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McNeese University info about Niblett's Bluff

Located north of Vinton, LA, west of the Delta Downs horse racing track, Niblett's Bluff Fort is a historical site that played a big part in the War Between The States.  Some of the earthworks are still in their original location, some of the roads are the same, and the boat ramp is in about the same place. 

In the book "Hood's Texas Brigade: Lee's Grenadier Guard", by Col. Harold B. Simpson, pub. 1970, many Texas military units passed through "Neblett's Bluff on the Louisiana shore".  The book mentions that many units went into camp near Robert C. Neblett's plantation.  An overland route taken by the troops was the Old Spanish Trail to New Iberia and New Orleans; Highway 90 follows much the same route.  Starting August 19, 1861, General Van Dorn's troops marched the 250 miles during a twelve-day rainstorm, with water and mud between ankle and waist deep.  All of August and most of September was much the same.  According to an article written for the Richmond Enquirer by a member of the first group of companies to leave Camp Van Dorn, the Texans were plagued with 'billions upon billions of the largest and fiercest mosquitoes in the world ... swarming upon [them] every moment of the day and night'. In crossing the Grand Marias region of Louisiana, better termed by the soldiers as the "Grand Miry", a new danger was encountered -- the alligator.  Concerning this threat, Reverend Nicholas Davis reported that 'In many places the men waded up to their necks through the swamps, where alligators lay basking in the tall grass, as if disputing the passage, and seemed reluctant to give way without a stern admonition in the way of a bayonet thrust, to impress them with a proper respect for the characters of the newcomers.  Many were bayoneted by the soldiers, and held up in triumph as they [the soldiers] went on plunging through the dangerous waters...'

Try to get that book if you can.  The rest of the Texas troops' trek to Richmond is full of adventure. 

After you read what McNeese University has about the fort, take  a look at the map below.  The signature is Colonel Valery Sulakowski. He designed most of the fortifications along the Texas coast and quite a few in Louisiana.

This copy of the map was passed from hand to hand until it ended up here.  The Louisiana Archives looked at this map and can't find anything similar in their files.

The photo is a thumbnail; click it to bring a larger version to your screen:
 

Here is another view of the fort area, a little more north on the map, made at the same time as the copy above.  You can print and overlay the two, if you like:

Some of you might find it handy to put these photos in a photo editor and really zoom in on it.  Let us hope the structures can be identifed with some certainty, or at least a good guess.

Happy hunting!

Here's a Google Earth picture of the same area as it appears recently:

Niblett's Bluff Park webpage

Wartime Timeline

Texas Handbook info

Vinton info

Book mentions Niblett's Bluff

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