{"id":3446,"slug":"mansfield-mansfield-louisiana","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Mansfield is the '64 — the April 8 that's the battle, the 'Red River' that's the campaign. The Taylor is the son — the Zachary that's the father, the 'million men' that's the boast. The Mouton was the killed — the 'rail fence' that's the charge, the 'Polignac' that's the French.","The Banks was the stretched — the '20 miles' that's the column, the 'cotton' that's the prize. The 'decisive' is the campaign — the 'Shreveport' that's the saved, the 'retreat' that's the Union. Mansfield is the victory — the Confederate that's the last major, the 'expensive fiasco' that's the Banks.","The file keeps Mansfield: the 1864 battle, the Taylor victory, the Mouton death, and the Red River campaign.","Mansfield is the archive's Louisiana file — the Confederate's last."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Mansfield is the archive's Louisiana file — the decisive defeat.","A field keeps its fence — the file's suggestion being that Mansfield's hold is the surprise: the '20 miles' that's the stretched, the 'million men' that's the boast, and the 'cotton' that's the prize."]}],"name":"Mansfield","aliases":[],"type":"SITE","type_label":"Site","cats":["BATTLEFIELD","LOCAL_FOLKLORE","HAUNTED_PLACE","CIVIL_WAR"],"groups":["dark-history","hauntings","legends"],"desc":"April 8, 1864—the battle that stopped the Red River campaign.","full_desc":"Mansfield is a site in Mansfield, Louisiana. April 8, 1864—the battle that stopped the Red River campaign. HauntHunt files it with the Civil War, battlefields and local folklore. Its accounts name only a collective — the mansfield dead. The dossier holds 2 reported claims, 1 legend, 1 documented fact and 1 named or described presence — documented record and retelling kept side by side. The site is open to visitors.","address":null,"city":"Mansfield","county":null,"state":"Louisiana","postal":null,"region":"South","lat":32.035341,"lon":-93.699665,"coord_kind":"CITY","status":"ACTIVE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":"Historic site","research_notes":"LA2 batch; VERIFY task auto-queued.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":59.4,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":0.3999999999999999,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":3698,"type":"NAMED_GHOST_LEGEND","description":"The dead are reportedly seen. The presences go by the Mansfield dead in the file. The site in Mansfield, Louisiana gives the account a documented setting: real place, real history, unresolved reports. It's a documented legend: the telling is real, the contents remain folklore. The name gives the haunting a face, and the sightings give the name a job.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"The Mansfield dead","where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Mansfield battle","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield,_Louisiana","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]},{"id":3699,"type":"APPARITION","description":"Reported figures on the field. The reports at Mansfield are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. The file holds testimony rather than proof; the claim remains anecdotal. It is the sighting the place is known for, and it hasn't stopped. The lore keeps its witness.","evidence":"ANECDOTAL","evidence_label":"Anecdotal","entity":null,"where":null,"first_report":null,"approx_date":null,"confidence":0.8,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Mansfield battle","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield,_Louisiana","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[{"description":"The April 8, 1864 battle is documented. The site's documented history is the record the rest of the file stands on. The record holds it as fact — documented, not retold. The record appears in 'Mansfield battle'. The record keeps it — history, not lore. It remains the site's standing claim. The account stays in the file — reported, retold, unresolved.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":"1864-04-08","confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Mansfield battle","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield,_Louisiana","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"The dead are reportedly seen. Mansfield in Mansfield, Louisiana carries the report the way old places do — as part of its identity. 'Mansfield battle' preserves the telling; the record keeps it filed where it belongs, as lore. Sources including 'Mansfield battle' keep the claim in circulation. Legends accrue where records go silent; this one filled the gap and stayed.","earliest":null,"evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Mansfield battle","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield,_Louisiana","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"entities":[{"name":"The Mansfield dead","claimed_identity":"The Mansfield dead","verified":null,"summary":"The dead are reportedly seen. The presences go by the Mansfield dead in the file. Mansfield in Mansfield, Louisiana carries the report the way old places do — as part of its identity. Named presences persist where anonymous reports fade — the file's name here is The Mansfield dead. The report keeps its place in the record.","behavior":"The dead are reportedly seen.","area":null,"first_ref":null,"source":{"name":"Mansfield battle","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield,_Louisiana","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Site access varies; verify before visiting.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Mansfield battle","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield,_Louisiana","publisher":"Wikipedia","type":"ENCYCLOPEDIA","authority":4}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":2,"history":1,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}