e Smith was directed to take to the mouth of Loggy Bayou,
opposite Springfield, where it was expected he would again
communicate with the army. So far the water had been good, the boats
having a foot to spare; but as the river was rising very slowly, the
admiral would not take his heavy boats any higher. Leaving
Lieutenant-Commander Phelps in command at Grand Ecore, with
instructions to watch the water carefully and not be caught above a
certain bar, a mile lower down, Porter went ahead with the Cricket,
Hindman, Lexington, Osage, Neosho, Chillicothe, and the transports, on
the 7th of April.

The army marched out on the 6th and 7th, directed upon Mansfield. The
way led through a thickly wooded country by a single road, which was
in many places too narrow to admit of two wagons passing. On the night
of the 7th Banks reached Pleasant Hill, where Franklin then was; the
cavalry division, numbering 3,300 mounted infantry, being eight miles
in advance, Smith's command fifteen miles in the rear. The next day
the advance was resumed, and, at about fifteen miles from Pleasant
Hill, the cavalry, which had been reinforced by a brigade of infantry,
became heavily engaged with a force largely outnumbering it. After
being pushed back some little distance, this advanced corps finally
gave way in confusion. Banks had now been some time on the field. At
4.15 P.M. Franklin came up, and, seeing how the affair was going, sent
word back to General Emory of his corps, to form line of battle at a
place he named, two miles in the rear. The enemy came on rapidly, and
as the cavalry train of one hundred and fifty wagons and some eighteen
or twenty pieces of artillery were close in rear of the discomfited
troops, it was not possible, in the narrow road, to turn and save
them. Emory, advancing rapidly in accordance with his orders, met
flying down the road a crowd of disorganized cavalry, wagons,
ambulances, and loose animals, through which his division had to force
its way, using violence to do so. As the enemy's bullets began to
drop among them, the division reached a suitable position for
deploying, called by Banks Pleasant Grove, three miles in rear of the
first action. Here the line was formed, and the enemy, seemingly not
expecting to meet any opposition, were received when within a hundred
yards by a vigorous fire, before which they gave way in about fifteen
minutes. By this time it was dark, and toward midnight the command
fell back to Pl