Confederate Navy Yard - Shreveport, Louisiana - Louisiana Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

From the Marker:
One Block west near the mouth of Cross Bayou at Red River the ironclad Missouri and ram Webb built. Missouri armored with railroad iron. In 1863 the Webb U.S.S. Indianola near Vicksburg. Missouri was surrendered here May 1865.

Also:
Five submarines are known to have been built at Shreveport. Four never left town but the other was sent to Houston, Texas, though its fate afterward is unknown. As the rest of the Confederacy fell piece by piece, the Trans-Mississippi Department, headquartered at Shreveport (also then the state capital), determined to fight on to the bitter end and, it was hoped, to full independence from the Union. The Shreveport-built submarines were designed by James Jones, a Singer engineer who also was part of the inaugural crew of the Hunley. They were intended to play crucial roles in the destruction of Federal ships on the Red River and elsewhere but the war ended before they had the chance.

In June, 1865, the Trans-Mississippi Confederacy surrendered. Shortly thereafter a Federal naval force was sent up the Red River to demand the surrender of the Missouri (the Webb had been captured previously while trying to run the blockade at New Orleans, disguised as a federal gunboat). To prevent them falling into enemy hands along with the Missouri, the builders of the four submarines sank them in the muddy waters about where Cross Bayou and the Red River meet. There they remain, buried in the river's mud and silt, to this very day.

(visit link) January 16, 2008

Link to more information:: [Web Link] Marker Name: Confederate Navy Yard Marker Type: Monument What does marker relate to?: Bayou/River/Lake Parish: Caddo Year Erected or Date Dedicated: Not listed

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