 The battle was lost by Barrett's Union regiments mainly because they were outmaneuvered and overrun.Of the original 300 Union troops that fought at Palmito Ranch, they lost over one third, mostly to capture with a few killed or seriously injured.Confederate leaders asked General Kirby Smith to send reinforcements from his Army of the Trans-Mississippi east of the Mississippi River, in the spring of 1864 following the Battle of Mansfield and the Battle of Pleasant Hill.