The Battle of Irish Bend

Counting the cost is harder than naming the battle. One Union casualty total, 353, is on record, while Confederate losses are listed as unknown, and another account puts the day at about 400 killed or wounded, so the figures differ. The result is clearer. Richard Taylor's smaller army was badly outnumbered yet hurt Cuvier Grover's division, and Taylor still withdrew from his Fort Bisland position. Taken with Bisland two days earlier, the fight secured the Union expedition into west Louisiana, and Nathaniel Banks went on up the Teche toward Alexandria.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Grevemberg House Museum — 1.6 mi
  Franklin's 1851 Greek Revival townhouse, the official St. Mary Parish museum, saved from demolition by one vote and set in the Franklin Historic District on Bayou Teche.
• Chitimacha Museum — 6.4 mi
  The Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana's own museum at Charenton: the tribe's account of its territory, the French wars and enslavement, the land held in trust, and river cane baskets.
• Wedell-Williams Aviation and Cypress Sawmill Museum — 14 mi
  A Louisiana State Museum in Patterson on the world's largest cypress sawmill town and the Wedell-Williams racing planes, with a theater and changing exhibits.
• Cypremort Point State Park — 23 mi
  A 185-acre Vermilion Bay park reached by road, with a half-mile man-made beach, a marsh boardwalk, shore fishing and a boat launch, and a Chitimacha tradition of a great cypress here.

More markers nearby

• Donelson Caffery — 1.6 mi
• Edward V. Loustalot — 2.0 mi
• German Prisoner of War Camp — 2.0 mi
• Battle of Irish Bend — 2.1 mi