- Joined
- Feb 23, 2013
- Location
- East Texas
Booklet purchased in the museum describing the Battle of Mansfield and the Red River Campaign, autographed by park superintendent and local historian Alonzo Plummer.
I first became aware of the 1864 Battle of Mansfield and what was originally known as the Mansfield Commemorative Area during the Civil War Centennial of the 1960's, but it wasn't until several years later that I had an opportunity to visit there. In Spring of 1969 I drove over from the Dallas area with my new bride Marilynn who took the photos of me there and at nearby Fort Jesup.
The site of Fort Jesup above is nearer the town of Nachitoches, and although it played no part in the Civil War, served as an important staging area for the 1846 invasion of Mexico by U. S. forces. The little army of Brig. Gen. Zachary Taylor first assembled here, including the 4th U. S. Infantry, among whose members was a newly-graduated from West Point second lieutenant named Ulysses Simpson Grant. Two companies of "Volunteers" from here had previously marched into the interior of Texas - then definitely a part of Mexico - in 1836 where they joined the ragtag force led by Sam Houston and participated in the victory over the Mexicans at the battle of San Jacinto. Today Fort Jesup is a Louisiana State Park containing a small museum and the reconstructed barracks seen above.
On the way from Nachitoches to Mansfield is the now-abandoned site of the town of Pleasant Hill above; following the war, the town relocated itself a mile or so further southeast. This was well before the annual reenactments commemorating the April 9, 1864 battle were ever held. The site remains privately owned and other than a more recent proliferation of historical markers has become even more wooded and remote.
Mansfield Battle Park is southeast of the town of Mansfield on State 175; the archway above enters into a parklike area that encompasses only a portion of the center of the original battlefield and looks little or nothing like it did on April 8, 1864 when it was an active plantation. Today more of the site has been protected by the Battlefield Trust and transferred to State control but remains undeveloped and the park looks remarkably the same as when these photos were taken fifty years ago.
Near the entrance are several monuments erected in memory of Texas and Louisiana troops and commanders; the largest of which below is in memory of Brig. Gen. Jean-Jacques-Alfred-Alexandre Mouton who was killed here while leading his division in the Confederate attack that broke the Federal line, sending them into retreat that became a rout. Another smaller monument honors adopted Texan Brig Gen. Camille Armand Jules-Marie Count de Polignac of France who replaced Mouton when he fell.
The main Union line had been along a rail fence like this reconstruction above, now deep in the woods which were not here at the time of the battle; instead cotton fields stretched along both sides of the road.
Centerpiece of the park is the Centennial-era Visitor Center and Museum. Once it was home in the 1970's-80's to a remarkable collection of locally-excavated battlefield artifacts loaned by a noted local relic hunter and historian, but when the State of Louisiana went bankrupt in the 1980's and all state parks were temporarily closed the collection was removed by its lender.
The rather spartan interior at the time of this visit has seen several renovations during its existence. The rather crude diorama below is populated by then-commercially-available Civil War soldiers, western cavalrymen, and cowboy figures and is actually based on a wartime illustration appearing on the cover of Harper's Weekly depicting the stampede of the Union wagon train following the battle.
The map above is the centerfold of the small handout booklet shown below and locates in yellow highlights the places mentioned in this thread.
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