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On the afternoon of the 15th the Confederates were seen in force in front of the town of Marksville, but were soon driven off and retired rapidly through the town. On the morning of the 16th of May an event took place, described by all who saw it as the finest military spectacle they ever witnessed.
In his front, Smith found Scurry's brigade of Walker's division partly entrenched on Yellow Bayou; but Mower quickly brushed Scurry aside, and Walker, after observing the strength of his enemy, concentrated on the Bayou De Glaze, to avoid being shut up in the elbow at Marksville, as well as to get Mouton in support; and thus the way was open to Smith.
All the troops took the road by Cheneyville instead of that by Marksville, in order to conceal from the Confederates as long as possible the true direction of the movement. Having given these orders, Banks embarked on one of the river steamboats on the evening of the 15th and transferred his headquarters to Simmes's plantation on the east bank of the Atchafalaya opposite Simmesport.
On the 16th, he marched twenty-five miles to the Bayou Rouge; on the 17th, twenty miles to the Bayou de Glaise, where the Marksville road crosses it; on the 18th, seven miles to Simmesport, and on the following morning began to cross.
McClernand, with Lawler's brigade of the former, arrived at Alexandria on the 29th of April; Warren, with the rest of his division, was on his way up the Red River, when he found himself cut off near Marksville. Then he seized Fort De Russy and held it until the campaign ended.
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