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On the same day (March 31, 1863) that Colonel Bennett's task
force left Milliken's Bend to reconnoiter the road to New Carthage, ground
was broken on the Duckport Canal. If completed the canal would connect
Duckport Landing on the Mississippi River with Walnut Bayou and enable the
Federals to reach New Carthage by flatboat. The route could also be used
to supply the army as it moved south through Louisiana. A force of 3,500
men from McClernand and Sherman's corps worked under the direction of Col.
George G. Pride, a volunteer aide-de-camp on the army's engineer staff,
and so the canal became known as "Pride's Ditch." Six companies
of Col. Josiah Bissell's Engineer Regiment of the West assisted in the
effort to cut a three-mile canal from the river to Cooper's plantation on
Walnut Bayou. Rapid progress was made as the soldiers excavated a ditch 7
feet deep and 40 feet wide.
At noon on April 13, the levee was cut and four steam
dredges entered the canal and commenced deepening the channel. Fatigue
parties worked to remove trees and stumps as they cleared Walnut Bayou
south to Dr. David H. Dancy's Crescent plantation. Water levels in the
bayous, however, did not rise as rapidly as the engineers had expected.
Compounding their difficulties, the Mississippi began to fall. By
May 4, 1863, even the most optimistic engineer gave up hope and work on
the canal came to a stop. Two dredges and 20 barges were marooned in the
shallows of the canal and Walnut Bayou. Only one vessel, the tug Victor,
managed to reach New Carthage. The army would have to march to New
Carthage.
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