Red River Campaign - Smith Splits The Confederate Forces

Smith Splits The Confederate Forces

On the river, the Confederates had diverted water into a tributary causing the already low Red River level to fall further. When Admiral Porter, slowly heading upriver, learned that Banks was retreating, he followed suit. There was a brief engagement near Blair's Landing on April 12, in which Confederate cavalry general Thomas Green was decapitated by a naval shell.

At Grand Ecore near Natchitoches, Banks received confidential orders from Grant to move the army to New Orleans. The river also continued to fall, and all the supply boats had to return downriver. Sensing that they were involved in a perceived defeat, Banks's relations deteriorated with the cantankerous A. J. Smith and the navy and with most of the other generals as well.

General Kirby Smith decided to take three infantry divisions from Taylor and lead them north into Arkansas to crush Steele's army, despite General Taylor's strong protests they should be used against Banks. General Steele would never make it to Shreveport, due to supply difficulties and fights with Confederates. The Camden Expedition ended with Steele retreating to Little Rock. Smith left Taylor with one infantry division and the cavalry with which to continue to harass Banks. Learning that some of Taylor's 5,000 men had gotten south of him and that the fleet had left for Alexandria, Banks ordered a retreat from Grand Ecore. At the Battle of Monett's Ferry on April 23, some of Banks's forces crossed the Cane River on the Confederate flank and forced a small opposing force to flee. The rest of the march to Alexandria was unremarkable, but Porter ran into a delaying ambush at the mouth of Cane River after he tarried to blow up the stuck USS Eastport.