Battle of Pleasant Hill The Battle of Pleasant Hill was fought on April 9 , 1864 , during the Red River Campaign of the American Civil War , near Pleasant Hill , Louisiana , between Union forces led by Maj . Gen . Nathaniel P . Banks and Confederate forces , led by Maj . Gen . Richard Taylor . The battle was essentially a continuation of the previous day ' s Battle of Mansfield , fought nearby , which ended around sunset due to darkness — night time provided a brief interlude in hostilities . On April 9 , Taylor launched an ambitious assault against the newly reinforced Federals at Pleasant Hill and had the upper hand before Brig . Gen . Thomas J . Churchill ' s Arkansas division was flanked on its right and repulsed . After the battle , the Federals remained demoralized and unconfident in their commander — they retreated to Grand Ecore , and from there to Alexandria . Officially , the battle was a Union victory — as the Confederates were successfully driven from the field . However , because Banks and his army had retreated so soon afterwards , many argued over who had really won . Background . After the success of the Confederates at the Battle of Mansfield , April 8 , 1864 , Union forces retreated during the night and next morning took up a position on Pleasant Hill . The road from Mansfield to Pleasant Hill was " littered by burning wagons , abandoned knapsacks , arms , and cooking utensils . Federal stragglers and wounded were met by the hundreds and were quickly rounded up and sent to the rear , " explains the historian John D . Winters of Louisiana Tech University in his " The Civil War in Louisiana " . The Battle of Mansfield took place about southeast of the town of Mansfield at Sabine Cross Roads . Pleasant Hill was located about southeast of Sabine Cross Roads . Confederate reinforcements had arrived late on the April 8 — Churchill ' s Arkansas Division arrived at Mansfield at 3 . 30 p . m . and Parson ' s Missouri Division ( numbering 2 , 200 men ) arrived at Mansfield at 6 p . m . Neither of these Divisions participated in the Battle of Mansfield — however , both would play a major role during the Battle of Pleasant Hill . On the Union side reinforcements also arrived , when Maj . Gen . Andrew J . Smith , commanding detachments of XVI and XVII Corps , arrived from Grand Ecore late on the April 8 , around nightfall , and encamped about from Pleasant Hill . On the morning of the April 9 , Franklin ordered the baggage train to proceed to Grand Ecore . It left Pleasant Hill at 11 a . m . , and included many pieces of artillery . Most of Franklin ' s Cavalry ( commanded by Brig . Gen . Albert Lindley Lee ) and the XIII Corps left with it . This included the " Corps D ' Afrique " commanded by Colonel William H . Dickey ( wounded on April 8 ) and Brig . Gen . Thomas E . G . Ransom ' s detachment of the XIII Corps , now under the command of Brig . Gen . Robert A . Cameron — Ransom was also wounded on the April 8 . The baggage train made slow progress and was still only a few miles from Pleasant Hill when the major fighting began later that day . Brig . Gen . Charles P . Stone , Chief of Staff , and others , attempted to get Cameron to return to Pleasant Hill throughout the day , but he failed to do so — he stated that he never received any written orders to return . Banks doesn ' t appear to have been fully aware of the exact orders Cameron had received from Franklin . The Union side lost 18 pieces of artillery at the Battle of Mansfield . These were turned on the Union forces the next day at Pleasant Hill . Confederate Brig . Gen . Jean Jacque Alexandre Alfred Mouton was killed during the Battle of Mansfield , April 8 , 1864 ; Brig . Gen . Camille J . de Polignac commanded Mouton ' s forces at Pleasant Hill . Confederate Trans - Mississippi Department commander Lt . Gen . Edmund Kirby Smith , who was at Shreveport , received a dispatch from Taylor that reached him at 4 a . m . , April 9 . It informed him of the Battle of Mansfield . Smith then rode to Pleasant Hill , but did not reach there in time for the battle — arriving around nightfall . Description of the battlefield . In 1864 , Pleasant Hill was a small village , situated about north the current village of Pleasant Hill — a new village that later grew up nearby ( in order to be closer to the railroad ) and that took the same name , after the old village was abandoned . The site of old village is today referred to as the " Old town " or " Old Pleasant Hill " . Dr . Harris H . Beecher , Assistant - Surgeon , 114th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment , present at the battle , described the village of Pleasant Hill as In 1864 , the countryside in this part of Louisiana mostly consisted of pine forests and scrub oaks . According to Banks , A newspaper described Pleasant Hill as " a little village situated on a low ridge , containing in peace - times probably 300 inhabitants . " It further stated that , Historian John Winters describes Pleasant Hill as a " piney - woods summer resort consisting of a dozen or more houses clustered along a cleared knoll , offered Banks many advantages as a battlefield , but because of the great distance from the main supply base at Alexandria and the serious lack of sufficient drinking water for an entire army , Banks could not hold this position for any length of time . During the one day , April 9 , most of the rain water stored in the cisterns was depleted . Without making a final decision concerning the future of his campaign , Banks sent his wagon trains . . . on the way toward Grand Ecore . . . . " . Battle . According to Maj . Gen . Nathaniel P . Banks ' Report of the Battle , At 5 p . m . , the Confederate forces launched their attack , charging the entire Union line . Walker ' s and Mouton ' s attack on the Union right had little success — the Union right , for the most part , held its ground . However , overall , this initial charge by the Confederates was highly successful and many of the positions down the Union left and center were overrun by Churchill ' s and Parson ' s forces and the Union positions were forced backwards . However , the Union side succeeded in halting the advance and regained the left and center ground , before driving the Confederates from the field . The fiercely fought battle lasted about two hours . Losses were heavy on both sides . The 32nd Iowa Infantry sustained especially heavy casualties , as it was cut off from the rest of the Union forces during the battle . Confederate Brig . Gen . Hamilton P . Bee , with two regiments in columns of four rode swiftly down the Pleasant Hill road toward the enemy lines . The Confederate forces were suddenly attacked at close range by Federals concealed behind a fence . Winters describes the scene , accordingly : " Men toppled from their saddles , wounded horses screamed in anguish , and for a moment pandemonium reigned . Bee ' s men took temporary shelter . . . in a series of small ravines studded with young pines until they recovered from the shock of the unexpected attack . Bee rallied his men but in the process had two horses shot from under him . Colonel [ Xavier B . ] Debray was injured when he fell from the saddle of his dead horse . . . . Debray was able to withdraw his men safely to the rear leaving , however , about a third of them killed or wounded on the front . Banks and his army began their retreat from Pleasant Hill at 1 a . m . on the morning of the April 10 ( just a few hours after the battle had ended ) . Aftermath . According to Brig . Gen . Hamilton P . Bee , writing from his headquarters at Pleasant Hill on April 10 , 1864 , he was in possession of the battlefield of Pleasant Hill at daylight on the morning of April 10 and he wrote that , A number of Union soldiers were captured during the battle ( and many more at the Battle of Mansfield ) , and were taken to Camp Ford , a Confederate prisoner - of - war Camp , near Tyler , Texas . Most were kept prisoner here for the next year or so , and were not released until a general exchange of prisoners occurred near the end of the war — a small number , however , were released at an earlier date . After the Battle of Pleasant Hill , Banks and his Union forces retreated to Grand Ecore and abandoned plans to capture Shreveport , by then the Louisiana state capital . Some of the wounded , perhaps thirty in number from both Pleasant Hill and Mansfield , were taken to Minden for treatment . Those who died of their wounds there were interred without markers in the historic Minden Cemetery . They were finally recognized with markers erected on March 25 , 2008 by the United Confederate Veterans . The decisive failure of the Red River Campaign was a rare bit of uplifting news for the Confederacy in a bleak year . Despite the loss of resources ( including the mercurial and beloved Brig . Gen . Tom Green , who was killed April 12 ) , the failure of this offensive helped to prolong the war by tying down Union resources from other fronts .