Exploring the most important 55 months in American history
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.
Nathaniel P. Banks assembles 27,000 Federal troops and the largest naval flotilla west of the Mississippi for a drive on the vital supply center at Shreveport, Louisiana. A small Confederate force tries to impede the Federal advance at Henderson’s Hill.
Federal army-navy forces follow up their capture of Fort DeRussy by continuing up the Red River toward Alexandria, Louisiana.
Federal authorities try implementing President Abraham Lincoln’s “Ten Percent Plan” in many states. The plan involves loyalty pledges and supervised elections meant to establish Unionist governments in several southern states. Lincoln suggests for the first time that black men be given the right to vote, but the issue remains contentious.
Federal forces embarking on a campaign to conquer western Louisiana and eastern Texas approach a small Confederate fort on the first leg of their journey up the Red River.
Nathaniel P. Banks and David D. Porter embark on the largest army-navy expedition ever conducted west of the Mississippi River in hopes of seizing the vital cotton crop in western Louisiana and eastern Texas.