Milliken’s Bend might just be the most important battle of the Civil War that you’ve never heard of. Oh, sure, it was a tiny thing – just 1500 men on either side, and it had no grand strategic outcome, like Vicksburg, just a month later and a few miles down the Mississippi River. So why and how can I make this claim that it was an “important” battle – in any way, shape, or form? Three reasons:

Changed Public Opinion

Along with Port Hudson (May 27) and Fort Wagner (July 18), the fight at Milliken’s Bend (June 7) began to change white public opinion in the North. In all three instances, African-American troops in the Union army acquitted themselves well on the battlefield, fighting with stubbornness and valor.

But at Milliken’s Bend the situation was unique. Here, the majority of the Union force was composed of black troops. Only a small contingent of 125 men from the 23rd Iowa Infantry were from an all-white regiment. The other four regiments – still recruiting and organizing – were composed of former slaves, literally just off the plantations. Officers in these black regiments were white men, experienced veterans from General Grant’s army. But they, too, were new to their positions and responsibilities. Possibly no less experienced troops had been seen en masse in a single engagement since the early days of the war. Everyone was new, and still in what today we would call “basic training.”

Chaplain George G. Edwards, a white officer with the 11th Louisiana Infantry, African Descent, wrote: “This battle has significance. It demonstrates the fact that the freed slaves will fight.” The Chicago Tribune declared Milliken’s Bend the “crowning glory” of Negro soldiers, due to their bravery and losses. One white soldier, not present at Milliken’s Bend but who was convalescing in a nearby hospital, declared to his wife: “All are astonished at their fighting qualities,” continuing, “They have proved themselves worthy of the name of soldiers.”

Used as Recruiting Tool

The courage of the black troops at Milliken’s Bend provided a strong rallying cry and incentive to aid recruitment of black men in the Union army. One famous broadside, endorsed by Frederick Douglass, taunted its readers among free blacks in the North: “Are Freemen Less Brave than Slaves?” adding, “If they have proved themselves heroes, can not we prove ourselves men?” Rumors of executions by Confederates of black enlisted men, as well as some of their white officers, in the aftermath of Milliken’s Bend might cause some to hesitate – but others felt an increased moral obligation and outrage to avenge their fallen brothers.

Breakdown of Prisoner Exchanges

Not long after the guns fell silent at Milliken’s Bend, rumors began accusing the Confederates of executing both black and white prisoners of war. Some accounts said the Confederates attacked carrying a black flag, indicating their intent to take no prisoners. Others said Rebel soldiers shot down surrendering black soldiers on the battlefield. Still other accounts said that white officers and some black enlisted men, captured during the battle, had been hanged a few days later as Confederate forces withdrew to the west. Digging in to these accusations in an effort to discern the truth is too difficult and complicated for a short blog post (see Chapter 6 “A Disagreeable Dilemma” in my book), but eventually, a few slim facts emerged.

Two white officers, Capt. Corydon Heath of Company B, 9th Louisiana Infantry, A.D., and 2nd Lt. George L. Conn of Company F, 11th Louisiana Infantry, A.D. were taken prisoner during the fighting at Milliken’s Bend. Imprisoned in the jail at Monroe, Louisiana, some 70 miles to the west, the men were apparently held for several weeks, until one evening, they were taken across the Ouachita River where they were executed. Some of these details came to light when Union general John D. Stevenson led an expedition in to Monroe in August 1863. Col. Hermann Lieb of the 9th Louisiana found evidence that led him to write directly to the United States Assistant Adjutant General in Washington, D.C. “The black crime of murder on a prisoner of war has been committed,” he declared.

In December 1863 and January 1864, the issue of treatment of prisoners of war by Confederate forces, and their refusal to acknowledge black Union soldiers as POWs came to a head. In December, the U.S. House Committee on Military Affairs launched an investigation, seeking information from the Secretary of War about alleged Confederate atrocities against officers and men of the U.S. Colored Troops. Among the information provided to this committee was Col. Lieb’s report about the execution of Heath and Conn. Although this report was not the sole reason for the Committee’s investigation, it is nevertheless quite clear that the events in the aftermath of Milliken’s Bend played a contributing factor in the breakdown of prisoner exchanges between the North and South.

While Milliken’s Bend may not have seemed like much of a battle in terms of its numbers or strategic outcome, it is clear that it has outsized significance in the history of black troops in the Civil War, and the overall breakdown of prisoner exchanges. Learn more: Milliken’s Bend: A Civil War Battle in History and Memory.