Battle of Blair's Landing

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict= Battle of Blair's Landing
partof= American Civil War
date= April 12-13, 1864
place=Red River Parish
result=Union Victory
combatant1=Confederate States of America
combatant2=United States of America
commander1=Brig. Gen. Tom Green
commander2=Brig. Gen. Thomas Kilby Smith
strength1=???
strength2=???
casualties1=200
casualties2=7

The Battle of Blair's Landing was fought in the Red River Parish, Louisiana, as a part of the Red River Campaign on April 12, 1864.

Fighting

After the Battle of Pleasant Hill on April 9, Brig. Gen. Tom Green led his men to Pleasant Hill Landing on the Red River, where, about 4:00 pm on April 12, they discovered grounded and damaged Union transports and gunboats, the XVI and XVII army corps river transportation, and U.S. Navy gunboats, with supplies and armament aboard. Union Brig. Gen. Thomas Kilby Smith’s Provisional Division, XVII Corps, troops, and the Navy gunboats furnished protection for the army transports. Green and his men charged the boats. When Green attacked, Smith’s men used great ingenuity in defending the boats and dispersing the enemy. Hiding behind bales of cotton, sacks of oats, and other ersatz obstructions, the men on the vessels, along with the Navy gunboats, repelled the attack, killed Green, and savaged the Confederate ranks. The Confederates withdrew and most of the Union transports continued downriver. On the 13th, at Campti, other boats ran aground and came under enemy fire from Brig. Gen.St. John Richardson Liddell’s Sub-District of North Louisiana troops, which harassed the convoy throughout the 12th and 13th. The convoy rendezvoused with Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks’s army at Grand Ecore, providing the army with badly needed supplies.

References