TabsNote Cards Red River Campaign (Joiner, 2006) ScholarshipDuring the warm, humid spring of 1864, deep in the interior of the pine barrens and along the sinewy streams of the Red River Valley in northern Louisiana, a drama unfolded that briefly lifted the veil of obscurity from that region west of the Mississippi River. The Union army initiated a bold attempt to capture the Confederate capital of Louisiana at Shreveport. The campaign was considered a high priority by President Lincoln, [Major General William] Sherman, and others in the highest circles of the United States government and military.….The operation taught the army and navy lessons in the critical importance of expanded cooperation between the armed services and demonstrated other scenarios that were unlikely to produce success. And while the Union had tactical and numerical advantages, the campaign proved that overwhelming power is not necessarily a guarantee of victory. The potent combination of politics and forceful personalities also influence military outcomes, often in counterproductive ways. Gary D. Joiner, Through the Howling Wilderness: The 1864 Red River Campaign and Union Failure in the West (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2006), xvii-xviii. Events Date Event 05/14/1863 to 05/15/1863 A powerful Union naval bombardment fails to silence the defenses of Port Hudson, Louisiana 03/15/1864 On the Red River, Union troops storm the formidable Fort De Russy in twenty minutes 04/08/1864 At Mansfield, Louisiana, Confederate forces deal a severe blow to the Union's Red River Campaign 04/09/1864 In Louisiana, after defeat the day before, reinforced Union troops repel further attacks at Pleasant Hill 04/30/1864 Battle of Jenkins' Ferry People Bagby, Arthur Pendleton Banks, Nathaniel Prentice Bee, Hamilton Prioleau Churchill, Thomas James Clark, John Bullock, Jr. de Polignac, Camille Armand Jules Marie Dockery, Thomas Pleasant Emory, William Hemsley Fagan, James Fleming Green, Thomas Major, James Patrick Maltby, Jasper Adalmorn Marmaduke, John Sappington Maxey, Samuel Bell McClernand, John Alexander McMillan, James Winning Mouton, Jean Jacques Alfred Alexander Parsons, Mosby Monroe Price, Sterling Scurry, William Read Shelby, Joseph Orville Smith, Edmund Kirby Steele, Frederick Stoker, William Elisha Taylor, Richard Walker, John George Waul, Thomas Neville Wharton, John Austin PlacesArkansasLouisiana Documents Date Title 03/12/1864 Christopher C. Andrews to Abraham Lincoln, March 12, 1864 04/08/1864 Recollection of Richard Taylor, Battle of Mansfield, April 8, 1864 04/09/1864 Recollection of Richard Taylor, Battle of Pleasant Hill, April 9, 1864 04/30/1864 Recollection of Joseph Blessington, Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, April 30, 1864 05/07/1864 Thomas F. McKissack to Elizabeth E. Stoker, May 7, 1864 05/12/1864 Willard P. Hall to Abraham Lincoln, May 12, 1864 Images General Banks’s army, crossing the Cane River, March 31, 1864 Battle of Mansfield, April 8, 1864 Battle of Pleasant Hill, April 9, 1864 Destruction of the U.S. transport John Warner by confederate batteries on Red River, May 4, 1864 Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas Campaign Map, 1862, zoomable Confederate troops attacking Union naval units on the Red River, Louisiana, artist's impression, May 1864, zoomable image Confederate troops attacking Union naval units on the Red River, Louisiana, artist's impression, May 1864, detail "Union Scouts in Louisiana," artist's impression, Harper's Weekly, May 1864, zoomable image "Union Scouts in Louisiana," artist's impression, Harper's Weekly, May 1864, detail "Union Refugees in the Swamps of Louisiana," Harper's Weekly, artist's impression, May 1864, zoomable image "Union Refugees in the Swamps of Louisiana," Harper's Weekly, artist's impression, May 1864, detail Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana, April 8, 1864, artist's impression, zoomable image Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, April 9, 1864, artist's impression, zoomable image Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, April 9, 1864, artist's impression, detail Union Army's Nineteenth Corps crossing the Cane River, Louisiana, April 23, 1864, artist's impression "Foraging in Louisiana," Harper's Weekly, artist's impression, May 1864, zoomable image "Foraging in Louisiana," Harper's Weekly, artist's impression, May 1864, detail General N. P. Bank's troops fording the Cane River, Louisiana, March 31, 1864, artist's impression, zoomable image General N. P. Bank's troops fording the Cane River, Louisiana, March 31, 1864, artist's impression, detail Union Cavalry fording the Cane River. Louisiana, March 31, 1864, artist's impression Confederate attack on Union wagons, Mansfield, Louisiana, April 8, 1864, artist's impression, zoomable image Confederate attack on Union wagons, Mansfield, Louisiana, April 8, 1864, artist's impression, detail Confederate attack on Union wagons, Mansfield, Louisiana, April 8, 1864, artist's impression, further detail Battle of Wilson's Plantation, Louisiana, April 7, 1864, artist's impression, zoomable image Bibliography Chicago Style Entry Link Joiner, Gary D. Through the Howling Wilderness: The 1864 Red River Campaign and Union Failure in the West. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2006. View Record Joiner, Gary D., ed. Little to Eat and Thin Mud to Drink: Letters, Diaries, and Memoirs from the Red River Campaigns, 1863-1864. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2007. View Record Johnson, Ludwell H. Red River Campaign: Politics and Cotton in the Civil War. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1993. View Record Bergeron, Arthur W., Jr. “General Richard Taylor as a Military Commander.” Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association 23, no. 1 (Winter 1982): 35-47. View Record Taylor, Richard. Destruction and Reconstruction: Personal Experiences of the Late War. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1879. View Record
Red River Campaign (Joiner, 2006) ScholarshipDuring the warm, humid spring of 1864, deep in the interior of the pine barrens and along the sinewy streams of the Red River Valley in northern Louisiana, a drama unfolded that briefly lifted the veil of obscurity from that region west of the Mississippi River. The Union army initiated a bold attempt to capture the Confederate capital of Louisiana at Shreveport. The campaign was considered a high priority by President Lincoln, [Major General William] Sherman, and others in the highest circles of the United States government and military.….The operation taught the army and navy lessons in the critical importance of expanded cooperation between the armed services and demonstrated other scenarios that were unlikely to produce success. And while the Union had tactical and numerical advantages, the campaign proved that overwhelming power is not necessarily a guarantee of victory. The potent combination of politics and forceful personalities also influence military outcomes, often in counterproductive ways. Gary D. Joiner, Through the Howling Wilderness: The 1864 Red River Campaign and Union Failure in the West (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2006), xvii-xviii.
Confederate troops attacking Union naval units on the Red River, Louisiana, artist's impression, May 1864, zoomable image
Confederate troops attacking Union naval units on the Red River, Louisiana, artist's impression, May 1864, detail
"Union Refugees in the Swamps of Louisiana," Harper's Weekly, artist's impression, May 1864, zoomable image
Union Army's Nineteenth Corps crossing the Cane River, Louisiana, April 23, 1864, artist's impression
General N. P. Bank's troops fording the Cane River, Louisiana, March 31, 1864, artist's impression, zoomable image
General N. P. Bank's troops fording the Cane River, Louisiana, March 31, 1864, artist's impression, detail
Confederate attack on Union wagons, Mansfield, Louisiana, April 8, 1864, artist's impression, zoomable image
Confederate attack on Union wagons, Mansfield, Louisiana, April 8, 1864, artist's impression, further detail
