The American Civil War - This Mighty Scourge of War

The fighting 261

After a disastrous campaign in the Shenandoah valley, in

which he earned the nickname of Stonewall Jackson's

quartermaster the ante bellum politician Nathaniel P.

Banks took over command of the Department of the

Gulf. He oversaw the fall of Port Hudson, but then led the

Federal forces in the disastrous Red River campaign.

Banks's late start also deprived the Army of Tennessee of

10,000 of its men for the Atlanta campaign. He was

succeeded by E. R S. Canby (Library of Congress)

Even though Sherman instructed Banks
that he must conduct the campaign
promptly and return McPherson's troops for
the spring offensive. Banks began late and
arrived at Alexandria eight days after Smith's
men had taken the town. Taylor's
Confederates fell back beyond Natchitoches
and halted around Mansfield, forming their
defense at Sabine Crossroads. On 8 April,
Federals stumbled into an unanticipated
fight and suffered a rout, losing 2,500 as
prisoners. Yankees fled pell mell to Pleasant
Hill, where Banks prepared a defense built
around Smith's corps.

The next day, Taylor attacked, and

although Federals blocked the advance,

Banks withdrew the next day. The Rebels

pursued, harassing Banks's command and

Porter's fleet at every opportunity. By the

time the Yankees had reached Alexandria,

low water trapped the vessels. An ingenious

engineer, Major Joseph Bailey from

Wisconsin, erected a dam to build up the

water level. When they broke the dam, the

rushing water carried Porter's fleet to safety.

Still, Confederates continued to strike at

retreating Union columns until 18 May. Not

only had Banks suffered a severe repulse, and

nearly lost Porter's expeditionary force, but

delays deprived McPherson of critical

manpower in the early days of the great

spring campaign. Banks's retreat allowed the

Confederates to concentrate on Steele's

command and defeat it as well.

Poor leadership was only part of the

Federal problem, though. The Red River

campaign was the product of misdirected

strategy on the part of Lincoln and Halleck.

They ordered the expedition over the

objections of Grant and Sherman, and even

Banks preferred an advance on Mobile. The

administration committed (and risked)

valuable resources to an enterprise that, in the

final analysis, would not have brought the

rebellion appreciably closer to its conclusion,

even if it had been extremely successful.

The son of Zachary Taylor and Jefferson Davis's former

brother-in-law, Richard Taylor led a brigade under

Stonewall Jackson and was one of the few who earned his

admiration. He returned west where he served out the

war. As lieutenant-general, he skillfully opposed Banks's Red

River campaign and whipped the larger Union force. Taylor

surrendered his command to E. R. S. Canby in May 1865.

(Library of Congress)