The Battle of Pleasant Hill occurred on April 9, 1864 and formed part of the Red River Campaign during the American Civil War when Union forces aimed to occupy the Louisiana state capital, Shreveport.
Battle of Pleasant Hill by C. E. H. Bonwell — as illustrated in Frank Leslie's Weekly, May 14, 1864
Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Prentice Banks, USA
Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor, CSA
Image: Lewis Benedict Col 162d NYVI
The Red River campaign, also known as the Red River expedition, was a major Union offensive campaign in the Trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War, which took place from March 10 to May 22, 1864. It was launched through the densely forested gulf coastal plain region between the Red River Valley and central Arkansas towards the end of the war. The offensive was intended to stop Confederate use of the Louisiana port of Shreveport, open an outlet for the sugar and cotton of northern Louisiana, and to split the Confederate lines, allowing the Union to encircle and destroy the Confederate military forces in Louisiana and southern Arkansas. It marked the last major offensive attempted by the Union in the Trans-Mississippi Theater.
Banks's army crossing the Cane River, March 31, 1864
Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, commander of the Department of the Gulf
Gen. E. Kirby Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department
A. J. Smith's and Porter's expedition starting from Vicksburg for the Red River