Upon the launch of the Union Army's Red River Campaign, seizing Alexandria, Louisiana and moving on Natchitoches and Shreveport, General Kirby Smith ordered Churchill's Arkansas Division, which had most of his infantry (including Tappan's and Gause's brigades), south to Shreveport, Louisiana, in early March, 1864 to assist in countering Union General Nathaniel Banks' advance along the Red River. Churchill's division reached Keatchie, Louisiana, in time to support Richard Taylor's main force, that routed Banks' army in the Battle of Mansfield (Sabine Crossroads) on April 8, 1864. The division arrived during the engagement, but was not committed to battle and occupied a position on the flank of General Taylor's division. Brigadier General Churchill was placed in command of both his own division and Brigadier General Parson's Division during the pursuit of the enemy from Mansfield to Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, so Brigadier General Tappan assumed command of Churchill's Division. While Tappan commanded the Division, Colonel Grinstead assumed command of Tappan's Brigade and led it through the fight at Pleasant Hill, on April 9, 1864. General Tappan described the action at Pleasant Hill as follows:&lt;ref name="Arkansas, Confederate Military History pp. 244/5"&gt;Louisiana and Arkansas, Confederate Military History, Gen. Clement A. Evans, ed., The Blue and Grey Press, Vol. X, n.d., pp. 244/5&lt;/ref&gt;