By
Steven M. Mayeux
Illustrations, maps, index, notes, bibliography, 385 pp., 2007. The University of Tennessee Press, 110 Conference Center, 600 Henley St., Knoxville, TN 37996-4108, $45 plus shipping. .
Reviewer: Richard M. McMurry
Richard M. McMurry's latest book (edited) is An Uncompromising Secessionist: The Civil War of George Knox Miller, 8th (Wade's) Confederate Cavalry.
Review:
In March 1864 Union troops advancing up the Red River into central and western Louisiana as part of the Red River Campaign overran and captured Fort DeRussy near Marksville. The fort and its outlying works had been built by the Confederates to protect the major invasion route into the Trans-Mississippi.
A few weeks later a Rebel army met the invading column at Mansfield far upriver. The Confederate victory in the battle forced the Union troops to withdraw and secured the area for the Secessionists.
Stephen Mayeux spent almost a dozen years researching the history of the Confederate defense of the lower Red River and Fort DeRussy’s role in it. His deep research must have uncovered just about every scrap of evidence on the fort and the people connected with it.
In this book Mayeux tells the story of the fort and of the several land and naval actions that took place around it. He includes chapters covering modern efforts to preserve the fort and the life of Lewis Gustave DeRussy for whom the post was named (in fact one of six installations —three Federal three Confederate — named for him or his relatives).
Even veteran Civil Warriors can learn much from this book, both about the area and the battles there and about the general subject of river defense.
The work, however, suffers from the author’s failure to use his judgment and exclude minutiae that he unearthed. Such trivial information is irrelevant to the story, burdens and bores readers, and in general detracts from the overall quality of the book. Examples include the dimensions of various naval vessels, by-name casualty lists from the various engagements at and near the fort, and the names of those participating in Lewis DeRussy’s 1999 reburial at the fort.
Readers interested in the Trans-Mississippi, the war on the rivers, and Civil War navies should read this book. Most other students of the conflict will enjoy the work and will find many parts of it fascinating.