Milliken's Bend - by Linda Barnickel (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

At Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, a Union force composed predominantly of former slaves met their Confederate adversaries in one of the bloodiest small engagements of the war. This important fight received some attention in the North and South but soon drifted into obscurity. In Milliken's Bend, Linda Barnickel uncovers the story of this long-forgotten and highly controversial battle.

The fighting at Milliken's Bend occurred in June 1863, about fifteen miles north of Vicksburg on the west bank of the Mississippi River, where a brigade of Texas Confederates attacked a Federal outpost. Most of the Union defenders had been slaves less than two months before. The new African American recruits fought well, despite their minimal training, and Milliken's Bend helped prove to a skeptical northern public that black men were indeed fit for combat duty. Soon after the battle, accusations swirled that Confederates had executed some prisoners taken from the "Colored Troops." The charges eventually led to a congressional investigation and contributed to the suspension of prisoner exchanges between the North and South.

Barnickel's compelling and comprehensive account of the battle illuminates not only the immense complexity of the events that transpired in northeastern Louisiana during the Vicksburg Campaign but also the implications of Milliken's Bend upon the war as a whole. The battle contributed to southerner's increasing fears of slave insurrection and heightened their anxieties about emancipation. In the North, it helped foster a commitment to allow free blacks and former slaves to take part in the war to end slavery. And for African Americans, both free and enslaved, Milliken's Bend symbolized their never-ending struggle for freedom.

Review Quotes

"Barnickel provides perhaps the most comprehensive examination of the Battle of Milliken's Bend to date. In addition to providing a detailed analysis of the military engagement at Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, the author examines the events leading up to the battle, including the Union army's recruitment of black troops from nearby plantations, southern whites reaction to the Union army's decision to use black troops, and the slaves willingness to leave the plantation behind for an opportunity to fight for their freedom. Additionally, the study explores the aftermath of the battle, investigating Union sympathizers' accusations that Confederates executed black prisoners of war as well as the white officers in command of the African American troops stationed at Milliken's Bend. . . . Barnickel should be commended. Her work is well-researched and well-written. Scholars and students of the Civil War era alike will find merit in this work. Undoubtedly, Barnickel has achieved one of her major purposes for writing this work--she has reached into the dustbin of history and rescued the Battle of Milliken's Bend from obscurity."--Civil War Book Review

"Barnickel's work is interesting both methodologically and in its story. It offers a convincing history of the battle and the ideas that helped mold the actions of its participants. The author adds to our understanding of the complex black experience during the war. . . . It is a welcome addition to the literature."--Journal of the Civil War Era

"This is a thoughtful, carefully researched, and interestingly argued study, which does much to place this small but bitter clash in an appropriate and useful context, both as part of the struggle for freedom and equality that the Civil War ultimately became, and of the ongoing, contested struggle over how to remember the nation's most costly war."--Louisiana History

About the Author

Linda Barnickel is an archivist and freelance writer with master's degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and The Ohio State University. Passionate about discovering the hidden and fascinating stories of history, she is interested in local history, military history, oral history, and the cultural power of archives.