With the arrival of spring, 1864, the Federals commenced an invasion up the Red River that was expected to penetrate into Texas. Again General Banks had charge of the expedition. This time his forces moved up the Red River while another Union column pushed southward through Arkansas. The objective of both Federal armies was Shreveport. By late March, General Kirby Smith had received communications that convinced him of the seriousness of these two enemy columns. In all, the enemy forces were estimated to total 50,000 foot soldiers and 8,000 cavalry troops. Major General Richard Taylor, in command of Confederate forces in western Louisiana, and Major General Sterling Price, Confederate commander in Arkansas, were both instructed to pull back cautiously toward Shreveport before the Federal advances. The two commanders were also warned to avoid heavy clashes with the invaders unless success was sure to follow for the Southerners.[97] General Kirby Smith warned Governor Murrah of the situation: “It is my duty to advise you that your State, especially, in its Northern Section, is threatened with immediate invasion, that the means at my disposal are comparatively small and inadequate, and I urge upon you the necessity of putting immediately every armed man in Texas into the field.”[98]
In answer to this situation, drastic means were taken to force men into uniform. Shirkers were arrested and forced into military service, and troops detailed to non-combatant jobs were returned to active commands. Confederate regiments at guard positions in Texas were shifted to Louisiana, while defense of the Gulf ports was left to state soldiers.[99] In the meanwhile, Major General F. Steele and the Union forces in Arkansas pushed across the Little Missouri River to within two hundred miles of Banks, who had now secured Natchitoches, Louisiana. Then, on April 8, 1864, as Banks’ invaders occupied Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, and advanced to within three miles of Mansfield, Louisiana, General Taylor committed his forces in a desperate attempt to throw back the Federals. After a hard fought battle Banks’ army was defeated and compelled to retreat to Pleasant Hill. Taylor’s men retained close contact with the retreating Federals and after equally hard fighting on the second day, the Confederate commander could report that the Union troops were undertaking a night withdrawal to the Red River near Natchitoches. Later Southern reports claimed a Union rout on the first day and a definite check on enemy counter-attack on the second day.[100]