By April 5, Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks’s Federal Army of the Gulf had joined Brigadier-General Andrew J. Smith’s troops and Rear-Admiral David D. Porter’s naval flotilla at Grand Ecore, Louisiana. They were about to continue up the Red River to the vital cotton-producing city of Shreveport, which was also headquarters for the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department. Major-General Richard Taylor’s Confederate Army of West Louisiana opposed Banks near Mansfield, northwest of Grand Ecore, near the Texas border.
Banks issued orders to Major-General William B. Franklin, commanding the Nineteenth Corps and two divisions of the Thirteenth Corps, “to force him (Taylor) to give battle, if possible, before he can concentrate his forces behind the fortifications of Shreveport or effect a retreat westerly into Texas.” Franklin was to move “in such order as to be able to throw as much as possible of your force into battle at any time on the march.” A.J. Smith’s three divisions would follow Franklin. All troops were to carry 200 rounds of ammunition.
Franklin’s men left Grand Ecore on the 6th. Rather than march along the Red River where they had gunboat support, Banks directed them to take the Mansfield road, which would supposedly get them to Shreveport quicker. However, the road was so narrow that only one wagon could pass at a time, causing the Federal column to spread out over 20 miles. The road meandered through bayous and brush, taking the slow-moving Federals west toward Mansfield, away from their main supply route on the river. Banks did not know that Taylor’s army was up ahead.
As the Federals started moving, Taylor was augmented by the arrival of Brigadier-General Thomas Green’s cavalry division from Texas. The troopers were glad to be back in Louisiana, under their “favorite chieftain and our favorite general,” despite being “badly armed, and but little drilled or disciplined.” With Green’s troopers reinforcing him, Taylor declared that “business began in earnest.”
General Edmund Kirby Smith, commanding the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department, met with Taylor at Mansfield. Taylor suggested launching a preemptive attack on Banks, but Smith preferred that he stay on the defensive. Taylor also wanted to combine his command with Major-General Sterling Price’s in Arkansas, but Smith wanted to keep them separated so Taylor could focus on Banks and Price could focus on Major-General Frederick Steele, whose Federals were moving through southern Arkansas to link with Banks.
Smith proposed that Taylor fall back into the defenses ringing Shreveport, but Taylor argued that if Banks and Steele converged and surrounded him, it would be the Vicksburg situation all over again. Smith suggested that Taylor fall back into Texas, but Taylor strongly opposed this idea because it would leave Louisiana, his home state, entirely under Federal control.
Finally, Smith agreed that Taylor should give battle only if Banks left the safety of the Red River and marched inland. Smith only agreed to this because he believed Banks would never “advance his infantry across the barren country stretching between Natchitoches and Mansfield.” But that was exactly what Banks was doing.
The conference ended without Smith framing his suggestions as orders, so Taylor decided to ignore them and attack Banks. Green’s Confederates, along with the pending arrival of Brigadier-General Thomas J. Churchill’s division from Arkansas would give Taylor 13,000 men to face Banks’s 27,000 (closer to 40,000 when A.J. Smith came up). But the forestry surrounding the Federals coupled with the narrow road would make an excess of men and baggage a liability rather than a strength.
Banks continued moving along the narrow Mansfield road, confident that Taylor would retreat to either Arkansas or Texas. The Federals “traveled where the Union army has never passed before,” with their path “lined with cotton gins filled with cotton… the darkies greet us along the way with unbounded joy, exclaiming lord bless the Yankees, dey come at last.” The army was soon isolated in enemy territory, with Bayou Pierre separating the troops from Porter’s gunboats.
Federal cavalry under Brigadier-General Albert Lee advanced as far as three miles beyond Pleasant Hill on the 7th, where they were met by Green’s Confederates near a place called Wilson’s Farm. The Federals drove them off, but Lee had not expected such resistance so soon. He called for reinforcements, and Banks sent word for Franklin to “hasten up,” as he was “surrounded by rebel cavalry.” Franklin urged Lee to fall back to the infantry rather than the other way around, arguing that it was the safer move in hostile country. But Banks overruled Franklin and ordered him to send a brigade to Lee.
Meanwhile, Porter continued having trouble getting his gunboats up the falling Red River. He left his heavier vessels behind as he led the lighter boats toward Shreveport, where he hoped to meet up with Banks’s army. Neither Porter nor Banks anticipated what Taylor had in store for them.
Bibliography
- Cutrer, Thomas W., Theater of a Separate War: The Civil War West of the Mississippi River. The University of North Carolina Press, (Kindle Edition), 2017.
- Davis, Jefferson, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government: All Volumes. Heraklion Press, Kindle Edition 2013, 1889.
- Foote, Shelby, The Civil War, A Narrative: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Vintage Civil War Library, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (Kindle Edition), 2011.
- Josephy, Jr., Alvin M., War on the Frontier: The Trans-Mississippi West. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1983.
- Long, E.B. with Long, Barbara, The Civil War Day by Day. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1971.
- Pollard, Edward A., Southern History of the War (facsimile of the 1866 edition). New York: Fairfax Press, 1990.