rby Smith might not be able to concentrate in time to save
Shreveport; another, still more remote, that he might give up the
place without a fight; and a third, more unlikely than either, that
Steele might join Banks in time to make short work of it, or at
all events to make Banks strong enough to spare A. J. Smith by the
appointed time. Two weeks remained until the earliest date set
for A. J. Smith to be at Vicksburg; twenty-nine days to the latest
day allowed for the taking of Shreveport. In his dilemma Banks
decided to run these chances.

After seeing the first of the gunboats safely over the falls, on
the 26th of March Banks set his column in motion. A. J. Smith
marched on Cotile Landing to wait for his boats. On the 28th Lee,
with the main body of the cavalry, preceded Smith to Henderson's
Hill, in order to hold the road and the crossing of Bayou Jean de
Jean. Franklin with Emory and Ransom and the main supply trains
followed on the same day.

Twenty miles above Cotile Landing the Red River divides, and, for
sixty miles, until Grand Ecore is reached, the waters flow in two
unequal channels; the most southerly of these, along which the road
runs, is known as Cane River, or Old Red River. This was formerly
the main stream, but the more northerly branch, at once deeper and
less tortuous, now forms the only navigable channel, and is called
the Rigolets du Bon Dieu, or more familiarly the Bon Dieu.

Lee crossed Cane River at Monett's Ferry, and, recrossing above
Cloutierville, entered Natchitoches on the 31st of March. At
Monett's Ferry on the 29th, Cloutierville on the 30th, and again
at Natchitoches he encountered slight opposition from the enemy's
skirmishers.

Franklin, marching by the same road, encamped at Natchitoches on
the 2d of April.

Embarking on his transports as they came, A. J. Smith set out from
Cotile Landing on the 2d of April in company with Porter's fleet,
and landed at Grand Ecore on the 3d.

The river was still rising slowly, and it was not until the 7th of
April that Porter considered the draught of water sufficient to
justify him in going farther. Then, leaving at Grand Ecore the
six heavy boats that had come with him thus far, he began the ascent
of the upper reach of the river with the _Carondelet, Fort Hindman,
Lexington, Osage, Neosho_, and _Chillicothe_, convoying and closely
followed by a fleet of twenty transports, bearing Kilby Smith's
division and a large quantity of mil