The Battle of Pleasant Hill

The day after Mansfield the armies were nearly even, about 12,000 Union troops against about 12,100 Confederates. At about five Richard Taylor sent his whole line forward. On the Union right the attacks stalled, but in the center and left they overran positions until Union troops rallied, retook the ground and drove the Confederates off in roughly two hours. The 32nd Iowa was cut off and mauled. Losses ran near 1,369 Union and 1,626 Confederate. Most historians call it a Union tactical victory, yet Banks began withdrawing at 1 a.m.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mansfield State Historic Site — 15 mi
  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 — 16 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.
• Fort Jesup State Historic Site — 17 mi
  The 1822 army post Zachary Taylor built to hold the Neutral Ground between Louisiana and Spanish Texas, with the one surviving kitchen, a reconstructed officers' quarters and a museum open Friday to Sunday.
• North Toledo Bend State Park — 23 mi
  A 900-acre park on the Louisiana shore of the 186,000-acre Toledo Bend Reservoir, with trails, disc golf and cabins, near the flooded sites of Pine Flat and other Sabine Parish communities.

More markers nearby

• Federal Hospital — steps away
• Church of St. Anne (Mother Church of Caddo Adai Indians) — 14 mi
• Saint Tekakwitha Plaque and Statue — 14 mi
• C.S.A. Brigadier General Tom Green — 14 mi