Bailey's Dam
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Bailey's Dam was a timber dam on the Red River in
Alexandria, Louisiana Alexandria is the ninth-largest city in the state of Louisiana and is the parish seat and largest city of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River of the South, Red River ...
. It was built in 1864 during the Red River Campaign in the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. It was planned by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Bailey to afford passage over the Alexandria rapids for part of Rear Admiral
David Dixon Porter David Dixon Porter (June 8, 1813 – February 13, 1891) was a United States Navy admiral (United States), admiral and a member of one of the most distinguished families in the history of the U.S. Navy. Promoted as the second U.S. Navy officer ...
's
Mississippi River Squadron The Mississippi River Squadron was the Union brown-water naval squadron that operated on the western rivers during the American Civil War. It was initially created as a part of the Union Army, although it was commanded by naval officers, and ...
. The dam successfully raised the level of the river and was then breached in order to allow the boats in its reservoir to pass downstream.


Background

The Red River was an important transportation corridor through Louisiana, where the river channel
meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...
ed through
alluvium Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...
. A short distance upstream of Alexandria, the river crosses two ledges of
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
and
siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility. Although its permeabil ...
. The depth of water over these
bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...
ledges was less than the channel depth through nearby alluvium, and the downstream ledge controlled the water level upstream of that ledge. During the Red River Campaign in March 1864, General
Nathaniel P. Banks Nathaniel Prentice (or Prentiss) Banks (January 30, 1816 – September 1, 1894) was an American politician from Massachusetts and a Union Army, Union general during the American Civil War, Civil War. A millworker, Banks became prominent in local ...
and his Union troops moved north along the Red River in order to capture
Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...
. Accompanying them was Rear Admiral David D. Porter who was in command of the Mississippi River Squadron. The levels of the river were unseasonably low, perhaps due to a multi-year drought, and made passage for the boats difficult when they reached the Alexandria falls. Porter could only move 12
gunboat A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies. History Pre-steam ...
s and 20 transports north of the falls after waiting for the level to become high enough. The rest of the fleet would wait behind. After being defeated by Confederate General Richard Taylor and failing to capture Shreveport in the
Battle of Mansfield The Battle of Mansfield, also known as the Battle of Sabine Crossroads, on April 8, 1864, in Louisiana formed part of the Red River Campaign during the American Civil War, when Union forces were attempting to occupy the Louisiana state capit ...
on April 8, General Banks and the Union troops were now retreating back south along the Red River. Taylor's troops were in pursuit of them and harassing them with gunfire. Porter's flotilla managed to navigate the river but with difficulty. By April 28, the flotilla reached the Alexandria falls, although the river was too low at 3 feet and 4 inches. Porter's boats lightened their loads but needed 7 feet of water to pass. They did not have time to wait for the river level to rise. The chief
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
of the 19th Corps, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Bailey, suggested that a
wing dam A wing dam or wing dike is a man-made barrier that, unlike a conventional dam, only extends partway into a river. These structures force water into a fast-moving center channel which reduces the rate of sediment accumulation, while slowing water f ...
should be built in order to raise the river level and free the boats. Bailey had constructed dams in Wisconsin as a
lumberman Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks
and was familiar with how one could solve the problem. Although other officers criticized Bailey for the idea, General Banks agreed to it and ordered the construction.


Construction

Construction soon began supervised by Bailey. Around 3,000 soldiers started to fell trees and bring rock, brick, stone and other materials to the construction site. As construction progressed, two wings of the dam developed from either shore of the river. The dam was at the bottom of the downstream ledge and was built with local materials. Where trees were plentiful on the left (east) side of the river, men with
logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucks29th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment The 29th Maine Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 29th Maine Infantry was organized at Augusta, Maine and mustered in on December 17, 1863, for three years' servic ...
used those trees for dam-building. Freed slaves of the 97th and 99th United States Colored Infantry Regiments worked from the right bank building
box crib A box crib or cribbing is a temporary wooden structure used to support heavy objects during construction, Structural move, relocation, vehicle extrication and urban search and rescue. It is commonly used to secure overturned motor vehicles, and ...
s filled with rocks and stones. The dam was built with 4 x 10 inch wooden timbers that were stacked parallel with the river. The upstream tops of the timbers were anchored with stone while their trunks were raised higher by timbers that were perpendicular to the river. This helped support the dam and make it stronger as a
reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...
filled in behind. The rock-crib structure did not cross the entire river and four coal
barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...
s were sunk in between the dam's gap. The barges were filled with local material and anchored into the riverbed. Bailey directed that one of the barges only be partially filled as he planned to quickly remove it in order to allow the reservoir to empty and the flotilla to pass. Among the materials used were that of the Red River Railroad.


Historical significance

By May 6, the dam had raised the river level to four feet and by May 8, it was over five feet, allowing some of the smaller boats to pass in directly behind the dam. At 5:30 AM on May 9, two of the barges surprisingly broke loose, sending a gush of water downstream. Only four of Porter's ships including the '' Lexington'' passed through as the rest were unprepared. Bailey now needed to repair the dam but also decided to build two smaller dams upstream as well. These two winged dams were complete on May 11 and would channel the water downstream into a deeper course but also relieve pressure on the downstream dam. On May 13, with the dam repaired, the gunboat '' Mound City'' breached the dam and eventually the rest of the fleet was safely below the falls.


Modern day

Bailey's Dam Site was listed in the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1976. Remnants of the dam existed and could be seen during low river levels until 1987 when the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...
completed the John Overton Lock and Dam downstream, which flooded the site. The Corps of Engineers had sponsored excavations of the area in 1984 which helped confirm much of the historical accounts.


References


External links


Bailey's Dam – Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism
*{{HAER , survey=LA-6 , id=la0217 , title=Bailey's Dam, Red River, Alexandria, Rapides Parish, LA , photos=21 , data=12 , cap=2 American Civil War sites Union Navy Louisiana in the American Civil War Conflict sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana Dams completed in 1864 Buildings and structures in Alexandria, Louisiana Dams in Louisiana 1864 establishments in Louisiana National Register of Historic Places in Rapides Parish, Louisiana American Civil War on the National Register of Historic Places Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana Historic American Engineering Record in Louisiana