In the pitch-black hours of March 14, 1863, the U.S. ironclad Essex made her first attempt to run the Confederate river batteries at Troth's Landing on the Mississippi River, three miles below the Port Hudson wharfs. Covered by supporting fire from an escort fleet, she defiantly shelled what was thought to be an overwhelming Confederate force of heavy artillery. In actuality, the Confederate batteries of the 12th Louisiana Heavy Artillery numbered a mere three guns. But bold resolve made up for the cannon shortage, and under the able command of Lieutenant Colonel Paul François de Gournay, the battery returned fire, persuading Essex to beat a hasty retreat. The Zouave cannoneers cheered their victory, which had disabled and grounded two of Admiral David Farragut's fleet. It was after 5 a.m. on March 15 when the artillery duel ended.

The action at Troth's Landing was the first engagement with Federal forces that the 12th had seen since being assigned to Port Hudson nearly nine months earlier. Transferred from the Richmond theater, de Gournay arrived at Port Hudson to do what he and his battery did best-- build and defend fortifications.

Born into privilege in Brittany, France, as a marquis, de Gournay spent his early manhood in Cuba as a manager of his father's vest sugar plantations. In 1851 he became involved in the failed fight for Cuban independence that led to the execution of the insurgents. Under those circumstances, the young marquis left Cuba, choosing the familiarity of French New Orleans as his new home.

Louisiana proved a successful choice for de Gournay. He acquired land in the sugar cane region and served as editor of the Picayune in 1860. On the eve of war his estate in New Orleans was valued at $100,000. The marquis married at age 33 and found himself comfortably situated in the city's ruling Creole society, which counted many transplanted Frenchmen like himself among its elite.

War fever reached New Orleans with Abraham Lincoln's call for troops, and Louisiana cast her lot with the Confederacy in January 1861, amid mass cheers and a call to arms. Troops immediately occupied Forts Jackson and St. Philip at the mouth of the Mississippi, and de Gournay resigned his newspaper position to enlist. "I went to [Ft. Jackson] as quartermaster to the Orleans Artillery," he wrote. That was the modest beginning of his military career in the Confederate Army. He saw in the cause of Southern independence the same principles that had led him to fight for Cuba.

De Gournay's chance for military recognition came when he heard that the legislature had voted for the formation of four companies of artillery. A subordinate officer, J.W. Minnich, described the inexperienced troops' first drill and the commander who led them: "Oh yes! We made an imposing array when drawn up in line on parade or on drill, and it was some drilling we were subjected to, believe me, and we became most proficient in the handling of our muskets and in the Zouave tactics, which were quite different in some respects from the Hardee or Upton tactics of the time. French was the official language, and the French as a nucleus made the task of getting us into shape easier than if we had had only English speakers. Our captain, de Gournay, spoke both languages, and was the most kindly, patient, considerate, and lenient of men. I shall always revere his memory. A strict disciplinarian, he was always as just to his men as a man can be."

De Gournay was proud of his well-drilled battalion, and once his troops were whipped into shape he had high hopes for reaching the front. "I made immediate application for a captaincy, and proceeded to form a company, many members of the Orleans Battalion enlisting with me," he wrote. "We were soon relieved by another command, and I resumed to New Orleans with nearly a full company of drilled artillerists, expecting to get my commission and go on active service without delay. I was mistaken. A young lawyer, with no military experience, but being the grandson of a Revolutionary hero, wished to raise a company. The cool alternative was offered me to join this gentleman as his first lieutenant, my men forming the nucleus of his company, or to receive a commission as captain of a second company, but I promptly refused both."

De Gournay considered the incident an insult, and that prickly attitude was a marked trait of the man. His Gallic sense of pride and fair play would assert itself over and over during the war.

As de Gournay was about to disband his company, which he himself had equipped for $10,000, friends dissuaded him. A fellow countryman, Colonel Alfred Coppens, then approached de Gournay with an offer. Coppens had just received authorization to raise a battalion of infantry, outfitted in the uniform of the French Zouaves, the first officially raised by the fledgling Provisional Army of the Confederate States. Coppens asked de Gournay to join him, and the Orleans Independent Artillery left New Orleans in March 1861, bound for Pensacola, Fla.

De Gournay was disappointed at being assigned to an infantry regiment as light artillery. But the opportunity meant action, and as every company commander in Louisiana was pulling political strings to get sent to Virginia, at least Pensacola was a stepping stone.

Upon arrival in Florida, under the command of General Braxton Bragg, de Gournay was informed that light infantry was not entitled to a battery of artillery. Disappointment loomed again, but since the young men were trained artillerists, Bragg (himself a former artilleryman) instead assigned them to construct and man fortifications at Warrington Harbor. The assignment was carried out so well that it won de Gournay and the Orleans Independent Artillery a coveted transfer to Virginia, to be placed under the command of Brig. Gen. John Magruder at Yorktown.

Their arrival was timely just as Maj. Gen. George McClellan's invasion of the peninsula was repulsed. Magruder, too, was a stroke of luck. As a former artillery officer, he saw a capable and highly efficient officer in the person of Captain Paul François de Gournay. Through Magruder's influence, de Gournay was awarded a majority and then was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and the Orleans Independent Artillery became the 12th Louisiana Heavy Artillery under its new commander. Its services not needed in Richmond, the unit, consisting of four companies, was dealt an ace in the fortunes of war and was sent to Port Hudson, La.

The garrison town on the Mississippi River was fortified as an outpost of the more important center of Vicksburg, which commanded the river and kept supply lines open.; Between Port Hudson and Vicksburg, cattle, food and provisions poured in from Texas to the blockaded Confederacy, making the Union occupation of New Orleans ineffective.

Troth's Landing had been a victory for the 12th Louisiana Heavy Artillery. The bluff accomplished its purpose, and Essex fumed tail and headed back downriver to New Orleans. Years later, de Gournay was amused to read that Union commander William D. Porter had reported finding Port Hudson "strongly fortified."

Due to such miscalculations of the garrison's strength, a tremendous Union offensive was planned against Port Hudson in April 1863, consisting of both land and water forces under the command of Union Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks, with a troop strength of over 30,000 men. At the same time the Union was building up strength against Port Hudson, the Confederate forces inside the fortress were given orders to evacuate, moving the troops to Vicksburg. Only 4,200 men remained in the trenches designed for 22,000. Among the last to leave was the garrison's commander, Brig. Gen. Franklin Gardner. Just as he rode out, he received word that Banks was on the way with land forces and Farragut had been sighted on the river with a fleet of gunboats. Gardner hastened back, and the garrison's fate was sealed. They must hold Port Hudson.

De Gournay's assignment was to do what he and his battalion did best, to work on fortifications and man the river batteries. He began by modifying the works, contracting the eight miles of defenses and taking advantage of good natural defensive ground to reduce the length of the port's trenches to 4 ½ miles. This was still too much to man with only 4,000 effectives. The river batteries consisted of only 19 heavy guns, including two Columbiads, one howitzer, one 42-pounder, and one 12-pounder rifled piece affectionately known as "the Baby." The remainder were mostly smoothbore 24-pounder Parrotts.

De Gournay held the left wing of the river defenses with 15 guns. His position was the hardest hit by the Union gunboat batteries. The total weight of metal that could be hurled upon an attacker at one time by the whole battery was 770 pounds, much less than one broadside from some of the ships Farragut sent against them.

In those dangerous circumstances, they waited. Banks was between them and Vicksburg. The outpost of Port Hudson had become an orphan, trapped and impossible to supply from the garrison at Vicksburg. The longest true siege in American history was underway. For 61 days, the Confederate forces inside the besieged post performed incredible tactical and strategic feats in the face of over whelming odds. Trenches that foreshadowed the nightmarish landscapes of World War I were perfected. Grenades were invented. Bombproofs were introduced into the art of warfare, and the barbed-wire entanglements that would later litter battlefields had their precursors here in piano wire obstacles. When the heavy artillery suffered broken carriages, the guns were mounted on railroad cars or propped up to keep them firing.

De Gournay was an innovative commander, shifting his troops to give the impression that the garrison was more heavily manned. "The breastworks were but poorly lined, and had the enemy succeeded in making a general assault on every point simultaneously, it would not have been possible to meet them with successful resistance," he noted. "But the nature of the ground around our works and the difficulty in bringing up large bodies of troops to time, militated in our favor, and the first attacking column was generally repulsed and routed ere the second could work its way to its point of attack. Our fellows then would double-quick to the right or left, as the case may be, and reinforce the point threatened, beat back the assailants, and run to another point of attack."

If guns were scarce, ammunition for them was even more so, and eventually the river batteries could not return fire--the shells were simply too precious to risk. Some of the cannoneers fed any kind of scrap iron available into their guns, and among the many reports of peculiar wounds was a Union soldier who was hit in the face by a remnant of an old French bayonet.

The siege dragged on through June. By the end of the month the food had run out, and the men were reduced to eating mule meat and rats. Incredibly, morale remained high. Although wounded, de Gournay noted in an official report on June 26: "There is still continual firing, and it is probable that the attack will be renewed tonight, preparatory to an attempt to charge the works in the morning. The men are in excellent spirits and will do all their duty."

The brave little band of defenders fought valiantly. When July 7 brought news of Vicksburg's surrender, it was received with disbelief. It was not until July 9 that the Port Hudson garrison finally accepted the truth and likewise agreed to surrender. Thus ended the siege, and with it the illustrious military career of Paul François de Gournay. The Union besiegers, who had lost more than 7,000 men, were shocked to see the small, half-starved force of 2,200 able-bodied Confederates drawn up for the surrender ceremony.

De Gournay wrote of the siege that history bypassed: "Voluntarily putting ourselves in the clutches of our enemy, we held him where we wanted him, and when the surrender came, after sixty-one days' tussle, it was brought about by the only contingency we had failed to consider, i.e., the fall of Vicksburg."

De Gournay and the 405 officers of the Port Hudson garrison were sent North as prisoners of war, incarcerated at several prisons before arriving at Fort Delaware in June 1864. There, de Gournay was selected for a special fate. He was one of 600 officers sent by the Union to Charleston Harbor to be placed under friendly fire, protecting the Union batteries on Morris Island. After 3 ½ months of brutal treatment, de Gournay was released from prison on a special exchange in December 1864. The war ended a few months later, and at age 38, de Gournay was a grizzled veteran.

The marquis returned to France after the war. Two years later, he was back in America as the vice consul of France, and served seven years in that position, residing in Baltimore. Life for de Gournay became quiet and unassuming. He worked at scholarly pastimes--translating French works into English and teaching French-- and rented rooms in his house, all to earn money. He was editor of the Catholic Mirror, and also wrote for various newspapers, mostly articles on the war, particularly the Port Hudson campaign. De Gournay never forgot his loyalty to the Confederacy, and remained active in several veterans organizations. Forever proud of his Zouave cannoneers, he spoke fondly of them all his life.

On July 26, 1904, de Gournay died in Baltimore at age 76. He was buried in the Confederate section of Loudoun Park Cemetery, with members of his veterans organizations. Although he was a relatively obscure figure in the Civil War, his sense of honor, capable leadership in the face of superior odds, and patriotic devotion to the Southern cause equaled or excelled that of many of the more famous personalities of the war.