Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Spring 2008 - (Page 29) Smith voiced his criticism of Banks loudly, so much so that one of the staff officers felt obliged to leave the tent. After the officer had gone, Smith made a startling suggestion. “Franklin,” he said, “if you will take command of the army, I will furnish a guard and put General Banks in arrest and send him to New Orleans.” Emory, who was seated nearby, jumped up and exclaimed, “By God, gentlemen, this is mutiny,” and strode out of the tent. And so it was. Although A. J. Smith dropped the idea of sending Banks back to New Orleans under arrest, the incident at Grand Ecore made it clear that Banks had lost the confidence of his generals, particularly A. J. Smith. Furthermore, Smith’s men were only a few days away from rejoining their old command in Vicksburg when they marched out of Alexandria. A combination of factors — exposure to fighting a “hard war” while serving under Sherman during the Meridian expedition, a humiliating defeat at the hands of an inferior Confederate force at Mansfield, the uncalled for retreat despite a victory at Pleasant Hill, and the lack of a command presence — resulted in an ill-tempered, illdisciplined band of soldiers with larceny in their hands and arson in their hearts. The resultant insubordination fell heavily on the citizens of Alexandria, but A. J. Smith’s men had not acted alone. Just as dry weather aided the Confederates when they diverted water from the Red River, almost accomplishing one the grandest military coups of the entire war, high wind blowing from the north assisted these angry men in carrying out the most senseless act of incendiarism Louisiana has ever seen. LCV James G. Hollandsworth, Jr., is the Associate Provost and Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi. After a successful career as a psychologist, during which he authored two books on the physiological bases of human behavior and mental disorders, Hollandsworth rediscovered his orginal interest in American history and now spends much of his free time pursuing topics related to the Civil War in Louisiana and Mississippi. Spring 2008/LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES 29 http://www.stirlingprop.com
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