GRAND ECORE.
In the first moments of elation that succeeded the victory, Banks
was all for resuming the advance, but later in the evening, after
consulting his corps and division commanders, he determined to
continue the retreat to Grand Ecore. Unfortunately by some mistake
the ambulances had gone off with the wagon train, so that there
were no adequate means of relieving the wounded on the field.
Indeed, all the wounded had not been gathered, and most of the dead
lay still unburied, when, about midnight, Banks gave the orders to
march. Then from each corps a detail of surgeons was ordered to
stay behind, with such hospital stores as they had at hand, and
two hours later, in silence and in darkness, unobserved and
unmolested, the army marched to the rear, leaving the dead and
wounded of both sides on the ground. In the order of march Emory
had the head of the column, Mower the rear. Early in the afternoon
of the 10th, after a march of twenty miles, the column halted at
the Bayou Mayon. At sunrise on the 11th the march was resumed;
and the same afternoon found the whole army in camp at Grand Ecore.
Great was the astonishment of Taylor when daylight revealed to him
the retreat of the victors of Pleasant Hill. He sent Bee with some
cavalry to follow, and this Bee did, yet not rashly, for in twenty
miles he came not once near enough to Mower's rear-guard to exchange
a shot. Green, with all the rest of the cavalry, was then brought
back to Pleasant Hill to carry on operations against the fleet in
the direction of Blair's Landing, while the main body of the infantry
was drawn in to Mansfield to reorganize.
The fleet was now in great peril. Pushing slowly up the river,
constantly retarded by the low stage of water, the gunboats and
the transports arrived at Loggy or Boggy Bayou at two o'clock on
the afternoon of the 10th of April. Kilby Smith at once landed a
detachment of his men, and was proceeding to carry out his orders
with regard to opening communication with Banks by way of Springfield,
when about four o'clock, Captain Andrews, of the 14th New York
cavalry, rode in with his squadron, bringing word of the battles
of Sabine Cross-Roads and Pleasant Hill, and bearing a message from
Banks to Kilby Smith that directed his return to Grand Ecore. He
was at the moment consulting with Porter how best they might get
rid of the obstructions caused by the sinking by the Confederates
of a large steamboat, called the _New Falls City_, quite across
the channel from bank to bank, and they had just decided to set
fire to her and blow her up; the bad news made it clear that nothing
remained to be done but to go back down the river with all speed.
The natural obstacle presented by the deep waters and by the steep
banks of the Bayou Pierre would have formed a complete defence
against any assault on the fleet from the west bank of the Red
River, had it not been for the fact that there are three good
ferries across the bayou, approached by good roads. The upper of
these ways led to the river a long distance above the point attained
by the fleet; the second struck the bank at Grand Bayou, fifteen
miles below where the fleet stopped; the third was the road from
Pleasant Hill to Blair's Landing, which is fifty miles below Grand
Bayou. Liddell was already watching the east bank of the river,
and Taylor now sent Bagby across from Mansfield to Grand Bayou with
his brigade and Barnes's battery, to cut off the fleet. However,
Bagby did not start from Mansfield until after daybreak on the
11th, so that his arrival at the mouth of Grand Bayou was many
hours too late to catch the fleet, which at eight that evening tied
up for the night at Coushatta Chute. Here Kilby Smith received a
second order of recall from Banks, this time in writing, and dated
"On the road, April 10th."
By noon on the 12th, Bagby, riding fast and making use of the short
cuts, overtook the rear of the fleet; and somewhat later Green,
who had marched from Pleasant Hill early on the morning of the
11th, with Woods's and Gould's regiments and Parsons's brigade of
Texans, and the batteries of Nettles, West, McMahan, and Moseley,
struck the river at Blair's Landing almost simultaneously with the
arrival of the fleet. Here, about four o'clock in the afternoon,
in the bend between the high banks, Green caught the rear of the
transport fleet at a disadvantage. Making the most of his opportunity,
he attacked with vigor. Instantly Kilby Smith and Porter responded
and a sharp fight followed, but by sunset they succeeded, without
great loss, in driving off their assailants. Indeed the total
casualties in Kilby Smith's division above Grand Ecore were but
19, and Porter mentions only one. Chief among the Confederate
killed was the brave, impetuous, and indomitable Green.
About noon on the 13th, several of the boats being aground in
mid-stream, they were attacked by Liddell, strongly posted on the
high bluff known as Bouledeau Point. However, all passed by without
loss or serious injury, and on the morning of the 14th, the fleet
reached the bar at Campti, where A. J. Smith was met marching up
the left bank of the river to its relief. But, although Campti is
barely twenty miles above, so crooked and shallow was the river
that it was midnight on the 15th before the last of the fleet lay
in safety at Grand Ecore.
Below Grand Ecore there was a bad bar. As the river continued to
fall, the larger gunboats were sent down as fast as possible to
Alexandria, whither Porter followed them on the 16th, leaving the
_Osage_ and _Lexington_ at Grand Ecore, and the big _Eastport_
eight miles below, where, on the 15th, she had been sunk to her
gun-deck either by a torpedo or by a snag. The admiral brought up
his pump boats and after removing the guns got the _Eastport_ afloat
on the 21st.
As Banks realized that his campaign was ruined, he grew earnest in
trying to meet Grant's expectations and orders, requiring him to
be on the Mississippi by the first of May. For ten days he had
been waiting at Grand Ecore, only to see the last of the fleet pass
down in safety. Meanwhile he had entrenched his position, thrown
a pontoon bridge across the river, placed a strong detachment from
Smith's command on the north bank, and sent urgent orders to
Alexandria, to New Orleans, and to Texas for reinforcements. Birge,
with his own brigade and the 38th Massachusetts and 128th New York
of Sharpe's brigade, embarked at Alexandria on the 12th of April,
and joined Emory on the 13th. Nickerson's brigade came from New
Orleans to join Grover at Alexandria. On the 20th of April, learning
that the _Eastport_ was expected to float within a few hours, Banks
sent A. J. Smith to take position covering Natchitoches, and when
the next day he heard from the admiral that the _Eastport_ was
actually afloat, he lost not a moment in beginning the march on
Alexandria.
An hour later the _Eastport_ again struck the bottom; eight times
more she ran hard aground; at last on the 25th she lay immovable
on a raft of logs, and the next day her crew gave her to the flames.
For some time the relations between the commanding general and his
chief-of-staff had been strained, and in spite of Stone's zeal and
gallantry in the late battles, Banks had determined on a change,
indeed had already announced it in orders, when on the 16th of
April he received an order of the War Office bearing date the 28th
of March, whereby Stone was relieved from duty in the Department
of the Gulf, deprived of his rank of brigadier-general, and ordered
to go to Cairo, Illinois, and thence to report by letter to the
adjutant-general of the army. For this action neither cause nor
occasion has ever been made known. Then Banks recalled his own
order and published this instead, and on the following day he made
Dwight his chief-of-staff, the command of Dwight's brigade falling
to Beal.