BANKS' RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
One of the most discreditable affairs of the war was what is known as Banks' Red River Expedition. That officer was in command at New Orleans, when it was decided to send a strong force up the Red River, in quest of the immense quantities of cotton stored in that region, though the ostensible object was the capture of Shreveport, Louisiana, 350 miles above New Orleans, and the capital of the State.
The plan was for the army to advance in three columns, supported by Admiral Porter with a fleet, which was to force a passage up the Red River. General A.J. Smith was to march from Vicksburg, with the first division of the army, which numbered 10,000 men; Banks was to lead the second from New Orleans, and Steele the third from Little Rock.
General Edmund Kirby Smith was the Confederate commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department. Although he had fewer men than the invaders, he prepared for a vigorous resistance. He sent Generals Price and Marmaduke to harass Steele, directed General Dick Taylor to obstruct the Red River as much as he could, while he made ready to make the best fight possible.
Fifty miles above the mouth of the Red River stood Fort de Russy, which, although considerably strengthened, was carried by assault, March 13th. On the 15th, Porter's twelve gunboats and thirty transports joined Franklin at Alexandria. The Federal cavalry occupied Natchitoches, on the last day of the month, and in the van of the army; they arrived at Mansfield on the 8th of April, several days after Admiral Porter had reached Grand Echore on the Red River.
Meanwhile, the Confederate General Dick Taylor kept fighting and falling back before the Union advance, but he was continually reinforced, until he felt strong enough to offer the Federals battle. This took place on the 8th, a short distance from Mansfield. The assault was made with vehemence, and the Union troops, who were straggling along for miles, were taken by surprise and driven into headlong panic, leaving their artillery behind, and not stopping their flight until under the protection of the guns of the Nineteenth Corps. Then a stand was made, and Banks fell back to his old camping ground at Pleasant Hill. His intention was to remain there, but his command was so disorganized that he continued his flight. The Confederates had already chased them so long that they were worn out, while Banks continued retreating until he reached Grand Echore, where he breathed freely for the first time, since he had the protection of the gunboats.
Disgraceful as was the overthrow of the land forces, a still greater disaster threatened the fleet. Porter had gone further up the river, but returned to Grand Echore upon learning of the defeat of Banks. He had to sweep the shores continually with grapeshot, to clear it of the Confederate sharpshooters, who succeeded in capturing two of the transports and blowing up another with a torpedo. The Red River was low, with the water falling hourly. The retreating army reached Alexandria on the 27th of April, but the fleet was stopped by the shallowness of the water above the falls, and the officers despaired of saving it. The only possible recourse seemed to destroy all the vessels to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy.
HOW THE UNION FLEET WAS SAVED.
In this crisis, Colonel Joseph Bailey, of Wisconsin, submitted a plan for a series of wing dams above the falls, believing they would raise the water high enough to float all the vessels. The other engineers scoffed at the project, but Porter placed 3,000 men and all that Bailey needed at his command.
The task was a prodigious one, for the falls, as they were termed, were a mile in length and it was necessary to swell the current sufficiently to carry the vessels past the rocks for the whole distance. The large force of men worked incessantly for nearly two weeks, by which time the task was accomplished and the fleet plunged through unharmed to the deeper water below the falls. The genius of a single man had saved the Union fleet.