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PORTION OF WOOD PLANK AND BRICK FROM BAILEY’S DAM, LOUISIANA – GREG COCO COLLECTION
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$250.00
Quantity Available: 1
Item Code: 1300-38
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The large piece of wood plank measures 17” x 6” x 1.25”. It, along with a much smaller piece of wood, and a piece of red brick were recovered from Bailey’s Dam near Alexandria, Louisiana.
The brick measures about 4” x 3” x 2.5”. It has a typed paper label pasted to it as well as “Bailey’s Dam” scratched on in two places. A small piece of wood is rubber banded to the brick. The large plank has a typed paper label pasted to one side and a 1984 newspaper article thumbtacked to the opposite side.
The labels and additional note cards that accompany these items relate their acquisition and Bailey’s Dam history.
Bailey's Dam was a timber dam on the Red River in Alexandria, Louisiana. It was built in 1864 during the Red River Campaign. It was planned by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Bailey to afford passage over the Alexandria rapids for part of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter's Mississippi River Squadron. The dam successfully raised the level of the river and was then breached to allow the boats in its reservoir to pass downstream. Construction was done by around 3,000 soldiers. Men with logging experience from the 29th Maine cut trees for dam-building and freed slaves of the 97th and 99th United States Colored Infantry worked on building box cribs filled with rocks and bricks. By May 8, the dam had raised the river level to over five feet, allowing some of the smaller boats to pass in directly behind the dam. On May 9, two of the barges broke loose, sending a gush of water downstream. Only four of Porter's ships passed through. On May 13, with the dam repaired, the gunboat Mound City breached the dam and eventually the rest of the fleet was safely below the falls.
This comes from the Gregory A. Coco collection. Greg was born in Marksville, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana in 1946. He served in Vietnam and was a Park Ranger at Gettysburg NMP for many years. Greg enjoyed historical research and authored many books relating to the Battle of Gettysburg, most notably “A Vast Sea of Misery” and “A Strange and Blighted Land”. [jet] [ph:L]
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