Skirimish at Hawkins Hill

Maj. Gen. Cyrus Hackett (cavalry division) fought a brief delaying action against the Army of the Arkansas III Corps at Hawkins Hill on the Pilot Hill Road. Having engaged them earlier at Bennett's Bayou, Randall's Brigade and Martin's Brigade forced the III Corps lead division (1st Division) to deploy and engage.

The 1st Division, III Corps is Maj. Gen. Benjamin Adams' own division of United States Colored Troops (USCT). They deployed, advanced and engaged in the fields and woods on either side of the Pilot Hill Road between the C. H. Hawkins and B. Cooper Farms.  The first regiment to engage was the 130th USCT, which had pushed through the 2nd Division, III Corps to engage the first time that the corps skirmished with Hackett's cavalry. The 130th spent much of the WIA3 campaign guarding ordnance trains, but has been in the center of the action since.

The skirmish was only for delaying purposes and the cavalry was eventually forced to withdraw after a brief final stand centered on the B. Cooper House. The III Corps then continued on towards Pilot Hill.