Forts Randolph and Buhlow State Historic Site

After the Battle of Mansfield in spring 1864, Confederates built two earthen forts on the Red River at Alexandria to guard Northwest Louisiana against another Union advance. Louisiana State Parks says the work, finished by March 1865 under Captain Christopher M. Randolph with Lieutenant Alphonse Buhlow supervising, used labor from local plantations, so enslaved people built these walls. The forts held cannon and more than 800 soldiers, and the Confederate ironclad Missouri lay opposite Fort Randolph. The attack never came. Confederate forces surrendered in May 1865, and Union troops briefly held the forts before they were abandoned.

The site also holds what remains of Bailey's Dam. Colonel Joseph Bailey designed the dam, which helped Admiral David Porter's Union fleet get below the Red River rapids during the retreat after Mansfield. The state calls it one of the greatest engineering feats of the Civil War. A model of the dam stands in the visitor center.

The visitor center has exhibits on the Red River Campaign, and an elevated boardwalk circles the earthworks, with two quarter-mile boardwalk loops and a quarter-mile trail between the forts and an overlook near the dam. An open field is used for re-enactments. The site, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, is open Wednesday through Sunday and charges a small fee.