Fort DeRussy uses grant for drainage project

It took over 150 years and the generosity of a local farmer and one of the nation’s largest agricultural chemical companies.

Now, the crater created when Union troops blew up Fort DeRussy’s powder magazine in 1864 no longer holds water and leaves areas of the former Civil War fortress site boggy.

Monsanto Chemical Company awarded a $2,500 “America’s Farmers Grow Communities” grant to Longbridge farmer John Lacour. In keeping with the grant’s requirement that it be donated to a worthwhile organization, Lacour handed it to the Friends of Fort DeRussy.

Monsanto is the maker of RoundUp herbicide and other agricultural products. It is a division of Bayer International.

Lacour grows corn, cotton, soybean, rice and crawfish.

The Monsanto grants are awarded to farmers who pass the funds on to non-profit organizations dedicated to improving the quality of life in rural areas.

MAINTAIN HISTORIC SITE

Friends of Fort DeRussy President Steve Mayeux said that due to cuts in the Office of State Parks budget, the local group has been given the task to maintain the undeveloped State Historic Site on the southside of Red River, just north of Marksville.

DeRussy, dubbed “the Gibraltar of the South,” defended Red River from U.S. Army and Navy forces during the Civil War. It fell to a land assault in the early days of the Red River Campaign of 1864.

That victory was one of only a few the Union enjoyed in a campaign plagued with bad luck and bad leadership on the North’s part.

“When the fort was captured by U.S. forces in 1864, the Yankees found themselves with almost 2,000 pounds of Confederate gunpowder,” Mayeux said.

“They couldn’t use it, since they knew nothing of the powder’s quality, but they certainly didn’t want it falling back into the hands of the Confederates.”

Mayeux said the Union forces blew up the powder magazine, killing several Northern soldiers and leaving “a depression in the center of the fort that continued to hold water to this day,” Mayeux continued. “This created a breeding ground for mosquitoes and water moccasins. Seepage from the pond kept one area just outside the walls constantly muddy.”

USED GRANT FUNDS

Mayeux said most of the grant money was used to hire GAL Construction of Cottonport to bore a 4-inch hole from the center of the magazine to a drainage ditch about 200 feet away.

“The magazine now stays dry, even during our recent tropical storm,” Mayeux said. “The rest of the money is being used to buy gasoline for the volunteers who keep the fort mowed.”

Mayeux said that due to the generosity of Bayer and “this important historical site is now an even more attractive and friendly tourist attraction. A sincere ‘thank you’ goes out from all of the Friends of Fort DeRussy to Bayer International and John Lacour.”