USA > Maine > The story of the Maine Fifteenth; being a brief narrative of the more important events in the history of the Fifteenth Maine regiment; together with a complete roster of the regiment , embracing the name of every officer and enlisted man serving > Part 5
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Gen. Godfrey Weitzel, on Berwick Bay, was also reinforced, for the purpose of driving the rebels from the Teche country and destroying a very troublesome rebel gunboat on the Western Louisiana bayous known as the "J. A. Cotton." Weitzel. with the co-operation of the navy, had a desperate contest with the gunboat, which, disabled in the fight, was burned by the rebels. Weitzel's loss was six killed and twenty-six wounded, be- sides some serious disasters among the naval forces -- including Lieut .- Com. Buchanan, who was killed. The rebels also lost severely and were driven from the region, at least temporarily. Later a combination movement un-
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der Grover and Weitzel endeavored to get possession of the Atchafaylaya and Butte-a-la-Rose. but the impediments in the bayou in the way of drift- wood and other obstructions, rendered the expedition a failure. The sol- diers were employed nearly a month in rendering the stream navigable for the gunboats and light-draught transports.
In March the loss of several fine naval vessels on the river between Vicksburg and Port Hudson, rendered Admiral Farragut desperately cross, and he insisted upon a demonstration in force against Port Hudson by the land forces, to so far divert the attention of the enemy as to permit him to "run the batteries" with his war-ships. The entire available force of the Department was gathered at Baton Rouge, and, March 13th, twelve thons- and strong, moved to the rear of the enemy's position at Port Hudson, with the design of attacking in the early morning of the 14th. But by one of the most daring and brilliant exploits in naval history, the naval officers found themselves able to " run the gauntlet " without assistance ; and, " the object of the expedition being accomplished," the army was withdrawn.
Expeditions were also sent out to destroy the railroad bridge at Ponchatoula and the enemy's communications on the Amite River; and, Gen. Banks not feeling justified either in attempting to form a junction with Grant at Vicksburg of entering upon the Port Hudson campaign, with the limited force at his disposal, returned his army (in April) to the region of Brashear City and the Lafourche, where some very serious figlit- ing took place. The enemy was encountered under the rebel Generals Taylor, Sibley, Green and Mouton. The rebels desperately contested every point where a stand was made, inflicting, and sustaining as well, considera- ble loss in officers and men. Indian Bend and Vermillion Bayon, espec- ially, were scenes of most notable contests. But our troops were victorious at all points : and April 26th Butto-a-la- Rose. the key of the Atchafaylaya and Red Rivers, fell into the hands of the navy, the troops pushing on to Alexandria, compelling the evacuation of Fort DeRussey, and pursuing the retreating rebels nearly to Grand Beore, over a road with which the Fif- teenth boys became somewhat familiar a year later. The trophies of the campaign, as given in the official reports. were twenty-five hundred prison- ers and twenty-two guns. three rebel gunboats and eight steamers destroyed. large quantities of public property, and the gathering in of something like six thousand fugitive negroes.
In May the exigencies of Gen. Grant's campaign at Vicksburg ren- dered it tolerably certain that promised reinforcements from that quarter for the long-contemplated Port Hudson campaign could not reasonably be expected ; and, upon careful consideration, and conference with Grant, Gen. Bank- concluded that the only course open to him was to besiege that strongly fortified position, even with the small and insufficiout force at his
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dispo-al -- scarcely as many soldiers as the enemy was able to muster behind his well-nigh impregnable fortifications.
By the middle of May Gen. Banks' army commenced to " assemble for the fray " about Port Hudson. Gen. Angur, from Baton Rouge, effect- ed a junction with Weitzel, Grover, T. W. Sherman, and Dwight, on the 25th, after severe fighting and considerable loss ; and two days later a des- perate assuit, to test their strength, was made upon the enemy's works. Our men of course fought gallantly and heroically, but they were repulsed, with a loss of two hundred and ninety-three in killed and fifteen hundred and forty-nine in wounded. This unsuccessful assault demonstrated to the satisfaction of all that the fortifications could never be carried by storm with anything like the forec at hand ; and so our army deliberately planted itself within rifle-range of the enemy's position and commenced the con- struction of fortifications -- meanwhile, day and night, keeping up an in- cessant and harrassing cannonade at all points of a line extending from seven to eight miles, from river to river ; the naval vessels also contributing their full quota to the production of this perpetual storm of " thunder-and- lightning." On the 14th of June it was deemed advisable to again test the strength of the works in a second general assault. Though resulting in some very substantial advantages, the attack was attended with frightful sacrifice of life and limb ; and again our military commanders had been taught that the slow process of sapping and mining, and a depleted com- missary department within the besieged lines, were the weapons that must be chiefly relied upon in the reduction of this Gibraltar of the Mississippi. Two disastrous general assaults and twenty-one days and nights of almost cominuous fighting, with very severe loss on both sides, had imprinted this important truth, as in letters of blood, upon the minds of all engaged in this memorable siege. And to this laborious work our troops were industrious- ly addressing themselves at the period of the Fifteenth's recall from Florida -every available soldier present for duty being in the trenches and behind the works.
But while the army of Gen. Banks is thus engaged-eagerly and impatiently awaiting the signal announcing the capitulation which, at best, cannot long be delayed -- stirring events were transpiring in another section of the Department. The rebel army of Major-Gen. Taylor which Banks had driven from Western Louisiana just prior to the investment of Port Hudson, and which had been unable to unite with the army within the en- closure in which it had been imprisoned. had re-organized, and had been dispatched upon a raiding tour to the Lower Mississippi, with general in- s'ructions to inflict all the mischief possible, and striking in any direction most likely to occasion alarm on the part of the Union commanders, in the hope that through fear of the loss of New Orleans and other important
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points, Banks might be induced to so far release his grip upon Port Hudson as to enable Gen. Johnston to come to the relief of Gardner with reinforce- ments and supplies. Besides, Gen. Richard Taylor, the officer command- ing the District, being a son of Louisiana, with troops from the two States of Texas and Louisiana, was extremely ambitions to achieve renown by some brilliant coup de main which should throw at least a portion of his army into New Orleans, even though he held it for a very brief period. This and the stoppage of river-communication between New Orleans and Port Hudson, were objects very near the heart of the rebel commander, and are frequently discussed in official communications passing between Lieut .- Gen. Kirby Smith, commanding the Trans-Mississippi Dept .. and Generals Taylor and Magruder, the Louisiana and Texas commanders.
About the middle of June Gen. Taylor had collected at Shreveport an army numbering anywhere from seven to twelve thousand men, of all arms, well supplied with light artillery, and largely composed of cavalry- the latter said to have been the finest in the confederate service. The ar- my moved in light marching order, in three separate and distinct detach- ments : the division commanders being Col. James P. Major, a dashing cavalry officer ; Gen. Alfred Monton, aud Gen. Green. Major's command took the " war-path " during the second week in June ; made a bold dash in rear of and opposite Port Hudson, driving in our piekets ; striking the town of Plaquemine, on the Mississippi, capturing the garrison, with con- siderable property, and destroying three steamers ; making a detour around Donaldsonville, a strongly fortified position ; raiding plantations being run by federal interests and doing innense damage; and then striking across the country towards Thibodeaux and the Lafourche region. At Thibo- deaux and its vicinity a considerable number of our soldiers were captured by the cavalry advance. including a lieutenant and fifty culisted men of the 19th Me. The skirmishers of Major's raiders moved down to Lafourche Crossing and drove in our pickets; but, very fortunately. the main force lingered at Thibodeaux awhile for much-needed "rest and refreshment." affording the commanding officer at Lafourche Crossing opportunity to gather the scattered detachments of Union troops in that locality. prepar- atory to resisting the threatened attack.
Meanwhile the columns of Monton and Green were moving, over separate rontes, in the direction of Berwick Bay and Brashear City, through the Teche country, striking Franklin, New Iberia, cte., but, surprising as it may seem, so concealing their movements that neither at Department or District headquarters was there any intelligence of the presence in Western Louisiana of such a force of the enemy, until the two divisions had com- pletely environed the forts and fortified positions at Brashear City and sent in a demand for the surrender of the garrison. The division of Major, it.
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was supposed, was the only one which had been let loose upon the Western Louisiana country ; and this is how it came to pass that Gen. Emory was so completely bewildered at the simultaneous attacks, with large force, upon both Brashear City and Lafourche Crossing-a condition evident from the tenor of his frequent and somewhat characteristic dispatches to Col. Cahill, a few of which appear in the account of the evacuation of Lafourche Cross- ing. in another chapter.
But at Lafourche Crossing, happily, the dashing rebel cavalryman found foomen worthy of his steel ! Lieut .- Col. Stickney, 47th Mass., had come down from Brashear City and assumed command at the first intima- tion of the threatened attack. He had at first a force of from three to four hundred, hastily collected from various sources, but reinforced during the day, swelling bis numbers at the time of the attack to about six hun- dred. He was well supplied with artillery, which was judiciously posted and gallantly and skilfully mannel. The rebel advance drove in our pick- ets at about 5 p. m. of the 20th, when a few vollies were exchanged ; but several well-directed shots from an eligibly-located 12-pounder, on the bridge, speedily checked the rebels and sent them back to their reserves, with a number of their killed and wounded. The next day, the 21st, there was more or less skirmishing on the picket-line, but a drenching rain-fall, of the Louisiana variety, and continuing throughout the afternoon, serious- ly interfered with contemplated operations. At about 4 p. m. the enemy's cavalry and infantry engaged our outposts with increased vigor, intermittent firing continuing for an hour or more, the enemy finally retiring. But at 6.30 the rebels again appeared in large force, advancing rapidly, and com- pelling our outposts to fall back very speedily, upon the left wing. At aboat dusk the enemy opened with a 12-pound howitzer, throwing shell and solid shot, but this gun was soon silenced by a number of well-poised vollies from the guns of Capt. Grow's N. Y. Battery. At about 7 o'clock the enemy rushed forward, close up to our lines, raising that nnearthly " rebel-yell" as a fit accompaniment to a charge so reckless, firing as they rapidly advanced -- all in the very teeth of the most galling musketry fire and the destructive cannister of our artillery. A desperate effort to turn our right flank was ouly prevented by the enfilading fire of our reserve ar- tillery and the heroic rally of our infantry reserves. The enemy, of course, exerted themselves to the utmost to obtain possession of our artillery, the contest, at the most critical juncture, being hand-to-hand, and even hand-to- throat. The rebels were most severely punished. They were driven back at the point of the bayonet, many of their men crawling on hands and knees to escape the terribly destructive fire of our artillery. They retreat- ed in confusion to Thibodeaux, at about 8 o'clock, and did not see fit to again renew the attack.
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Our force actually engaged was less than six hundred ; the enemy's not less than eight hundred, with a force of from fifteen hundred to two thousand in reserve .. The Union loss aggregated eight killed and forty-one wounded; the enemy losing not less than seventy in killed and two hundred in wounded. The ground in front of our lines was literally strewed with the dead aud wounded; and to their care, under a flag of truce, both par -. ties devoted themselves during the night and the next forenoon.
The main force of the enemy, however, could not have tarried even to gather up the dead and wounded; indeed, Col. Major claims that the fight was precipated for the purpose of concealing his real movement in the direction of Brashear City-towards which point he marched at 9 p. m., moving all night. He explains his failure to bring up his reserves in the statement that the rain had destroyed his ammunition ; the arrival of fed- eral reinforcements rendered him anxious as to his ability to connect with the other divisions of Taylor's force, on Berwick Bay, at the tine designa- ted : and though he " could certainly have demolished the federals and the temptation was great to revenge the death of the gallant men who fell in Pyron's assault," he was compelled to move away in hot haste.
The forces of Green and Mouton commenced the combined move- ment upon the forts and fortified positions about Brashear City on the same night that Major's command made the forced march from the Lafourche. The attack was most adroitly planned and skilfully executed ; a "mosquito fleet " of forty-eight small skiff's being used to cross the bay under cover of the darkness, and bearing an important part in the assault. The forts were practically surrounded before the presence of a hostile force was discovered. The surprise was complete; and after a feeble resistance on the part of the garrison and a gunboat in the harbor, the latter hauled away, and the forts were compelled to surrender, with an immense supply of stores of various descriptions, including small arms, ammunition, and guns of heavy calibre, of great service to the enemy in the Trans-Mississippi Department. By a singular coincidence, though the commanding officer at Brashear was upon the point of surrendering to the forces of Green and Mouton, which had made the attack in the first instance, the transfer was in reality made to Major's cavalry, which had put in an appearance from another direction, and had been driving our pickets before him for a considerable distance.
As will be noticed by reference to the dates of the attacks upon Lafourche and Brashear, the earlier reports were but just being received at Gen. Emory's headquaretes at New Orleans when Col. Dyer called to re- port the arrival of the Fifteenth Maine. The General had been apprised of the attack upon Lafourche but knew nothing of the very unfortunate condition of affairs on Berwick Bay. The grand old hero of course keenly realized his responsibilities at this critical juncture, and that he was a tritte
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nervous and more or less excited, is no marvel. Nevertheless he seems to have had an abiding faith in the outcome -- more especially after the arrival of the Fifteenth Maine ! At all events he had no sooner given Col. Dyer his orders than he hurriedly dashed off this expressive message to Gen. Banks, under date June 22: * " The Fifteenth Maine has this moment ar- rived. *
* I send them immediately forward to Lafourche. We shall mine beat the enemy back!" Possibly that dispatch may have been intercept- ed at Major's headquarters at Thibodeaux ! There seems no better expla- nation of the intrepid cavalry leader's hurried departure, to say the least !
*See Official Records Union and Confederate Army, page 585 of Series I, Part I.
CHAPTER IX.
AT-LAFOURCHE CROSSING."-" COMPANY CANAL."-ETC.
BY RAIL TO THE OPELOUSAS REGION. -- AT LAFOURCHE CROSSING. -- THE SCENE OF THE FIGHT "JUST AFTER THE BATTLE."-A RECONNOISANCE IN SEARCH OF THE ENEMY. - "WAR-TALK." -- THE ENEMY PASSES BY ON THE OTHER SIDE. - A "MAS- TEREY RETREAT" FROM LAFOURCHE. - A NIGHT MARCH REARWARD. -- TO ALGIERS, NEW ORLEANS, COMPANY CANAL, ETC .- GEN. EMORY SOMEWHAT AGITATED. - A SKETCH OF THE MOVEMENTS OF TAYLOR'S RAIDERS. -- BUT GEN. BANKS RE- LAXETH NOT HIS GRIP UPON PORT HUDSON'S THROAT !
GHE Fifteenth, in light marching order, stepped from the steamer to the cars of the Opelousas Railway, at the Algiers depot, at about sunset of the 22d, and at once proceeded towards Lafourche Cross- ing, and at daybreak of the 23d found themselves rolling through a wonderfully fertile agricultural section, with a wide expanse of territory literally groaning under the burden of thrifty crops of corn, cotton, etc .. the scene presenting a most attractive spectacle.
Reaching the Crossing at about 5 o'clock a. m., we are very cor- dially welcomed by a force numbering from nine to eleven hundred, of all arms, our regiment increasing the fighting strength of the little army of occupation to something like seventeen hundred. Col. Cahill, 9th Conn., as senior officer, had assumed command, superseding the gallant officer who had so creditably acquitted himself in the action referred to in the prece- ding chapter. All were eagerly discussing the incidents of the fight, and,
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by way of variety, retailing the wildlest of rumors as to the movements and probable intentions of the enemy ; no tidings of the departure of the en- emy from our immediate front, or of the unfortunate affair at Brashear, having then been received. The participants in the fight were of course the lions of the occasion, and with pardonable pride eagerly pointed out the relative positions of the contending forces and rehearsed interesting in- cidents of the desperate attack and gallant and heroic repulse. The blood of the slain and maimed was plainly visible upon the field and on all hands were to be witnessed suggestive reminders of the very hotly-contested on- gagement. But very little time was afforded for viewing the field or even for partaking of the inevitable morning lunch of hard-tack and coffee. As early as 9 a. m. a reconnoisance, under command of Col. Dyer, was under marching orders-the troops comprising the 15th Me., 9th Conn., a Mass. cavalry detachment, and five pieces of Grow's N. Y. Battery. The party went as far as Thibodeaux, some five miles away. Here many of the ene- my's wounded were found, and reliable information obtained that the main force of the raiding party had moved away. No incidents of especial im- portance transpired. The most of the force returned at night; and, the soldiers being exceedingly weary, they were by no means dilatory in ar- ranging their " little beds" and stowing themselves away for the night, utterly oblivious of prevalent rumors of the advance of the entire rebel army. from half a dozen different directions !
All the next day (June 24th) the atmosphere was really lurid with " war-talk." Reports of a most sensational nature were in circulation, and the commander and his staff officers, at least, appear to have been consid- erably panic-stricken. Negroes and whites were flying into camp from the adjacent districts with reports as varied and well-nigh as conflicting as the number of the messengers, and little that was reliable came from any quar- ter. Meagre reports of the affair at Brashear, of the destruction of the railroad at various points, of the advance of the enemy in large force, etc., filled the air, but they were received with many grains of allowance. One apparently well-authenticated report, in the afternoon, set forth that the rebels, seven thousand strong and carrying eleven pieces of artillery. were within five miles of Thibodeaux ; another, later, represented them as moving in two columns down either side of the Bayou Lafourche. Again and again the " long-roll " was sounded, and the soldiers were really in " line- of-battle " during the greater part of the afternoon. Finally Gen. Emory deemed the exigencies of the situation such as to render the evacuation of Lafourche Crossing, with all possible dispatch, an imperative necessity; and to protect the railroad track and prevent the rebels from obtaining a foothold between n- and New Orleans, the Fifteenth. just before sundown, was dispatched on a weary eighteen miles march on the railroad-the train
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following on some time during the night and taking the jaded and foot- sore pedestrians-veritable " railroad-tramps "-on board ; the train reach- ing the depot at Algiers a couple of hours after midnight, where we tar- ried until morning.
Early on the morning of the 25th the Fifteenth was ferried across the river to New Orleans; and after marching and countermarching about the streets of the Crescent City for awhile, we finally sought refuge in the Custom House Building, where we were permitted to rest our weary bones upon the hard floor of that hospitable government retreat. Here we re- mained until the afternoon of the 26th, when an order was received to procced without delay to " Company Canal," on the Algiers side of the river, and seven miles distant, which point was reached at about dark, and where the boys passed a very dreary night in wrestling for existence with a numerous army of mosquitoes, of mammoth size and evidently " very hungry and very thirsty." It was confidently expected that the enemy would strike in that vicinity -- a position regarded as of considerable im- portance-and the regiment was constantly on the alert in anticipation of being called into action. But the summons came not. On the following morning we went into camp, remaining until midnight of the 29th, when, upon very short notice, a steamer came along with orders to take the regi- ment, post-haste, to Camp Parapet, and landing us at that point on the morning of the 30th.
Our " rear-guard" at the Lafourche seems to have been seized with something of a panic while waiting for the trains, and were in some re- spects utterly reckless in the destruction of bridges, cannon, ammunition, the killing and turning loose of artillery horses, etc. This was justified only by a critical emergency, and it has been claimed in some quarters that the retreat was unnecessary in any event, or at least that it might have been made leisurely and most of the public property brought off; in short, that both Gen. Emory and Col. Cahill were needlessly alarmed. But that is by no means certain. It is true no enemy had appeared to molest or in any way interfere with the evacuation ; but that Taylor's army was in our immediate vicinity in force sufficiently large to have pushed its way in any direction desired. was a fact well understood at the New Orleans headquar- ters. At Brashear City, on the day before, Gen. Taylor's entire force had for the first time concentrated, with the commanding general on the ground to direct contemplated movements in person. Fully understanding Tay- lor's fond ambition as to New Orleans, his opportunities in view of the practically defenceless condition of the city and its surroundings, and the absolute certainty that the smouldering rebel fires among the populace would be rekindled the moment the confederate troopers appeared on the city's public thoroughfares, it would have been foolhardy and wholly inexcusable
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to have assumed any unnecessary risks. Nevertheless, in view of what actually transpired, the annexed dispatches, sont over the wires-in quick succession and as rapidly as the telegraph could dash them off-during the afternoon and night of June 24th, seem a trifle " panicy," if not absurd. They appear in the published " Official Records of the Union and Confed- erate Armies," vol. XxVI, series I, part [.
Taylor's raiders, after the repulse at Lafourche and the capture of Brashear City, pushed up the Lafourche to Donaldsonville, attacking that strongly fortified position on the 28th, and after a most desperate assault were repulsed, with a loss of two hundred and sixty-one in killed and wounded. Nevertheless the same force moved down the river a few miles, constructing formidable works and planting batteries commanding and se- riously impeding the navigation of the Mississippi. Another column oper- ated along the line of the railway to the Lafourche, capturing a number of
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