The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964 Page: 39
672 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Notes and Documents
tately retired. This was enough for Franklin who turned back
to Brashear City and New Orleans with his transports."
After the stunning defeat of the Federals at Sabine Pass, Banks
concentrated the main body of his army under General Franklin
on the lower Teche near Camp Bisland preparatory to a drive
west. Banks also posted Major General Francis J. Herron's
Second Division, Thirteenth Army Corps, of some 2,500 men
at Morganza to prevent any movement by the Confederates
across the upper Atchafalaya River to the Mississippi. Herron,
becoming ill, turned over the command of his troops to Major
General N. J. T. Dana. On September 29, the Confederates
under Tom Green swept down on the Federal outpost at Stir-
ling's Plantation on Bayou Fordoche about five miles west of
Morganza. After a sharp engagement, the Confederates captured
the 19th Iowa and the 26th Indiana regiments and retired.""
This is the Battle of Bayou Fordoche or Stirling's Plantation
that is described in the O'Brien diary. It was typical of the
hit-and-run tactics General Taylor used against the Federals.
Taylor could ill afford to bring on a general engagement with
the main body of the Federals and risk a defeat. His army was
always greatly outnumbered and he had no other forces to draw
on for replacements. When he found detachments of the enemy
so situated that they could not be readily reinforced, however,
Taylor descended upon them with an overwhelming force and
then quickly withdrew. These attacks usually were made by
Brigadier General Tom Green of Texas, an aggressive and com-
bative officer, who commanded Taylor's cavalry.
Even though Banks's attempted invasion of Texas by way of
Sabine Pass had been unsuccessful, he did not give up his resolve
"to plant the flag in Texas." A new plan contemplated a move-
ment by land up the Teche to Vermilionville (Lafayette) and
Opelousas, then west to Niblett's Bluff on the Sabine. Once in
Texas, Banks planned to capture Beaumont and the Texas and
New Orleans Railroad, with Houston and then Galveston as the
"Andrew Forest Muir, "Dick Dowling and the Battle of Sabine Pass," Civil
War History, IV, 399-428.
"Report of Brigadier General Thomas Green, October 2, 1863, Official Records,
Series I, Vol. XXVI, Pt. 1, 329; reports of Major General N. J. T. Dana, September
3o, October 2, 1863, ibid., 321, 324.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964, periodical, 1964; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101197/m1/59/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.