wanted to extricate his flotilla from the
confines of the Red River, and Banks knew
that he could not proceed northward again
without the support of the gunboats. On
April 19, the retreat to Alexandria began.
Smith’s Army of the Tennessee troops
brought up the rear of the Federal column,
burning Confederate warehouses full of
supplies and plundering homes and busi-
nesses along the route.
Taylor was as aggressive as his limited
resources allowed, sending cavalry ahead of
Banks to harry the enemy and setting a trap
at Monett’s Ferry on the Cane River.
Green’s cavalry, now under the command of
Brig. Gen. John A. Wharton, pressed the
Union rear, and Taylor ordered his infantry
to march toward flanking positions on both
the left and right of Banks’s command.
As Emory’s division, leading the Federal
withdrawal, reached a steep embankment
along the river, his soldiers ran into dis-
mounted Rebel cavalry blocking their line
of march. Banks sent some of Emory’s
troops on a two-mile march to the right,
where they were forced to wade across the
shallow river as alligators slithered into the
brackish water, then countermarch to strike
the flank of the entrenched Confederate
horsemen.The Confederate commander, Brig. Gen.
Hamilton Bee, was duped into believing
that he was on the verge of being flanked
and ordered his 2,000 troops to withdraw.
Bee’s blunder allowed Banks to extricate
himself from the jaws of Taylor’s trap and
proceed to Alexandria. Furious at the fail-
ure, Taylor continued his relentless pursuit
and drew his troops close to the city. Banks
ordered the preparation of two defensive
lines and waited for word of Porter’s
progress.
The troubles for the naval flotilla were
far from over. Just below Grand Ecore, the
gunboat Eastporthit a Confederate mine
and sank in shallow water. Sailors worked
for hours manning steam pumps and
patching the hull with timbers, eventually
refloating the vessel. Eastport’s guns were
removed to lighten its load and placed
aboard a raft that was towed by the tinclad
Cricket,which took up a rearguard posi-
tion. Eastportwas taken under tow by the
transport Champion No. 5, but the fol-
lowing evening the hapless gunboat ran
aground again. Another day was lost as
sailors worked to free the warship. Their
satisfaction was short-lived. Just two miles
farther downstream, Eastportstuck fast on
a snare of logs and rocks.While the tinclad Fort Hindmanlabored
in vain to free Eastport,Rebel sharpshoot-
ers peppered the decks of both ships.
Finally, Porter faced the inevitable. East-
portwould never complete the journey
down the unforgiving Red River. While the
rest of the flotilla pressed on to Alexandria,
the admiral ordered eight barrels of gun-
powder set beneath each casemate to blow
the ship to pieces rather than allow her to
fall into enemy hands. The shattering
explosion nearly swamped the launch
Porter was aboard as he observed the dis-
heartening proceedings.
With his flag now aboard Cricket,Porter
sailed on with only Fort Hindmanand
another tinclad, Juliet,and the transports
Champion No. 3and Champion No. 5.
They traveled 15 miles and ran a gauntlet
of enemy cannons and rifle fire from 200
Rebel infantrymen and four guns down-
stream. Artillery shells raked the vessels,
and 48 sailors aboard Cricket,over half its
crew, were killed or wounded. Each of the
ships took shell hits and casualties. One
shell ruptured the boiler aboard Champion
No. 3,scalding to death 100 newly freed
slaves who had come aboard from sur-
rounding plantations.
On the morning of April 27, as the rid-ABOVE: Union workers wade into the water to complete an improvised dam across the Red River. The dams
raised the water level high enough to allow Porter’s ships to retreat. RIGHT: A soldier from the 120th Ohio
Regiment in happier days. Some 300 soldiers from the regiment were captured on board the City Belle.
OPPOSITE: Destruction of the U.S. transport John Warner by Confederate batteries on May 4. The Union boats
were sitting ducks in the shallow water.© CorbisCWQ-Sum16 Red River_Layout 1 4/22/16 11:42 AM Page 42