Historic
Mansfield Battlefield
US Major General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks's main
antagonist in the Red River campaign was CS Major General
Richard Taylor, the son of former President Zachary Taylor.
This was the second time in the war that the two men had
opposed each other; the first was in CS Major General
Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley campaign, when Banks
commanded a Union army and Taylor the Louisiana Brigade.
While Banks advanced up the west side of the Red River, USN
Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter's sailors raided the
countryside, collecting cotton for transport down the river.
Taylor fell back toward Shreveport, watching for an
opportunity to take on Banks.
Taylor decided that his army had
retreated far enough when it reached the little town of Mansfield.
The Union army, commanded by Banks, had left the protection of
Porter's fleet on the Red River. The Federals had marched away from
the river at Natchitoches and moved into northwestern Louisiana
along the Old Stage Road (now Route 175), a narrow track through
dense pine forests and rolling hills. Once past Mansfield, Banks
could put his men on any of three roads leading to Shreveport, and
one of those roads would place the Federals back under the
protection of their fleet. Taylor saw the strategic advantage in
striking the Federals while the terrain forced them into a long
line strung out along the Old Stage Road.
Taylor positioned his army about
three miles southeast of Mansfield on the Moss Plantation along a
road that intersected the Old Stage Road. This road led east toward
Blair's Landing and the Red River and west toward the Sabine River.
The 8,800 Confederates established their line just inside the woods
between a cleared field and the crossroads, with the infantry
division of CS Brigadier General Jean Jacques Alfred Alexander
Mouton to the east of the main road and the infantry division of CS
Major General John George Walker to the west of it. Cavalrymen
under the command of CS Brigadier General Thomas Green covered both
flanks. Because of the dense forest, Taylor kept most of his
artillery in reserve.
Shortly after noon on April 8
cavalrymen under US Brigadier General Albert Lindley Lee, supported
by one brigade of US Colonel William Jennings Landrum's Fourth
Division, XIII Corps, entered the clearing across from the
Confederate positions. The Federal soldiers slowly crossed the
field and drove the skirmishers stationed along the crest of
Honeycutt Hill back to their main line. As the Union cavalrymen
neared the hidden line of Mouton's infantry, they were hit by a
heavy volley of musketry. Falling back to the crest of Honeycutt
Hill east of the main road, the Federals took a position protected
by a rail fence.
At about 3:30 p.m. Landrum's
second brigade arrived on the field. The Union line soon formed a
ninety-degree angle, one arm stretching south of the Old Stage Road
and the other to the east. Lee placed one cavalry brigade on each
flank of the infantry forces. Federal artillery batteries were
interspersed at various points along the line. In all, about 5,700
Union soldiers were on the battlefield. US Brigadier General Thomas
Edward Greenfield Ransom, who led the detachment of the XIII Corps
in Banks's army, held command on the field during this first phase
of action.
After the two sides had
skirmished for a while, Taylor decided to attack the Federals
before daylight ended. Mouton's Division opened the assault at
about 4:00 p.m. The Confederates suffered heavy casualties,
particularly in officers, as they crossed the open space under a
heavy fire of musketry and artillery. Soon Walker's men and the
cavalry joined in the attack and helped Mouton's depleted ranks
rout the Federals. US Brigadier General Robert Alexander Cameron's
Third Division of the XIII Corps had formed a second Union line
about a half mile behind Ransom's force near Sabine Cross Roads.
Placing his 1,300 men on either side of the Old Stage Road, Cameron
ordered them forward. Some of the men from the first Union line
joined Cameron's. This force held the Confederates back for about
an hour, but, outflanked on both sides, they were soon routed. The
Confederates overran the Union cavalry wagon train, which was
stranded along the narrow road.
About three miles from the first
Union line, US Brigadier General William Hemsley Emory's First
Division of the XIX Corps formed a third line at Pleasant Grove
along the edge of a clearing overlooking Chatman's Bayou and a
small creek. Taylor's Confederates struck this position at about
6:00 p.m. and pushed the Federals back slightly from the two
streams. During the night Emory's men retreated to Pleasant
Hill.
In the battle of Mansfield the
Confederates captured twenty artillery pieces, hundreds of small
arms, around 150 wagons loaded with supplies, and nearly one
thousand horses and mules. The price was about 1,000 men killed and
wounded. Included among the dead was Mouton, who fell just as his
men were throwing back the first Union line. Federal casualties
numbered 113 men killed, 581 wounded, and 1,541 missing.
Estimated Casualties:
2,235 US, 1,000 CS