Mile 394.0 - LBD Bruinsburg Landing

394 LBD Bruinsburg Landing

Bruinsburg Landing was located directly on the Mississippi River, just south of the mouth of the Bayou Pierre. Bruinsburg (now a ghost town) was found three miles up Bayou Pierre. Once an important commercial and military location, nothing remains today of the town or its port. Although it would be a good name for all of the black bear found in these hills, Bruinsburg and Lake Bruin (across the river in Louisiana) is actually named for an Irish immigrant named Peter Bruin. The community was a lively Mississippi River port, even attracting the attention of future U.S. President Andrew Jackson who set up a trading post there for a time.

Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant was planning a massive assault on the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi. After having failed to land his army at Grand Gulf, he arrived on April 29, 1863, at the Disharoon’s Plantation in Louisiana, about 5 mi north of Bruinsburg on the Mississippi River. There, Grant made a plan to land his troops at Rodney, about 12 mi downstream. In one of those amazing twists of fate that seem to indicate the workings of fate (or fortune), Late that night, an escaped slave told Grant about the much nearer port of Bruinsburg, which had an excellent steamboat landing, and a good road ascending the bluffs east of the river.

The following day, 17,000 Union soldiers began landing at Bruinsburg, marking the beginning of the Battle of Port Gibson, part of the larger Vicksburg Campaign. Because river traffic had diminished through the war, when the soldiers arrived at Bruinsburg the port was nearly deserted, and the sole witness to the invasion was a farmer who appeared too confused to flee. The port proved to have a good solid bank, and space for many boats. It was the largest amphibious operation in American military history until the Allied invasion of Normandy. This was Grant’s seventh attempt to sneak up on Vicksburg by water (one of the others was the amazing Yazoo Pass Expedition cited described elsewhere in the Rivergator). Step aside Job: General Grant is the pinnacle of patience. His remark was “When this was accomplished I felt a degree of relief scarcely ever equaled since. Vicksburg was not yet taken it is true… but, I was on dry ground on the same side of the river with the enemy…”

The soldiers moved east along the dusty wagon trails from Bruinsburg, and then rested under the trees of the nearby Windsor Plantation. That evening, they began their march north. By 1865 the town was extinct. The former town and its landing are now located on private property. A historic plaque commemorating Bruinsburg is located on Church Street in nearby Port Gibson.