Nathaniel P. Banks’s Federals unexpectedly run into Confederates under Richard Taylor blocking their path to Shreveport, which results in heavy fighting in western Louisiana.
Tag: Edmund Kirby Smith
Red River: Federals Detour Toward Mansfield
Nathaniel P. Banks’s Federal Army of the Gulf veers away from the Red River to confront Richard Taylor’s Confederates. But the Confederates are much closer and in a much better position than Banks had expected.
Red River: Federals Advance from Natchitoches
Federal forces at Natchitoches, Louisiana, look to continue further up the Red River on the way to their ultimate goal of Shreveport and eastern Texas beyond.
Red River: Banks Gets Bad News
Nathaniel P. Banks assembles the largest Federal force west of the Mississippi River, but he soon finds himself facing several problems as he tries to advance on the key city of Shreveport.
Red River: The Two-Pronged Advance Finally Begins
Nathaniel P. Banks’s Federal forces in Louisiana concentrate at Alexandria, while Frederick Steele’s Federals finally begin moving out of Little Rock in Arkansas. The two-pronged mission to capture the key cotton-producing city of Shreveport is now under way.
The Confederacy Looks to France
Edmund Kirby Smith urges Confederate foreign envoy John Slidell to get France to intervene on the Confederacy’s behalf so that the French puppet regime in Mexico will have a friendly neighbor to the north.