From the Annals of the Civil War –  In 1864, the Red River campaigned was launched under the command of Gen. Nathanial Banks and Adm. David Dixon Porter.  The grand plan was to move up the Red River from Louisiana into Texas.  It turned into one of the major military fiascos of the Civil War.   The month-long campaign was bungled from the start and achieved nothing.

The immediate strategic goals of the campaign were to control the Red River and divide Texas from the remaining part of the Confederacy west of the Mississippi.   In addition, Pres. Lincoln intended a strong move into Texas to serve as a warning to France, which had set up the Maximilian government in Mexico and seemed to have designs on territorial expansion. Union officials also wanted to capture cotton crop land to make up for shortages in the North.

Porter was to lead a flotilla of 20 gunboats up the Red River while Banks led 27,000 men along the western shore of the river. Porter’s squadron entered the river on March 12. Two days later, Fort Derussy fell to the Union forces and Porter moved upriver and captured Alexandria.  Banks, who redefined incompetency as a general,  arrived two weeks later and then slowly meandered towards Shreveport wandering too far from the river to coordinate with Porter. On April 8, Banks’ command was attacked and routed by forces under Gen. Richard Taylor, son of former U.S. president Zachary Taylor.  The easily intimidated Banks retreated back down the river  and Porter was forced to follow.  The  Red River was low his force was stuck above some rapids near Alexandria.  The gunboats would have been destroyed lest they be captured by the Rebels but for the ingenuity of Lt. Colonel Joseph Bailey, an engineer with a logging background.  Bailey built a series of wooden wing dams that raised the water level enough for the ships to pass.  Needless to say, the expedition never reached Texas.

For an excellent read on the fiasco that was the Red River campaign see Shelby Foote’s  The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol. 3 Red River to Appomattox.

Image of one of Bailey’s dams under construction from http://www.uskidd.com