It was planned by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Bailey to afford passage over the Alexandria rapids for part of Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter's Mississippi River Squadron.

The dam successfully raised the level of the river and was then breached in order to allow the boats in its reservoir to pass downstream.

[3] The levels of the river were unseasonably low, perhaps due to a multi-year drought,[6] and made passage for the boats difficult when they reached the Alexandria falls.

The chief engineer of the 19th Corps, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Bailey, suggested that a wing dam should be built in order to raise the river level and free the boats.

Around 3,000 soldiers started to fell trees and bring rock, brick, stone and other materials to the construction site.

Freed slaves of the 97th[8] and 99th[9] United States Colored Infantry Regiments worked from the right bank building box cribs filled with rocks and stones.

The rock-crib structure did not cross the entire river and four coal barges were sunk in between the dam's 150-foot (46 m) gap.

Bailey directed that one of the barges only be partially filled as he planned to quickly remove it in order to allow the reservoir to empty and the flotilla to pass.