Fort Butler, Donaldsonville, Louisiana, collection of the author

About 60 miles upriver from New Orleans, Donaldsonville was an important shipping point for sugar cane plantations along Bayou Lafourche. Union forces bombarded the community and built Fort Butler, aided by the slaved that had been freed by the Northern forces. In 1863, a major from Maine commanded about 180 men. Invalids, convalescents and an unknown number of blacks who may have been freed slaves or part of a black regiment also lived at the fort. These few men, supported by a Union gunboat, defeated a midnight attack by a much larger number of Confederate forces. During the battle, journalists saw negros and whites fighting side by side. This was one of the first battles in Louisiana where black soldiers fought.