Battle of Plains Store

Template:Good article Template:Short description The Battle of Plains Store was fought on May 21, 1863, in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, during the campaign to capture Port Hudson in the American Civil War. Union troops advancing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, clashed with 600 Confederates at a road junction. The initial Confederate force withdrew, but 400 more Confederates arrived from Port Hudson. Some of the Confederate reinforcement overran Union artillery and routed a Union regiment, but were unable to capture the guns. Union reinforcements advanced to the front, attacked part of the Confederate force and drove them from the field. The Confederates withdrew to Port Hudson, which was almost entirely surrounded by Union troops the next day. Port Hudson was under siege until the defenders surrendered on July 9.

Background

By 1863, during the American Civil War, the Confederate strongholds at Port Hudson, Louisiana, and Vicksburg, Mississippi, allowed for Confederate control of the Mississippi River between the two points. Supplies could cross the river from one half of the Confederacy to the other.Template:Sfn Union forces placed Vicksburg under siege in May 1863.Template:Sfn Other Union troops commanded by Major General Nathaniel Banks had been moving towards Shreveport, Louisiana, but instead turned towards Port Hudson to capture it. Banks's goal was to defeat the Confederate force there led by Major General Franklin Gardner and then drive north to aid the attack on Vicksburg. In support of Banks, a Union division led by Major General Christopher C. Augur left Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and moved north towards Port HudsonTemplate:Sfn on May 20Template:Sfn with 3,500 men.Template:Sfn Like much of Banks' army, Augur's troops were relatively inexperienced and Plains Store would be the first time his regiments saw combat.Template:Sfn

Battle

File:Plains Store Battlefield Louisiana.jpg

Map of Plains Store Battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program.

On the morning of May 21, Augur's leading forces, commanded by Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson, met Confederate troops near the junction of the Plains Store and Bayou Sara roads.Template:Sfn Plains Store itself was located here.Template:Sfn Taking the junction would secure a landing point for Banks and allow the two Union forces to join.Template:Sfn The crossroads was defended by 600 men commanded by Colonel Frank P. Powers;Template:Sfn Powers's force consisted of part of the 14th Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Powers'), a cavalry force, and Abbay's Mississippi Battery. Skirmishing continued while the main Union force arrived. As Confederate artillery fire prevented a Union advance, Union artillery was brought up at around 10:00 am and an artillery duel began.Template:Sfn The Union artillery, consisting of the 5th U.S. Artillery, Battery G and part of the 18th New York Battery, were initially unable to suppress the Confederate fire. Colonel N. A. M. Dudley then ordered the New York battery to withdraw, and replaced it with the 2nd Vermont Battery. Dudley also sent infantrymen forward to skirmish with the Confederates.Template:Sfn Powers was outnumbered by the Union force.Template:Sfn Around noon, Gardner sent Colonel William R. Miles with 400 infantrymenTemplate:Sfn (known as Miles' Legion)Template:Sfn and Boone's Louisiana Battery to support Powers.Template:Sfn

Before Miles arrived, Powers ran low on ammunitionTemplate:Sfn and withdrew from the field. Dudley's men occupied the junction after the Confederate withdrawal.Template:Sfn Some Union artillery and the 48th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was advanced up the road to Port Hudson, with the rest of the Union force remaining back around Plains Store. Miles had advanced through the woods and was not noticed by the Union troops. He divided his force into two wings: Major James T. Coleman took two companies to the right, and Lieutenant Colonel F. B. Brand took three companies to the left. Coleman's men came under fire from the advanced Union artillery. Attacking the guns, Coleman's troops overran them and routed the 48th Massachusetts.Template:Sfn The Confederates were unable to take the cannons from the field because the battery horses had been killed.Template:Sfn

When the firing started, two Union regimentsTemplate:Sndthe 116th New York Infantry Regiment and the 49th Massachusetts Infantry RegimentTemplate:Snd were sent forward in support. The 49th Massachusetts engaged Coleman's men, and while Confederate artillery fire forced them to take cover, Coleman did not have enough men to attack. Brand was able to outflank the 116th New York, but the New Yorkers turned to face the Confederates and then charged them, driving them from the field.Template:Sfn The Confederates withdrew to Port Hudson.Template:Sfn

Aftermath

Historian John D. Winters states that the Confederates suffered 89 men killed, wounded, or missing, and the Union 100.Template:Sfn Miles's official report noted 89 casualties of all types, although he noted that the exact breakdown of killed and wounded was unknown.Template:Sfn Historian Russell W. Blount states that the Confederates lost 12 men killed to the Union's 15 and that the wounded for both sides totaled over 100, primarily Union soldiers.Template:Sfn An official Union postbattle report claimed that Augur lost about 150 men to all causes.Template:Sfn Blount, summarizing the battle, states that "nothing was accomplished [...] except the shedding of the first blood" in the Port Hudson campaign.Template:Sfn

During the battle, Gardner was ordered by Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston to abandon Port Hudson, but Gardner instead obeyed orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis and remained in his position, requesting reinforcements.Template:Sfn On May 22, Banks landed troops at Bayou Sara and pushed forward, having heard that Augur had met resistance. More Union troops arrived from New Orleans, Louisiana, and by the end of the day, Port Hudson was almost completely surrounded.Template:Sfn Johnston again ordered Gardner to withdraw the next day, but by that point the Confederates in Port Hudson were cut off. The Siege of Port Hudson began in which the Confederates were reduced to eating rats and mules. Gardner surrendered on July 9, five days after Vicksburg fell.Template:Sfn

Union casualties

Union casualties for the Battle of Plains Store from the Official RecordsTemplate:Sfn

Unit	Killed	Wounded	Missing	Casualties
2nd Louisiana Infantry Regiment	2	11	1	14
30th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment	0	4	0	4
48th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment	2	7	11	20
49th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment	0	5	1	6
116th New York Infantry Regiment	11	44	1	56
Totals	15	71	14	100

External links

• Photograph of battle site
• Louisiana State Historical Marker
• List of Casualties