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N0KFQ > TODAY 12.03.15 15:00l 53 Lines 2346 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 49768_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Mar 12
Path: IZ3LSV<IR1UAW<IQ5KG<I0OJJ<N6RME<N0KFQ
Sent: 150312/1359Z 49768@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
1864
Red River Campaign begins
On this day in 1864, one of the biggest military fiascos of the
Civil War begins as a combined Union force of infantry and
riverboats start moving up the Red River in Louisiana. The
month-long campaign was poorly managed and achieved none of the
objectives set forth by Union commanders.
The campaign had several strategic goals. The Union hoped to
capture everything along the Red River in Louisiana and continue
into Texas. Additionally, President Abraham Lincoln hoped to send
a symbolic warning to France, which had set up a puppet
government in Mexico and seemed to have designs on territorial
expansion. Finally, Union officials wanted to capture
cotton-producing regions, as cotton was in short supply in the
North.
The plan called for Admiral David Dixon Porter to take a flotilla
of 20 gunboats up the Red River while General Nathaniel Banks led
27,000 men along the western shore of the river. Porter's
squadron entered the river on March 12. Two days later, Fort
Derussy fell to the Yankees and the ships moved upriver and
captured Alexandria. The expedition was going well, but Banks was
moving too slowly. He arrived two weeks after Porter took
Alexandria, and continued to plod towards Shreveport. Banks
traveled nearly 20 miles from the Red River, too far for the
gunboats to offer any protection. On April 8, Banks' command was
attacked and routed by Confederate General Richard Taylor, son of
former U.S. president Zachary Taylor. The two sides fought again
the next day, but this time the Yankees held off the Rebel
pursuit.
The intimidated Banks elected to retreat back down the river
before reaching Shreveport. Porter's ships followed, but the Red
River was unusually low and the ships were stuck above some
rapids near Alexandria. It appeared that the ships would have to
be destroyed to keep them from falling into Confederate hands,
but Lt. Colonel Joseph Bailey of Wisconsin, an engineer with a
logging background, supervised several thousand soldiers in
constructing a series of wing dams that raised the water level
enough for the ships to pass. The campaign was deemed a failure-it
drew Union strength away from other parts of the South and
the expedition never reached Texas.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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