Wars in the Red River Valley
The construction of the dam at the Alexandria Rapids in Louisiana, brain child of Union officer Joseph Bailey, saved General Nathaniel Banks's fleet from possible destruction by Confederates. The dramatic engineering feat was captured by Harper's Weekly for an 1864 article (LOC).
Two tenuous wars and several stand-alone battles have helped shape the history and geography of the Red River Valley. They all had something in common: the European desire to push native people off their lands in order to grow more cotton and develop ranches using stolen labor.
Read on about the battles and strategies in the troubles along the Red River.
Northern Texas in the Civil War
Van Dorn Massacre
Fort Sauvage of the Natchez
Red River Wars
Southwest Arkansas in the Civil War
The Civil War in Indian Territory
The Freedmen's Bureau in the Red River Valley
Western Louisiana in the Civil War
The Great Hanging
Sang pour Sang
Union Relics in the Red River
Union Strategy in Indian Territory
Doaksville
Colfax Massacre
End of the Bison
Maps of the Alexandria Rapids
Confederate forts Buhlow and Randolph are now a peaceful bayou.
The Washington Courthouse was, for a brief while, the capital of Arkansas during the Civil War.
A grave of unnamed and unknown Confederate dead in the Rondo Cemetery east of Texarkana. Most died from disease, not battle, and the Confederacy was not good at record keeping that would allow for the names to be known.
Confederate forts Buhlow and Randolph are now a peaceful bayou.
