Report of Brig
Report of Brig. Gen. Hugh T. Reid, U.S. Army, of action (9th) near Lake Providence and attack (30th) on Goodrich's Landing.
HEADQUARTERS POST OF PROVIDENCE,
Providence, La., June 10, 1863.
GENERAL: I have the honor to report that an attack was made yes-
terday afternoon by a rebel force, said to be 600 strong, being the Thirteenth Texas Infantry [Cavalry] and the Thirteenth Louisiana Battalion (mounted men), with one piece of artillery. They were met by two companies of the First Kansas Mounted Infantry, at Bayou Baxter, 6 miles from town, and skirmishing kept up till the rebel force reached Bayou Tensas, a mile from town, where I determined to meet them with my whole force, about 800 strong, including some 300 of the Eighth Louisiana Volunteers, of African descent, under Colonel Scofield. Our mounted companies fell back behind the bayou, destroying the bridge, when the rebels formed in line of battle and advanced their skirmishers boldly up to the bayou, and planted their gun (a 6-pounder) so as to command the bridge, which they attempted to reconstruct.
Our skirmishers from the First Kansas and Sixteenth Wisconsin were advanced from our main body, under cover of the bank, to within close musket range of their gun, and soon compelled them to withdraw it, after firing only 5 rounds; then I sent forward a heavy force of skirmishers to meet their whole line on the bayou, and, after a brisk fire for an hour and a half, the rebels retreated, it being dusk, on the road leading to Floyd, leaving only a small force of skirmishers, under cover of some underbrush, near the bayou.
I then withdrew our skirmishers and marched the Eighth Louisiana Volunteers, of African descent, in line of battle up to the bayou. They fired four volleys into the rebels, which cleaned them out, and greatly encouraged the darkies. We had 1 man wounded; they had 2 men killed and 5 wounded. A rebel deserter says the rebels were under command of Colonel [F. A.] Bartlett, of the Thirteenth Louisiana Battalion, which has been stationed west of Bayou Macon.
The Texas regiment was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel [A. Crawford and Major [C. R.] Beaty, and is a part of General [J. G.] Walker's division, which was 6,000 strong. This regiment left the division at Trinity, at the mouth of the Tensas, came to Monroe, from Monroe to Delhi by rail, and from there to Floyd by marches, where they joined Bartlett's command. He says a bridge was built at Floyd across Bayou Macon; but the force marched up the bayou to Caledonia, where they built another bridge and crossed. The only mischief done by the rebels, as far as heard from, is the destruction of a cotton-gin at the Spencer plantation, 7 miles from town, where a citizen was ginning some cotton.
It is out of the question to give adequate protection to the plantations along the river without having sufficient force to move across the Bayou Macon and drive the rebels beyond Boeuf River, and artillery is absolutely necessary.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
H. T. REID,
Brigadier-General, Commanding -Post.
Major General MCPHERSON,
Commanding Seventeenth Corps.
SOURCE: United States War Department. THE WAR OF THE REBELLION: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880-1901.
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