In May 1863, Major General Nathaniel F. Banks turned his Union army away from its northwesterly advance on Shreveport, Louisiana, toward the Mississippi River. His new goal was the capture of Port Hudson. Banks felt confident that he would have an easy victory over Major General Franklin Gardner's Confederate forces there. After bagging Gardner's army, Banks believed, he could sweep north to the aid of Major General Ulysses S. Grant, and together they would capture Vicksburg.
As Banks moved his main field army eastward, he sent orders to Baton Rouge and New Orleans to prepare all available troops for the field. This order included all the 20-pounder and 30-pounder Parrott rifle batteries and the rifled 12-pounder battery of the 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery. On May 19, A, B, G, H and K companies broke camp at Brashear City, La. They loaded their eight 30-pounder Parrott rifles and two 4.62-inch rifled bronze 12-pounders aboard a waiting New Orleans Great Western Railroad train. Without delay, the artillerists got underway for Algiers, La., across the Mississippi River.
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