On this Memorial Day, let us remember and honor all who presently serve this country in the military and all who have served in the past.

We  were sent a reminder early this morning from C. Lee Noyes about an assault that took place in the Civil War almost exactly 150 years ago and involved men predominantly from Lyme and Old Lyme.

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Union Army’s assault on Port Hudson, La., which was the last Confederate bastion on the Mississippi River to fall.  The garrison surrendered to Major General Nathaniel Banks on July 9, 1863 after the capitulation of Vicksburg on July 4.

The 26th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry (a nine months regiment from New London County that was a unit of the 19th Army Corps) participated in this longest military siege (49 days) on American soil.  Among those in the May 27, 1863, battle was Captain Enoch Noyes, Jr., commander of C Company, which was composed predominately of men from the communities of Lyme and Old Lyme.

In an undated letter after the failed assault, Captain Noyes informed his wife, Laura Lay Banning Noyes, of the regiment’s role that day: “[W]e went right over the top of them . . . and pepered away at them for three hours and half but it was no use[.]  They swept our lines with canister and we had to fall back. . . . We tried to rally the men to go in but could not do it[.] . . . [I]t fairly rained Iron hail.” He confided to his diary that the attack had been a serious mistake.