When the Rebels flanked the Union line on the Federals’ far left, and the 9th Louisiana Infantry, African Descent, peeled back, it began a cascading effect all along the Federal defenses. All other Union positions suddenly became unsustainable. The 1st Mississippi, and 13th Louisiana, which had been positioned to the right of the 9th Louisiana, apparently fled quickly to the riverbank. Their losses would be extremely small compared to the losses in the other three Union regiments at the Bend that day.

Lt. Matthew Miller, stationed on the far right of the 9th Louisiana’s line, stated that next to him was the 23rd Iowa – another detail supporting the idea that the 1st Mississippi and 13th Louisiana had fled. Miller, and many other Union officers from the Colored Troops, declared that the all-white veterans of the 23rd Infantry had fled without offering any support or resistance, but high losses from the 23rd contradict such statements. Most likely, these experienced veterans of hard fighting saw the predicament coming their way, and quickly moved to try to reestablish a second line of resistance. Before they could regroup, they, too, were overwhelmed, and forced to seek shelter at the riverbank.

On the Iowans’ right, the 11th Louisiana Infantry, African Descent, made some attempt to stem the Rebel tide, but it was fruitless. Their Colonel ran screaming into the River, trying to clamber aboard a gunboat to save his life. The men of the regiment were not as cowardly, but their situation was as impossible as the rest, and they fell back towards the River. As the Union line disintegrated, two companies of the 11th Louisiana, under the immediate command of Lt. Col. Cyrus Sears, were posted on the far right of the Union line. Sheltering in a cross-levee and behind cotton bales, they stubbornly held their ground. This would be the only part of the Union line that withstood the Confederate assault, aided to a large extent by shells from the Federal gunboat, Choctaw.

(to be continued…)