31.176164,-92.060612
Adjacent to my hometown, lays the small city of Marksville. During my teenage years I would hear of numerous haunted stories coming from a small nook of Marksville known as the Fort Derussy Battlefield and Cemetery. The informative antique 1945 book, Gumbo Ya-Ya, vaguely refers to the area as, “the haunted woods near Marksville where the local people refuse to go after dark.” Normally, I would lump the two locations into one story but the cemetery holds such a special place in my heart that I must differentiate it from the historic battlefield. For now though, we will focus on what the area is primarily known for; a Civil War fort.
The fort received its name from Colonel Louis G. Derussy, commander of the 2nd Louisiana Regiment of volunteers during the Civil War. As we have learned with our other locations, the Red River Campaign was becoming a large military movement. As this was beginning to form, Union troops began to establish their positions by moving up from Simmesport via the Atchafalaya River. Colonel Derussey was aware of this and he knew that his primary goal was to build a defense along this anticipated path.
The presumptions were correct, as Union troops approached Fort Derusssy in May of 1863. As they approached, they immediately began attacking several Confederate gunboats; the Cotton and the Grand Duke. Despite the Confederate losses, the Union retreated down the river, only after destroying part of the fort. The Confederacy rebuilt and, a year later on March 14, 1864, led by Colonel William F. Lynch and Colonel William T. Shaw, the Union troops returned, this time, with a fight on their minds.
