Milliken's Bend: A Civil War Battle in History and Memory

by Linda Barnickel

At Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, a Union force composed predominantly of former slaves met their Confederate adversaries in one of the bloodiest small engagements of the war. This important fight received some attention in the North and South but soon drifted into obscurity. In Milliken's Bend, Linda Barnickel uncovers the story of this long-forgotten and highly controversial battle.



The fighting at Milliken's Bend occurred in June 1863, about fifteen miles north of Vicksburg on the west bank of the Mississippi River, where a brigade of Texas Confederates attacked a Federal outpost. Most of the Union defenders had been slaves less than two months before. The new African American recruits fought well, despite their minimal training, and Milliken's Bend helped prove to a skeptical northern public that black men were indeed fit for combat duty. Soon after the battle, accusations swirled that Confederates had executed some prisoners taken from the Colored Troops. The charges eventually led to a congressional investigation and contributed to the suspension of prisoner exchanges between the North and South.

Barnickel's compelling and comprehensive account of the battle illuminates not only the immense complexity of the events that transpired in northeastern Louisiana during the Vicksburg Campaign but also the implications of Milliken's Bend upon the war as a whole. The battle contributed to southerner's increasing fears of slave insurrection and heightened their anxieties about emancipation. In the North, it helped foster a commitment to allow free blacks and former slaves to take part in the war to end slavery. And for African Americans, both free and enslaved, Milliken's Bend symbolized their never-ending struggle for freedom.

Genres: Civil War, History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2013

Reviews

[Lisa Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Civil War enthusiasts interested in the experiences and contributions of the Union’s Black soldiers, this is an engrossing read, informative and engaging. The author begins with historical background, carefully setting the stage where the Union’s Black soldiers fought: Southern fear of Black anger and slave uprisings; the social and economic underpinnings of the belief in slavery; the threat to the Southern way of life posed by the Emancipation Proclamation; and then this threat compounded when ex-slaves and Freedmen began to join the Union army. Arming Back soldiers was a fraught, tense, escalation of what was already a furious fight between North and South. Many Southerners now feared that the war could come to every door in the entire South, as fast as the walk from a nearby slave cabin. The prospect was terrifying.

Enter the recently freed slaves now enlisted in the Federal army and camped at Milliken’s Bend. Their families are nearby and vulnerable. White soldiers from an adjacent Union regiment attack and rob the Blacks. Their white officers have variable degrees of racial prejudice and experience, and officers are denied higher rank and pay until they recruit a full complement of men and muster them in. To the officer’s collective frustration, recruitment isn’t going as planned. Meanwhile, Union quartermasters are dragging their feet about arming and clothing the men, thus, no guns for drill nor proper uniforms. The generals in command are bickering, one openly abusing the slaves for his personal use, another fighting an endless paperwork war for simple equipment (joking in frustration about getting wheelbarrows instead of wagons). Slaves newly freed now face the prospect of army passes and army discipline by white officers – shades of the old “slave passes” and physical punishment they thought they’d left behind.

Enter the Confederate forces, including Texas regiments with a culture of extra-judicial violence and vigilantism, an attitude honed in racial wars against Indigenous peoples and Mexicans. One morning before daylight, these Confederates attack Milliken’s Bend with an open avowal of “no quarter.”

And the Black soldiers, overwhelmed and backed up against the banks of the Mississippi River, stand and fight. (Want to know more? Read the book. It’s very good!)

I’ve told the story quickly, but the author of Milliken’s Bend: A Civil War Battle in History and Memory is a measured, careful historian. She lays out the evidence from primary sources, debating the veracity when there are conflicting accounts, and drawing her best conclusions with transparency and honesty. She fits her narrative into the histories of other Black regiments, and clarifies its historical importance. She is an excellent writer, fluid and engaging, pulling the reader easily through history. The book is wonderfully footnoted, with useful appendixes, maps, pictures, and a bibliography.

So, five stars for a superb book. And an extra star for telling a forgotten tale of Black soldiers in Milliken’s Bend—a narrative that evoked strong emotions 160 years ago, and still can today.

[Lane Corley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story telling. Tough story of dark days in the history of NE Louisiana.

[Sean Chick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a tough book to rate. The research is great and the discussion of atrocities is balanced. The narrative of the battle is decent enough. Yet, the problem is much of the book seems padded. Its not that placing the battle in its wider social significance is unimportant, but rather that a lot of details are given which are redundant. The prose is not poor paragraph to paragraph, but the book does not really flow, making it an uneven read. Lastly, in a book that is, minus notes and bibliography, 213 pages, the battle takes place in about 37 pages and is not as well placed in the context of the military campaign. I will be kind and round up to four stars, but this book had potential to be more than it is.

[Joel Manuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent overview of the controversial Battle of Milliken's Bend and its aftermath which addresses charges that black troops (and their white officers) captured at the battle were summarily executed by Confederates.

[Clifford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would really like to give this book 3.5. It was interesting but the book did not deal that much with the battle but rather the racist atmosphere which caused the situation. I was a bit more interested in the military aspects but enjoyed the other scene setting.