The Confederate commander, Major-General Dick Taylor, chose Mansfield as the place where he would make his stand against the advancing Union army under General Nathaniel Banks.

After a brief resistance, the Union army was routed by the Confederates, consisting mainly of units from Louisiana and Texas, reportedly strengthened by hundreds of men breaking parole.

During the second half of March 1864, a combined force from the Union Army of the Gulf and navy led by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, supported by Admiral David Porter's fleet of gunboats, ascended the Red River with the goal of defeating the Confederate forces in Louisiana and capturing Shreveport.

While the accompanying gunboat fleet with a portion of the infantry continued up the river, the main force followed the road inland toward Mansfield, where Banks knew his opponent was concentrating.

[7] Major General Richard Taylor, in command of the Confederate forces in Louisiana, had retreated up the Red River in order to connect with reinforcements from Texas and Arkansas.

Taylor selected a clearing a few miles south of Mansfield as the spot where he would take a stand against the Union forces.

When the cavalry at the front of the column found the Confederates taking a strong position along the edge of a clearing, they stopped and called for infantry support.

"[13] The Confederate Governor of Louisiana, Henry Watkins Allen, had organized two battalions of the state guard and brought them to Taylor's aid, yet the documentary record is unclear as to what role they played in the battle.

[14] Joseph Blessington, a soldier in Walker's division, wrote that, "The Louisiana militia, under command of Governor Allen, was held in reserve, in case of an emergency."

[20] For about two hours the two sides faced each other across the clearing as Banks waited for more of his troops to arrive and Taylor arranged his men.

Ransom was wounded trying to rally his men and was carried from the field; hundreds of Union troops were captured and the rest retreated in a panic.