Control of Port Hudson, a high-bluff position between Vicksburg and Baton Rouge, was vital to traffic on the Mississippi and Red Rivers. The Union campaign to take it became a lengthy and costly operation. Forty-eight days in duration, the siege has been called the longest on the North American continent. It claimed more than 4,000 Union casualties due to direct action, and another 4,000 Unionists suffered from related injuries and disease. This fully illustrated volume examines the assaults and consequences of the Port Hudson campaign.