The Battle of Bayou Bourbeux also known as the Battle of Grand Coteau, Battle of Boggy Creek or the Battle of Carrion Crow Bayou (Carencro is the Cajun French word for buzzard), which is present day Carencro Bayou, was fought in southwestern Louisiana west of the town of Grand Coteau, during the American Civil War.
The engagement was between the forces of Confederate Brigadier General Thomas Green and Union Brigadier General Stephen G. Burbridge.
Under orders from Major General Richard Taylor, Green launched the
attack on the Union camp after receiving three infantry regiments on November 2, 1863. These regiments were led by Colonel Oran M. Roberts.
Lieutenant William Marland of the 2nd Massachusetts Battery earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions during this battle.
The Federals reported casualties of 26 killed, 124 wounded, and 566 captured or missing. The Confederates admitted a loss of 22 killed and 103 wounded.
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate armies. Series 1, Volume 26 (Part I). United States War Department, 1889, Government Printing Office. See Official Records of the American Civil War.
Dimitry, John; Harrell, John M. (1899). Confederate Military History: Louisiana and Arkansas. Vol. 10. Atlanta, Ga.: Blue & Gray Press.
Colonel Oran M. Roberts Report, Battle of Bayou Bourbeux, November 3, 1863, Louisiana History, edited by Alwyn Barr, VI, No 1 (Spring 1965), pp 83–91
Winters, John D. (1963). The Civil War in Louisiana. LSU Press. ISBN 0-8071-0834-0. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Capture of the 67th Indiana Regiment Drawing, November 3, 1863, Boston College Libraries.
Lithograph of "Battle of Grand Coteau, La., November 3rd, furious attack on the Sixtieth Indiana, Colonel Owen, Frank Leslie, Famous Leaders and Battle Scenes of the Civil War, University of South Florida.
Personal narrative from State Journal correspondent November 9, 1863, Wisconsin Historical Society.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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