Numbers 105. Report of Brigadier General St. John R. Liddell, C. S. Army, commanding Sub-District of North Louisiana, of operations January 26-May 22.

HDQRS. SUB-DISTRICT OF NORTH LOUISIANA,
Minden, La., July 2, 1864.

COLONEL: I have the honor to submit the following report of the military operations in the Sub-District of North Louisiana during the period of there cent invasion by the enemy: On assuming command on January 26, the only military force I found was Colonel Isaac F. Harrisons' brigade of cavalry, consisting of one reduced regiment and two fraction battalions. These latter were in progress of organization, which was not completed before the available portion of the force was called into the field by the movements of General Banks on Red River. A large portion of the command had seen little or no service, was altogether undisciplined, armed with various weapons (shotguns, muskets, and rifles), and being destitute of cartridge-boxes these men were forced to carry their cartridges in their pockets, involving great waste. I was required by orders to picket the front, from the Arkansas line along Bayou Macon to Red River, a distance of not less than 100 miles. In addition, I was required, by orders from district and department headquarters, to burn all the cotton between the Ouachita and Mississippi Rivers. These requirements drew off a considerable portion of the force, and when ordered to move to Red River I could only gather together about 600 men, over 75 of whom deserted and joined the guerrillas bands in the different parishes in which they lived, disinclination to leave the neighborhood of their homes being one motive, probably, for their desertion, and hope of plunder and of comparative ease another.

There were two batteries of artillery in the command, two sections only of which-consisting of two 6-pounder smooth-bores and two 12-pounder howitzers-were available, though the horses were in poor condition. With this force I moved in the direction of Campti, on Red River, having previously sent in advance Colonel McNeill's battalion to operate on the gun-boats of the enemy coming up the Red River. A part of my force was posted on each of the two road leading from Campti to Coushatta Chute, one road following the river bank and the other, called the military or ridge road, diverging from the town and running generally parallel with the first at a distance of 3 or 4 miles apart. The enemy disembarked a portion of his infantry force and moved up the river road half a mile above town and attacked that portion of my command under Colonel McNeill, who had but 120 men with him, including a company of Missouri cavalry under Lieutenant-Colonel Ward. Colonel McNeill engaged the enemy for two hour, but finding his ammunition becoming exhausted withdrew his command, after inflicting considerable damage upon them, and attempted by my orders to draw him on by an intersecting road to the ridge road, where he would unite with the main body to resist any farther advance. I had determined to attack this force, however disproportionate to my own, when I was informed by Colonel Isaac F. Harrison, that his men could not be relied upon to fight infantry, and that he himself, knowing the material