Battle of Bayou Bourbaux: Also Called the Battle of Bayou Carencro
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The Battle of Bayou Bourbeux.
The Civil War was entering its third year, Vicksburg had fallen, and the Union had control of the Mississippi. Gettysburg would produce the most significant loss of life on American soil, with 51,000 casualties. Lincoln would give his Gettysburg address to a hushed crowd, and Louisiana's battle would be pushed to the back pages of History, rememberd only on small historic markers along its country highways.
General Taylors Army was well versed in the art of war. Having fought in Berwick and retreating north, he would fight At Ft. Bisland, then Franklin and Bayou Teche. From there, it was Vermillionville, then Bayou Bourbeux.
The 6000 confederate soldiers under General Taylor and led by General Thomas Green would meet in battle at Carencro with 1625 Union troops Led by General Stephen Burbridge. The Battle of Bayou Bourbeux or Bayou Carencro would leave forty to sixty confederates lost and about three hundred wounded. The Union had lost thirty killed and 129 wounded, and 562 captured.
Among the confederate fallen Third Sergeant George Speagle, the brother of Philip, who missed that fight due to malaria, and Henry, who had fallen in Kentucky at the age of 17. George would be interned in a mass grave that is now marked by a Historical Marker. Not far from that gave is another on what was the Bellevue Plantation home of Benjamin Rogers. Rogers's home was torn down to harvest the cypress lumber. A new house was built close by, and its slab was poured over the graves of the fallen Yankees.
The war would continue for another year, continuing to the north, leaving a path of destruction in Opelousas, Alexandria, and Monroe. Not until April 8, 1865, would the killing be done.
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General Thomas Green CSA
General Green lead his in September when the First Cavalry captured a Union detachment at Stirling's Plantation. A similar success followed in November at Bayou Burbeaux. In four victories Green's men inflicted about 3,000 casualties and suffered only 600. In April 1864 he led a division in successful attacks against Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks at the battle of Mansfield and against Maj. Gen. William H. Emory at the battle of Pleasant Hill (see RED RIVER CAMPAIGN). A few days later, on April 12, 1864, Green died while leading an attack on federal gunboats patrolling the Red River at Blair's Landing. | Source: Texas State Historical Society
Philip Speegle Courtesy Aileen Dobson Speegle
Pvt Philip Speegle was sick when the Battle of Carencro Bayou was fought and lost a brother in that battle, only a year before he had lost another brother fighting in Kentucky
General Richard Taylor
" The son of former President Zachary Taylor, he was educated in Europe, then at Harvard and Yale. Taylor was also the former brother-in-law of future Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and a powerful planter and Louisiana state senator. He joined the Confederacy and , with almost no previous military experience, took command of the 9th Louisiana Infantry Regiment in July of 1861. Proving himself an able combat commander, he was promoted to brigadier general on October 21, 1861, major general on July 28, 1862 and lieutenant general to rank from April 8, 1864. He served in Virginia, Mississippi and Louisiana, and is remembered for his victory over Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks at Mansfield, Louisiana and his successes in the Red River " From History Centeral | Source: History Centra
General Nathaniel Banks
General Nathaniel Banks was appointed by President Lincoln in charge of all forces in the Gulf States. Law and Order, even outside of battle zones, was probably almost nonexistent. In addition to looting by the armies of both sides as they moved through the countryside, there were also bands of marauders preying upon households and institutions throughout the South. When General Banks arrived in New Orleans, where he set up his headquarters, he was informed by his wife that the nuns at Grand Coteau were of the same Order as the nuns providing education to their daughter in a school she attended in New York State. In no uncertain words, Mary Banks told General Banks to protect the nuns at Grand Coteau. Therefore, whenever there was to be an engagement at or around Grand Coteau (and there were several including a major one, called the Battle at Bayou Bourbeau) General Banks would send a detachment of Union soldiers to encircle and protect the convent. Thus began a rather unusual relationship between General Banks and the nuns at Grand Coteau and in particular their reverend mother namely Reverend Mother Amelie Jouve.
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