ting Lee's movement and regularly falling back before his
advance, joined Taylor at Carroll Jones's on the 19th. Then Taylor
sent Vincent with his regiment and Edgar's battery to watch the
crossing of Bayou Jean de Jean and to hold the road by which Banks
was expected to advance on Shreveport. Vincent encamped on the
high ground known as Henderson's Hill, commanding the junction of
the Bayou Rapides and Cotile twenty-three miles above Alexandria.
Here he was in the air, and A. J. Smith, realizing the importance
of seizing the passage without loss of time, at once proceeded to
dislodge him. Accordingly, on the 21st of March he sent out Mower
with his two divisions of the Sixteenth Corps and Lucas's brigade
of cavalry. Mower made his dispositions with great skill and
promptness, and that night, during a heavy storm of rain and hail,
completely surprised Vincent's camp and captured the whole regiment
bodily, together with four guns of Edgar's battery. A few of
Vincent's men managed to escape in the darkness and confusion, but
about 250 were brought in and with them 200 horses. This was a
heavy blow to Taylor, since it deprived him of the only cavalry he
had with him and thus of the means of scouting until Green should
come from Texas. Mower returned to Alexandria on the 22d, and
Taylor, probably unwilling to risk a surprise in his exposed
position, withdrew about thirty miles to Kisatchie, still covering
the Fort Jesup road; but a week later he sent his cavalry northward
twenty-six miles to Natchitoches and with his infantry retired to
Pleasant Hill.

Banks has been blamed for his delay in meeting A. J. Smith and
Porter at Alexandria, yet, whatever may be the theoretical merits
of such a criticism, in fact no loss of time that occurred up to
the moment of quitting Alexandria had the least influence on the
course of the campaign, for even after the concentration was
completed the river, though very slowly rising by inches, was still
so low that the gunboats were unable to pass the rapids. The
_Eastport_ hung nearly three days on the rocks in imminent peril,
and at last had to be hauled off by main force, a whole brigade
swaying on her hawsers to the rhythm of the field music. This was
on the 26th of March, and the _Eastport_ was the first of the
gunboats to pass the rapids, the Admiral being naturally unwilling
to expose the boats of lighter draught as well as of lighter armament
to the risk of capture if sent up