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Radio War Nerd EP #604 — US Civil War, Pt. 20: The Red River Campaign (Patreon)

Published:
2026-05-06 16:20:20
Edited:
2026-07-04 13:16:06
Imported:
2026-05
Tags:

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Content

Recorded: May 6, 2026

The War Nerd US Civil War series returns with a little-remembered (outside of ArkLaTex) western campaign later in the war, when the Union sent one of its worst generals, Nathaniel Banks, to pacify the northwest corner of Louisiana bordering Texas and Arkansas.

First - we discuss Project Freedom before its untimely demiseAt 26:00 - the Red River Campaign

Check out the RWN US Civil War collection, especially Part 5: Vicksburg

Maps & images

*Red River campaign

*Trans-Mississippi Theater

*Gen. Nathaniel "Tickets please!" Banks

*Gen. Richard Taylor, son of Zachary

*The Red River

Total time: 1:21:12Direct link to this episode's mp3 here

*

Buy & review John Dolan's new book, They Should Have Been Hanged: War Nerd Essays on the U.S. Civil War

Subscribe to Radio War Nerd at patreon.com/radiowarnerd

Sound production by Telescope Audio

Files

Comments

etienne

just when the world needed it the most ... the War Nerd Revisionist History of the US Civil War returns

HarshMalarkey

It's official, this series has lasted longer than the Confederacy

Jason Thompson

Hell yeah! I have been hoping it would return but I was worried it was… a lost cause 🥁

Isaac Suárez

I was always embarrassed, as a life long Union fan, of the failure of this campaign. It was late in the war and in a theater where Union forces won more battles than they lost. Unlike many wars, “political officers” fighting for the North often acquitted themselves reasonably well- Nathaniel Banks is a glaring exception.

Andrew S

My favorite thing about war nerd is john talking about the civil war.

drizzly_november

Banks makes for an interesting comparison with Benjamin Butler, who he relieved in occupation of New Orleans. Both from industrial Massachusetts backgrounds, Butler’s wild career is consistent mainly in his ability to meet the moment, allowing pragmatism to guide him down a more radical path. He started the war a Democrat, agnostic on slavery, but set in motion the “contraband” policy that ultimately led to the Emancipation Proclamation because he thought it was an effective way to win. Banks just seems like a blunderer.

Max

HELL YEAH WOOOOOOOOO

Kyle Erickson

In friend of the show Christian Parenti’s book “Radical Hamilton” he wrote about how the Red River was notorious for logjams, where you could walk on the logs for 150 miles. It was called “The Great Raft”

Aidan Coffey

Sounds like the elite of that area have their own stabbed in the back myth to fuel their resentment since they were never directly defeated and occupied. On a note, I have traveled that area and its in my top three God forsaken parts of America. Its becoming a retirement hub for wealthy right wingers and white nationalists. Definitely a different world than New Orleans. Population is Scotch Irish, Protestant and very opposed to having fun. Shreveport is the home district of Speaker Mike Johnson if that puts things into perspective

Grant Francis

Marks son going beast mode let’s go

Carter Drake

Real treat to get off work and see a civil war ep

JoR

I never knew cinco de mayo was regional lol. Legit every Mexican American I know are pretty “patriotic” about it, even the most non political people. Maybe Mexican Americans are like Irish Americans , “we” all love st Patrick’s day and the Irish Irish think it’s for frauds lol

JDF

Dick Taylor got the better of Ol Commissary Banks

Dan Creighton

Excellent, as usual. I’m not certain that Portis is as bitter or tactically silent about civil rights as John implies - Portis covered the civil rights struggle for the Herald Tribune as a young reporter - this reportage can be found in “Escape Velocity” - and I would encourage any Portis fan to check it out and draw their own conclusions.

drizzly_november

It's mostly always been a Mexican-American thing. I think it first got big in parts of California and Colorado with a large community of Pueblan immigrants, and it took off from there. It's been really supercharged over the past 15 years by beer/tequila distributors, the same way St. Pat's is the Super Bowl for Guinness. No one really talks about the battle it's commemorating as it's actually pretty confusing: it's a victory in a war they ultimately lost, why did France try to invade Mexico several times, etc. It's a personal favorite of mine, though, and I love John's writing on it. (I'm not Mexican, but Cinco de Mayo happens to be my birthday so I've followed it close.)

William

Excuse me, waiter, there’s USreal/iran in my red river campaign

Kamran Husain

america doubling down on losing a war is an awesome distillation of how gambling is all that we have to unify culture

Hilary is Pant-suited Syphilis

Speaking of the FDD, Graham Platner’s brother in law (Seth Frantzman) who he has a close relationship with (although he scrubbed his social media of very recent pictures of the two chumming around after an internet slooth started posting them on Twitter) is a FDD guy and a blood and soil Zionist who’s wrote insane books justifying Israeli genocide.

Ghordo

What are the other two places in your top 3?

Mathew Muntz

New Orleans is (culturally) the northernmost point of the Caribbean! That’s why it’s so different from the rest of the US and it makes things like jazz and creole culture make sense when you think about it

Philip Girvan

There’s a May 13, 1963 NY Herald Tribune article titled Klan Rally - Just Talk appearing on pp 48-49 of Escape Velocity and pp 934-935 of the LOA’s Collected Works. The tone is dismissive even mocking, and the piece ends thus: “The imperial wizard of the Klan, Robert M. Shelton, presided and introduced the speakers as they appeared, one by one, on a big flat truck trailer bed. Honored guests were the grand dragons of Georgia and Mississippi. By 10:30 P.M. one of the crosses had collapsed and the other was just smoldering. Everyone drifted away and the grand dragon of Mississippi disappeared grandly into the Southern night, his car engine hitting on about three cylinders”.

Miko

Shreveport is a horrible place, all of at least northern Louisiana is as well. I have anecdotes. I was forced to visit various relatives in Shreveport and NW Louisiana growing up. The baptist church my shreveport relatives attended was still racially segregated until at least the mid 80s (the last time I had to visit). If a black family attended they were surrounded by the men of the church and told to leave. My NE Louisiana relatives were no better, the children (my peers) talked about the Klan and the confederacy constantly. They were young so this was something they definitely got from their fathers and older brothers. We would play war, I would be the only union soldier, they all played as confederates. Another batch of relatives were Louisiana cops and told told stories around me and the other kids not thinking we were listening. You did not want these men to arrest you if you were black, and if you were black you were already guilty of being non-white, a grievous offense in their eyes. In the early 2000's I drove through the Shreveport area and stopped at a rest stop. An elderly black man called me "sir" as I walked by him. How he said it and the inflection stuck with me. I was just a random guy in random clothes. Speaker Mike Johnson is from that district. He had a black child put "into his custody" or something similar prior to Johnson making it big time. Not adopted. Every action I've seen him take to date validates every other experience i've had with that state being a perpetual klan hellhole. If and when there is a reconstruction 3.0 Louisiana's ruling white caste and the poorer klan enforcing whites need to be ground into the dirt for real this time.

Dan Creighton

Yes! I was going to quote that final paragraph when I had a chance to find it, finely calibrated contempt! Elsewhere, during that (year long?) period of reportage, I recall Portis is mainly critical of the cops, with some caveats for “hotheads” on both sides.

a clash of purple

All I know about Shreveport is that when Chapo Trap House watched the bizarre conservative movie The Reliant, there were these characters who were demonic twin brothers played by real life conservative freaks who wrote a book called "Miracle at Shreveport" or something like that. The Chapo boys described them (the characters and the real life brothers) as something like if Judge Holden was split into two identical twins and made constant dumb "yuk yuk" brother banter jokes.

Aidan Coffey

Northern Nevada and western North Dakota

Mac Robertson

The Irish Irish I know love St. Patrick's Day - just call it "St. Paddy's" and not "St. Patty's" or they'll be upset

AG

I will celebrate by going back to the beginning of the Civil war series

AG

I just listened to the 1st episode of the Civil War serious and Mark says there is "so much there," in the civil war. John responds "I know, we could do 20 episodes... we're not gonna."