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The highest generalship is to compel the enemy to disperse his army, and then to concentrate superior force against each fraction in turn. -- Col. Henderson |
Yellow Bayou, 1864(253 total words in this text)(3331 Reads)  Other Names: Norwood?s Plantation Location: Avoyelles Parish Campaign: Red River Campaign (1864) Date(s): May 18, 1864 Principal Commanders: Brig. Gen. Joseph A. Mower [US]; Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor [CS] Forces Engaged: 1st and 3rd Divisions, XVI Army Corps [US]; District of Western Louisiana [CS] Estimated Casualties: 860 total (US 360; CS 500) Description: Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks during his retreat in the Red River Campaign, following the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, reached the Atchafalaya River on May 17. Once on the other side of the river he would be shielded from the continuous Confederate harassment. But, he had to wait to cross the river until the army engineers constructed a bridge. On the 18th, Banks learned that Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor?s force was near Yellow Bayou so he ordered Brig. Gen. A.J. Smith to stop them. Since Smith could not comply himself, he ordered Brig. Gen. Joseph A. Mower to meet Taylor. The Yankees attacked and drove the Rebels to their main line. The Confederates counterattacked, forcing the Federals to give ground. The Union force finally repulsed the Confederates. This see-saw action continued for several hours until the ground cover caught fire forcing both sides to retire. Yellow Bayou was the last battle of Banks?s ill-fated Red River Expedition, and it insured that the Federals would escape as an army to fight again. Result(s): Union strategic victory |
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This Day in History
1865:
Confederate General Joseph Johnston officially surrenders his army to General William T. Sherman at Durham Station, North Carolina.
1865: John Wilkes Booth is killed when Union soldiers track him down to a Virginia farm 12 days after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. 1865: Joseph E. Johnston surrenders the Army of Tennessee to Sherman. 1937: The ancient Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain is bombed by German planes. 1952: Armistice negotiations are resumed. 1971: The U.S. command in Saigon announces that the U.S. force level in Vietnam is 281,400 men, the lowest since July 1966. 1972: President Nixon, despite the ongoing communist offensive, announces that another 20,000 U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Vietnam in May and June, reducing authorized troop strength to 49,000. |
