Grant may easily be excused if, while as yet hardly warm in the saddle, he hesitated to revoke orders that he must have known to be those of the President himself; yet, since a door must be either open or shut it would have been far better to revoke the orders than to trammel their execution with conditions so hard that Banks might well have thrown up the campaign then and there. However, Banks on his part had good reason to know the wishes of the government and not less the consequences of disregarding them; moreover, as the case must have presented itself to him, there was an off chance that Kirby Smith might not be able to concentrate in time to save Shreveport; another, still more remote, that he might give up the place without a fight; and a third, more unlikely than either, that Steele might join Banks in time to make short work of it, or at all events to make Banks strong enough to spare A. J. Smith by the appointed time. Two weeks remained until the earliest date set for A. J. Smith to be at Vicksburg; twenty-nine days to the latest day allowed for the taking of Shreveport. In his dilemma Banks decided to run these chances.
After seeing the first of the gunboats safely over the falls, on the 26th of March Banks set his column in motion. A. J. Smith marched on Cotile Landing to wait for his boats. On the 28th Lee, with the main body of the cavalry, preceded Smith to Henderson's Hill, in order to hold the road and the crossing of Bayou Jean de Jean. Franklin with Emory and Ransom and the main supply trains followed on the same day.
Twenty miles above Cotile Landing the Red River divides, and, for sixty miles, until Grand Ecore is reached, the waters flow in two unequal channels; the most southerly of these, along which the road runs, is known as Cane River, or Old Red River. This was formerly the main stream, but the more northerly branch, at once deeper and less tortuous, now forms the only navigable channel, and is called the Rigolets du Bon Dieu, or more familiarly the Bon Dieu.
Lee crossed Cane River at Monett's Ferry, and, recrossing above Cloutierville, entered Natchitoches on the 31st of March. At Monett's Ferry on the 29th, Cloutierville on the 30th, and again at Natchitoches he encountered slight opposition from the enemy's skirmishers.
Franklin, marching by the same road, encamped at Natchitoches on the 2d of April.
Embarking on his transports as they came, A. J. Smith set out from Cotile Landing on the 2d of April in company with Porter's fleet, and landed at Grand Ecore on the 3d.
The river was still rising slowly, and it was not until the 7th of April that Porter considered the draught of water sufficient to justify him in going farther. Then, leaving at Grand Ecore the six heavy boats that had come with him thus far, he began the ascent of the upper reach of the river with the Carondelet, Fort Hindman, Lexington, Osage, Neosho, and Chillicothe, convoying and closely followed by a fleet of twenty transports, bearing Kilby Smith's division and a large quantity of military stores of all kinds. Porter expected to be at Springfield Landing, 110 miles above Grand Ecore, on the 9th. On arriving there, Kilby Smith was to reconnoitre towards Springfield, and if practicable, to send a regiment to seize the bridge across the Bayou Pierre in the direction of Mansfield.
On the 6th of April, as soon as the movement of the fleet was decided on, Banks resumed the march on Shreveport. Shortly after leaving Natchitoches the main road, with which the road from Grand Ecore unites, strikes off from the river toward the west to avoid Spanish Lake, and, traversing a barren wilderness, affords neither position nor resting-place until Shreveport is reached. Banks meant to be at Mansfield, holding the roads that there converge, simultaneously with the arrival at the fleet at Springfield Landing. Lee, who was encamped at Natchitoches with the brigades of Lucas, Robinson, and Dudley, led the advance, and marching twenty-three miles encamped that night at Crump's Corner. Ransom broke camp at Natchitoches at six o'clock in the morning, and marched sixteen miles. Emory followed closely upon Ransom. A. J. Smith remained at Grand Ecore till the next day, to await the departure of the fleet, and then marching eight miles on the Shreveport road fell into the rear of the column. Dickey's colored brigade formed the guard of the main wagon train, and Gooding's brigade of cavalry covered the rear and left flank. From this time Lee's movements were to be directed by Franklin.
Meanwhile, between the 3d and 5th of April, Taylor, after consuming the forage for twenty miles around Pleasant Hill, had withdrawn his infantry to Mansfield. Green's cavalry, long expected, was now beginning to come in, largely augmented, from Texas, whither it had been hastily sent, early in the winter, to meet the threatened invasion from the coast.
On the morning of the 7th of April, Lee advanced on Pleasant Hill, Robinson leading, supported by Lucas. Robinson easily drove before him the advance guard of the Confederate cavalry until about two o'clock in the afternoon, at Wilson's farm, three miles beyond Pleasant Hill, he came upon the main body of Green's force, comprising Major's brigade, under Lane, posted in the skirt of the wood, on rising ground, behind a clearing. Robinson dismounted his men and engaged the enemy, who resisted so firmly that Lucas was sent to Robinson's support just in time to save him from being driven off the field by a determined charge. Lucas likewise dismounted his men, and the two brigades, charging together afoot, drove the Confederates from their position, and pursued them to Carroll's saw-mill, on the southerly branch of Bayou St. Patrice, about seven miles beyond Pleasant Hill, where, toward nightfall, they made a strong stand. In this action, Lee took 23 prisoners, and suffered a loss of 11 killed, 42 wounded, and 9 missing.