The national government was eager to regain Galveston, Mobile, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, the lower part of Mississippi and Texas, so by winter of 1861 they decided to do so and created the Gulf under the command of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler. President Lincoln was the one that approved for this mission and sent General Butler who went with his troops and sailed on February 25, 1862. He sailed with his wife, his staff and 1,400 troops. When he landed at his destination he found a ruined fort, but he straightened it by building two more casemates and a rifled cannon. They named their fort “Fort Massachusetts”. They fought fiercely in the Mississippi River, Gen Butler with 9,000 troops. On April 18 the battle had begun. The night was very dark.
