Port Hudson is situated on a bend of the Mississippi about twenty-two miles above Baton Rouge, La., and one hundred and forty-seven miles above New Orleans. The defences in front, or on the water side, consisted of three series of batteries situated on a bluff and extending northward along the river. General Banks with a large force landed on May 21, 1863, and on the 27th an assault was made on the works, and repulsed. A bombardment from the river was then kept up for several days, and on June 14th another unsuccessful assault was made. This was the last assault; but the enemy, resorting to mines and regular approaches, was slowly progressing with these when the news of the surrender of Vicksburg was received. General Gardner then made a proposal to General Banks to capitulate, which was accepted, and the position was yielded to the Federal commander on the next day (July 9).
The surrender included about 6,000 persons all told, 51 pieces of artillery, and a quantity of ordnance stores. Our loss in killed and wounded in the assaults was small compared with that of the enemy, and by the fall of Vicksburg the position of Port Hudson had ceased to have much importance. For more than six weeks the garrison, which had resisted a vastly superior force, attacking by both land and water, had cheerfully encountered danger and fatigue without a murmur, had borne famine and repulsed every assault, and they yielded Port Hudson only when the fall of Vicksburg had deprived the position of its importance. A chivalric foe would have recognized the gallantry of the defence in the terms usually given under like circumstances; such, for instance, as were granted to Major Anderson in Fort Sumter, or, at the least, have paroled the garrison. But no such consideration was shown to the gallant band by the Federal commander.