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2Toward the end of the Battle of Cedar Mountain, after most of the fighting had ended but while the armies were still partially engaged, Banks was injured when he, Maj. Gen. John Pope, and several other Union officers were charged by Confederate cavalry. In the confusion produced by the enemy charge Banks was struck by a horse and knocked to the ground. He quickly got to his feet, mounted his horse, and escaped, but he was in considerable pain. He returned to Washington to recuperate and to take charge of the defense of the city during McClellan’s Antietam campaign. However, he was not given much time to rest. Despite Banks’s demonstrated limits of military capacity, the president had a need for his woebegone general . Banks was still quite powerful in national politics and had many friends in Washington. He could not be ignored. Thus, the president decided to substitute the politically moderate and relatively obedient Banks for one of the thorns in his side, Banks’s opponent in the Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign of 1859, Benjamin F. Butler. Butler had been serving as commander of the Department of the Gulf since his forces had occupied New Orleans on May 1, 1862, following Capt. David G. Farragut’s capture of the city. However, as the department commander, Butler was not making the progress that Lincoln thought he should in addressing the problem of opening the Mississippi River. Sending Banks to try in Butler’s stead seemed a good idea. By the end of the summer of 1862 Lincoln had decided to replace both the troublesome Butler and the dilatory McClellan. Because he did not want to disrupt the Federal elections then in progress, he waited until after election day, November 4, to announce his new assignments. On November 8, 1862, Banks was “assigned to the command of the Department of the Gulf, including the State of Texas.” The next day Lincoln’s general in chief, Maj. Gen. Henry Wager Halleck, sent Banks specific orders regarding his new assignment . These orders called for Banks to “proceed . . . to New Orleans and relieve Major-General Butler.” Once in New Orleans the new commander, with the cooperation of Rear Admiral Farragut, was to concentrate on “the opening of the Mississippi and the reduction of Fort Morgan or Mobile City.” Halleck added, “The President regards the opening of the Mississippi River as the first A New Commander in Louisiana a new commander in louisiana  and most important of all our military and naval operations, and it is hoped that you will not lose a moment in accomplishing it.” Halleck also told Banks that “as the ranking general in the southwest . . . you will exercise superior authority as far north as you may ascend the river.” Thus, the door was open for Banks to become the dominant general in the west and, perhaps, in the entire Union army. After stating these instructions from the president, Halleck went on to suggest additional military activities that Banks could conduct following the opening of the Mississippi. He suggested “two objects . . . as worthy of your attention.”The field commander should first consider moving east from Vicksburg to “cut off all connection by rail between Northern Mississippi and Mobile and Atlanta,” and second, to “ascend with a naval and military force the Red river as far as it is navigable, and thus open an outlet for the sugar and cotton of northern Louisiana.” Halleck added, for the first but not the last time, his belief that the Red River “would form the best base for operations in Texas.” He closed with the reasonable admonition that “you must necessarily exercise your own judgment and discretion in regard to your movements against the enemy. . . . The Government has unlimited confidence not only in your judgment and discretion, but also in your energy and military promptness .” As news of Banks’s new assignment surfaced, the cotton lobbyists concluded that Lincoln was responding to their recommendations for an invasion of Texas. They hailed this decision as a bright new day in the economy of the New England textile industry and, of course, of themselves. The speculators prepared to lay siege to the cotton lands of Texas. Meanwhile, Banks’s true destination was kept a secret. Neither the governors of the states that were expected to supply troops for Banks’s army nor the secretary of the navy, who was to assist in the movement of these troops, was told his destination. Secretary of War...

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