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This Day In History, April 29th, 2022 – “Admiral Farragut Captures New Orleans”



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It was 160 years ago today, April 29, 1862, that the Stars and Stripes rose proudly over a very defiant southern city. New Orleans, situated perfectly to control the traffic on the Mississippi, a major river for commerce back then and still today, was a key objective in squeezing the south to death under the Union’s Anaconda Plan. The largest city in the south, she was the pearl of the Confederacy, but people lust for pearls, and Union naval Captain David Farragut was the man to take it.

The war at this time could still go either way, both sides had claimed victories, but no capitulation in the Civil War, which many thought would have been decided in one grand joust like battle, had occurred. Taking New Orleans would be devastating to the Confederacy, but Capt. Farragut had quite the challenge on his hands. Defending the city were two forts, St. Phillips and Jackson, each able to protect the other, and on opposite banks of the river. A barricade of boats and other defending ships stood in his way. The actual battle had begun on April 18, and after several daring raids and an impressive yet ineffective motor barrage, not to mention Unions ships dodging several Confederate fire ships, the Union fleet broke through to New Orleans on April 25. However, the citizens of the city refused to surrender, even pelting two sailors who had been sent to city hall to demand the capitulation. In the end, after the city did what it could to resist, including burning many valuable resources that had been stored in the warehouses. The city finally surrendered after the Confederacy seemed to have abandoned them, the forts being evacuated without a major assault on them. Mayor John Monroe told Farragut “the city is yours by the power of brutal force and not by any choice or consent of it’s inhabitants”. In fact, martial law in New Orleans was very tense to say the least, as southerners continued to openly defy the Union occupiers. In the end, the capture of New Orleans was a massive success for the United States, as the gateway to the Mighty Mississippi was in Union hands, and it all happened 160 years ago today.

What was happening yesterday, on April 28th?


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