Vermillion Bayou was a Civil War engagement fought in Louisiana, 1863. It was a Union victory.
While Rear Adm. David G. Farragut remained above Port Hudson with USS Hartford and Albatross, Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks decided to go after Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor's Confederate forces in western Louisiana. He moved by water to Donaldsonville and began a march to Thibodeaux up Bayou Lafourche. Banks beat Taylor at Fort Bisland and Irish Bend, forcing the Rebel army to retreat up the bayou. Taylor reached Vermillionville, crossed Vermillion Bayou, destroyed the bridge, and rested. Banks, in pursuit, sent two columns, on different roads, toward Vermillion Bayou on the morning of April 17. One column reached the bayou while the bridge was burning, advanced, and began skirmishing. Confederate artillery, strategically placed, forced the Yankees back. Then Federal artillery opened a duel with its Confederate counterpart. After dark, the Rebels retreated to Opelousas. The Confederates had slowed the Union advance.
On April 17, 1863, Union forces under Major General Nathaniel Prentice Banks clashed with Confederate troops led by Major General Richard Taylor at Vermilion Bayou, a fight also remembered as the Battle of Pinhook Bridge. This clash marked the third in a string of running battles between the two commanders, coming on the heels of both the Battle of Fort Bisland and the Battle of Irish Bend. Months later, on October 9, 1863, cavalry from both sides skirmished again at that very site.
Nathaniel Prentice Banks had already forced Richard Taylor's Army of Western Louisiana out of the Bayou Teche region through skillful maneuvering, and afterward he pressed onward, keeping Alexandria, Louisiana as his ultimate goal. Southern forces, hoping to buy time however they could, made yet another effort to check his advance, this time just beyond Vermilion Bayou.
As Taylor's outnumbered force pulled back along the Teche, his men crossed the span over Vermilion Bayou and set it ablaze behind them, hoping to buy time against Banks' advancing troops. With the bridge burning, the Confederates paused to rest. Banks, pressing the pursuit, divided his army in two, directing one column straight toward the crossing while the other swung around its flank.
The moment the leading Union column came into view of the bridge, Confederate guns opened fire on them. Union artillery eventually arrived on the scene, and the two sides settled into an exchange of counter-battery fire that continued for some time.
When darkness fell, Taylor, aware that his men were badly outnumbered, ordered another withdrawal.
Taylor never managed to inflict an outright defeat on Banks, yet his efforts steadily delayed Banks's advance toward Alexandria, Louisiana, and further postponed the larger goal of reaching Port Hudson, Louisiana.
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