Civil War Tours of New Orleans

07/30/2024

A rare Civil War French Quarter walking tour is happening this Saturday from 12-2. Go to bluegrayandbayous.com to purchase tickets.

07/30/2024

Nic Clark, owner of Blue, Gray & Bayous, promoting this year’s upcoming Battle of Baton Rouge guided bus tour, which takes place this year on Saturday, August 3rd. Go to bluegrayandbayous.com to purchase tickets to “Sublime Courage: The Battle of Baton Rouge”. Visit Blue, Gray & Bayous’ FB page to watch Nic’s interview on WABF, Ch. 9, Baton Rouge.

07/23/2024

Come join us on Saturday, August 3rd, in Baton Rouge for the annual Battle of Baton Rouge guided bus tour. Tour begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 12 noon. Because it's a bus tour, tickets are extremely limited. Go to www.bluegrayandbayous.com to purchase tickets for this year's "Sublime Courage: The Battle of Baton Rouge"

Join us on Saturday, August 3rd, 2024 for this year's annual guided bus tour that covers the Battle of Baton Rouge

07/18/2024

Looking for a tour guide in Baton Rouge. Must have knowledge on the Battle of Baton Rouge (1779), West Florida Rebellion (1810), Battle of Baton Rouge (1862), and general Baton Rouge history from late 18th c. to mid-19th c., with emphasis on culture, architecture, and agriculture. Send cover letter and resume to [email protected]

07/16/2024

New merchandise! Made exclusively for Civil War Tours of New Orleans / Blue, Gray & Bayous is this enamel lapel pin that depicts a piece of an American flag. During the surrender negotiations between the U.S. navy and the City of New Orleans, sailors from the USS Pensacola raised an American flag over the former U.S. mint. Six individuals, including William Mumford, went up onto the Mint and cut the American flag down, dragging it through the streets of New Orleans to Lafayette Square, where the crowd tore the flag to pieces. Mumford, in an act of defiance, wore a piece of this American flag on his lapel, which ultimately led to his arrest by Union soldiers. Mumford was charged with treason, was found guilty, and hanged in front of the old U.S. Mint on June 7, 1862. Mumford was the only person during the Civil War to be tried and executed for treason. Go to www.bluegrayandbayous.com and click on store to purchase your own piece of the flag to wear on your lapel (but without the consequences)

07/15/2024

Fire sale! All Mosquito Fleet t-shirts must go! $10 plus shipping. Go to www.bluegrayandbayous.com and click on “store”

07/12/2024

Confederate Naval Memory on Lake Pontchartrain’s North Shore
by Neil P. Chatelain

You never quite know where you will run into artifacts, exhibits, and monuments related to the United States Civil War. The war’s memory penetrated across the nation, which is great because many areas have something to offer to those interested in learning more about the conflict. On a recent drive from Houston to New Orleans, I made a detour to Lake Pontchartrain’s north shore, where I had the chance to see some things tied to the Confederate Navy.

Let’s start with some history. Lake Pontchartrain, the body of water north of New Orleans, did indeed host some Confederate naval activity. In 1861 at the John Hughes shipyard on Bayou St. John, on Lake Pontchartrain’s southern shore, Confederate sailors outfitted the converted warships Florida, which later was renamed Selma and moved to Mobile, and Pamlico. Using designs made by Confederate naval constructor Sidney Porter, the same shipyard also constructed a pair of war steamers named Bienville and Carondelet, each small paddle-wheelers mounting a few heavy guns that became ready for service in March 1862. Cannons and soldiers loaned from the army garrison of New Orleans, which “was always willing and anxious to assist in every way,” helped man these two ships. There was even early experimental submersible activity as a prototype submersible named Pioneer reportedly sank a test ship; there were also plans in 1862 for the Bayou St. John shipyard to being working on a Lake Pontchartrain ironclad.

Read more here 👇
https://emergingcivilwar.com/2024/07/10/confederate-naval-memory-on-lake-pontchartrains-north-shore/

06/14/2024

One of three swords that belonged to General Twiggs, who briefly served as the Confederate commanding officer in charge of defending New Orleans.

06/06/2024

Due to our current commitment with various cruise companies, our tour offerings to the public have become limited in scope. So, we are pleased to announce that there will be a walking tour within the French Quarter at noon on August 3rd; bring water! Tours are limited in number of guests who can sign up. If you would like to learn about some of the Civil War history that exists within the French Quarter, sign up for our August 3rd tour. Bluegrayandbayous.com

06/06/2024

Due to our current commitment with various cruise companies, our tour offerings to the public have become limited in scope. So, we are pleased to announce that there will be a walking tour within the French Quarter at noon on August 3rd; bring water! Tours are limited in number of guests who can sign up. If you would like to learn about some of the Civil War history that exists within the French Quarter, sign up for our August 3rd tour. Bluegrayandbayous.com

06/04/2024

For the month of June, if you purchase tickets for this year’s annual Battle of Baton Rouge guided bus tour, you will get a free koozie that commemorates Civil War Tours of New Orleans / Blue, Gray & Bayous being in business for ten years in 2024. Go to bluegrayandbayous.com to buy tickets to “Sublime Courage: The Battle of Baton Rouge”

05/30/2024

Celebrating 10 years of promoting the Civil War history of Louisiana in 2024! Take $10 off your ticket price per person now through June 28th when you use promo code “TEN” when you go online to purchase tickets at www.bluegrayandbayous.com

05/09/2024

This year’s annual guided bus tour covering the Battle of Baton Rouge is now available for ticket purchase. This is a one day a year tour conducted by bus, meaning there’s a limited number of seats available. If you have missed this tour in the past, or want to take it again, purchase tickets sooner than later.

04/16/2024

Due to a busy schedule providing guided tours for guests sailing up and down the Mississippi River, the days that our public tours are available are limited. But from now until May 1st, all New Orleans tour are open and available for bookings! Take advantage of this window of opportunity to take the only guided tour in all of Louisiana dedicated to telling the history of New Orleans - and Louisiana - during the Civil War.

04/03/2024

Union General William Vandever had his image made in the studio of B&G Moses sometime in the late summer or early Fall of 1863. On June 11, 1863, Vandever took command of a brigade in Brigadier General Francis Herron’s division at Vicksburg, Mississippi. After capturing Vicksburg, the brigade participated in a movement against Yazoo City. Vandever was reported to be aboard the USS Baron DeKalb when it sank after detonating a mine. That fall, Vandever led his brigade down the Mississippi River and joined the Department of the Gulf. The unit participated in the November 1863 capture of Brownsville, Texas. On November 11, Vandever was relieved of his command and transferred to the Department of the Tennessee.

Photo is of Gen. Vandever and the location of B&G Moses ambrotypists according to the 1861 New Orleans city directory, today 300 Camp Street.

03/21/2024

Going further south we come to two unique vessels specifically designed for Lake Pontchartrain:
Name: The Bienville Class

Type: protected Gunboat. Paddles: two 30ft x 12ft side-wheels, 12 knots
Dimensions: 213ft (OA) x 33ft (EX) x 6.5ft (Mean D), 672 tons
204ft (PP) x 34ft (B) x 11ft 6ins (DPH)
Guns: As planned, 5 -7” MLR (*), 2 -9” SB, 2- 8” SB, 1 -18pdrMLR
As completed: CSS Bienville: 5 - 42pdr SB, 1 18pdr MLR
CSS Carondelet 1 – 32pdr MLR, 5 -42pdr SB, 1 -18pdr MLR
* These were possibly intended to be rifled and banded guns of 1840 – 45 pattern.
Armour: 2” iron around boilers and machinery
Design: original :John L. Porter, Builder: Bienville, John Hughes & Co. Bayou St John La. Carondelet, Sidney Porter, Bayou St John La.
Bienville, laid down 17/09/1861, launched 18/01/1862, commissioned 5/05/1862
Carondelet, laid down 11/09/1861, launched 18/01/1862, commissioned 16/03/1862
History:
Described as being of “riverboat design” and of very swift appearance, they were designed specifically to operate in Lake Ponchartrain and surrounding waters.

These two interesting vessels, constructed to a modified plan by Sidney Porter, never received their intended ordnance, instead being armed with weapons supplied by General Lovell CSA. The 42pdr SB were old Navy pattern guns.
Unusually we have a complete paint, rigging and boat outfit for these vessels:
Painted overall mid grey with red lead below water, they had two masts as shown, with one main sail one foresail, one jib and four wind sails for ventilation.
Both carried 2 davit mounted 26ft cutters, 1 -28ft launch on chocks and 1 - 22ft gig..
The author has not included these in the plan, being uncertain of the exact locations.

CSS Bienville, although completed and commissioned by Lt C.B Poindexter, never received a crew and was consequently scuttled in the Tchefuncte River below Covington La, to avoid capture 21st April 1862.
CSS Carondelet, whose machinery came from the coastal steamer Cherokee, under command of Lt Washington Gwathmey took part in the unsuccessful battle at Pass Christian, 4th April 1862. Accompanied by CSS Oregon and CSS Pamlico, she engaged USS New London, USS John P Jackson and the ill-fated USS Hatteras in an attempt to prevent a Federal landing.
Subsequently she was then destroyed by her crew in the same location as Bienville 21 April 1862.

Conjectured general arrangement drawings by the Author using information supplied by Bil Ragan, and a photograph of the vessels under construction.

Photo is the CSS Bienville and CSS Carondolet in Bayou St. John, roughly where the Pitot House is, today, along Moss Street.

03/17/2024

It was a different kind of St. Patrick’s Day in New Orleans in 1862; plunder by Federal soldiers was a more pressing concern than Irish libations

03/09/2024

02/26/2024

Tickets are now available for this year’s Battle of Baton Rouge guided bus tour. As in years past, there are limited number of tickets available as it’s a bus tour. Go to www.bluegrayandbayous.com to purchase tickets while they’re still available

02/20/2024

Beauregard lived in several locations around New Orleans, but on this day in 1893 he would pass away in his home at the corner of Esplanade and Derbigny (1631 Esplanade)

02/17/2024

160 years ago, today, the CSS Hunley sinks the USS Housatonic, making this the first time in history that a submarine successfully sunk an enemy ship. The Hunley was named after its inventor, Horace L. Hunley, who lived in New Orleans when the Civil War started. Hunley worked at the U.S. Customs House on Canal, and lived at the corner of St. Charles and South. The Customs House still stands, but Hunley’s home was demolished in the early 20th century and is now the location of The Lafayette Hotel.

12/28/2023

https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/mary-sophia-hill-florence-nightingale-confederacy

The "Florence Nightingale of the Confederacy" lived at what is today 2006 Prytania Street:

12/08/2023

The New Orleans riverfront in the years before the Civil War

12/03/2023

12/02/2023

160 years ago today (Dec. 2, 1863) the citizens of St. Martinville were fed up with the Union soldiers camped in New Iberia, and they were going to do something about it!

History doesn't say where this meeting took place, but today in 1863 the men of St. Martinville began to gather and discuss amongst themselves all the ways that they were violated by the Union army. Among those present were members of the Duperier Battalion (who were disbanded weeks earlier after their camp in the Grand Bois was raided by Union cavalry), deserters from the Yellow Jacket Battalion (10th LA Inf. Battalion, comprised entirely of men from St. Martin Parish), and soldiers on furlough from other regiments, home guard militia, along with planters, merchants, clergymen and other civilians.

As the day progressed, the crowd grew larger, and more angry. What the Union cavalry had done to Father Jan, the arrest of citizens and other war crimes, the raids on planters' and merchants' homes, the burning of the bridge over Bayou Teche, etc.

Then, as to be expected, the peaceful gathering had now turned into an angry mob, shouting and demanding retribution. The mob, numbering around 100 persons, began making their way from St. Martinville south to where there were Union soldiers on picket, roughly two miles south of town. Some of the mob were on horses, others in wagons, while others walked. Armed with shotguns, bowie knifes, and flintlocks, these Acadians were going to show the "Americans" not to mess around with St. Martinville.

The Union cavalry (roughly two dozen), upon seeing this armed mob making their way down the road, mounted their horses, and formed into a battle line. The mob, once they came face to face with armed Union cavalry, soon started to second guess their decision. The Union cavalry, sensing that the mob was second guessing their decision, charged upon the armed citizens, scattering them back to St. Martinville. No one was killed, but a dozen of the citizens were arrested.

11/23/2023

To all of you who have supported Civil War Tours of New Orleans over the years, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours