A Confederate withdrawal action during the Vicksburg campaign that ended Walker's Greyhounds' threat to Union forces in Louisiana.
Key Facts
- Date
- June 15, 1863
- Confederate force (est.)
- At most 3,000 men
- Union force (overestimated)
- 7,000–8,000 men (Confederate scouts' estimate)
- Key Confederate unit
- Walker's Greyhounds (Walker's division)
- Artillery engagement
- Hour-long artillery duel across Roundaway Bayou
- Confederate withdrawal destination
- Delhi, Louisiana
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
After failed Confederate attacks at Milliken's Bend and Lake Providence earlier in June 1863, Walker's division withdrew to Richmond, Louisiana. Union General Grant, viewing Walker's continued presence as a threat to his Vicksburg siege operations, dispatched the Mississippi Marine Brigade and Brigadier General Joseph A. Mower's infantry brigade on June 14 to dislodge them.
On June 15, 1863, the two Union brigades converged on Richmond. Confederate scouts vastly overestimated Union strength, leading Walker to deploy the 18th Texas Infantry and Edgar's Texas Battery forward while holding the rest behind Roundaway Bayou. After the Confederates were pushed back across the bayou, an hour-long artillery duel ensued before Walker ordered the bridge burned and his division to withdraw.
Union forces burned the town of Richmond but declined to pursue Walker's retreating Confederates, who fell back to Delhi and continued operating in the region until July. The engagement removed the immediate Confederate threat in Louisiana, and Vicksburg itself surrendered on July 4, 1863, ending the broader campaign.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Joseph A. Mower.
Side B
1 belligerent
John George Walker.