His army moved in unique fashion. The cavalry had the advance. It was followed by prodigious trains, enough, one might suppose, to have formed the impedimenta of the army of Xerxes. The Thirteenth Corps came next after this prodigious train, but marching in disjointed manner, one division far in advance of the other. The Nineteenth Corps was several miles in rear. Now when it is considered that the roads in this part of Louisiana are narrow and bad, that the country is covered with a dense pine timber, rendering military operations on a large scale impracticable, except in a few localities, and cavalry absolutely useless, it might seem that common prudence should have dictated the most careful compression of the line of march, the utmost caution against surprise, the greatest care in the selection of a position on which to deliver battle, and constant vigilance in keeping the troops in hand. On the contrary, the enemy having hitherto offered the merest show of resistance to our advance, it is not too much to say that General Banks had his army all the while in air. Thus his troops were moving recklessly, blindfold, as it were, when on the afternoon of the 8th, at Sabine Cross Roads, near Mansfield, the mounted advance came upon the enemy in force, and, fighting on foot, was soon defeated. The enemy's line overlapped ours on both flanks. Embarrassed by their horses, astonished at the unexpected fury of an enemy whose heels only they expected to see, the cavalry melted away, and speedily became a rout of shrieking men on frightened horses. The Thirteenth Corps was hurried into action division at a time, but though each fought gallantly to stem the tide of defeat, each was compelled to give way. The troops fell back in confusion. The enemy pursued, and, flushed with victory, fell upon the Nineteenth Corps, in the very act of deploying into line of battle, but met with the first check of the day. But he was not repulsed, and the whole army was soon in retreat, having lost two thousand, killed, wounded, and prisoners, several batteries of artillery, and large quantities of property. Such was the disastrous battle of Sabine Cross Roads, in which the troops engaged fought with great valor, but which was lost to the Union arms by reason of unskilful generalship on the part of the commanding officer, and by that alone. Few troops ever fought more bravely than those who were compelled to pass under the yoke of this defeat, and it is impossible that any could ever have been handled worse.