Central Louisiana

Last Update: 20/JULY/2025

Camp Bayou de Siard
(1864), near Monroe, Ouachita Parish
A Confederate (Consolidated Crescent Regiment) camp (January 1864) located on Bayou de Siard north of the city. Undetermined location.

Camp Trenton
(1861 - 1864), near Monroe
A Confederate muster and training camp for ten companies was located at the former village of Trenton (or two or three miles west of the town ?) in September 1861. Confederate Texas troops camped here in July 1863. The Confederate 5th Louisiana Cavalry Regiment was encamped about two or three miles west of Trenton in May 1864. The former village was once located on the west bank of the Ouachita River about two miles north of Monroe.

Camp Qui Vive (2)
(1863), near Monroe
A Confederate (Company D, 3rd Louisiana Cavalry Regiment) camp (November 1863) located near the former village of Trenton, about two miles north of Monroe.

Fort Miró
(1790 - 1804), Monroe
A Spanish rectangular stockade fort, with bastions in each corner, located at the "Prairie des Canots" (Prairie of the Canoes) (settled in 1785), now present-day Monroe (renamed in 1819). The first Spanish settlement of the Ouachita District was originally located in present-day Camden, Arkansas in 1783. The fort was built sometime after August 1790 on the land of Don Jean Baptiste Filhiol, who personally paid half the cost, with the other half paid for by the local settlers. Completed in February 1791, the stockade surrounded several buildings that were already extant and owned by Filhiol. Armed with four swivel guns and garrisoned by an officer and six men. Also known as Fort Ouachita, or Post of Ouachita (1). Filhiol resigned as commandant of the post in 1800, succeeded by his lieutenant, Joseph de la Baume. Site is presumed to be located along the Ouachita River on or near South Grand Street, between Calypso and Oak Streets. An excavation of the area in 1973-75 proved inconclusive. State marker is at 501 South Grand Street at Calypso Street.

The American log stockade Post at Ouachita (2) (April 1804 - 1808), with 19 men under Lt. Joseph Bowmar, was actually located about 400 yards south of the Spanish fort, which was considered private (not public) property at the time, and which was reported taken down before November 1804. A transfer ceremony probably took place on or about April 15, 1804. Also spelled Washita in some reports.

Camp Monroe
(1862 - 1863), Monroe
A Confederate camp in or near town, used by several units during the war. The 3rd Louisiana Cavalry Regiment was here in May 1863.

The Monroe (or Northern Louisiana) Camp of Instruction was also here or nearby, from July 1862 to May 1863, for training conscripts from areas of the state that were west of the Mississippi River and north of the Red River. The 11th Brigade of Louisiana Militia was here after January 1863 as the camp guard.

Camp at Lake Lafourche
(1863), near Oak Ridge, Morehouse Parish, or near Jonesburg, Richland Parish
A Confederate (12th Texas Cavalry) camp (August 1863) on Bayou/Lake Lafourche, about six or seven miles north of Rayville.

Camp Oak Ridge
(1864), Oak Ridge
A Confederate (5th Louisiana Cavalry Regiment) camp (August 1864).

Camp Oak Grove
(1862), Oak Grove, West Carroll Parish
A Confederate (13th Battalion Louisiana Cavalry) camp (October 1862).

Camp Floyd (1)
(1862), Floyd, West Carroll Parish
A Confederate artillery company muster/training camp (March 1862).

Camp Jackson (4)
(1862), West Carroll Parish ?, or East Carroll Parish ?
A Confederate camp of the 13th Battalion of Louisiana Partisans, located somewhere in "Carroll Parish". Undetermined location. The original Carroll Parish was split in 1877.

Camp Butler (3)
(1863 - 1864), Lake Providence
A Union (1st Kansas Infantry Regiment) camp (May 1863).

Camp Neal
(1863 - 1864), Lake Providence
A large Union camp located along the lakeshore north of town. No unit data.

Post at Providence
(1863), Lake Providence
A Union headquarters post (July 1863) of Brig. Gen. Hugh T. Reid.

Post at Goodrich's Landing
(1863), near Alsatia, East Carroll Parish
A Union (10th Louisiana Regiment (Colored), and 1st Arkansas Regiment) camp (May 1863) on the Mississippi River at the foot of Tompkins Bend, southeast of town, site now on what is now known as Henderson's Island (access only from Mississippi) due to course changes in the river. A nearby Indian burial mound was also fortified with a small redoubt or gun battery (Fort Mound). Confederate Texas cavalry attacked and captured the post (1200 men which included several hundred freed slaves) in June 1863 before Union gunboats could arrive to drive away the rebel force.

Camp Delhi
(1863), Delhi, Richland Parish
A Confederate (Company A, 3rd Regiment of Louisiana Cavalry) camp (January 1863).

Camp Edwards
(1862), near Delhi
A Confederate camp (September-October 1862) in or near town, possibly across Bayou Macon in Madison Parish. The 28th (Gray's) and 30th Louisiana Infantry Regiments, and the 11th Louisiana Battalion, were here.

Post at Milliken's Bend
(1863 - 1865), near Tallulah, Madison Parish
A Union garrison post (January 1863 - November 1865). The Union Headquarters of the Army of the Mississippi was here in January 1863. This was also the headquarters of the Right Wing of the 13th Army Corps in March 1863. The Union 9th and 11th (African) Louisiana Regiments were here in June 1863 when the post was attacked by Confederate Texas troops. Also posted here were the 8th and 13th (African) Louisiana Regiments, and the 1st and 3rd Mississippi Regiments, as well as the white 23rd Iowa Infantry Regiment. The now vanished town was about 10 miles northwest of Vicksburg, MS.

Camp at Young's Point
(1863), near Mound, Madison Parish
A Union encampment (January 1863) on the Mississippi River near Milliken's Bend, following the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou (December 1862). Became headquarters of the Union Army of the Tennessee in January and February while a canal was being cut there. Still occupied by Union troops during the Vicksburg Campaign, when it was attacked by Confederate forces in June 1863.

Camp Perkins
(1863), Tensas Parish
A Union camp (April 1863) on the plantation of Judge Perkins, located on the former channel (Davis Bend) of the Mississippi River (now Palmyra Lake), east of Somerset. The iron-clad gunboat U.S.S. Indianola was sunk here in February 1863 after it was attacked by the C.S.S. Webb and the captured Queen of the West. The wreck was raised in January 1865.

Camp at Hard Times
(1863), near Newellton, Tensas Parish
A temporary Union encampment (April 1863) on the Hard Times Plantation, on Lake St. Joseph along the Mississippi River, at Hard Times Landing, opposite Grand Gulf, MS, about three miles east of Winter Quarters. The plantation house was burned down by Union troops in May 1863, along with 13 others in the area.

Winter Quarters Encampment (State Historic Site)
(1863), Winter Quarters
A temporary Union encampment (April 1863) on the grounds of the Winter Quarters Plantation near Lake St. Joseph, first occupied during the Vicksburg Campaign. This was the only plantation house in the area that remained standing (out of 15) after the Union army left in May 1863. Admission fee to park.

Camp Bruin
(1861, 1863), near St. Joseph
A CSA training camp (August 1861) of Watson's Battery of Flying Artillery, located six miles north of town on Lake Bruin. Known in error as Camp Brown is some newspapers. The camp site (or a new site ?) was occupied again in January 1863 by the 15th Louisiana Battalion of Cavalry.

Camp Oakley
(1861), near Winnsboro, Franklin Parish
A Confederate (Franklin Sharpshooters) (Company E, 8th Regiment of Louisiana Volunteers) training camp (May 1861).

Fort Necessity
(no date), Fort Necessity, Franklin Parish
No actual fort was here. The town's name was later changed from Boeuf Prairie (first settled in 1806). Origin undetermined, possibly named by the early Anglo settlers after the famous Fort Necessity in Pennsylvania, according to local tradition. Or possibly it has some connection with the old Boeuf Prairie Methodist Church (1833) on LA State Highway 135 north of town.

Camp Pisgah
(1863), near Columbia, Caldwell Parish
A Confederate (12th Texas Cavalry) camp (October 1863). Undetermined location.

Camp Doty
(1862), Catahoula Parish
A Confederate (Company I, 25th Regiment of Louisiana Volunteers) camp (March 1862). Also spelled Dotz. Undetermined location. Possibly (?) located at the Duty Ferry on the Ouachita River, west of Enterprise.

Fort of the Natchez
(1729 - 1731), near Sicily Island, Catahoula Parish
After the Natchez Indians massacred the French garrison at Fort Rosalie in Natchez, Mississippi in November 1729, a portion of the tribe fled west to Sicily Island and built one or two palisaded forts or enclosures on a bluff along the eastern edge of the island. A French expedition of 700 men found and attacked the fort in January 1731, scattering the tribe further. Also known by the French as Fort des Sauvages and Fort Valeur. Entrenchments were said to have been still extant as late as 1825. This tract became part of the Battle Ground Plantation in 1829. The site is located about three and one-half miles north of the town of Sicily Island, about one mile east of LA State Highway 15, and said to be about 400 yards north of the present Battle Ground Plantation house (1830), on Ditto and Gamble Road. Private property. The house is no longer open for public events.

Pritchard Landing Battery
(1864), near Harrisonburg
A CSA gun battery was located on top of a 40-foot high ancient Indian mound (the easterly one of three) located on the west bank of the Ouachita River opposite Sicily Island (the island, not the town), about four miles north of town. The mound complex is still extant, just north of Rawson/Rosin Creek. Not visible from any public road, and heavily wooded. Private property.

Fort Beauregard (2)
(1863 - 1864), Harrisonburg
One of four Confederate forts guarding the Ouachita River. It was an enclosed casemated earthen redoubt on a hill behind the town. Unsuccesfully attacked by four Union gunboats in May 1863. Attacked again by Union land forces in September 1863, then abandoned. Re-occupied by Confederate forces later in 1864. State marker located in town on Pine Street (Old LA 8) at Bushley Street (LA 124).

Camp Magnolia
(1862), Harrisonburg
A CSA camp (May 1862) at Harrison's Landing on the Ouachita River.

Bushley Creek Battery
(1864), near Harrisonburg
A Confederate gun battery was built on top of one of the ancient Indian burial mounds (Mound D or F) in the McGuffee Mounds complex, located about one and one-half miles south of town on the west bank of the Ouachita River just north of Bushley Creek/Bayou. Mound marker located on LA 124 about one mile south of Bushley Street. The still extant mounds (now about 10 feet high) are on private property, but can be viewed at a distance from the highway.

Trinity Battery
(1864), Jonesville
A Confederate fort or gun battery (three guns) was located here on top of a former 82-foot high Indian mound (the "Great Mound", or Mound 5) (Troyville Archaeological Site) at the junction of the Little and Black Rivers. The mound was only about 50 feet high by the time of the Civil War. One of the four CSA forts guarding the Ouachita River to Harrisonburg and Monroe. The guns were removed (or not yet mounted ?) and hidden when Union naval vessels passed the town in November 1864. The mound was removed in 1931 to provide fill for the nearby LA 124 bridge approach. Mound marker located at 303 Willow Street, near 2nd Street. Jonesville was known as Trinity during the Civil War, renamed Troyville in 1878, then renamed again in 1888.

Fort San Luis de Natches
(1767 - 1769), near Vidalia
A Spanish fort built in May 1767 to counter the British presence in Natchez (MS) across the Mississippi River. It was abandoned after the British withdrew from the region, and also because repair costs were deemed to high for its value. Reportedly located one league below Natchez. Exact location undetermined, but a 1772 British map places it across from tract #76 then owned by settler Daniel Clark.

Post of Concordia
(1801 - 1804), Vidalia
A Spanish palisaded blockhouse (or strong house) and militia barracks, built by Don José Vidal on his land after the United States took possession of Natchez, Mississippi (in 1798) across the river. Also referred to as Post of New Concordia, or Fort Concordia. The Americans declined to take over this post in January 1804 because there were no public buildings. The town was renamed in 1811. Historic marker located at 112 Front Street. Another related marker is located at the Vidalia Chamber of Commerce building on Carter Street (US 425) at Murray Drive.

Vidalia Redoubt
(1864 - 1865), Vidalia
A Union six-gun square "redoubt" with inland bastions, located by the river, and enclosing the parish courthouse and jail, which were used for quarters and storage. Built in January 1864. The ironclad U.S.S. Benton provided added protection.

Post at Bullet's Bayou
(1865), near Vidalia
A Union garrison post, part of the District of Natchez, located on the Mississippi River north of Vidalia. The U.S. 63rd Colored Infantry was here until May 1865.

Camp Cotile
(1864 - 1865), near Boyce, Rapides Parish
A CSA headquarters camp (April 1865) under Major General J. Lawson Lewis. Undetermined location. Possibly in or near town, or further up Bayou Cotile, near its junction with Bayou Rapides near Henderson's Hill, about 3.5 miles southwest of town (near present-day Hot Wells). A skirmish occurred at Henderson's Hill in March 1864, where the Confederate 2nd Louisiana Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Texas Field Battery were ambushed while encamped there. The town was originally known as Cotile Landing until renamed in 1880.

Camp Sotile (1864) was occupied by the 28th Louisiana Infantry, supposedly located about 20 miles above Alexandria. This may be the same camp, probably mis-spelled.

Post at Tensas
(1790's), Rapides Parish ?
A Spanish outpost with an officer and six men, said to be located 85 (185 ?) miles from New Orleans. Undetermined location. Possibly located along the Red River near present-day Boyce, where a group of about 100 or so Tensas Indians were reportedly living at that time (since about 1764 or so), after several relocations from their original homeland (Lake St. Joseph region of present-day Tensas Parish). This group was apparently the last intact remnant of the tribe. They relocated again sometime after 1805 to the Grand/Calcasieu Lake area in Calcasieu/Cameron Parish, after which they disappear from the historical record.

Post of Rapides ?
(1766 - 1769), Pineville
A small Spanish garrison was located here at the head of navigation for the Red River. There was no actual fort here. The main settlement was later moved to the west (or south) bank of the river in 1797, which became Alexandria in 1805. There was once a "Spanish Fort Landing" steamboat dock on the east (or north) bank of the Red River just below Pineville, which referred to this former post.

A detachment of French troops may have been posted here at the Great Rapids of the Red River as early as 1723 or 1725, to protect travelers from Indian attacks. A blockhouse may have been possibly built in 1757, according to local history.

Alexandria Civil War Defenses
(Forts Randolph and Buhlow State Historic Site)
(1864 - 1865), Pineville
Two Confederate nine-gun earthworks were built beginning in June 1864 (or not until October ?), to defend against an expected third Union Red River Campaign, which never came. Construction continued until March 1865. They saw no combat, and both were turned over to Union forces after hostilities ended in June 1865 (12 guns total remained). These were:
Fort Buhlow, located on the east bank of the Red River, just north of the present-day US 71 bridge.
Fort Randolph, located on the east bank of the river about 500 yards south of Fort Buhlow, south of US 71, on the grounds of Central Louisiana State Hospital (1906). Bricks from the old Louisiana State Seminary site (1859 - 1869) were used in 1928 to create historical markers for both forts. Camp Randolph was a winter hutment camp here beginning in January 1865. The 2nd Louisiana Seige Battery (Boone's Battery) was still in camp here in April 1865.
A third fort (Fort Alexandria) was planned to be located on the west bank of the river in Alexandria in December 1864, at the mouth of Bayou Rapides, but was never built.

Battery at Red River Dam, a small Confederate earthwork built sometime after June 1864, located at the foot of the lower rapids on the west bank of the river in Alexandria, just downstream of where the third fort was planned at the mouth of Bayou Rapides. Reported destroyed by high water in March 1865, the guns (# ?) were then removed. The Red River (aka Bailey's) Dam had been built here by the Union in April-May 1864 to allow the Union fleet to pass through the rapids on their way back downstream to the Mississippi River. Remnants of the upper and lower dam cribworks could still be seen during periods of low water until 1987 when the John Overton Lock and Dam was constructed downstream near Poland and flooded the site. Archaeological excavations were carried out from 1984 to 1986. A scenic overlook on the river trail near Fort Randolph is near the lower dam site, with several historic markers. The visitor center at Fort Randolph is located at 135 Riverfront Street.

Union defensive entrenchments were built in Alexandria in April-May 1864 as Bailey's Dam was being constructed. These extended in an arc between the railroad and Bayou Rapides, about two-thirds of a mile from the Red River.

Confederate camps:
Camp Buckner (1864 - 1865), a hutment camp located near Pineville, or 2.5 miles north of Alexandria. The Consolidated Crescent Regiment was here from July 1864 to the end of the war. The 4th and 7th Regiments of Louisiana Cavalry were here in the latter part of 1864, and the 5th Louisiana Cavalry Regiment was here in February 1865.
Camp Crow (November 1864), a parole camp for the 3rd Regiment Louisiana Volunteer Infantry located on a sugarcane plantation about two and one-half miles above Alexandria. Plantation buildings were used as barracks.
Camp Hadnot (May 1864), a camp of the 4th Louisiana Cavalry Regiment near Pineville.
Camp Stafford (1) (December 1864), camp of the 4th and 7th Louisiana Cavalry Regiments at the Louisiana State Seminary and State Military Academy (1859 - 1869) near Kingsville. This later became the site of Camp Canby, a Federal troop post during Reconstruction (May 1873 - May 1877). Camp Canby's headquarters was in Alexandria until February 1875. The school had been burned down in October 1869, and was transferred to Baton Rouge, where it became Louisiana State University in 1870.
Camp Venable (March 1865), a camp of the 2nd Louisiana Field Battery, located on the bank of the Red River three miles below Alexandria.

Post at Alexandria (1)
(1865 - 1875), Alexandria
A Federal assembly camp (June-August 1865) of five regiments of about 4500 volunteer (state militia) Union cavalrymen led by Major General George Custer, subsequently sent to Hempstead, Texas to prevent a Confederate retrenchment there, and as a show of force against the French intervention army in Mexico. This was part of the movement of the larger U.S. Army 4th Corps moving into Texas, mostly via New Orleans, in August 1865. While in Texas, the volunteer militia troops were mustered out and replaced by the U.S. Regular Army 6th Cavalry Regiment in November 1865. The camp, located in the then northern part of town on land that was once part of the Flint-Thomas Plantation, extended from the future site of the present St. Francis Xavier Cathedral (built 1895-1907), at 626 Fourth Street, to the Red River along the north side of present Jackson Street.

During Reconstruction the city was occupied by various units of Federal troops from June 1865 to January 1875.

Camp DeSoto
(1863), near Pineville
A Confederate camp of instruction located on the west side of Bayou Marias, on both sides of the Holloway Prairie Road (present-day LA 28), about two and one-half miles northeast of town. Established in April 1863, used until at least September 1863.

Located nearby (about one-half mile east ?) was Confederate Camp Return (1864), located between the Pineville-Trinity Road and Bayou Marias.

Camp Stafford (2)
(Alexandria V.A. Medical Center)
(1905, 1916 - 1917), near Kingsville
A Louisiana National Guard summer encampment on 300 acres at the former Louisiana State Seminary grounds (1859 - 1869) (which later became Louisiana State University). A pavilion was built on the site of the old college building. The same tract was used again for the mobilization of state troops for the Mexican Border Crisis in June 1916, and again briefly used in July 1917 before Camp Beauregard (3) was built nearby (two miles away) as a replacement. The Camp Beauregard Post Hospital was then located here from 1917 - 1919, which later became the Alexandria V.A. Hospital in 1920.

Camp Beauregard (3) (State Military Reservation)
(1917 - present), near Kingsville
A Federalized National Guard training encampment and demobilization center for the 39th Division. Originally briefly named Cantonment Alexandria (2) before construction was started in mid July 1917 (completed in mid December 1917). The first troops arrived in early August 1917. The main garrison cantonment (about 5300 acres) is located five miles northeast of Alexandria, at the former site (ruins) of the Louisiana State Seminary and State Military Academy (1859 - 1869), which later became Louisiana State University. About 16,000 additional acres were used for training exercises and gun ranges. The nearly 15-square mile reservation reverted to state ownership in 1920 and was briefly renamed Camp Hunter (2), but the former name was restored soon thereafter. The camp was Federalized again in 1940 for training purposes, with much new construction and land acquisition. The Army's 1940-41 "Louisiana Maneuvers" took place in the general area around the post and nearby communities. Reverted back to state ownership in 1947. Currently the headquarters post of the Louisiana National Guard. The North Post includes about 12,500 acres of the former Camp Livingston reservation. The Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum is located on the main post at 409 "F" Street.

Officially renamed Louisiana National Guard Training Center - Pineville in October 2023. Officially renamed again in July 2025 as Camp Beauregard (4), now after Capt. Jacques Toutant Beauregard of the 3rd Regiment Louisiana Militia during the War of 1812.

Other Army sub-posts of Camp Beauregard (3) established in the vicinity in 1940 included:
Camp Livingston, about 14 miles north of town, originally about 48,000 acres, 45,500 acres of which (since 1947) is now part of Kisatchie National Forest. Originally known (unofficially) as Camp Tioga before construction was started, as that nearby village on the railroad was the switching point for the military railroad connecting to the post.
Camp Claiborne (3), about 17 miles southwest of town, on about 3100 acres, most of the former post (since 1947) is now part of Kisatchie National Forest. Originally established in 1930 as Camp Evangeline, a state guard summer training center. Part of the original reservation is still used by the Air Force as a bombing range (Claiborne Range).
Esler Army Air Field, originally the Camp Beauregard Artillery Range Airfield (late 1930's), renamed in June 1941, now the Alexandria - Esler Regional Airport.
Alexandria Army Air Base (built in 1942), renamed England USAF Base in 1955, closed in 1992, now the Alexandria International Airport.
Pollock Army Auxiliary Air Field (1942), now Pollock Municipal Airport in Grant Parish.

Camp Texas (2)
(1863), Rapides Parish ?
A Confederate camp (September 1863) for Texas troops (Walker's Division) located on "rolling land" somewhere northeast of Alexandria. Undetermined location.

Battery at Mrs. George's
(1864), near Latanier, Rapides Parish
A Confederate six-gun earthen battery located on the Red River about eight miles below Alexandria. Manned by the Crescent Heavy Artillery in December 1864.

This is probably the same as Battery on the Red River (4) (1864), a six-gun Confederate battery located on the south (or west) bank of the Red River, reportedly in a bend "between Dunns and Choctaw Bayou, ten miles from Latanier Bayou".

Camp Stonewall
(1863), Rapides Parish
A Confederate camp (June 1863) for various units, located on Bayou Choctaw about nine miles below Alexandria.

Camp at Clear Creek
(1863), near Lecompte (?), Rapides Parish
A CSA camp (May 1863) located about 12 miles from Alexandria on both sides of Clear Creek above its junction with Wise's Creek, and was also reportedly three and one-half miles north of Bayou Boeuf, and six miles from the Red River Railroad.

Camp Blanchard (1)
(1862 - 1863), near Lecompte
A temporary CSA camp for various units in the fall of 1862 and in April 1863.

Camp Boggs (2)
(1864), near Lecompte
A temporary CSA (Confederate Guards Response Battalion) camp (July 1864) located about five miles from town.

Camp Green
(1863), Rapides Parish
A Confederate camp (April 1863) (two brigades of Texas troops) reportedly located "in the pine woods" about 25 miles south of Alexandria. Undetermined location.

Camp Bayou Boeuf (1)
(1862), Rapides Parish ?
A temporary CSA (13th Texas Cavalry) camp (October 1862) located somewhere on Bayou Boeuf south of Alexandria.

Camp Cocksfaw
(1860's), Rapides Parish
A CSA camp located somewhere in Rapides Parish, reportedly connected with a deserter of the 28th (Gray's) Louisiana Infantry Regiment.

Camp at Cheneyville
(1862), near Cheneyville
A CSA (28th (Gray's) Louisiana Infantry) camp (October 1862).

Camp Boeuf (2)
(1863), near Cheneyville ?
A temporary CSA (28th (Gray's) Louisiana Infantry) camp (October 1863). Possibly the same site as above (?).

Camp Cotton
(1863), near Cheneyville
A CSA camp (November 1863) for troops under General Richard Taylor.

Camp Carondelet (2)
(1863), near Evergreen, Avoyelles Parish
A CSA (18th Louisiana Infantry Regiment) camp (October 1863), located about eight miles east (or northeast) of Holmesville.

Poste des Avoyelles
(1780's - 1805), near Marksville
A Spanish outpost at Prairie des Avoyelles to protect the Avoyel Indians from encroachment by white settlers. The settlement was renamed by 1809. State marker located on North Main Street (LA 107/115) at LA 1192, north of town.

Camp Custer
(1927), Marksville
A Louisiana National Guard (Company H, 156th Infantry Regiment) encampment immediately after the Great Flood of May 1927, occupied for several months.

Marksville (State Commemorative Area)
(c. 500 - 1400), Marksville
A Woodland Period to early Mississippian Culture temple mound complex located east of town along the banks of Old River Lake (La Vieille Rivière). The site was surrounded by a semi-circular 3,300-foot long and 10-foot high earthen embankment with an outer moat. Two large temple mounds still exist. Admission fee.

Fort DeRussy (1) (State Historic Site)
(1862 - 1865), near Marksville
Located on the south bank of the Red River at Barbin's Landing (aka Gorton's Landing, often mis-spelled as Gordon) about three miles north of town, just above the mouth of Bayou Rouge, this was a 100-yard square earthen redoubt (four guns) back of the river, with four bomb-proof magazines, and with a flanking six-gun water battery with three iron-clad casemates, built beginning in November 1862 to prevent Union gunboats from proceeding upriver to Alexandria. Originally known as Fort Taylor (1). A so-called Masked Battery with a few light field artillery guns was located about 600 yards downriver from the Water Battery. The Union cotton-clad ram Queen of the West was captured here in February 1863 after attacking the fort. The fort was renamed in March 1863. The fort was later briefly occupied and destroyed (only the water battery) by the U.S. Navy in May 1863. Reoccupied and rebuilt by the Confederates during the winter of 1863-64. The U.S. Army captured the fort again in March 1864, and further destroyed the fort and its magazines in April when they left. Once again occupied by the Confederates in late May 1864, but the post was reportedly later dismantled and only used as a picket station by April 1865. Became a Louisiana State Historic Site in 1999, but remains undeveloped. The main redoubt still exists but the water battery does not. State marker located at the Avoyelles Parish Courthouse at 312 North Main Street.

Camp DeRussy was possibly a Union contraband camp near the fort in April 1864, or a Confederate camp of Texas troops near the fort in June 1864, or possibly a POW exchange camp located here in January 1865.

Bayou L'Eau Noir Battery
(1864), near Brouillette, Avoyelles Parish
A Confederate earthwork battery (four guns) with rifle pits was located just below the mouth of Bayou L'Eau Noir on the Red River, about six miles by land (15 miles by water) downriver from Fort DeRussy (1), built in January 1864 as an advanced lookout for that post. The artillery was apparently never emplaced, and was abandoned by March 1864 when the Union fleet advanced up the Red River. The works were later destroyed by the Union in May 1864. This area, known as "Battery Bend", was later cut off from the old Red River channel by the Saline Point Cut-Off diversion project in 1938, and is now silted-over farmland on the south bank of the new river channel.

Fort on the Red River (2)
(1767), near Delhoste ?, Concordia Parish
A Spanish fort located on a bluff or hill on the north bank of the Red River, somewhere below the Black River, garrisoned by two companies of troops. Undetermined location.

Camp Louis Druillet
(1862), Avoyelles Parish
A Confederate camp (early 1862) of an unspecified Louisiana unit. Also spelled Druilhet. Undetermined location.

Camp Coco
(1864), Moreauville, Avoyelles Parish
A Confederate (18th Louisiana Infantry Regiment) camp (May 1864).

Long Bridge Breastworks
(1863 - 1864), Long Bridge, Avoyelles Parish
Confederate trenchworks and gun pits were located on the edge of the high ground of the prairie overlooking the long bridge across a swampy stretch of ground along Boutte de Bayou, between Bayou des Glaises and the Avoyelles Prairie. Originally built by Louisiana troops, this area was later known as "Magnolia Hills" by Texas soldiers passing through. Briefly used by the Confederate troops of Scurry's Brigade as they retreated from Simmesport and the Yellow Bayou in March 1864. Remnants of the works are still extant on private property.

Camp Eggeling
(1864), Avoyelles Parish
A Confederate (Louisiana Crescent Regiment) camp (June 1864) at Lake Williams (location ?), supposedly about 15 miles from Simmesport.

Camp Smith (3)
(1863 - 1864), near Simmesport, Avoyelles Parish
A Confederate (4th Louisiana Regiment of Cavalry) camp (November 1864) reportedly at "Smith's place" on Bayou des Glaises (de Glaize), about three and one-half miles from town (probably the Smith Plantation that was actually about three miles west of Fort Scurry). Probably also used previously by Confederate Texas troops in December 1863-March 1864, which was possibly the same site as Camp on Bayou des Glaise (December 1863), reportedly six miles west of the town.

Camp Glenwood
(1864), near Simmesport
A Confederate camp (December 1863 - March 1864), located in abandoned slave quarters about a mile or two west of Fort Scurry. The troops here were unspecified units of Brig. Gen. William Scurry's Brigade, which consisted of the 16th, 17th, and 19th Texas Infantry Regiments, and the 16th Texas Cavalry (Dismounted). Each regiment likely had their own separately named camp, on or near the adjacent Norwood and Smith plantations.

Fort Scurry
(1863 - 1864), near Simmesport
Actually two Confederate works, about one-half mile apart, on either side of the river road (Old State Route 1), along the west bank of the Yellow Bayou at Bayou de Glaize (des Glaises), west of town, and connected by earthworks that extended for nearly two miles along Bayou de Glaize. Local legend maintains that there was a third work (Fort Gum) located on the north side of Bayou de Glaize. Built beginning in December 1863, completed in March 1864, but then abandoned only days later. The troops were quartered in abandoned slave quarters located about one to two miles further up Bayou de Glaize (which included Camp Glenwood and Camp Smith (3) listed above). The troops suffered from boredom, and nicknamed the fort Fort Humbug (2). Also known as Fort on the Yellow Bayou, and also Old Oaks Fort or Norwood Plantation Fort. The combined works, or its separate components, were variously known by the Union as Fort Lafayette, Morgan (2), Taylor (2), or Carroll. The Battle of Yellow Bayou occurred in this vicinity in May 1864, largely on the Norwood Plantation, but the abandoned fort played no part. Union forces destroyed the larger fort (Fort #1) soon after that. Only the earthworks of the smaller work (Fort #2), the one that was south of the river road, still exist, located in a 14-acre park created in 1971.

Camp Worthington
(1864), near Simmesport
A Confederate camp (May 1864) located somewhere east of town, near the Mississippi River. Undetermined location.

NEED MORE INFO: The following posts with unknown locations are likely located in Northeastern or Central Louisiana:

Camp Beasley (March 1864), Capt. Joseph Benjamin's Company of Louisiana Cavalry in central Louisiana.
Camp Boone (October 1862), 13th Battalion Texas Cavalry, on Bayou Boeuf in central Louisiana.
Camp Brent (July 1864), a Confederate camp on Bayou Boeuf in central Louisiana.
Camp Cabell (April 1865), headquarters camp of Confederate Louisiana Militia under Major General J. Lawson Lewis, in northern or central Louisiana.
Camp at Cheath's Ferry (August 1864), 5th Louisiana Cavalry Regiment in northeast Louisiana.
Camp Durny (October 1864), 2nd Field Battery, Louisiana Light Artillery in central Louisiana.
Camp Floyd (2) (March 1863), 13th Battalion Louisiana Cavalry.
Camp Hardscrabble (1864 ?, 1865 ?), a Confederate camp somewhere in northern Louisiana, possibly at the Hardscrabble Plantation in Madison Parish, or the Hardscrabble Plantation in Avoyelles Parish (or another ?).
Camp Hays (May 1865), Confederate Louisiana Crescent Regiment in central Louisiana.
Camp Hebert (February 1864), 5th Louisiana Cavalry; and Company G, 13th Battalion Louisiana Cavalry, in northern Louisiana.
Camp Hood (August 1864), 5th Louisiana Cavalry in northern Louisiana.
Camp Lester (early 1863), Company A, 13th Battalion of Louisiana Partisan Rangers.
Camp Mayson (August 1862), Company K, 31st Louisiana Infantry Regiment in northeast Louisiana.
Camp Pargoud (December 1862), Company A, 13th Battalion of Louisiana Partisan Rangers in northern Louisiana.
Camp Shelley (August 1862), Louisiana 11th Infantry Battalion, under Capt. Jacob Shelley, in central Louisiana, who were then transferred to Camp Blanchard (1) near Lecompte.
Camp Williams (3) or Camp at Williams' Plantation (January-February 1864), Confederate 2nd Louisiana Cavalry Regiment in central Louisiana.
Camp Jonathan Williams (2) (April 1863), Company E, Louisiana Crescent Regiment.
Camp Winn (October 1862), Company C, Confederate 13th Battalion Louisiana Cavalry in northern Louisiana.
Camp Wyoming (March 1863), Confederate 15th Louisiana Cavalry in central Louisiana.

The following posts with unknown locations may be located in any part of the state, including Southern and Eastern Louisiana, or possibly in another state altogether:
Camp Allen (December 1864), Johnson's Louisiana Battalion.
Camp Brignier (April 1865), headquarters camp of 7th Regiment of Louisiana Cavalry.
Camp Dreu (July 1861), 7th Battalion Louisiana Infantry.
Camp East River (June 1861), 7th Battalion Louisiana Infantry.
Camp Fanner (April 1865), quartermaster camp of 7th Regiment of Louisiana Cavalry.
Camp Gallaher (March 1864), Company K, 6th Louisiana Cavalry (Dismounted).
Camp Dick Garnett (1860's), Confederate, no unit data.
Camp Hard-Up (May 1865), 7th Regiment of Louisiana Cavalry.
Camp Jackson (5) (1863), 18th Louisiana Infantry Regiment.
Camp Lugard (1860's), no unit data, probably a small Louisiana company early in the Civil War.
Camp McPheeters (1860's), Company K, Louisiana Crescent Regiment. Possibly located in Mississippi.
Camp Morton (April-May 1861 (or 1862 ?)), 4th Louisiana Infantry Regiment.
Camp Alfred Mouton (January 1865), Brent's Confederate Cavalry Brigade.
Camp Parole (May 1864), a Union camp for captured Confederates, unknown location.
Camp Pattison (1860's), Confederate, no unit data.
Camp Pinnville (January 1865), Company E, Johnson's Louisiana Battalion.
Camp Reserve (July 1863), Company D, 18th Louisiana Infantry Regiment.
Camp Roy (March 1865), headquarters camp of 7th Regiment of Louisiana Cavalry.
Camp Thomas (February 1863), Companies F and I, 28th (Thomas') Louisiana Infantry Regiment. Possibly located in Mississippi.
Camp Watt (March 1864), Battery B, 1st Louisiana Heavy Artillery.
Camp Wilkinson (June 1862), Orleans Light Horse. Possibly located in Mississippi.
Camp Williamson (June 1862), Orleans Light Horse. Possibly located in Mississippi.

Western Louisiana - page 1 | Southern Louisiana - page 3 | New Orleans Area - page 4
Florida Parishes - page 5

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