END OF THE SHREVEPORT EXPEDITION.

269 below Alexandria, by a large Confederate force, at the morning twilight, and were so badly injured that the Covington was abandoned and burnt, and the other two vessels were surrendered. Of the soldiers, about one hundred and fifty were captured, and about one hundred were killed. The remainder took to the shore and escaped. Soon afterward, the City Belle, with a little more than four hundred Ohio troops, was captured by another guerrilla party, when about one-half of them escaped.

But the army in its march for Simms' Port met with very little opposition, excepting by a considerable force of Confederate cavalry, who, at daybreak on the 16th, confronted its advance at Mansura, near Marksville, where the National skirmishers and artillery, after pushing the foe back across an open prairie to a wood, kept up a fire for about three hours, until the main body came up. A battle-line was then formed, with General Emory and his forces on the right, and General A. J. Smith and his command on the left. After a sharp but brief struggle, the Confederates were dispersed, losing a number of men by capture. Among these were some of the prisoners they had taken on the Signal and Warren some days before. That evening the army reached the Atchafalaya at Simms' Port, where, under the direction of Colonel Bailey, a bridge, more than six hundred yards long, was constructed of steamboats. Over it the wagon-train passed on the afternoon of the 19th, at which time the rear of the army, composed of the command of A. J. Smith, was attacked at Yellow Bayou by a Confederate force under Polignac. He was beaten back with a heavy loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners, while the Nationals lost one hundred and fifty in killed and wounded. On the following day the army crossed the Atchafalaya, when General E. R. S. Canby, who had arrived the day before, assumed the command of Banks's troops as a part of the forces of the Military Division of West Mississippi, to the

charge of which he had been assigned. General Banks then hastened to New Orleans.

General Smith returned to Memphis, stopping on his way up the Mississippi at Sunnyside, in the extreme southeastern part of Arkansas, to seek a reported force of Confederates, under Marmaduke, who had gathered there with mischievous intent. He found them, three thousand strong, near Columbia, the capital of Chicot County, posted across a bayou that empties into Lake Chicot. He attacked and drove them away, with a loss of about one hundred men. They retreated westward, and were

a

May 20, 1864.

no more seen in that region. Smith's loss was about ninety men. Admiral Porter, meanwhile, had passed quietly down the Red River, nearly parallel with the march of the army, and resumed the duty of keeping open and safe the navigation of the Mississippi.

270

⚫ 1864.

STEELE'S ARMY IN ARKANSAS.

Let us now see what the Seventh Army Corps, under General Steele, was doing in the way of co-operation with the Red River expedition while it was in progress. General Steele was at his head-quarters at Little Rock when that expedition moved. On the 23d of March he started southward, on the military road, with about eight thousand troops, horse and foot, the former commanded by General Carr. On the previous day General Thayer, commanding the Army of the Frontier, left Fort Smith with about five thousand men, for the purpose of joining Steele at Arkadelphia; and Colonel Clayton marched from Pine Bluff with a small force to the left of Steele, in the direction of Camden, a place held and well fortified by the Confederates. That was Steele's first objective, for Sterling Price, with a considerable force, was holding a line from that place westward to Washington, the capital of Hempstead County. It was necessary to dispose of this force before marching toward Shreveport.

The roads were so wretched that the junction of forces could not be relied upon, and Thayer failed to join Steele at Arkadelphia. The latter had been compelled to skirmish at the crossings of streams all the way from Benton, and his troops were somewhat worn by fatigue, but, after waiting two days for Thayer, he pushed on in the direction of Washington, for the purpose of flanking Camden, and drawing Price out of his fortifications there. He encountered the cavalry of Marmaduke and Cabell at almost every step, and day after day skirmished, sometimes lightly and sometimes heavily, with them, until the 10th of April, when he found Price in strong force across his path at Prairie d'Anne, not far from Washington, prepared to make a decided stand. Steele had been joined by Thayer, and he readily accepted battle. An artillery fight ensued, which lasted until dark. The Confederates made a desperate attempt in the darkness to capture Steele's guns, but failed. He pushed nearer their position the next day, and at the dawn of the 12th attempted to turn their flank, when they retreated to Washington, pursued for several miles by cavalry.

Steele now heard of the disaster to the Union troops at Sabine Cross Roads,' and, instead of pursuing Price toward Washington, turned sharply toward Camden. The Confederates quickly perceived his purpose, and, stimulated to stronger action by the news from Western Louisiana, they made vigorous efforts to save Camden from Steele's While his army grasp. was corduroying Bogue bottom, one of the worst in the State, his rear, under Thayer, was strongly attacked by General Dockery. The Confederates were repulsed, and the army moved on, but to find itself confronted by Cabell and Shelby. These were driven from position to position, and on the evening of the 15th the National troops entered

⚫ April. Camden.

b

Although Steele was in a strong place, and supplies could be easily obtained by way of the Washita, he found Camden to be an uncomfortable and dangerous post. The Confederates were swarming thickly around him, for there was no occasion for their employment in the direction of the Red River. Three days after his arrival they attacked and captured* a forage train, little more than a dozen miles from the Union

April 18.

1 See page 258.

272

BATTLE OF JENKINSON'S FERRY.

lines, by which Steele lost two hundred and fifty men and four guns. This was followed by another disaster, five days later, when the escort of a supplytrain, which had come down from Little Rock, and was returnApril 28, ing empty, was attacked twelve miles from Camden by Shelby's 1864. cavalry. The escort consisted of a brigade of infantry, four guns, and a small cavalry force, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Drake, of the Seventy-seventh Ohio. The assailants were beaten off, and the train and escort pressed on, until again attacked, as it emerged from a swamp at Marks's Mill, by an overwhelming force under General Fagan. A desperate fight ensued between his force and the Forty-third Indiana and Thirty-sixth Ohio, until Drake was mortally wounded, and the Confederates had wedged in between the troops in conflict and the Seventy-seventh Ohio, guarding the rear of the train, when all were compelled to surrender. The National loss was two hundred and fifty men. The negro servants of the officers were butchered after the surrender. The Confederate loss was estimated at full six hundred.

Steele now felt it necessary to retreat to Little Rock, for he was informed that Fagan was marching on that place, and that E. Kirby Smith had heavily re-enforced Price. He accordingly threw his army across the Washita on the night of the 26th of April, and at daylight the next morning began a retreat by way of Princeton and Jenkinson's Ferry, on the Sabine River. At the latter place he was attacked' by an over⚫ April 80. whelming force, led by Kirby Smith in person. Steele's troops were nearly famished, having eaten but little since they left Camden, and were exceedingly weary. A part of them had already crossed the river, when the foe struck the Thirty-third Iowa, Colonel Mackey, covering the rear, a very heavy blow. The Fiftieth Indiana pressed forward to its aid, when both were pushed back behind the Ninth Wisconsin and Twenty-ninth Iowa. These were then furiously assailed, when all the troops yet on the south side of the river were ordered up, and a most sanguinary battle ensued, in which General S. A. Rice was in immediate command of the Nationals.

Three times the Confederates charged heavily, and were repulsed each time. Then they threatened the National right flank, when the Forty-third Illinois and a part of the Fortieth Iowa dashed across a swollen, miry stream, and drove the enemy back. The latter then made a desperate attempt to crush the left and center. They turned the extreme left, held by the Thirty-third Iowa, whose ammunition had given out, when four companies of the Fortieth Iowa, led by Colonel Garrett, hastened to its support, formed under a tremendous fire, and restored the line, when it pressed forward, and for a full hour drove the Confederates steadily back. It was a fight by infantry alone, and at noon the Nationals had gained a complete victory. Then they crossed the river leisurely, and moved on toward Little Rock, leaving only a burial party behind. These the Confederates captured, and then claimed a victory in THE BATTLE OF JENKINSON'S FERRY. In that struggle the Confederates lost over three thousand men, including three general officers. The loss of the Nationals was seven hundred killed and wounded.

Steele pressed on toward Little Rock as rapidly as possible, to prevent

STEELE'S ARMY AT LITTLE ROCK.

273

its capture by Fagan, and succeeded. It was a terrible march from Jenkins's Ferry over the swampy country, the half-famished men dragging cannon and caissons over corduroy roads they had made for the purpose, for the animals were so exhausted that they could not draw even the wagons, which had to be destroyed. A supply-train met them, and on the 2d of May the broken and dispirited troops entered Little Rock.

So ended, in all its parts, the disastrous campaign against Shreveport. Its result caused much disappointment and dissatisfaction; and General Banks was specially blamed for not pressing forward after his victory at Pleasant Hill. The narrative here given, drawn from authentic sources,' and the reasons offered by General Banks in his report, seem to the writer to be his sufficient justification in the judgment of candid observers. He was nowise responsible for the radically defective plan of the campaign, and his troops. evidently did all that it was possible for them to do under the circumstances.

2

1 The authorities from which the facts of this narrative have been chiefly derived, are the Reports of General Banks and his subordinates; of Admiral Porter and his subordinates; of the Confederate General E. Kirby Smith and his subordinates; the narratives of newspaper correspondents, and the manuscript diaries of General T. Kilby Smith and Brevet Brigadier-General George Bernard Drake. The latter was the AdjutantGeneral of Banks's forces engaged in the Red River expedition, and, at the request of the writer, kindly furnished him with a copy of his diary.

2 The chief reasons offered were: (1.) The difficulty in bringing his trains on the road toward Grand Ecore in time to move quickly after the flying Confederates; (2.) A lack of water for man or beast in that region, excepting such as the wells afforded; (3.) The fact that all surplus ammunition and supplies of the army were on board the transports sent up to Loggy Bayou, and the impossibility of knowing whether these had reached their destination; (4.) The falling of the river, which imperiled the naval part of the expedition; and (5.) The report of a scouting party, on the day of the battle, that no tidings could be heard of the fleet. These considerations," said Banks, "the absolute deprivation of water for man or beast, the exhaustion of rations, and the failure to effect a connection with the fleet on the river, made it necessary for the army, although victorious in the struggle through which it had just passed, to retreat to a point where it would be certain of communicating with the fleet, and where it would have an opportunity for reorganization. The shattered condition of the Thirteenth Army Corps and the cavalry made this indispensable."