Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 4.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

The Federals could in this position await the enemy without fear. Banks had around him twelve to thirteen thousand experienced infantry soldiers; Gooding's brigade of cavalry, which had not been engaged; and a numerous artillery. Unfortunately, there was a lack of water. It was therefore expedient to decide upon resuming on the 9th the march upon Mansfield, or reaching without further delay the banks of Red River. The Thirteenth corps and the cavalry were totally disorganized; the eight hundred and fifty wagons which the enemy had not taken could not be left at Pleasant Hill; they had to be moved forward in order to clear the road for the following day if retreat became necessary. Banks moved all the train on Grand Écore, and gave it as an escort the colored brigade, the conquered of Sabine Cross-roads, which he did not dare to bring again into a fight. This long column got in motion on the morning of the 9th in the midst of such great confusion that all the ambulances and the medical stores of the Nineteenth corps, which ought to have remained near the combatants, started with the wagons and baggage. During this time Emory was occupying the approaches of College Hill; Dwight was deploying on the right of the Mansfield road, the extremity of his line being flanked by the first ravine; McMillan, then Benedict, had formed on the left at some distance behind this ravine. About the middle of the day Shaw's brigade of the Sixteenth corps came to relieve McMillan, who had been in reserve, and in order to have a better position it advanced as far as the edge of the ravine, thus outstretching by a few hundred yards Dwight's line on its right and Benedict's on its left. The latter, who faced the south-west, stretched on the left of the Sabine River road on the skirt of the wood which separated the two ravines. This was favorable for the attack against the Federals' left. This was the weak point of their position; therefore, to cover Benedict, Smith had posted two brigades in a second line behind him in an oblique direction from the north-east to the south-west; Moore, on the right, was flanked by the village; Lynch, on the left, outstretching Benedict, extended as far as the second ravine. Hill's brigade was in reserve in the village.