The Battle of Vermillion Bayou was fought on April 17, 1863, the third battle in a series of running battles between Union

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 Major General

Major General

Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

 Nathaniel Prentice Banks

Nathaniel Prentice Banks

Nathaniel Prentice Banks was an American politician and soldier, served as the 24th Governor of Massachusetts, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and as a Union general during the American Civil War....

 and Confederate

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 Major General

Major General

Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

 Richard Taylor

Richard Taylor (general)

Richard Taylor was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was the son of United States President Zachary Taylor and First Lady Margaret Taylor.-Early life:...

. The battle was fought after both the Battle of Fort Bisland

Battle of Fort Bisland

-Sources:* Ayres, Thomas, Dark and Bloody Ground : The Battle of Mansfield and the Forgotten Civil War in Louisiana, Cooper Square Press, 2001.* Parrish, T. Michael, Richard Taylor, Soldier Prince of Dixie, University of North Carolina Press, 1992....

 and the Battle of Irish Bend

Battle of Irish Bend

The Battle of Irish Bend, also known as Nerson's Woods or Franklin, was fought between Union Major General Nathaniel Prentice Banks against Confederate Major General Richard Taylor during Banks's operations against the Bayou Teche region near Franklin, the seat of St...

.

Prelude

After Nathaniel Prentice Banks

Nathaniel Prentice Banks

Nathaniel Prentice Banks was an American politician and soldier, served as the 24th Governor of Massachusetts, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and as a Union general during the American Civil War....

 had outmaneuvered Richard Taylor

Richard Taylor (general)

Richard Taylor was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was the son of United States President Zachary Taylor and First Lady Margaret Taylor.-Early life:...

's Army of Western Louisiana

Army of Western Louisiana

The Army of Western Louisiana was a part of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought in all the major engagements during Union Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks' campaign to capture Port Hudson, Louisiana. For much of its existence, it served under Maj. Gen. Richard Taylor...

 out from the Bayou Teche

Bayou Teche

The Bayou Teche is a waterway of great cultural significance in south central Louisiana in the United States. Bayou Teche was the Mississippi River's main course when it developed a delta about 2,800 to 4,500 years ago...

 region, he continued his movements towards his main objective of Alexandria, Louisiana

Alexandria, Louisiana

Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....

. The Confederates were trying to slow him down as much as they could and they once again tried slowing him down right outside of Vermillion Bayou.

Battle

As Richard Taylor's small army was withdrawing up the Teche, they crossed a bridge going over Vermillion Bayou. In order to slow Banks' army down, Taylor's men lit the bridge on fire and stopped for a rest. Banks, who was in pursuit of Taylor, split his army into two columns and sent one towards the bridge and the other column around the side.

As soon as the first column came within sight of the bridge, Confederate artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 began shelling the Union soldiers. After a while, Union artillery came up and a series of counter-battery exchanges ensued.

During the night, Taylor, knowing himself to be outnumbered, withdrew his force again.

Aftermath

Though Taylor had not dealt Banks a defeat, he was continually slowing Banks down from reaching Alexandria, Louisiana

Alexandria, Louisiana

Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....

, and his ultimate objective of Port Hudson, Louisiana

Port Hudson, Louisiana

Port Hudson is a small unincorporated community in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States. Located about northwest of Baton Rouge, it is most famous for an American Civil War battle known as the Siege of Port Hudson.-Geography:...

.