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8Responding to the wishes of President Lincoln to establish a military presence in Texas, Halleck had encouraged Banks to “hoist the flag” in that state. Although he had not ordered Banks to conduct any specific military operations to accomplish that objective, Halleck was displeased with Banks’s choice of invasion route. He obviously expected his suggestion about the Red River being “the shortest and best line of defense, and as a base of operations against Texas” to be accepted by Banks as though it were an order. As Banks stated later, “That movement had always been pressed upon me by General Halleck before I left Washington to assume command of that department.” To counter the general in chief’s persistent references to the Red River, Banks reminded Halleck on December 30, 1863, that “it is impossible, at this time, to move as far north as Alexandria by water. The Red river is not open to the navigation of our gunboats, and it is commanded by Fort De Russy, which has been remounted since our occupation of Alexandria.” Disregarding this rational counterargument, Halleck continued to put forward the same suggestion . In his complaints to Banks, Halleck took no notice of the fact that his field general had diligently and with modest success followed the instructions, if not the advice, of the general in chief. Banks, for his part, wanted to receive something more than a suggestion from Washington before beginning a campaign up the Red. He repeatedly asked Halleck for “instructions.” Undoubtedly Banks would have attempted to execute any instructions that Halleck sent, but the wily general in chief made sure that he never issued any. Instead, he just provided more arguments in support of an advance up the Red. On January 11 Halleck again goaded Banks toward the Red, at the same time tempting him by promising help not only from Generals Sherman and Steele but also from Admiral Porter. He pointedly asked Banks to confer with these gentlemen concerning a joint operation on the Red: “I am assured by the Navy Department that Admiral Porter will be prepared to co-operate with you as soon as the stage of the water in the southwest will admit of the use of his flotilla there.” Furthermore, a movement up the Red, according to Halleck, would provide not only a better Beginning ofthe Fifth Invasion Halleck’s Red River Expedition beginning of the fifth invasion:halleck’s red river expedition  line of defense for Louisiana and a base for invading Texas but also provide a “shorter and better line of defense for Arkansas and Missouri.” Finally, such a move would “open to us the cotton and slaves of northeastern Louisiana and southern Arkansas.” How many more points of argument would his field commander demand before yielding to such irrefutable logic? Sherman indeed did support a move up the Red, but this support was only in the context of related actions on both sides of the Mississippi. Now that the Union had regained control of the river, one of Sherman’s concerns was the continuing guerrilla activity directed against river shipping. He believed that quick strikes against enemy facilities and resources along the river would help reduce such activity. In pursuit of this idea he suggested, and Grant approved, a quick strike against Meridian, Mississippi. Sherman’s purpose in this raid was to destroy railroads and anything else of value to the enemy along the route between that town and the river. In January 1864 Sherman ordered Brig. Gen. Andrew J. Smith to move from Columbus, Kentucky, into western Tennessee to support this forthcoming Meridian expedition. He told Smith to “punish the country well for permitting the guerrillas among them. Take freely the horses, mules, cattle, &c., of the hostile or indifferent inhabitants, and let them all understand that if from design or weakness they permit their country to be used by the public enemy they must bear the expense of the troops sent to expel them; also notify them that we will soon begin to banish all people who are deemed opposed to the re-establishment of civil order. . . . The people must expect us to treat them as enemies, unless they assist us in our efforts to restore civil order.” Smith enthusiastically adopted the philosophy of his commander as expressed in this dispatch and applied the recommended procedure freely to the areas of the South in which he operated. On January 16 General Sherman sent a message to Banks in which...

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