<P> Throughout the war, women in Shreveport did much to assist the soldiers fighting mostly far to the east . Historian John D. Winters writes of them in The Civil War in Louisiana: </P> <P> "The women of Shreveport and vicinity labored long hours over their sewing machines to provide their men with adequate underclothing and uniforms . After the excitement of Fort Sumter, there was a great rush to get the volunteer companies ready and off to New Orleans...Forming a Military Aid Society, the ladies of Shreveport requested donations of wool and cotton yarn for knitting socks . Joined by others, the Society collected blankets for the wounded and gave concerts and tableaux to raise funds . Tickets were sold for a diamond ring given by the mercantile house of Hyams and Brothers...</P> <P> A Confederate minstrel show gave two performances to raise money for the war effort in Shreveport in December 1862 . The Shreveport Ladies Aid Society announced a grand dress ball for April 6, 1863 . That same month students at the Mansfield Female College in Mansfield in De Soto Parish presented a vocal and instrumental concert to support the war . </P> <P> The Red River, which had been opened by Shreve in the 1830s, remained navigable throughout the Civil War . Water levels got so low at one point that Union Admiral David Dixon Porter was trapped with his gunboats north of Alexandria . His engineers quickly constructed a temporary dam to raise the water level and free his fleet . </P>

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