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Battle of Mansfield,LA-April 8,1864

bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
Also the Battle Of Pleasant Hill,LA-April 9,1864. I visited Mansfield Battlefield State Park on Saturday. The park itself is relatively small. The good thing about is that it does sit at the site of the worst fighting. The park rangers were very helpful. The area where the Visitors Center is located and where the 77th IL,130th IL,48th OH and 96th KY were was called the "Hornet's Nest" of Mansfield.

There is a walking trail around the area of the park on the north side of the Mansfield Road(now Hwy 175). There are markers along the trail that show the location of those Regiments and some other things of note. Honeycutt Hill,noted on the map,is a distinct feature. The open fields, across which the Confederate forces charged,are wooded now so it's hard to look out and visualize how much ground they had to cover under cannon fire before the Rebel infantrymen could engage. There was a moment when a chill went up my spine as I was standing on that hallowed ground. I read some of the soldiers' accounts of the battle in the Museum before I walked the grounds.

The Park and Museum aren't the greatest picture taking venues,but I did take some. All-in-all it was a good day and well worth the time driving there and spent there.

 
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bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
It took 4 hours to drive there from where I live. Knowing what I knew about the size of the park,I figured it would take 1.5-2 hours to do everything I wanted to do there. I was there almost 2.5 hours. Went through the Museum twice. Driving up there, I really didn't have any expectations except 2. I expected to have fun,which I did,and to maybe walk across the same ground my ancestor may have walked on there. Pvt. ________ enlisted in the 18th TX Infantry in February 1864. The Regiment was part of Waul's Brigade at Mansfield. The area of the park south of Hwy 175 is not open to the public and that is where the 18th TX Inf was in the battle. There are no trails,markers or monuments there yet. The only thing I found about the 18th TX Inf while there was this quote from an exhibit in the Museum.

2015-08-29 11.28.30.jpg
 

bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
Didn't get a chance to read in detail about Mansfield or Pleasant Hill before I went. Was in the middle of one book when I decided to make the drive up there and already had the next book planned. So I did learn some new things while I was there.

The 130th IL,48th OH and 19th KY were effectively wiped out as fighting forces. Most of the troops of those regiments were killed,wounded and/or captured. Very few made it out. The 77th IL and 67th IN had heavy losses but quite a few got out when they retreated. Retreating Union artillery batteries had to leave behind several pieces.

I also learned that most of the Union and Confederate soldiers buried on the field and in cemeteries near Mansfield and Pleasant Hill were later exhumed. The Union dead were mostly buried at the Alexandria National Cemetery in Pineville,LA.

http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/national_cemeteries/Louisiana/Alexandria_LA_National_Cemetery.html

All of the Confederate Regiments at Mansfield were from Texas and Louisiana. Confederate troops from Arkansas and Missouri joined the fight at Pleasant Hill. Many of the Confederate dead were exhumed and taken home by their families. Not sure where the rest were buried.
 

bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
I wouldn't have known this without asking the Mansfield Park Ranger questions,but 10 miles south of the park on Hwy 175 is American Legion Post 300. On the grounds in front is a monument to a Union soldier who was awarded the Congressional Medal Of Honor for actions at the Battle Of Pleasant Hill:

IMG_20150829_135950166.jpg
 
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Didn't get a chance to read in detail about Mansfield or Pleasant Hill before I went. Was in the middle of one book when I decided to make the drive up there and already had the next book planned. So I did learn some new things while I was there.

The 130th IL,48th OH and 19th KY were effectively wiped out as fighting forces. Most of the troops of those regiments were killed,wounded and/or captured. Very few made it out. The 77th IL and 67th IN had heavy losses but quite a few got out when they retreated. Retreating Union artillery batteries had to leave behind several pieces.

I also learned that most of the Union and Confederate soldiers buried on the field and in cemeteries near Mansfield and Pleasant Hill were later exhumed. The Union dead were mostly buried at the Alexandria National Cemetery in Pineville,LA.

http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/national_cemeteries/Louisiana/Alexandria_LA_National_Cemetery.html

All of the Confederate Regiments at Mansfield were from Texas and Louisiana. Confederate troops from Arkansas and Missouri joined the fight at Pleasant Hill. Many of the Confederate dead were exhumed and taken home by their families. Not sure where the rest were buried.
The Real Reason for the Second Amendment: The Rich Were Too Cheap to Pay for Arming and Training a Real Army

If we had had a standing professional army back then instead of these National Guard troops, the Civil War wouldn't have been such a mutual bloodbath.
 

bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
Visited Mansfield State Historic Site again on 1/19-20/2018 and some other places nearby.

2018-01-20 12.03.34.jpg

2018-01-20 12.03.52.jpg
 

bdtex

Administrator
Staff member
Battle anniversary bump. Great visit there in January. Went to a few places in town that I hadn't seen before and went to Keachi,LA just north of there. A women's college there became a Confederate hospital after the battle. There is a small Confederate Cemetery there too.
 
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