"Two pieces of siege artillery were removed during Tuesday (May 26
1863) night from the heavy batteries on the river and mounted on
this line—-one rifled 24 pounder, under command of Lieutenant
Sanford, Company A, First regiment Alabama volunteers, on the
Commissary Hill, and another rifled 24-pounder, under Lieutenant
Harman, Company A, First regiment Alabama volunteers at Bennett''s
house."
Colonel Marshall J. Smith,
Heavy Artillery Commander
Port Hudson Garrison
The house that was originally located on this site was the
residence of the Stephen Ambrose family. They farmed a one
hundred and six acre cotton plantation before and after the war.
During the Confederate occupation of Port Hudson, Major
William K. Bennett of the Quartermasters Corps occupied the
house before and during the siege. He was in charge of the
commissary department for the garrison. He escaped after the
surrender, bringing Southern authorities their first official
information of the fall of Port Hudson.
The Confederates transferred a 24-pounder rifled cannon to this
site from River Battery No. 1 to oppose the concentration of
enemy cannons on Artillery Ridge. The troops in this area helped
to repulse the Union attack on the Slaughter Pen on the night
of June 11, 1863.
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