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Photo: Loree Hortman, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
On April 8, 1864, the Union Army attempted to gain control of the city of Shreveport, but was repelled and forced back to New Orleans by Confederate troops from Louisiana and Texas in the Battle of Mansfield, one of the largest American Civil War battles west of the Mississippi River, with only Pleasant Hill and Westport having more soldiers engaged. Through exhibits, programs, and interpretive talks, this site educates and interprets the events and history of the Battle of Mansfield and the Red River Campaign.
The Mansfield State Historic Site, also known as the Mansfield Battlefield, is a battlefield in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana. The Louisiana state historic site commemorates the Battle of Mansfield fought on Friday, April 8, 1864, during the Red River Campaign of the American Civil War. The site was listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places as the Mansfield Battle Park in 1973. Established in 1924 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the site was transferred to the state of Louisiana in 1954.
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The site of the first college for women west of the Mississippi River was created by the Methodist Church in the mid 1800s. The college closed briefly during the American Civil War period, but reopened immediately after the war. Closed permanently in the 1930s after merging with the university in Shreveport. Museum houses exhibits and artifacts from the college and its students.
1843 Courthouse
The original log courthouse of DeSoto Parish. Created in 1843, but replaced over a decade later by new structure three blocks west. Was rediscovered in the 1940s and was preserved by the local historical commission. Contains period artifacts and furniture. The site is an example of rural antebellum architecture of this period.
Site of the Battle of Pleasant Hill, April 9, 1864; historic markers, picnic area, old historic cemetery, annual reenactment on the second weekend of April.