In the spring of 1864 the “Brown Water Navy” participated in its final major campaign. Supported by a fleet of ironclads and transports, General Nathaniel P. Banks pushed up the Red River, intending to capture Shreveport, Louisiana, and defeat Confederate forces under General Richard Taylor. Banks also wanted to confiscate valuable cotton for the North’s textile mills. The “Brown Water Navy” now included the Neosho and Osage, new ironclads built in St. Louis that featured revolving turrets like those used on the famous Monitor back east. Bank’s campaign was a total failure. Taylor defeated him at the battles of Mansfield on April 8 and Pleasant Hill on April 9. Although Banks pushed on to Alexandria, Louisiana, he soon retreated. During the campaign soldiers had to construct a series of temporary wooden dams to assist some of the Navy’s boats trapped by falling water levels.
As Banks and his army moved toward Shreveport, a corresponding Union column under Major General Frederick Steele marched south from Little Rock. Steele arrived in Camden, Arkansas on April 15. Desperate for supplies, Steele dispatched columns to find relief for his beleaguered force. On April 18, one foraging party was attacked and forced to retreat empty-handed back to Camden. A week later, another column was attacked at Marks’ Mills and was destroyed. Steele resolved to retreat to Little Rock. On April 30, pursuing Confederates struck Steele’s column as it crossed the Saline River, but the Federals were able to repulse the attacks and continue their retreat to Little Rock.
