Red River Campaign - Union Objectives

Union Objectives

The Union had four goals at the start of the campaign:

1. To destroy the Confederate Army commanded by Taylor.
2. To capture Shreveport, Louisiana, Confederate headquarters for the Trans-Mississippi Department, control the Red River to the north, and occupy east Texas.
3. To confiscate as much as a hundred thousand bales of cotton from the plantations along the Red River.
4. To organize pro-Union state governments in the region.

Union strategists in Washington thought that the occupation of east Texas and control of the Red River would separate Texas from the rest of the Confederacy. Texas was the source of much needed guns, food, and supplies for Confederate troops.

Other historians have claimed that the campaign was also motivated by concern regarding the 25,000 French troops in Mexico sent by Napoleon III and under the command of Emperor Maximillian. At the time, the Confederates offered to recognize the government of Maximillian in return for French recognition of the Confederacy; the Confederates also hoped to gain access to valuable war goods through this recognition. However, Banks's campaign on the Texas coast during November and December 1863 had satisfied President Abraham Lincoln, who wrote to Banks: "My thanks for your successful and valuable operations in Texas."