The Bayou Teche Campaign, or First Bayou Teche Campaign, was a brief military campaign in April and May 1863 during the American Civil War by forces from the Confederate States Army seeking to prevent the Union Army from seizing control of the state of Louisiana. Union forces were trying to trap Confederate units between the Bayou Teche and the Atchafalaya River. A second campaign, featuring a series of maneuvers in the same region from October until November 1863 is often referred to as the Second Bayou Teche Campaign.