Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip 1862
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 18 April 1862 – 28 April 1862 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1862 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | United States | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | American Civil War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 29.3575, -89.4600 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip (April 18–28, 1862) was the decisive battle for possession of New Orleans in the American Civil War. The two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River south of the city were attacked by a Union Navy fleet. As long as the forts could keep the Federal forces from moving on the city, it was safe, but if they fell or were bypassed, there were no fall-back positions to impede the Union advance.
New Orleans, the largest city in the Confederacy, was already under threat of attack from its north when David Farragut moved his fleet into the river from the south. The Confederate Navy had previously driven off the Union blockade fleet in the Battle of the Head of Passes the previous October. Although the Union threat from upriver was geographically more remote than that from the Gulf of Mexico, a series of losses in Kentucky and Tennessee had forced the Confederate War and Navy Departments in Richmond to strip the region of much of its defenses. Men and equipment had been withdrawn from the local defenses, so that by mid-April almost nothing remained south of the city except the two forts and an assortment of gunboats of questionable worth.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip (revision 1370110507), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Bombardment of Fort St. Philip (1815) 1815 · 1 km
- Battle of the Head of Passes 1861 · 30 km
- Battle of New Orleans 1815 · 83 km
- Capture of New Orleans 1862 · 89 km
- Battle of Lake Borgne 1814 · 90 km
- Battle of Lake Pontchartrain 1779 · 111 km
Other battles of the American Civil War
- Battle of the Head of Passes 1861
- Bog Wallow Ambush 1861
- First Battle of Mesilla 1861
- Siege of Tubac 1861
- Skirmish at Blackwater Creek 1861
- Battle of Albuquerque 1862
- Battle of Antietam 1862
- Battle of Apache Pass 1862
- Battle of Augusta (1862) 1862
- Battle of Baton Rouge (1862) 1862
All 498 battles of the American Civil War →
Browse more: battles in United States · North America · 19th century battles