Milliken's Bend was a Civil War engagement fought in Louisiana, 1863. It was a Union victory.
On June 6, Col. Hermann Lieb with the African Brigade and two companies of the 10th Illinois Cavalry made a reconnaissance toward Richmond, Louisiana. About three miles from Richmond, Lieb encountered enemy troops at the Tallulah railroad depot and drove them back but then retired, fearing that many more Rebels might be near. While retiring, a squad of Union cavalry appeared, fleeing from a force of Rebels. Lieb got his men into battle line and helped disperse the pursuing enemy. He then retired to Milliken's Bend and informed his superior by courier of his actions. The 23rd Iowa Infantry and two gunboats came to his assistance. Around 3:00 am on June 7, Rebels appeared in force and drove in the pickets. They continued their movement towards the Union left flank. The Federal forces fired some volleys that caused the Rebel line to pause momentarily, but the Texans soon pushed on to the levee where they received orders to charge. In spite of receiving more volleys, the Rebels came on, and hand-to-hand combat ensued. In this intense fighting, the Confederates succeeded in flanking the Union force and caused tremendous casualties with enfilade fire. The Union force fell bank to the river's bank. About that time Union gunboats Choctaw and Lexington appeared and fired upon the Rebels. The Confederates continued firing and began extending their right to envelop the Federals but failed in their objective. Fighting continued until noon when the Confederates withdrew. The Union pursued, firing many volleys, and the gunboats pounded the Confederates as they retreated to Walnut Bayou.
By the spring of 1863, Ulysses S. Grant had set his Union forces in motion toward Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortified city the Confederacy desperately needed to hold. Late in April, his men crossed the Mississippi River from Louisiana, landing south of the city, and within weeks they had fought their way to its outskirts. Vicksburg found itself encircled by May 18, and the long siege began. As part of his logistical arrangements, Grant maintained a depot at Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, where troops were quartered before joining the fight and where several hospitals had sprung up. Once the siege was underway, though, Grant shifted his lifeline elsewhere: Union gunboats seized a stretch of the Yazoo River near Chickasaw Bayou, creating a new route for supplies to move overland toward the army. Milliken's Bend remained garrisoned, but with the Yazoo now serving as the chief supply point, its strategic value had faded considerably.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis, meanwhile, was pressing General E. K. Smith, who led the Trans-Mississippi Department, to find a way to break the siege. Smith had no knowledge that Grant's supply route had shifted to the Yazoo and continued to view Milliken's Bend as the Union's ess
The clash at Milliken's Bend inflicted 492 casualties on Union forces, comprising 119 dead, 241 wounded, and 132 unaccounted for. A large share of those missing were Black soldiers who fell into Confederate hands and were sent back into bondage. Of the total Union losses, only 65 fell outside the ranks of the Colored Troops. The 9th Louisiana Infantry suffered most severely, with 68 percent of its men lost, the steepest casualty rate any African American regiment endured throughout the war. Its 66 fatalities marked the single highest death toll suffered by any Union regiment, black or white, in one day's fighting during the whole Vicksburg campaign. That death toll amounted to 23 percent of the unit's original strength, surpassing even the 19 percent lost by the celebrated 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment at Gettysburg. Confederate losses stood at 185.
Word eventually reached Grant that captured Union troops had been executed, prompting him to question Taylor directly about such claims. Taylor insisted no executions had taken place. Several Union officers later maintained that Confederate forces had raised black flags during the fighting at Milliken's Bend, a signal of no quarter, and some described skull and crossbones markings on these banners. Whether these accounts hold up is debated; battle historian Linda Barnickel considers the claim unlikely given the severe cloth shortages plaguing Walker's division, which left many Texans dressed in makeshift uniforms. She suggests the "black flag" references may have been figurative, capturing the no-quarter shouts of Confederate soldiers rather than literal banners.
Elsewhere, the two other Confederate columns involved in the coordinated assault made little headway, faltering at Young's Point and Lake Providence. Poor guidance and a collapsed bridge slowed the force heading toward Young's Point, delaying its arrival at the Union camp until 10:30. Confronted by reinforcements and gunboats already stationed there, the Confederates pulled back without engaging. Following the defeat at Milliken's Bend, Confederate troops retreated toward Monroe, Louisiana, while Taylor relocated to Alexandria, Louisiana, shifting his attention toward Union forces at New Orleans rather than Vicksburg. From that point on, Smith and his Trans-Mississippi command had no further ability to shape the siege's outcome, and Vicksburg surrendered on July 4. Milliken's Bend itself soon lost strategic importance once its stores and personnel were relocated to Young's Point.
Erosion and shifts in the Mississippi River's course have since destroyed portions of the battlefield. According to a 2010 survey by the American Battlefield Protection Program, roughly 2,000 of the site's more than 17,000 acres, translating to about 810 of 6,900 hectares, met the criteria for potential listing on the National Register of Historic Places. At that time, no interpretive materials about the engagement existed on site. By March 2021, however, a roadside marker commemorating Milliken's Bend had been placed near Richmond, and displays covering the battle could be found at Vicksburg National Military Park. An additional exhibit interpreting the event is located at Grant's Canal in Louisiana.
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