Irish Bend was a Civil War engagement fought in Louisiana, 1863. It was a Union victory.
While the other two Union XIX Army Corps divisions comprising the expedition into West Louisiana moved across Berwick Bay towards Fort Bisland, Brig. Gen. Cuvier Grover's division went up the Atchafalaya River into Grand Lake, intending to intercept a Confederate retreat from Fort Bisland or turn the enemy's position. On the morning of April 13, the division landed in the vicinity of Franklin and scattered Rebel troops attempting to stop them from disembarking. That night, Grover ordered the division to cross Bayou Teche and prepare for an attack towards Franklin at dawn. In the meantime, Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor had sent some men to meet Grover's threat. On the morning of the 14th, Taylor and his men were at Nerson's Woods, around a mile and a half above Franklin. As Grover's lead brigade marched out a few miles, it encountered Rebels on its right and began skirmishing with them. The fighting became intense; the Rebels attacked, forcing the Yankees to fall back. The gunboat Diana arrived and anchored the Confederate right flank. The Confederates were outnumbered, however, and, as Grover began making dispositions for an attack, they retreated leaving the field to the Union. This victory, along with the one at Fort Bisland, two days earlier, assured the success of the expedition into West Louisiana.
Fought during the American Civil War, this engagement is remembered by two other names as well: Nerson's Woods and Franklin. Union forces under Major General Nathaniel Prentice Banks clashed with Confederate troops led by Major General Richard Taylor as part of Banks's campaign targeting the Bayou Teche area, close to Franklin, which served as the seat of St. Mary Parish in the southern part of Louisiana.
While Nathaniel Prentice Banks led two Union XIX Corps divisions across Berwick Bay as part of the push into west Louisiana toward Fort Bisland, Brigadier General Cuvier Grover took his own division in a different direction, moving up the Atchafalaya River and into Grand Lake. This maneuver gave Grover's men the ability either to cut off a Confederate withdrawal or, should the Confederates choose to hold their ground at Fort Bisland, to compel them into retreating anyway. The engagement itself unfolded two days after the fighting at Fort Bisland had already taken place.
On the morning of April 13, 1863, troops under Grover came ashore near Franklin, driving off Confederate soldiers who tried to keep them from landing. When darkness fell, Grover directed his men to move across Bayou Teche and get ready to strike toward Franklin, Louisiana, once dawn broke.
Major General Richard Taylor, sensing the danger building behind his position, responded by pulling his forces out of Fort Bisland, and his advance guard reached the area without delay. By the morning of April 14, Taylor's command had taken up positions at Nerson's Woods, roughly a mile and a half north of Franklin. When the leading brigade of Grover's division pushed forward a short distance, it encountered Taylor's troops off to its right, and skirmish fire broke out between them. The clash soon grew fierce, with Confederate soldiers pressing forward hard enough to push the Union line backward. Adding to the pressure, the gunboat Diana pulled into position and secured the Confederate right flank along the Teche.
Despite this, the numbers favored Grover's side. Rather than gamble on a full engagement against a larger force, Taylor chose to pull back once Grover halted to bring his entire command into line. The ground Grover had set out to seize now belonged to his men. Combined with the triumph at Fort Bisland two days before, this outcome secured the overall success of the campaign into western Louisiana.
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