Port Hudson in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana — The American South (West South Central)
Slaughter Pen
Photographed By Cajun Scrambler, January 5, 2019
1. Slaughter Pen Marker
"About the middle of the siege, the enemy attempted to make a sneak through our lines in the night. A picked command was formed, possibly a thousand men. They selected the slaughter pen route. This pen stood on a high bluff, deep ravines from the neighborhood running into Sandy Creek. These ravines were filled with the offal of many hundred cattle. The attempt was made in a rainstorm. The men got separated and lost while bogging and floundering in this awful putrid mess. They came straggling through our thin line, and were captured in detail. The greater number scrambled back to their own lines.
Commander of the Confederate Left Wing
On the night of June 11, Union troops attempted to breech the Confederate lines by way of the garrison's slaughter pen. The slaughterhouse, cattle pen, and dump were located here and in the ravines nearby.
Beef was a mainstay of the Port Hudson garrison's diet. It came from longhorn cattle driven from Texas. Poor in quality, the beef was described by a Port Hudson Confederate: "poor, gristly blue, gummy, it could be boiled for hours and never an eye of grease on the water. Those old steers, I suppose, were the only animals in existence without a single particle of fat in their composition."
Topics. This historical marker is listed
this page online
Location. 30° 41.385′ N, 91° 17.285′ W. Marker is in Port Hudson, Louisiana, in East Feliciana Parish. Marker can be reached from U.S. 61. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 236 Hwy 61, Jackson LA 70748, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Bennett's Redoubt (within shouting distance of this marker); Bennett's House and Battery (about 500 feet away, measured in a direct line); Mississippi Redoubt (about 700 feet away); Major Bennett's Lunette (about 800 feet away); Union Battery No. 3 (approx. 0.3 miles away); Union Battery No. 4 (approx. 0.3 miles away); Union Battery No. 5 (approx. 0.3 miles away); Alabama-Arkansas Redoubt (approx. 0.3 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Port Hudson.
More about this marker. Located on the grounds of the Port Hudson State Historic Site.
Photographed By Cajun Scrambler, January 4, 2019
2. Slaughter Pen Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on September 8, 2023. It was originally submitted on January 11, 2019, by Cajun Scrambler of Assumption, Louisiana. This page has been viewed 222 times since then and 19 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on January 11, 2019.
