Fort Butler

Why put a fort here? Donaldsonville sits where Bayou Lafourche leaves the Mississippi, and in summer 1862 Admiral Farragut's forces bombarded the town, destroying much of it and bringing martial law. Fort Butler followed that autumn to hold the junction. Confederate General Tom Green attacked in June 1863, and sources date the assault to the night of the 27th or the 28th. Free Black men and fugitives from slavery helped defend the works, among the first times they fought as Union soldiers. Excavations in the late 1990s recovered the fort's structure and artifacts.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• E. D. White Historic Site — 20 mi
  A National Historic Landmark house of about 1790 on Bayou Lafourche, built by enslaved people and home to two Whites, a governor and a Chief Justice, with an exhibit on the bayou's history.
• Whitney Plantation — 21 mi
  A museum on a former sugar plantation along the River Road that tells its story through the people who were enslaved there, with memorials to 107,000 enslaved Louisianans and 2,200 children.
• LSU Rural Life Museum — 22 mi
  Four slave cabins moved from Welham Plantation and a working-plantation row of more than twenty saved buildings, on land the Burden family held as Windrush plantation since the 1830s.
• Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center — 24 mi
  A Jean Lafitte National Historical Park center on Bayou Lafourche with Acadian and bayou-life exhibits, a 200-seat theater and ranger-guided boat tours to the E. D. White house.

More markers nearby

• Fort Butler UDC Monument — steps away
• Fort Butler African American Soldiers Memorial — steps away
• Bayou Lafourche — steps away
• Historic Donaldsonville — steps away