Gunboat models have moment in the sun during program at Louisiana site

(Photographs by Bonnie Guidry)

Two Civil War ironclads, through their miniature descendants, repeated their watery dance of death last weekend at a state park north of Baton Rouge, La. (Click photos to enlarge)

Models of the CSS Arkansas (left, above) and the newly built USS Essex tangled Saturday at Port Hudson State Historic Site. The Picket recently wrote about the gunboats ahead of the event.

Also on display were other 1:32 models made by Robert Seal, including (left to right), the CSS Manassas, the USS Barrataria and the USS Osage. They took part in naval operations on the Mississippi River during the Civil War.

USS Essex is about 6 feet long

On hand for the event were (left to right) Robert Seal; Marvin Steinback of the park; Dwight Landreneau, assistant secretary of the Office of State Parks; and Bill Toups, who lathed the cannon.

Pat Seal, Robert's wife, quipped that the USS Essex model, while under construction, was on saw horses in the living room for months until she banished it in order to put a Christmas tree. It received the final touches on their dining room table.

Marvin Steinback is dressed for the part