The Battle of Milliken's Bend was fought on June 7, 1863, as part of the Vicksburg Campaign during the American Civil War.

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.

In the spring of 1863,[2] Major General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army began a campaign against the strategic Confederate-held city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

[6] Meanwhile, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was pressuring General E. K. Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, to attempt to relieve Vicksburg's garrison.

Taylor moved the 5,000-man force to Richmond, Louisiana, but did not believe that the coming expedition had any real chance of disrupting Grant's siege of Vicksburg.

[8] The Union posts at Milliken's Bend, Young's Point, and Lake Providence had become training grounds for African American soldiers.

[12] The soldiers at Milliken's Bend had no prior experience with firearms before joining the Union Army, and demonstrated very poor marksmanship during training.

Colonel Hermann Lieb commanded the camp, which was manned by an infantry brigade of African American soldiers and some cavalry from Illinois.

[9] Both Lieb and Brigadier General Elias Dennis, who commanded the Union troops in the area, suspected that the Confederates were preparing to attack Milliken's Bend.

Lieb requested reinforcements, and the 23rd Iowa Infantry Regiment and the ironclad USS Choctaw were sent to Milliken's Bend.

Lieb's 1,100 Union soldiers had constructed a defensive position by forming a breastwork out of cotton bales on top of a levee.

[18] McCulloch requested reinforcements to continue the fighting, but another Union vessel, the timberclad USS Lexington, arrived around 09:00.

[28] The position at Milliken's Bend had fallen out of relevance not long after the battle when the men and supplies stored there were transferred to Young's Point.

[31] As of March 2021[update], a commemorative plaque for Milliken's Bend exists on a roadside near Richmond, and exhibits discussing the battle are present at Vicksburg National Military Park.

Unionist Charles Dana reported that the action convinced many in the Union Army to support the enlistment of African American soldiers.

The slave has proved his manhood, and his capacity as an infantry soldier, at Milliken's Bend, at the assault upon Port Hudson, and the storming of Fort Wagner.32°26′N 91°06′W / 32.44°N 91.10°W / 32.44; -91.10