 The Americans built grand necropolis their heroes who fought “to defend the Union.” The first task assigned the freshly liberated black Southerners who had rushed to answer Mr. Lincoln’s call for Freedom! was collecting such remains. The 111th Colored Infantry got the gig at Murfreesboro, for example. The cemeteries are managed by the National Park Service, and their upkeep paid for by you and I. Here’s the one in Vicksburg. Here is the well-known picture of a burial detail duty in the Wilderness. Our cemeteries are altogether more humble affairs, such as this cemetery in Keatchie, Louisiana, pictured above. It is maintained by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. There’s a wealth of antebellum structures in Keatchie and not much else. There’s a store selling Confederate flags and the like; across the street is a grocery with an excellent short-order cook.  There’s an abandoned Ladies Academy used by the Confederates as a hospital after the battle of Mansfield, fought some twenty miles south in 1864.  Lincoln’s war came to northwest Louisiana in 1864 with the Red River Campaign. The Americans seized New Orleans under Admiral David Farragut in April 1861. Lincoln appointed Benjamin Butler, a uniquely repulsive political hack from Massachussetts, as military governor.  Butler was replaced by one Nathaniel Banks, also a political hack from the Bay State. Here’s Banks, a fine figure of a man:  Napoleon Bonaparte once said that the even the humblest grognard has (potentially) a marshal’s baton in his knapsack. Marshal Michel Ney, who won eternal glory for his command of the rearguard in the retreat from Moscow, rose from the ranks; ditto Andre Massena, known as a first-rate commander and an exceptional plunderer. Lincoln preferred political reliability to military talent and he needed to ensure Massachusetts –rather, its electoral votes -- stayed Republican, and he was willing to spend as many Yankee lives as necessary to keep it. Hence Butler and Banks. Butler’s for another day. As for Banks, the good people of Massachusetts trusted Banks with the governorship of the state. I have no idea how those people define success and don’t want to know, but such skills he possessed did not run in a military direction. Banks was repeatedly baffled and confused by General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1862. Stonewall and the Army of the Valley gave Banks a solid thumping at Front Royal and well-deserved humiliation at Winchester, where the Americans scurried across the Potomac in disorder. Banks, along with Generals Fremont and McDowell next tried to capture Stonewall, an effort characterized by poor reconnaissance and particularly wretched troop-handling by Banks. General Jackson escaped their little effort and reinforced General Lee in Richmond, who then sent George “Young Napoleon” McClellan scurrying back to the safety of Washington. Despite the ensuing debacle – the usual American buck-passing; Banks blamed the War Department, the War Department Banks, and no consequences for anybody other than the 7,000 or so casualties from the Valley campaign – Mr. Lincoln kept Banks at the head of the “Army of Liberation.” In what may have been an effort to “change the narrative” after his complete disgrace in the Valley humiliation, he made another attempt at Stonewall at Cedar Mountain. Not Jackson’s best day as a commander, but Banks was having a worse one. His attempt at a flanking maneuver was less than, well, Jacksonian. Another rout. His failure there – over 2500 casualties – was overshadowed by the even greater failure of General John Pope at Second Manassas. Lincoln, at least, remained a believer in Nathaniel’s star. The “Railsplitter” authorized Banks to raise 30,000 fresh into an “Army of the Gulf.” Its orders were to advance up the Mississippi River with Grant, who was then on one of his seven attempts to take Vicksburg. One stalwart patriot answering the call to fight for Mr. Lincoln’s abstractions was a distant relation of mine; the horror of my discovery of a Yankee in the woodpile is here. TL;DR: ashamed that his brother was serving as commander of General Bragg’s escort company with the Army of Tennessee, TK “was one of 5,000 Unionists who “gave their all” at the Siege of Port Hudson in 1863. Banks again was distinguished by blithering incompetence. The Southern garrison eventually surrendered before the inexhaustible flood of Northern conscripts. Mr Lincoln was pleased enough with Banks’ generalship leave him in charge. In 1864, Halleck or Grant had the idea of sending Banks up the Red River to Shreveport, Louisiana. The history books will tell you it was a “strategic distraction” but it was more about plunder. Banks should have never been in command of anything more complicated from than an outhouse, but there’s talk he was “distracted” at Port Hudson due to “cotton deals” he was cutting for his constituents in the U.S. Cotton could be seized and sold for “prize money,” with the commander taking the largest cut. Banks bought himself a new hat. Someone taught him the Weary Veteran scowl:  That’s why David Porter, a U.S. admiral, accompanied Banks with his river fleet, which also provided transport for speculators and their expropriated bales. Porter and Banks sent their freedom fighters into the plains of Rapides Parish to “liberate” cotton from the supremacists. Those included some of my folks who’d been there before the U.S. existed, raising cattle on land grant from Spain. All traces of them vanishes around this time, which may be due to the Americans torching Alexandria, Louisiana and all of the state records. Here's a map, for your reference.  Sent to suppress Banks was General Richard Taylor, the son of U.S. president Zachary Taylor and who had commanded a brigade of Louisiana infantry, including the legendary Louisiana Tigers, with Jackson in the Valley. General Taylor staged his troops in Keatchie. Here’s an antebellum house in Keatchie, typical of antebellum architecture in this part of Louisiana:  There’s a flagpole in the front yard. I came prepared:  Taylor marched his troops to Mansfield. Outnumbered by more than two to one, he set an ambush for Banks and his rabble at the Sabine Crossroads just south of town.   Quite the bloodbath: Banks added 2,235 American patriots to his body-count. Less than 1,000 for General Taylor. Banks scurried away in disorder. Some Confederate dead were buried in Keatchie, some in Mansfield:  Banks fled south, pursued by General Taylor. They clashed again at Pleasant Hill. Banks continued retreating. In a fit of spite he thought to burn the beautiful Creole town of Nachitoches, but (we’re told) was talked out of it by the mayor. We’ve heard, though, that the town managed to arrange a sufficient bribe. There were the usual “questions” raised about Banks’ lack of any military ability; the cotton speculation – some naïve types in the U.S. were under the impression it was about “freedom” - and questions raised about Banks’ tenure as boss of New Orleans. Henry Halleck, head of the U.S. War Department, ordered an “investigation” which found the regime characterized by “oppression, peculation and graft.” Nathaniel Banks returned to Massachusetts, whose citizens chose him as their representative in Congress. He banged the drums Manifest Destiny, demanded the invasion of Canada to punish the British for alleged support for Confederate blockade-running. There’s indications he got a payoff from the Russians for supporting the Alaska purchase. President Rutherford B. Hayes named him U.S. Marshal for Massachussets, a patronage post. The good people of Massachussets appointed him commander of something called the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. A reward for getting so many of their sons, fathers and husbands. After the surrender, General Taylor was invited to dinner with officers of the U.S. Army. He shares the following: There was, as ever, a skeleton at the feast, in the person of a general officer who had recently left Germany to become a citizen and soldier of the United States. This person, with the strong accent and idioms of the Fatherland, comforted me by assurances that we of the South would speedily recognize our ignorance and errors, especially about slavery and the rights of States, and rejoice in the results of the war. In vain Canby and Palmer tried to suppress him. On a celebrated occasion an Emperor of Germany proclaimed himself above grammar, and this earnest philosopher was not to be restrained by canons of taste. I apologized meekly for my ignorance, on the ground that my ancestors had come from England to Virginia in 1608, and, in the short intervening period of two hundred and fifty-odd years, had found no time to transmit to me correct ideas of the duties of American citizenship. Moreover, my grandfather, commanding the 9th Virginia regiment in our Revolutionary army, had assisted in the defeat and capture of the Hessian mercenaries at Trenton, and I lamented that he had not, by association with these worthies, enlightened his understanding. My friend smiled blandly, and assured me of his willingness to instruct me. Happily for the world, since the days of Huss and Luther, neither tyranny nor taste can repress the Teutonic intellect in search of truth or exposure of error. A kindly, worthy people, the Germans, but wearing on occasions. This piece was published at A Memoir of the Occupation on May 2, 2025.
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