A force of
Union infantry started moving up the Red River in Louisiana on March 12th
1864 in what turned out to be a miss managed and failed campaigned.
The Red
River Campaign had several goals, including the Union capture of the land along
the Red River in Louisiana and Texas, and as a warning to the French government
that had been set up in Mexico. The plan
called for Union Admiral David Dixon Porter to move up the Red River with 20
gunboats, while Union General Nathaniel P Bank followed along the western shore
of the river with 27,000 troops.
Porter’s flotilla entered the river March 12th 1864.
Fort Derussy
fell to Porter’s force two days later and he moved on up the river to
Alexandria. Banks however didn’t move
his troops very fast, taking him two weeks to reach Alexandria. Banks then pushed his troops about 20 miles
from the river losing the protection of Porter’s ships. Banks’ force was attacked April 8th
1864 by Confederate General Richard A Taylor, with the Union troops having to
retreat back down the Red River. By this
time the water level had dropped in the Red River and Porter’s ships were stuck
above some rapids.
The campaign
was ruled a failure.
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