| Notes |
- His birth certificate indicates that his father Joseph was a printer, and born in Cuba. Also see the notes under his mother about the Hackers.
Pitard's hardware opened in New Orleans in 1858. He ran Pitard's Hardware with four of his sons (Daniel, Gustave, George, and Clarence); it stayed in business until the depression. Gustave Pitard appears in the 1858 city directory at "5 Magazine."
This is his entry in Booth's Record of Confederate Soldiers; he would have been 24 at the time of enlistment. He is included on the Civil War page:
Pitard, Gustave, Private, Watson Battery, La. Artillery. Enlisted Aug. 15, 1861, St. Joe. On petition dated Missouri, Oct. 13, 1861, asking to continue in State Service. Roll Sept. and Oct., 1862. Present. Federal Rolls of Prisoners of War, Paroled Port Hudson, La., July , 1863. Roll Nov. and Dec., 1863, Present. Transferred from the Watson Battery and temporarily attached to this Battery (Capt. Hood's Co., Miss. Light Artillery, the Hudson Battery), Dec. 26, 1863, order of Lt. Gen. Polk. Roll Jan. 1 to April 30, 1864, Present, captured at Port Hudson, ordered to report to the Hudson Battery from the Watson Battery, by Lt. Gen. Polk. On Roll of Prisoners of War of divers companies and regiments in Hospitals, C. S. A., Paroled Meridian, Miss., May 12, 1865. Res. New Orleans, La.
Much of this is similar to his Confederate service records, which they don't seem to add much to what he might have done during the war. Alfred Gamard, the brother of Alfonse, who was the father of the wife of Gustave Pitard Jr., was also at Port Hudson, in Watson's Battery, and paroled.
The Hudson Battery was apparently a Mississippi Light Artillery unit into which the Watson Battery was rolled after the Battle of Port Hudson. From the above, it would seem that he was injured at Port Hudson, however, and didn't fight again in the war. An "N. Pitard," I assume his brother Norbert, is also listed as a Private in Watson's Battery; Norbert died during the war.
This is what happend at Port Hudson on May 21-July 9, 1863: "In cooperation with Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's offensive against Vicksburg, Union Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks's army moved against the Confederate stronghold at Port Hudson on the Mississippi River. On May 27, 1863, after their frontal assaults were repulsed, the Federals settled into a siege which lasted for 48 days. Banks renewed his assaults on June 14 but the defenders successfully repelled them. As the siege continued, the Confederates nearly exhausted their ammunition and were reduced to eating mules, horses and rats. On July 9, 1863, after hearing of the fall of Vicksburg, the Confederate garrison of Port Hudson surrendered, opening the Mississippi River to Union navigation from its source to New Orleans. The Confederate commander was Maj. Gen. Franklin Gardner. Estimated casualties were 12,208 total (US 5,000; CS 7,208)." The Louisiana State Park service has a park there. The 48-day seige was the longest seige in American history.
After the war, In the 1872 city directory "G. Pitard" is at "Bienville c." selling "hardware, paints, oils, &c.." (His home address seems to be at 298 Bienville.) In the 1881 city directory they are described as "‘Importers and Dealers in Hardware, Grates, Paints, Oils, Window Glass, Wall Paper, etc.,' at 207 Canal St. n. Rampart Street." He is apparently living at 62 N. Rampart. His brother Arthur is living at 17 S. Derbigny, and is listed as a partner in the business. The Hardware store in 1913 was at 1031 Canal St.
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Census records:
1870 U.S. Federal Census > Louisiana > Orleans > New Orleans Ward 4 > Page 763
Dwelling 435/Family 436
C.H. Fernandez, 65, female, white, $5000 real estate value, $2000 personal property,b LA
Emilia Pitard, 52 (sic), white, b LA
Gustav Pitard, 31, clerk at cotton p..ker, b LA
Daniel Pitard, 7 months, b LA (B Nov 1869)
Laura Maupay, 20, white, at home, b LA
Carlene Maupay, 19, white, b LA
Emma Maupay, 17, white , b LA,
Jane Henry, 62, black, domestic servant, b LA
Matilda Henry, 25, black, domestic servant, b LA
1880 U.S. Federal Census > Louisiana > Orleans > All Townships > District 29 > Page 46C
Dwelling 155/Family 215
G. Pitard, white, male, 42, head, married, hardware, he and parents b LA
Cecile, white, female, 32, wife, married, keeps house, b LA, father b Pa, mother b LA
Wid. Fernandez, white, 74, grandmother, widowed, at home, she and parents b LA
Daniel Pitard, white, 10, son, at school, b LA
Gustave Pitard, white, 9, son, at school, b LA
Anita Mesh, mulatto, 38, servant, widowed, she and parents b Mexico
Fernand Mesh, mulatto, 7, servant, he and parents b Mexico
Jos. W. GAll, mulatto, 20, servant, he and parents b Mexico
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Possible sources here, for context at least:
The Civil War Tax in Louisiana: 1865. (Introduction by John Milton Price). item #554-C3 $35.00 Residents listed by parishes during a tumultuous year in the Deep South. Reprint. 354 pages., paper
The Port Hudson Campaign 1862-63 (Cunningham) $11.95 This book tells for the first time the complete story of the Union operation against this Confederate stronghold on the Lower Mississippi.
Port Hudson Confederate Bastion on the Mississippi (Hewitt) $12.95 ,Hardback $24.95 Hewitt offers a compelling account of the Confederate occupation of Port Hudson in August 1862 and the Union's efforts to capture the stronghold, culminating in a final unsuccessful assault in May, 1863. [3, 4, 5, 6]
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