merly in command of the fort. He was put in double-irons, and sent to the penitentiary at Baton Rouge!

Fort De Russy having fallen, Porter had no difficulty in steaming up to Alexandria, a place of about fifteen hundred inhabitants, and the county-seat of Rapides parish. It was situated on the Red river, about one hundred and fifty miles above its confluence with the Mississippi. The advance of General A. J. Smith's forces in transports, and Admiral Porter's fleet of iron-clad gunboats, anchored before the redclay bluffs of Alexandria on the evening of the 16th March.

The Yankees had now penetrated the famous cotton district of the Red river; and Porter, who had already obtained in the South the unenviable title of "the Thief of the Mississippi," took the initiative in a system of pillage that might have disgraced the most ruthless and ferocious banditti. Many of the planters applied the torch to their cotton rather than it should fall into the hands of the rapacious enemy. Porter reported to his Government that upwards of four thousand bales of cotton had been confiscated and rescued by his gunboats a boastful estimate, much above the truth. If cotton could not be found, the Yankees had no hesitation in making prizes of other property; and when disappointed of plunder, they could at least give vent to their feelings in a spirit of destruction and wanton ferocity.

Alexandria was occupied without resistance; and from that point Smith continued his advance towards Shreveport, one hundred and seventy miles higher up Red river. In the meantime, Franklin was making his way with all haste across the country via Franklin, New Iberia, and Opelousas, with the intention of joining Smith at Alexandria; but he arrived at that place too late for the purpose. Smith's forces had already gone up the river, and, therefore, in order to consummate the junction, it was necessary for Franklin to move towards Shreveport over land. The Yankee army, now under command of General Banks, passed Grand Ecore, sixty miles from Alexandria, the fleet having, meanwhile, got within one hundred miles of Shreveport.

This latter place, on the Louisiana boundary, appears to have been the grand objective point of Banks' campaign. The Trans-Mississippi district might be considered as having its

centre of supplies and resources at Shreveport, and it was an obvious base of operations against Texas. Appreciating its importance, and with a view of sustaining and uniting with Price, who was falling back in Arkansas, General Kirby Smith, in command of the Confederates, in giving up Fort De Russy and the adjoining country had resolved to make a stand to cover Shreveport, and had merely designed to draw Banks to a decisive point of the campaign.

On the 7th of April, Banks encountered a body of Confederate cavalry, under General Green, about two miles beyond Pleasant Hill. A desultory fight ensued, in which Green's cavalry, fighting in the strips of woods along the road, severely harassed the Yankees. The appearance of this force had probably taken Banks by surprise. He despatched a courier to Franklin urging him to "hasten up," and announcing that he was "surrounded by rebel cavalry."

BATTLE OF MANSFIELD.

Four miles from the town of Mansfield, on the 8th of April, General Banks found himself encountered by a considerable Confederate army, composed of forces under Kirby Smith, Dick Taylor, Mouton, Green, and some of Price's men. The Yankee cavalry were cautiously advancing, when the Confederates suddenly assailed the enemy's front in strong force. The contest continued fiercely for several hours, when the Yankees were driven back with great loss, and both wings of Banks' army flanked. A retreat appeared to be inevitable, should the Confederates continue to assault the enemy's front. The Yankee artillery played furiously upon the Confederate lines. But they continued to advance boldly, our devoted men evincing a desperate determination to conquer or perish in the attempt. An order of retreat was at last given by Banks. But the retreating force found the road blocked up by their trains, which had got into confusion. The retreat soon became a route and a panic ensued. The Confederates pushed on in pursuit, capturing eighteen guns, all of General Lee's wagon trains, and driving the panic-stricken mass of fugitive Yankees for ten miles to Pleasant Hill. Here