Union troops under General Nathaniel Banks surrounded the Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River in mid-May, 1863 and, after attempts to storm the fortress on May 27, 1863 and June 13, 1863 resulted in very heavy casualties among the attackers, settled into a seven week siege. Confederate General Franklin Gardner ended the considerable suffering of his 6,000 starving men and surrendered on July 9, 1863. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Edward Cunningham, The Port Hudson Campaign: 1862-1863 (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1963), 50-55.