page_title: Bailey's Dam
section_title: Historical significance
hierarchical_section_title: Bailey's Dam / Historical significance
caption_attribution_description: English: Engraving of Bailey's Dam at Alexandria, Louisiana during the Red River Campaign in 1864 of the American Civil War
context_page_description: Bailey's Dam was a timber dam on the Red River in Alexandria, Louisiana. The dam was built in 1864 at Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Bailey's request to afford passage over the Alexandria rapids for part of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter's Mississippi River Squadron during the Red River Campaign in the Civil War. The dam successfully raised the level of the river and was then breached in order to allow the boats in its reservoir to pass downstream.
context_section_description: By May 6, the dam had raised the river level to four feet and by May 8, it was over five feet, allowing some of the smaller boats to pass in directly behind the dam. At 5:30 AM on May 9, two of the barges surprisingly broke loose, sending a gush of water downstream. Only four of Porter's ships including the Lexington passed through as the rest were unprepared. Bailey now needed to repair the dam but also decided to build two smaller dams upstream as well. These two winged dams were complete on May 11 and would channel the water downstream into a deeper course but also relieve pressure on the downstream dam. 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.
caption: Contemporary engraving of the vessels riding through the dam
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