Miss Managed And Failed

A force of Union infantry started moving up the Red River in Louisiana on March 12^th 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 12^th 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 8^th 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.