Disharoon's Plantation was located in

Tensas Parish, Louisiana Tensas Parish () is a List of parishes in Louisiana, parish located in the northeastern section of the U.S. state, State of Louisiana; its eastern border is the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population ...

and was used as a steamboat landing on the Mississippi River by Union Army General

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

during 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 ...

Before the war

The place "Disharoon's plantation" was likely so named because it had been the home of an early settler named William Disharoon, who "lived on the Louisiana side, below Grand Gulf," and died July 9, 1839. As of 1851 an 800-acre plantation in Tensas, located along the river 13 miles above St. Joe, was still described as the "Disharoon tract."

American Civil War

Disharoon's Plantation occupied a high natural levee, fronted by a long stretch of steep bank that served as an excellent steamboat landing on the west bank of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

approximately southwest of

Grand Gulf, Mississippi Grand Gulf is a ghost town in Claiborne County, Mississippi, United States. History Grand Gulf was named for the large whirlpool, (or gulf), formed by the Mississippi River flowing against a large rocky bluff. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La ...

and "three airline miles" south of Hard Times. According to geographer Warren Grabau, Disharoon's had some noted advantages as a staging point, compared to some Mississippi land, which was soggy swamp or impassable forest, namely that it had naturally high levee, and that it had "lots of cleared fields and lots of nice dry ground to camp on". Union Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand's XII Corps of the

Army of the Tennessee The Army of the Tennessee was a Union Army, Union army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, named for the Tennessee River. A 2005 study of the army states that it "was present at most of the great battles that became turning points ...

occupied the plantation on April 29, 1863, after marching across the base of Coffee Point from Hard Times Plantation. Grant arrived at the plantation near dark on that evening, and made plans to land his forces on the Mississippi shore at

Rodney, Mississippi Rodney is a ghost town in Jefferson County, Mississippi, United States. Most of the buildings are gone and the remaining structures are in various states of disrepair. The town regularly floods and buildings have extensive flood damage. The Rod ...

, another downstream. Late that night an escaped slave informed him that there was an excellent steamboat landing, plus good roads into the interior, at Bruinsburg Landing, only downstream. Grant decided to land in Mississippi at Bruinsburg.

Destruction

Disharoon's Plantation was destroyed by Mississippi River flood waters shortly after the Civil War.

References

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External links

Plantations in Louisiana Buildings and structures in Tensas Parish, Louisiana Vicksburg campaign Louisiana in the American Civil War {{AmericanCivilWar-stub