Major General Richard Taylor, primarily using Walker's Greyhounds, prepared a three-pronged attack against Union positions at Milliken's Bend, Young's Point, and Lake Providence, which was scheduled to take place on June 7.

In early 1863, during the American Civil War, Major General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army began a campaign against Vicksburg, Mississippi, which was held by Confederate troops.

[10] The Confederate Trans-Mississippi effort to help Vicksburg would be conducted by Major General Richard Taylor, using an infantry division from Texas known as Walker's Greyhounds.

[12] Confederate cavalry occupied Richmond, Louisiana, on June 3;[14] Major General John George Walker's troops reached Richmond on June 6; and Taylor planned a three-pronged strike for the next day: Confederate troops were to attack Milliken's Bend, Young's Point, and Lake Providence.

[15] The selection of Lake Providence included some political motivations: Confederates viewed the training of USCT to be the fomenting of a slave rebellion, and some of the locals were trading with the Union from the produce of their plantations.

While Hébert's troops were able to harass the Union forces at Lake Providence, they lacked the strength to make an all-out attack.

[16] For the strike at Lake Providence, Hébert's command was strengthened by the detachment of the 13th Texas Cavalry Regiment from Walker's division.

[20] The historian Warren Grabau states that Bartlett chose not to cross at the new bridge because the only road between there and Lake Providence was in poor condition and could easily be blocked by a small opposing force.

[25] When the Confederates reached Bayou Baxter, six miles (9.7 km) from their objective,[24] they made contact with a picket force consisting of two companies from the 1st Kansas Mounted Infantry Regiment.

Outnumbered, the Kansans withdrew, and a messenger informed Brigadier General Hugh T. Reid, the Union commander at Lake Providence, of the Confederate advance.

[20] The Union soldiers' repeated attempts to make a stand during the fighting withdrawal were not successful, and the position at Bayou Baxter fell to the Confederates.

The historian Thomas Reid suggests that if Bartlett's cavalry had pushed ahead while the Union forces were destroying the bridge, they could have made a lodgment on the east side of the bayou.

[22] By June 10, Bartlett's men were back at Floyd; the only thing they had accomplished during the affair was the destruction of a cotton gin,[28] which was burned during the retreat from Lake Providence.

[32] Confederate troops captured a small Union camp in the area in the Battle of Goodrich's Landing on June 29 but were driven off the next day.