opponents, the cotton-stealing expeditions of the Federal navy, Joseph Bailey’s dam at Alexandria, the status and conduct of Confederate prisoners of war kept in New Orleans, and various accounts of the riverine fights that took place up and down the Red. The author concludes with a chapter on redeeming the site as a historical landmark. Mayeux succeeds paying homage to a moment in history that possesses true meaning for him. The detail he provides is nothing short of exhaustive, and should prove most useful to the serious scholar. In addition, his writing style, which sometimes slips and becomes a tad folksy, is nevertheless up to the challenge of engaging and entertaining the reader. His retelling of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianola by the C.S.S. Queen of the West and the Webb is simply superb. Anyone interested in the period of the American Civil War would do well to add Mayeux’s book to their library. Cyril M. Lagvanec Loyola University New Orleans, Louisiana Copyright © 2008 The Society for Military History