Battle of Goodrich's Landing

The Battle of Goodrich's Landing was fought on June 29 and June 30, 1863, between Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War as part of the Vicksburg campaign. Confederate forces operating in northeastern Louisiana were attempting to aid the defenders of besieged Vicksburg, Mississippi, by raiding plantations and disrupting military encampments along the west bank of the Mississippi River. Major General John G. Walker's Confederate forces were reinforced by a brigade sent down from Arkansas under the command of Colonel William Henry Parsons.

On June 29, Parsons led a force against the Union position at Goodrich's Landing, Louisiana. Parsons encountered two companies of the 1st Arkansas Infantry (African Descent) defending a fortified position on an Indian mound. The Confederates deemed the position too strong to take easily by assault, and after consultation with Brigadier General James C. Tappan (whose brigade of Arkansas troops was also involved in the operations in northeast Louisiana), the Confederates accepted the surrender of the Union troops on the mound. Eyewitness accounts indicate that some of the Black enlisted men were killed after the surrender.

Parsons advanced towards Lake Providence, Louisiana, with the 12th Texas Cavalry Regiment and the 19th Texas Cavalry Regiment and skirmished with the 1st Kansas Mounted Regiment before returning to the Confederate camp. Union Brigadier General Alfred W. Ellet arrived with his Mississippi Marine Brigade, and along with the troops of the Goodrich's Landing garrison (the rest of the 1st Arkansas and the 10th Louisiana Infantry (African Descent)) pursued the retreating Confederates. The two sides skirmished at the crossing of Tensas Bayou before the Confederates broke contact and left. The Confederate operations caused significant damage but did not assist the defenders of Vicksburg in a meaningful way; disruption to Union operations was only temporary.