The Battle of Monett's Ferry or Monett's Bluff (April 23, 1864) saw a Confederate States Army force led by Brigadier General Hamilton P. Bee attempt to block a numerically superior Union Army column that was commanded by Brigadier General William H. Emory during the Red River Campaign of the American Civil War. Confederate commander Major General Richard Taylor set a trap for the retreating army of Major General Nathaniel P. Banks near the junction of the Cane River with the Red River. Taylor assigned Bee's troops to plug up the only outlet from the trap while Taylor's other forces closed in from the rear and sides.
Emory responded by sending an infantry brigade to cross the river upstream and turn Bee's left flank. During the battle, Bee ordered a retreat, fearing that his troops were about to be surrounded. This allowed Banks' army to escape the trap and reach temporary safety at Alexandria, Louisiana. Taylor was so disappointed that he relieved Bee from command, despite the fact that Bee's subordinates agreed with his decision to withdraw.
The Red River campaign was undertaken because President Abraham Lincoln wanted a Union foothold in Texas to deter the French-supported ruler Maximilian I of Mexico from meddling in the war. The aim was to establish a corridor up the Red River to Texas and Major General Henry Halleck ordered Banks to lead the operation. Major General William B. Franklin led 17,000 Union soldiers up Bayou Teche to Alexandria, to meet Major General Andrew Jackson Smith with 10,000 troops and Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter's fleet of gunboats and river transports. Meanwhile, Major General Frederick Steele with 15,000 men moved south from Little Rock, Arkansas, planning to rendezvous with Banks near Shreveport, Louisiana. Banks was defeated by Taylor's Confederate army at the Battle of Mansfield on 8 April 1864, though his troops repulsed Taylor's attack at the Battle of Pleasant Hill on 9 April.
At this time, Taylor's superior, General Edmund Kirby Smith took away most of Taylor's infantry to fight Steele's column, leaving Taylor with only 5,200 troops. Banks' army waited at Grand Ecore near Natchitoches until 15 April when it was rejoined by Porter's fleet, which was now returning downriver. Banks decided to abandon the campaign because Smith's troops were already overdue to be returned to Major General William T. Sherman and because Steele was unlikely to join them. Banks' army left Grand Ecore on 21 April heading for Alexandria. Porter struggled to get his fleet downriver because of low water.
Banks was unaware that most of Taylor's infantry was no longer present. Historian John D. Winter asserted that Banks might have advanced to capture Shreveport. To prepare for the march to Alexandria, all unneeded blankets, overcoats, and gear were burned by the Union soldiers. The march began on the afternoon of 21 April. The Union cavalry led the way, screening the front, right, and rear. It was followed by, in order, the XIX Corps, XIII Corps, and XVII Corps, while the XVI Corps formed the rearguard. Placed in charge of the march, Franklin demanded that a rapid pace be maintained. By 7:00 pm on 22 April, the leading element of the column reached Cloutierville, having marched over 40 mi (64 km). Smith's rearguard troops arrived at 3:00 am on 23 April, having skirmished with Confederate pursuers. They also burned every building along the route. One Union soldier wrote, "At one time, I counted 15 burning houses or mills."
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.
This page covers Monett's Ferry. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside historic sites, land records, and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Content adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Wikipedia source.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in the US, drawing on NRHP records, battlefield archives, census history and geological data to tell the full story of a place.