Battle of Milliken's Bend

Battle of Milliken's Bend
Part of the American Civil War
An illustration of the Milliken's Bend battle from the Harper's Weekly periodical, showing black U.S. soldiers battling Confederates.
Date June 7, 1863 (1863-06-07) Location Madison Parish, Louisiana[1] Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	Confederate States (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
Hermann Lieb	Henry E. McCulloch
Units involved
African Brigade 23rd Iowa Infantry Regiment Two gunboats	McCulloch's brigade
Strength
1,100	1,500
Casualties and losses
492	185

The Battle of Milliken's Bend was fought on June 7, 1863, as part of the Vicksburg Campaign during the American Civil War. Major General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army had placed the strategic Mississippi River city of Vicksburg, Mississippi, under siege in mid-1863. Confederate leadership erroneously believed that Grant's supply line still ran through Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, and Major General Richard Taylor was tasked with disrupting it to aid the defense of Vicksburg. Taylor sent Brigadier General Henry E. McCulloch with a brigade of Texans to attack Milliken's Bend, which was held by a brigade of newly-recruited African American soldiers. McCulloch's attack struck early on the morning of June 7, and was initially successful in close-quarters fighting. Fire from the Union gunboat USS Choctaw halted the Confederate attack, and McCulloch later withdrew after the arrival of a second gunboat. The attempt to relieve Vicksburg was unsuccessful. One of the first actions in which African American soldiers fought, Milliken's Bend demonstrated the value of African American soldiers as part of the Union Army.