Once Confederate General Gardner surrendered the port, a Southern soldier marveled that fighters on both sides, “swarmed from their places of concealment…and met each other in the most cordial and fraternal spirit. One could hardly believe it is possible these men had just before been fighting with the ferocity of tigers.” The Confederate recalled that a surgeon from the Union side, “came in during a heavy rainstorm and brought medicines to our sick, repeating his visit the next morning.”

The fall of Port Hudson was a landmark event in the Civil War. It was the last Confederate port along the Mississippi River…and the Union’s final obstacle to the waterway. The North had captured more than 6,000 soldiers and a substantial supply of ammunition and arms.

Mort Künstler painted this dramatic battle scene, a detail from Jackson at Antietam, which typifies the fighting which took place at Port Hudson.