Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 7.
Frank Moore, Ed.

sir: I have the honor to inform you, that, hearing the enemy had collected a force of twelve thousand men at Richmond, in Louisiana, nine miles from Milliken's Bend, I sent General Ellet to General Mowry, at Young's Point, to act in conjunction to wake them up. General Mowry promptly acceded to the request, and, with about one thousand two hundred men in company with the Marine brigade, General A. W. Ellet commanding, proceeded to Richmond, where they completely routed the advance-guard of the rebels, consisting of four thousand men and six pieces of artillery, captured a lot of stores, and the town was completely destroyed in the melee. This duty was handsomely performed by the different parties connected in it.

Admiral: I have the honor to inform you, that, in accordance with your consent, I landed my forces at Milliken's Bend on the morning of the fifteenth instant, and proceeded toward Richmond, La.

At the forks of the road, within three miles of Richmond, I met General Mowry's command, and we proceeded forward together, my forces being in advance.

We met the enemy about a mile from the town, who opened upon our advance line of skirmishers, from behind hedges and trees and gullies, but they fled before our advance, and took shelter behind the levee on the opposite side of the bayou, near the town. The position was a good one, and very defensible. I deemed it imprudent to advance our lines across the open field without any cover for my men against an enemy superior in numbers and well intrenched. I therefore ordered the artillery to the front, and opened upon their position; and, after a vigorous cannonade of nearly an hour with all our guns, advanced our infantry through the woods on the right, with the intention of turning the enemy's left wing. They returned the fire of our artillery very vigorously for a time, but soon it slackened, and finally ceased altogether. When I arrived at the left of their position, I found it abandoned and the enemy fled. He had destroyed the bridges over the bayou to prevent our following. We found three of the enemy dead upon the field, two mortally wounded, and captured eleven prisoners and about sixty stand of small arms. [52]

The enemy was commanded by Major-General Walker, was a part of Kirby Smith's command, and consisted of two brigades, containing seven regiments, four thousand strong, with six pieces of artillery. They retreated toward Delhi, where General McCulloch is said to be posted with a command about equal in strength to the one we encountered. This was the same force that attacked the negro regiment at Milliken's Bend, a week before, and was repulsed.

Our entire loss was three men wounded, one only dangerously.

Gen. Mowry's command participated throughout most vigorously, and I feel indebted to the General for his prompt cooperation and advice, and his skilful manner of handling his forces.

On the sixteenth, the rebel General Anderson, with a division belonging to the command of Major-General Dick Taylor, marched from Richmond toward Lake Providence, where Gen. Reid was stationed with a small Federal force, consisting of the First Kansas and Sixteenth Wisconsin regiments, with some negro troops, less than one thousand five hundred in all.

Richmond is eight miles from Young's Point, on the Louisiana side, at a point where the Shrevesport road crosses the Tensas. It is about twelve miles from Milliken's Bend, and thirty from Lake Providence, and an important point, from the fact that from it those places are easily accessible by good road, and for the enemy it would be an exceedingly offensive position toward us.

General Reid went out to meet him, and destroyed the bridge over the Tensas, a short distance from the head of Lake Providence. The rebels opened on him with a six-pounder, damaging our forces at first considerably, but his men succeeded in silencing the gun and preventing the rebels from crossing, also pouring in a terrible fire of musketry upon them as they pressed up to the river. Thinking our force larger than it was, the enemy retreated, with heavy loss.

On the same day, General Mower marched on Richmond, from Sherman's Landing, with his brigade of infantry and Taylor's old Chicago battery, under command of Capt. Barrett. On reaching the Tensas, he met the rebel pickets and drove them in. The rebels burned the bridges, and undertook to make a stand. Capt. Barret opened fire, well supported by infantry.

Such was the combined shower of shell and bullets, that, though fighting well, they were obliged to fall back with what cavalry force they had. Gen. Mower then pursued the flying enemy, succeeding in capturing forty-two prisoners.

The affair was perfected with signal vigor and promptness — our troops, in their impetuosity and daring, overcoming the disparity in numbers on the part of the enemy. It is likely, from indications, that the entire force of Gen. Dick Taylor (who, by the way, is a son of old Zack) has skedaddled to the Red River country.¹