I just wanted to inform everyone if you have not read Steve Mayeux's book "Earthern Walls, Iron Men: Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, and the Defense of Red River" you should get a copy. I just finished it and found it to be very well written, impressively researched, and highly entertaining. Most informed students of the war know the USS Queen of the West was captured there and the role the fort played in the Red River Campaign. Steve not only tells those stories in great detail, he also shows how the war--and fort--affected everyone (black and white) in that part of Louisiana. Good job Steve!