Battle of Pleasant Hill

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Battle of Pleasant Hill Part of the American Civil War Battle of Pleasant Hill by C. E. H. Bonwell — as illustrated in Frank Leslie's Weekly, 14 May 1864. Date April 9, 1864 Location Desoto Parish and Sabine Parish, Louisiana Result Union tactical victory Confederate strategic victory[citation needed] Belligerents United States (Union) CSA (Confederacy) Commanders Nathaniel P. Banks Richard Taylor Strength 12,000[1] 12,100[1] Casualties and losses 1,369 (150 killed, 844 wounded, 375 missing)[2] ~1,626 (~1,200 killed and wounded, 426 captured)[2]

v • d • e Red River Campaign Fort De Russy – Mansfield – Pleasant Hill – Blair's Landing – Monett's Ferry – Mansura – Yellow Bayou

The Battle of Pleasant Hill was fought on 9 April 1864, during the Red River Campaign of the American Civil War, near Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, between Union forces led by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks and Confederate forces, led by Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor.

The battle was essentially a continuation of the previous day's Battle of Mansfield, fought nearby, which ended around sunset due to darkness^[3] — night time provided a brief interlude in hostilities. On 9 April, Taylor launched an ambitious assault against the newly reinforced Federals at Pleasant Hill and had the upper hand before Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Churchill's Arkansas division was flanked on its right and repulsed. After the battle, the Federals remained demoralized and unconfident in their commander — they retreated to Grand Ecore, and from there to Alexandria.

Contents 1 Background and opposing forces 2 Battle 3 Aftermath 4 References 5 Notes

[edit] Background and opposing forces

After the success of the Confederates at the Battle of Mansfield, 8 April 1864, Union forces retreated during the night and next morning took up a position on Pleasant Hill.

Confederate reinforcements had arrived late on the 8 April — Churchill's Arkansas Division arrived at Mansfield at 3.30 p.m.^[4] and Parson's Missouri Division (numbering 2,200 men) arrived at Mansfield at 6 p.m.^[5] Neither of these Divisions participated in the Battle of Mansfield^[6] — however, both would play a major role during the Battle of Pleasant Hill.

On the Union side reinforcements also arrived, when Maj. Gen. Andrew J. Smith, U. S. Army, commanding detachments of Sixteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps, arrived from Grand Ecore late on the 8 April, around nightfall, and encamped about 2 miles from Pleasant Hill.^[7]

Commanders
Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Prentice Banks, USA Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor, CSA

Other main leaders

Union		Confederate
	Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin	Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Churchill
	Brig. Gen. William H. Emory	Brig. Gen. James C. Tappan
	Brig. Gen. James W. McMillan	Brig. Gen. Mosby M. Parsons
	Brig. Gen. William Dwight	Maj. Gen. John G. Walker
	Colonel William T. Shaw	Brig. Gen. Camille de Polignac
	Colonel Lewis Benedict	Brig. Gen. William Read Scurry
	Brig. Gen. Andrew J. Smith	Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Green
	Brig. Gen. Joseph A. Mower	Brig. Gen. Hamilton P. Bee
	Colonel William F. Lynch[8]	Brig. Gen. Xavier Blanchard Debray
	Colonel Risdon M. Moore	Brig. Gen. Augustus C. Buchel[9]
	Brig. Gen. Richard Arnold	Brig. Gen. James P. Major
	Colonel Thomas J. Lucas	Brig. Gen. Thomas Neville Waul
	Colonel Sylvester G. Hill	Brig. Gen. Arthur P. Bagby
	Colonel Lucius F. Hubbard	Colonel Robert Dillard Stone
	Captain George T. Hebard	Colonel Horace Randal
		Colonel Henry Gray
		Colonel S. P. Burns
		Colonel H. L. Grinstead
		Colonel Lucien C. Gause

[edit] Battle

According to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks' Report of the Battle,

The enemy began to reconnoiter the new position we had assumed at 11 o'clock on the morning of the 9th, and as early as 1 or 2 o'clock opened a sharp fire of skirmishers, which was kept up at intervals during the afternoon.^[10]

At 5 p.m., the Confederate forces launched their attack, charging the entire Union line.^[11] Walker's and Mouton's attack on the Union right had little success — the Union right, for the most part, held its ground. However, overall, this initial charge by the Confederates was highly successful and many of the positions down the Union left and center were overrun by Churchill's and Parson's forces and the Union positions were forced backwards. However, the Union side succeeded in halting the advance and regained the left and center ground, before driving the Confederates from the field.^[11] The fiercely fought battle lasted about two hours.^[11] Losses were heavy on both sides.

[edit] Aftermath

According to Brig. Gen. Hamilton P. Bee, writing from his headquarters at Pleasant Hill on 10 April 1864, he was in possession of the battlefield of Pleasant Hill at daylight on the morning of 10 April and he wrote that,

The day has been passed in burying the dead of both armies and caring for the Federal wounded, our own wounded having been cared for the night before.^[12]

A number of Union soldiers were captured during the battle (and many more at the Battle of Mansfield), and were taken to Camp Ford, a Confederate prisoner-of-war Camp, near Tyler, Texas. Most were kept prisoner here for the next year or so, and were not released until a general exchange of prisoners occurred near the end of the war — a small number, however, were released at an earlier date.

After the Battle of Pleasant Hill, Banks and his Union forces retreated to Grand Ecore and abandoned plans to capture Shreveport, Louisiana.

The decisive failure of the Red River Campaign was a rare bit of uplifting news for the Confederacy in a bleak year. Despite the loss of resources (including the mercurial and beloved Brig. Gen. Tom Green, who was killed 12 April), the failure of this offensive helped to prolong the war by tying down Union resources from other fronts.

[edit] References

• Kennedy, Frances H., ed., The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998, ISBN 0-395-74012-6.
• Ingersoll, Lurton Dunham. Iowa and the Rebellion. A History of the Troops furnished by the State of Iowa to the Volunteer Armies of the Union, which conquered the Great Southern Rebellion of 1861-5. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1866.
• Scott, Bvt. Lt. Col. Robert C. (ed.) & U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Vol. XXXIV. Part 1 – Reports. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1891.
• National Park Service battle description
• The Handbook of Texas Online.

[edit] Notes