Louisiana Monument (Battle of Mansfield)

Riding the line before the attack on April 8, 1864, Richard Taylor told the Louisiana brigade to draw the first blood, a remark he later called unfortunate. He said the men were already angry over reports of outrages at their homes and rumors that Louisiana would be given up without a fight. At four o'clock Mouton's division crossed the open field under heavy fire and drove into the woods. Mouton was killed there, with the colonels of the 18th, Crescent and 28th Louisiana and a major. Lieutenant Colonel Clack was mortally wounded.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mansfield State Historic Site — steps away
  A 1957 museum and three-quarter-mile trail on the ground where Confederate troops broke a Union line on April 8, 1864, in a park begun by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
• Los Adaes State Historic Site — 30 mi
  The Spanish presidio that was the capital of Texas from 1729 to 1770, some 15 miles from French Natchitoches, now an archaeological site where Native pottery is the most abundant find.

More markers nearby

• Texas Monument — steps away
• Capt. Elijah Parsons Petty — steps away
• James H. Beard Monument — steps away
• General Dick Taylor Monument — steps away