After the fights at Milliken’s Bend and Mound Plantation, the troops of Walker’s Texas Division remained in the region of northeast Louisiana for a while, harassing plantations and causing disruptions when they could.

Gen. Richard Taylor, however, took the bulk of his force south in an effort to threaten New Orleans.

On July 7, Walker received word of Vicksburg’s surrender three days earlier. At the time, he was moving his forces west towards the railhead at Delhi, Louisiana. His men embarked on the trains on July 11, heading for Monroe. Probably at this same time, footsore George T. Boardman of the 16th Texas Infantry recorded in his diary that about “300 captive Negroes taken at Lake Providence” were also on the train. He had sympathy for a young black child, who appeared to be starving, and Boardman gave the youngster a bit of his food.

On July 13, a courier named M. W. Sims, crossing the Mississippi River at Natchez and carrying a message from Kirby Smith to Johnston, was intercepted by Union forces and soon sent on his way North as a prisoner of war.

On July 19, Walker’s Division left Monroe on their way to Alexandria. Around the same time, Brig. Gen. Henry McCulloch was reassigned to Texas and Col. Flournoy was left in temporary command of the brigade.

Although many of these events seemed inconsequential at first – some of them would later prove to be of extreme importance when it came to determining what happened, and when, to some of the Union soldiers captured at Milliken’s Bend.