Chapter XV

COMPANY K IN CHARGE OF PONTOONS--BATON ROUGE--TECHE CAMPAIGN--SIEGE OF PORT HUDSON--DONALDSONVILLE--RETURN TO REGIMENT.

Company K, under command of Lieutenant Henry A. Harding, a talented young officer, twenty-one years old, in obedience to Division Special Orders No. 51, issued February 16th, proceeded to New Orleans on the eighteenth from Gentilly Camp, and reported to Major Houston for duty in the engineer service. Quarters were assigned in Shippers’ cotton press, already partially occupied by the Twenty-Sixth New York Battery, one hundred and fifty men, eight brass guns and one hundred and ten horses. This battery remained at the cotton press until March 8th, the two commands fraternizing without any trouble.

Company K was ordered to take charge of the pontoon train. The pontoons, in two sizes, were made of rubber, inflated with air by hand bellows in lieu of air pumps, when all ready for use. Such miscellaneous articles as planks, guy ropes, oars, etc., occupied a large amount of space. Thirty wagons, drawn by four mules to each wagon, were used to transport this bridge and material. Negroes were employed as drivers, “bossed” by a large, powerful Irishman called “Big Slattery.” Slattery was a bully, always ready to curse and whip his negro drivers. His brutality assumed such proportions men of Company K had to interfere and put a stop to it. The company wagoner, in charge of the wagon used to convey company property, was Private Jotham E. Bigelow, until Wagoner Porter Carter was ordered to join his company.

At first sight the men made up their minds they were to see hard service in handling this cumbersome, clumsy-looking pontoon bridge. To bridge a river or bayou the requisite number of pontoons were inflated by hand-bellows, then launched and placed in position, afterwards planked, and fastened by ropes to remain steady. Company K had eighty men for this duty, until sickness and death gradually reduced the number to about fifty. They learned how to handle the pontoons without instruction from an engineer officer, by practice drills with sections of the bridge, and gained much valuable knowledge of the property confided to their care by odd jobs of necessary work done to have everything in complete order.

Two accidents happened that, for a short time in March, left the company without a commissioned officer. Lieutenant Harding, kicked by a horse about a week previous, had to go into hospital March 1st, on account of the injury. In the afternoon Lieutenant Gorham was thrown, his horse fell upon him, and he was insensible until taken to the St. James Hospital next day. He returned to duty March 9th, in season to command the company ordered to Baton Rouge with the pontoons on March 10th. They went up river upon the steamer _Eastern Queen_ and arrived at Baton Rouge March 11th at three o’clock P.M., going into camp about half a mile from the river.

All signs pointed to a forward movement by the large body of troops massed at this place, commanded by General Banks in person. Great activity was observed on board naval vessels, which caused the men to understand they were about to do active field duty and gain some practical knowledge how to use pontoon bridges for service. Early on the twelfth the pontoon train was marched to Bayou Montesino, five miles from Baton Rouge, and the men commenced to throw a bridge seventy-seven feet long across this bayou. Picket lines were established some two miles in front until next morning, when the Forty-Eighth Massachusetts and Second Louisiana Infantry, with unattached Massachusetts cavalry companies, commanded by Captains Godfrey and Magee, were sent up river on transports to Springfield Landing, proceeding to the junction of Springfield Landing and Bayou Sara roads, driving in Confederate pickets and clearing the roads down to where the bridge was thrown. At night, work was suspended, but Company K kept on the alert, as pickets were firing throughout the night and alarms frequent; the men were formed into line three times, ready for a defence of the bridge. By noon of the thirteenth all was made ready, and at night troops commenced to cross on the advance towards Port Hudson.

The men remained on duty at their bridge until the seventeenth, with the Forty-Ninth Massachusetts Infantry on guard for a part of the time, witnessing the constant movement of troops, accompanied by baggage trains, and listening to the guns from the fleet while Admiral Farragut succeeded in pushing two gunboats past Port Hudson batteries March 14th. The retrograde march towards Baton Rouge commenced on the fifteenth, a rainy day, and on the seventeenth Company K commenced to take up, load their bridge upon wagons and go in the same direction, ordered to accompany the Third Brigade, First Division, Colonel N. A. M. Dudley in command, under orders to reconnoitre the west bank of the river.

On the eighteenth teams went to the levee and remained until five a.m. the next day (all hands sleeping upon the levee), when they embarked on the _Sallie Robinson_ and proceeded to within five miles of Port Hudson, landing in the afternoon at Hunter’s Plantation. The brigade foraged, scouted, and opened communication with Farragut, while naval vessels below Port Hudson kept the Confederate steamers well under the protection of their own forts. Without having to make any use of the pontoons, the brigade returned to Baton Rouge on the afternoon of March 22d, and Company K left the next day, still upon the _Sallie Robinson_, for New Orleans, where they arrived on the twenty-fourth at four P.M., and marched immediately, with their train, to Shippers’ Cotton Press. Several men were taken sick from exposure to damp atmosphere at night, which almost penetrated their blankets as they slept upon the river bank.

For two weeks the company was kept busy in making alterations in the pontoons, found necessary during the short service they had seen, preparatory to moving with the army, about to commence a campaign in Western Louisiana towards Red River.

Hospital-Steward Charles J. Wood was detached from the regiment March 31st, by Department special orders, and joined April 3d, to act as medical-officer. First-Sergeant J. Gilbert Hill and Sergeant William H. Shepard were detached, by Department special orders, March 26th, and ordered to Baton Rouge to report to Captain Justin Hodge, assistant-quartermaster, on recruiting service for the First Louisiana Engineers, colored troops. They afterwards received commissions as first- and second-lieutenants. The following sick men were sent to hospitals: Sergeant George L. Johnson to St. James Hospital in New Orleans; Privates W. J. Bacon, C. B. Bacon, Samuel Johnson and S. M. Stafford to the regimental hospital at Gentilly Bayou.

Preliminary movements of troops were in progress as follows: the Second Brigade, First Division, under General Weitzel, had advanced to Brashear City from Bayou Bœuff April 2d; the Third and Fourth Divisions were _en-route_ from Baton Rouge by transports to Algiers, thence by rail, a portion marching from Donaldsonville _via_ Thibodeaux, when orders were received by Company K, April 5th, to move with the pontoons. At eight o’clock P.M. next day, the detachment took cars at Algiers for Brashear City, where they arrived early next morning. The bridge was unloaded, piled compactly near the track, and tents pitched close at hand.

Weitzel’s brigade was transported across the river to Berwick on the ninth, and the Third Division followed as fast as limited facilities at hand would admit, occupying two days in crossing. The bridge was put together about a mile from camp, below the city, on the ninth, using all of the material, that made a bridge two hundred and eighty-seven and ten-twelfths feet long. This took an entire day, and completely tired out everybody. Next day an attempt was made to tow this pontoon bridge to Bayou Teche, but the tide proved too strong for a tug-boat, and the steamer _St. Mary’s_ was called on to render assistance, and then the _Sykes_ had to assist before it could be moved and brought up to the railroad wharf at Brashear. This day was lost. The _Sykes_, at two P.M. on the eleventh, took the bridge in tow, with all hands upon it, bound for Pattersonville, three miles above Brashear. After a hard pull, obliged once to make fast to the shore, the bridge reached Pattersonville in the evening and remained all night. The men remained upon it, in readiness to obey any orders. On the twelfth the bridge was thrown across the bayou, and one infantry regiment, one cavalry company and five artillery guns crossed over. While at work Company K was fired on, and seven men were thrown forward to ascertain if a force was in the vicinity; a small guard was found, who beat a hasty retreat. Lieutenant Harding, with a boat’s crew, went up river at night for orders; Lieutenant Gorham, left in command, tried to execute an order to bring up the bridge to a spot about three miles from his position, where a bridge was destroyed by the enemy, but the captains of steamers _Sykes_ and _Smith_ thought it unsafe to try it, and the bridge was not towed up until next day, the thirteenth, when it was placed in position about three-quarters of a mile from the battle-field. Gorham was placed in arrest by Major Houston for the delay, and released and ordered to duty on the fifteenth, as it was not his fault.

The Third (Emory’s) Division, the Second (Weitzel’s) Brigade, First Division, advanced to Pattersonville, threw out pickets, and went into bivouac on the eleventh. The enemy was posted behind breastworks on the Bisland Plantation, about four miles above Pattersonville. On their left were six hundred men, with six guns, defending the ground from Grand Lake to the bayou. The gunboat _Diana_ defended the bayou main road, and there were two 24 Pr. guns in position upon the bank, on their right, to assist the _Diana_. Sixteen hundred men, with twelve guns, held the line of their right to a railway embankment, where General Green was posted with his dismounted men.

After this position was reconnoitred on the twelfth, with skirmishing and considerable artillery firing in the afternoon, an advance on the enemy was made about ten A.M. April 13th, by a strong line of skirmishers, supported by artillery. No attempt was made to assault. This movement on the enemy was evidently made to occupy their attention until Grover’s division could gain the roads in their rear at Franklin. At noon the gunboat _Clifton_ pushed up river to aid the troops, until she ran afoul of a torpedo. For fear of being blown up by these machines, she anchored until afternoon, and then commenced to throw shot and shell dangerously near the Federal troops. This was soon stopped, for the _Clifton_ was not in a proper place to render any service. The bridge was in constant use during the day, soldiers and ambulances crossing and recrossing. The company remained under arms, on guard, until the fourteenth, squads of men going up river in small boats to witness the army movements on the twelfth and thirteenth, collect small boats and carry orders. The enemy retreated to Franklin on the fourteenth, after destroying their one gunboat on the bayou (the _Diana_), to escape a threatened rear attack by Grover’s fourth division, that had by way of Grand Lake, on transports, effected a landing with difficulty near Hutchin’s Point, not far from Franklin, and advanced to the Bayou Teche.

In this first Western Louisiana campaign the pontoons did not see much service. Bridges over the small watercourses General Taylor attempted to burn or otherwise destroy were repaired without difficulty, as the pursuit was close enough to prevent much destruction. A great flood existed, but saving the bridges obviated a call for use of pontoon-sections. The labor done by Company K was not heavy, but kept them constantly at work on the river for ten days, exposed at night to foul air and bad vapor from swamps. This exposure caused a large proportion of the men to be taken sick. Serious cases were sent to post hospitals at Berwick Bay, a portion distributed among hospitals in New Orleans, and those who could travel were sent to Bayou Gentilly.

The company proceeded to Franklin, April 14th, upon the _Sykes_, with gunboat _Clifton_ for an escort, leaving their bridge where it was in position, with a detachment on guard. From Franklin the men were kept moving down and up the river, on the lookout for torpedoes, and at work to try and remove the wreck of the Confederate gunboat _Cotton_, blown up by the enemy in January, obstructing free navigation where she sunk. Plenty of opportunities were found to go ashore on foraging expeditions.

Orders were received on the twenty-third to join the army, well on its way towards Opelousas. Small boats took the men down to where their pontoon bridge lay, when it was taken in tow for Brashear City, and arrived there in the afternoon. The bridge was taken up on the twenty-fifth, loaded upon wagons, and transported on the steamer _G. A. Sheldon_, that left Brashear City on the twenty-sixth for Barre’s Landing, _via_ Grand Lake, the Atchafalaya and the Cahawba Rivers, stopping at Butte a-la-Rose to leave supplies for the gunboat _Calhoun_. On arrival at Barre’s Landing on the twenty-eighth, wagons were sent ashore and the command went into camp. Bustle and excitement ruled the hours. A large amount of cotton kept coming in to the army, and was stored or shipped by steamers to Brashear.

From exposure upon the bayou Lieutenant Harding became sick with malarial fever, that forced him to leave his company April 21st and return to the regimental hospital for treatment. The command fell on Lieutenant Gorham, who was not equal to the task. With a weakness for liquor he could not control, this one fault completely unfitted him for such a position as he held. He was reprimanded once by a general officer, who noticed he was inebriated while on duty and cautioned him not to repeat the offence. Gorham failed to obey the caution, was found by the rear guard in a state of intoxication at a rebel’s house on Carnell’s Plantation, and at Alexandria, May 9th, was placed in arrest. Captain Smith, First Louisiana Engineers, was placed in command of Company K until Lieutenant Harding should rejoin. The option was given Lieutenant Gorham to resign or stand trial by court-martial. He chose the former, and was discharged from the service of the United States by Department Special Orders No. 115, issued May 13th.

General orders were issued to prevent straggling and pillage. As these orders were not promulgated to Company K, and many men never heard read General Orders No. 29, it is here given:

“HEADQUARTERS DEPT. OF THE GULF,
“19TH ARMY CORPS,
“OPELOUSAS, April 21st, 1863.

“GENERAL ORDERS NO. 29.

“The exigencies of the service, and safety of the troops, imperatively demand that the disposable force of the corps shall march in column, except where necessary detachments upon special duty are ordered by superior officers. The desertion of the column upon the march, or straggling, for the purposes of pillage and plunder, is an offence made punishable with death by the Articles of War. The honor of the flag, and the safety of the men who faithfully discharge their duty, demand that this law be enforced; and the commanding general gives notice, absolute and positive, that this punishment will be executed upon those men, of whatever command, who violate the army regulations and dishonor the service by inexcusable and atrocious acts of this kind. All officers, of whatever grade, who shall allow the men under their respective commands to leave the line of march or the camp, without authority, will be summarily and dishonorably discharged the service, as unworthy to participate in the triumphant march of this column. The army is now hundreds of miles from its base of operations, in the enemy’s country. The campaign may be made one of the most creditable of the war, or it may disgrace the troops and dishonor the country. The commanding general appeals to officers and men to reflect upon their position, to consider their duties, and faithfully to discharge the obligations which rest upon them, and is, for himself, determined to execute the severest sentence of military law upon those who basely betray the service and dishonor their country in this regard. Whatever property may be necessary for the support of the army, or may be prostituted to support the rebellion, will be taken by the Government, and due reparation will be made therefor. But we do not war upon women and children, however much and in whatever way they may have erred. Our contest is with the men and the armies of the rebellion.

“Information has been received at these headquarters that the lives of officers as well as of the men of the line have been endangered by the unauthorized and criminal discharge of firearms by persons engaged in pillage. Notice is given to all officers and soldiers that the parties engaged in these practices will be held responsible for the consequences of their acts, and that such offences will be punished with the severest penalties prescribed by the Articles of War. This order is not a matter of form, but will be rigidly enforced during the campaign.

“Officers in every division, brigade and regiment of this command are directed to place a rear-guard for the purpose of preventing stragglers from falling to the rear of the column. Where men are sick or foot-sore, upon the certificate of the surgeon, they will be allowed such conveyance or provided with such hospital accommodations as their situation may require. The captured straggler is the best source of information that the enemy possesses. A soldier who deserts his column in the face of the enemy will not hesitate to betray his comrades, and deserves the penalty which the law provides for his great wrong.

“By command of
“MAJOR-GENERAL BANKS.
“RICHARD B. IRWIN,
“_Assistant Adjutant-General_.”

Several men of Company K got permission of Sergeant Johnson to forage, and went down the river on the twenty-eighth for the express purpose of pillage and plunder, returning next day with silver spoons and jewelry they had taken from a dwelling, whose owner promptly reported this case of burglary to General Grover. Lieutenant Gorham was ordered to parade his company in front of Grover’s headquarters, where the property owner identified Sergeant Baker, Corporal Bates, Privates E. G. Bacon, Luke Bowker, A. J. Thayer, E. M. Thayer and James Mins as connected with this affair. They were placed in arrest, sent to Algiers, and confined for twenty days before released from their dilemma with a reprimand, because they could give conclusive proof Orders No. 29 had not been promulgated to them.

Under orders to proceed to Alexandria the company and pontoon train left Barre’s Landing May 5th, with a column of troops under Grover, reaching Washington at half-past six in the evening, after a twelve-mile march, and remained over night. On the sixth, after a march of twenty-four miles over a rough road, a halt was made at a large sugar-house for the night. This was a tough day for the men; wagons broke through small bridges crossing ravines, had to be unloaded, bridges repaired, wagons repaired and reloaded, fences taken down to facilitate passing across plantations, and other innumerable vexatious accidents that make soldiers swear. On the seventh an early start was made; twenty miles marched before a halt for the night was made at a sugar-house two miles from Chanaville. On the eighth the march was continued to Carnell’s Plantation, sixteen miles from Alexandria, and on the ninth, after an early start, Company K reached Alexandria at noon. Nothing was done at this place except to guard a ferry across Red River, where forage parties, negroes and horses were constantly coming over.

Ordered to Simmsport, with troops destined to invest Port Hudson, the pontoon train again joined a column that left Alexandria May 13th, about two o’clock in the afternoon. Fourteen miles were marched that day; about twenty miles to Cheneyville on the fourteenth; eighteen miles to Evergreenville on the fifteenth; to Moreanville on the sixteenth, twelve miles from Simmsport. Simmsport was reached about noon on the seventeenth, after an average march of fifteen miles a day. Two pontoon rafts and an abutment were built next day for a part of the army to cross the Atchafalaya River to take transports at points on Red River for Port Hudson. The current was too strong and river too wide to permit the bridge to be used, and flatboats had to be brought into requisition. A portion of the troops marched to Morganza, on the Mississippi River, and took transports there.

Lieutenant Harding and Private Austin Hawes rejoined the company on the twenty-first to find the army had departed that day, leaving a guard over baggage and trains, that were moved as fast as transportation could be provided. It was on Sunday, the twenty-fourth, before Company K could proceed upon the steamer _Forest Queen_, arriving at Bayou Sara about ten o’clock the same night. The pontoon teams did not arrive until late in the evening of the twenty-fifth, when they were loaded, ready for an early start next morning.

The first assault on the enemy’s works at Port Hudson was arranged for May 27th. On the twenty-sixth Company K, with the pontoon train, started from Bayou Sara at four o’clock A.M., under orders to bridge Bayou Sandy (or Sandy Creek) on the Federal right. They arrived at two o’clock P.M., after a terrible hot and dusty march of sixteen miles. A light footbridge had been built over the bayou by pioneers, and one colored regiment was on the other side skirmishing with the enemy in a cool, collected manner. Work was at once commenced on a pontoon bridge two hundred and eighty feet long. Shot and shell from the Confederate works, less than a mile away, would occasionally fly over the heads of men at work, who ran for shelter when they could. The enemy’s infantry retired when the Thirty-Eighth Massachusetts Infantry and Eighteenth New York Battery put in an appearance. At night the Third and Fourth Regiments Louisiana (colored) Native Guards relieved the Thirty-Eighth and the battery. Everybody not obliged to be on picket or guard, slept through the night as only worn-out men can sleep, without a thought of the morrow, undisturbed by the continual boom from heavy guns fired by naval vessels bombarding the enemy.

Next day, Wednesday, at half-past five o’clock A.M., two negro regiments (First and Third Louisiana Native Guards), with other troops from Colonel Nelson’s brigade and two brass guns Sixth Massachusetts Battery, crossed both bridges to assault a redoubt. The battery-guns were handled in the road until withdrawn, with a loss of three horses killed and two men wounded. The infantry, with great bravery, pushed up close to the earthworks, where they found an overflow of water from the bayou a serious obstacle to success, and were obliged to retreat to cover of woods. One brave mulatto officer was left dead in the water near the redoubt. Five ineffectual advances through this water were made by Nelson’s colored brigade to scale a high bluff on which the redoubt stood, suffering heavily (about four hundred in killed and wounded), before approaches could be commenced on advanced ground that was gained and held. A cavalry detachment arrived late in the afternoon, dismounted and skirmished forward without any result. On their return an orderly-sergeant was killed while recrossing the bridge. During the day shells from the enemy came fast, and were exploding lively among the tree tops about Sandy Creek, where Company K remained as a bridge-guard. The enemy had the range, but could not depress their guns to make shot do any execution.

Corporals Lovegrove, Alden and a private were stationed at night on the exposed end to cut the lashings, so the bridge could be swung to the other shore by guy ropes, in case the enemy came down in force. The men not on guard slept in sheltered places, behind trees, anywhere to escape from shells fired by the enemy throughout the night. Early in the evening Lovegrove picked out a place, spread his blanket and was about to lie down when a shell went under his temporary sleeping bunk without exploding.

In this general assault of May 27th the following (nine months) Massachusetts troops were engaged at various points on the lines, with credit to themselves:

Forty-Eighth Infantry, in First Brigade, First Division, had seven killed, forty-one wounded.

Forty-Ninth Infantry, in First Brigade, First Division, seven companies engaged, had sixteen killed, sixty wounded.

Fiftieth Infantry, in Third Brigade, First Division, had one killed, three wounded.

Fifty-Third Infantry, in Third Brigade, Third Division, had none killed, several wounded.

The Thirtieth, Thirty-First and Thirty-Eighth Infantry (three years troops) were also in the action.

After this first assault the pontoon bridge was taken up, loaded upon wagons for an immediate start to any portion of the lines, and Company K went into camp, near other camps, about one and one-half miles to the rear. In preparation for a second assault the entire train was moved, June 4th, to a position near General Banks’ headquarters. On the tenth three detachments from the company, with sections of bridge work, were detailed to several division commanders, with orders to be prepared to bridge the ditch in front of the enemy’s works. Lieutenant Harding, with about twenty men, remained in camp near general headquarters as a guard over material not in use.

Corporal Lovegrove, with three men of Company K, was assigned to the First Division, General Augur. Forty-two men from the Forty-Ninth Massachusetts and One Hundred and Sixty-First New York Regiments were sent to him and placed under his orders for practice.

Corporal Bates, with a squad of nine Company K men, was assigned to the Second Division, General Dwight, until the fourteenth, when Corporal Hall relieved him.

Sergeant Howe, with about fifteen men of Company K, was assigned to the Fourth Division, General Grover. Forty men from other commands were detailed to assist Howe.

A flag of truce was sent to General Gardner on the thirteenth, demanding a surrender of Port Hudson, which he refused, and the bombardment recommenced along the entire line from new batteries, a prelude to an assault on the fourteenth, when an attempt was made by the Second Division to work up quietly through a ravine and rush over the works, while the Fourth Division assaulted the enemy’s left, near Sandy Creek. At daylight Corporal Lovegrove was ordered to load his bridge on a wagon, and the detachment went to within a short distance of the works, where they waited for orders. A siege battery in front and two light batteries maintained a fire nearly all day. The smoke became so dense nothing could be seen in front. No assault in force was ordered, and at five o’clock P.M. this detail returned to camp. Sergeant Howe and his detachment was with a brigade commanded by General Paine, in the third line, ready to bridge the ditch immediately after the storming party obtained a foothold within the intrenchments. This assault was repulsed. After General Paine was wounded, just as the ditch was reached, the men were ordered to lie down until chance enabled them to creep away in safety towards the rear. For hours the men lay in a burning hot sun, shot and shell flying thick around them. Fortunately none of Company K were killed or wounded; three men received slight scratch wounds. Two men of other regiments, in the bridge detail, were killed. Some of the men of Company K with Sergeant Howe on this day were: Privates Giles Blodgett, Warner E. Bacon, Benjamin F. Bacon, Amos D. Bond, Asa Breckenridge, Austin Hawes, R. W. Homer, Samuel King and Charles S. Knight. The Thirty-Eighth Massachusetts took two hundred and fifty men into this assault, and lost one officer, seven men killed; five officers, seventy-seven men wounded; or about thirty-five per cent. of its strength. Eight companies of the Fifty-Third Massachusetts were engaged, three hundred men, and lost one officer, thirteen men killed; six officers and sixty-six men wounded; or about thirty per cent. of its strength.

Other Massachusetts troops at Port Hudson, in this second assault, suffered as follows:

Fourth Infantry, in First Brigade, Third Division, had two companies detailed, with three companies from other regiments, to carry hand grenades in advance of the attacking column. Captain Bartlett, Company K, had command, and was mortally wounded upon the breastworks. Other companies of this regiment were in the reserve line. This regiment lost six killed, sixty-two wounded, a number mortally. Most of the casualties were in Companies A and K. Captain Hall, Company A, was wounded.

Thirtieth Infantry was in the reserve column and did not participate. The color-sergeant was wounded.

Thirty-First Infantry was in the Third Division assaulting column. Lost thirty men out of two hundred and fifty engaged.

Forty-Eighth Infantry was in the assaulting column and lost two killed, eleven wounded.

Forty-Ninth Infantry was in the brigade, First Division, that made a feigned assault, losing eighteen killed and wounded.

Fiftieth Infantry was in the reserve column and did not participate.

Fifty-Second Infantry was deployed as skirmishers between Weitzel and Grover, to prevent any flank movement on the assaulting columns. Lost three killed, seven wounded; one officer mortally.

For these two assaults many gallant men volunteered to lead the several columns. After the second failure it was at once decided to try a third time, and orders were issued to organize a storming column, after this style:

“HEADQUARTERS 19TH ARMY CORPS,
“BEFORE PORT HUDSON, June 15th, 1863.
“GENERAL ORDERS NO. 49.

(_Extract._)

“For the last duty that victory imposes, the commanding general summons the bold men of the Corps to the organization of a storming column of a thousand men to vindicate the Flag of the Union and the memory of its defenders who have fallen; let them come forward.

“Officers who lead the column of victory in this last assault may be assured of the just recognition of their services by promotion, and every officer and soldier, who shares its perils and its glory, shall receive a medal fit to commemorate the first grand success of the campaign of 1863 for the freedom of the Mississippi. His name will be placed in General Orders upon the Roll of Honor.

“By command of
“MAJOR GENERAL BANKS.
“RICHARD B. IRWIN,
“_Assistant Adjutant-General_.”

Between the three years and nine months troops from Massachusetts, engaged at Port Hudson, there was no choice as to which behaved the best. They all did well in the positions they were placed.

The entire day of the fifteenth was occupied in removing dead and wounded men to the rear. All sick and wounded who could bear transportation were sent to Springfield Landing, thence by steamers to New Orleans, for distribution in the general hospitals. Hot weather made heavy inroads on the effective strength of besieged and besiegers.

Sergeant Perry, Corporal Bryant, Privates McIntosh, Johnson, Bruce, Desper, L. Barnes, Wheeler, Flagg and Sibley, who had been in hospital at Gentilly Bayou, with six other men that were in New Orleans, rejoined Company K June 15th, in obedience to orders issued June 11th. Hospital-Steward Wood was sent with them from the camp at Gentilly. The effective strength on duty during June was: one officer, four sergeants, seven corporals, one musician and fifty privates--total, sixty-two enlisted men.

From June 14th to July 8th the duties of Company K were easy. Several men volunteered and served in the batteries, while the detailed detachments and sections of bridge work remained with each division, ready for any movement that should be ordered. News that Vicksburg surrendered July 4th was heralded to the troops early on the morning of July 7th, by a heavy artillery salute given by the left battery. This was followed by an intended salute to the enemy, at noon, by all of the Federal batteries engaged in the siege. The Confederates answered by displaying a flag of truce, and an armistice for twenty-four hours was arranged between the two commanding generals. Soldiers on each side then met each other half way between their respective lines, without arms, during the night and morning, and had a jolly good time together, until a formal surrender took place in the afternoon of July 8th.

Receiving orders to get ready to take the field, the bridge was packed upon the wagons, and Company K marched into Port Hudson at five P.M. July 9th, all ready to embark at once on transports from the landing. For three days, under orders and counter-orders, the company remained in Port Hudson, while other troops were embarked and sent down the river.

To open river communication, the entire First Division, General Weitzel in command (General Augur was ill), was embarked at Port Hudson upon transports, at night, July 9th, and sent down to Donaldsonville, disembarking on the morning of July 10th. Other troops marched to Baton Rouge, for transportation to the same place, and the pontoon train was ordered to follow at midnight July 12th. Roused from slumber the men worked hard until morning, when the steamer _St. Maurice_ carried them to Donaldsonville, arriving in the evening, July 13th, too late to take part in a reconnoissance made that day by the Third Brigade, First Division, under Colonel N. A. M. Dudley, Thirtieth Massachusetts.

What few particulars can be gathered of this second action on the La-Fourche are here recorded:

General Taylor heard of the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson during the night of July 10th. He immediately concentrated his troops on the La-Fourche, at Labadieville and Donaldsonville, to offer resistance if pressed, until sufficient time was gained to clean out his spoils in Brashear City.

July 11th, the Thirtieth Massachusetts skirmished down Bayou La-Fourche about four miles, when they met the enemy’s cavalry in force, and returned to Donaldsonville towards night. At noon the next day this regiment again marched down the bayou road about one mile before meeting the enemy’s pickets, who retired after an exchange of shots, a lieutenant of the Thirtieth being wounded. After proceeding nearly four miles, this regiment, with four guns Sixth Massachusetts Battery, went into bivouac on Kock’s Plantation.

Early on the morning of July 13th a few shells dropped into the woods where General Green’s dismounted cavalry and Semmes’ battery were under cover, served to elicit a reply from that battery; an artillery-fire was maintained on both sides for about two hours. Under orders not to bring on an engagement, the First and Third Brigades advanced down the right side of the bayou, accompanied by an additional battery (First Maine), while a detachment from Grover’s division, commanded by Colonel Morgan, Ninetieth New York, advanced down the left bank. Had the pontoon bridge been on hand to facilitate the carrying of orders across, perhaps the disaster of this day would not have occurred. The bayou was not wide, but no boats or skiffs were to be found. There was a stupid disposition of the Federal forces, who must have outnumbered the Confederates, with an absence of intelligent orders from the colonel in command, that has never been satisfactorily explained.

Upon the left bank, in front of Colonel Morgan, was a wide, open plain. In front of troops upon the right bank were sugar-cane fields, the stalks grown about seven feet high, with scattered trees, thick shrubbery and houses, both on and off the road, completely obstructing a view of what was taking place along the line. The Thirtieth Massachusetts, covering the bayou road, could not see beyond two hundred yards or so. While artillery-fire continued the men were nonchalant, paying little attention to shells, as they did no material damage. Some of the men improved the opportunity to bathe in the bayou and wash their underclothing.

Until two o’clock P.M. skirmish lines engaged the enemy; companies from the Thirtieth Massachusetts supported a section First Maine Battery, the One Hundred and Seventy-Fourth New York supporting another battery. At two o’clock Confederate cavalry on the left bank were seen to deliberately form line on the open plain and swoop down in fine style, with a continual yell, on the men under Colonel Morgan, who fell back rapidly, exposing Federal troops on the right bank to a flank fire. About the time this cavalry charge was made Confederate infantry and dismounted men, without the customary yell, carefully skirmished through the cane fields on the right bank, towards the Federals, who opened an infantry-fire in support of the artillery. No connected account of what happened along the line can be obtained, but it is well known that the Thirtieth Massachusetts suddenly found themselves receiving a sharp fire from across the bayou, a hot fire in front, and stray bullets from the cane fields to their right. Part of the regiment lay down behind a provisional breastwork made by the levee bank, which was also extended by them over the bayou road, and tried to silence the enemy seen in their wide-brim slouch hats on the other bayou side.

Though the enemy steadily crept along in front, to rise, fire and drop, to continue creeping up, no one seemed to think of a retreat. The two guns, First Maine Battery, were in an open space between the bayou road and levee bank, just back of the Thirtieth Massachusetts men. Exposed to the enemy’s fire from across the bayou, the cannoneers sought shelter by laying upon the ground under their guns. Lieutenant Healy, in command, was obliged to use his sword on his men to force them up and serve the pieces; without aid, he loaded and fired a gun several times. This state of things continued until about three o’clock, when these guns became heated and could not be used; all the artillery horses were killed or disabled, with but four artillery-men left fit for duty, as the rest were killed or wounded.

Orders had been given to retreat, obeyed by some men who heard them, while others did not obey because they did not hear on account of the noise made by the musketry, artillery and bursting shells. The men who remained fought on for a short time, when two small companies One Hundred and Seventy-Fourth New York Infantry crowded in on them, pell-mell from the right, and completely filled the space that sheltered the Thirtieth Massachusetts, leaving bare enough elbow room to work in; still they kept on fighting (these One Hundred and Seventy-Fourth New York and Thirtieth Massachusetts men) to hold their ground, and at this time the heaviest loss of the day occurred.

When it was seen men were in retreat and the enemy was closing in rapidly, Captain Fiske, Lieutenant Barker, with some dozen men of the Thirtieth Massachusetts, endeavored to save the battery-guns by hauling them over a levee bank to the roadway with drag ropes. One gun was saved; one gun was abandoned, or thrown into the bayou. All of the troops upon and near the road then retreated in good order, exchanging shots from behind house corners and such shelter as could be found; in a few cases individual soldiers almost crossed bayonets with men of the enemy. The Thirtieth Massachusetts colors were defended by a handful of men until safe to the rear.

Colonel Dudley endeavored to rally his men for another stand, or check the enemy’s advance, and succeeded in forming a line of about seventy-five men. This line fired a few rounds and then continued the retreat. On the retreat Private Horace F. Davis, Thirtieth Massachusetts, was cut off in a cane field by Confederate cavalry, made a prisoner about six o’clock, and with about fifty more prisoners was corralled under a cluster of trees, guarded by sentries. A rain-storm set in at night, accompanied with heavy thunder and sharp lightning, which enabled Private Davis to pass between two Texans, who were leaning upon their rifles on guard, and escape by crawling along in the darkness between the lightning flashes, avoiding the enemy, whose location was shown by their camp fires, around which they congregated, until he joined a flag-of-truce party, sent out after the dead and wounded. With this party he remained on duty, no one supposing he did not come out with them, finally rejoining his regiment at one o’clock A.M.

Private Davis, while firing from behind the breastwork across the road, was in range of a battery-gun First Maine. His attention was called to the fact, and at the moment he looked behind a shell was fired from this gun, the concussion as it passed over him causing a prickly sensation in his right eye. Nothing was thought about it at the time, or for some time after, until he discovered the sight was gone. Not daunted by this discovery, Davis remained on duty with his regiment, and reënlisted, with one eye, when his first term expired. The sight to his right eye has never been restored.

Other Massachusetts troops in this action were the Forty-Eighth and Forty-Ninth Regiments, attached to the First Brigade, and the Sixth Battery.

The Forty-Eighth was posted in sugar-cane fields to the extreme right, with a skirmish line out. In retreating, no orders were sent to the skirmishers, who were surrounded before they knew it, and lost two officers and twenty-one men taken prisoners.

The Forty-Ninth was posted in a lane that ran at a right angle with the bayou, and were lying down when the fight commenced. The regiment was soon ordered to a sugar-house, seen above the sugar-cane, about five hundred yards to the right and front, to reënforce a regiment and battery supposed to be there. No troops were found on arrival at the place. This regiment caught a moderate infantry-fire from the front, and saw a mounted force upon its right. Confederate infantry got in on the left of them, when the regiment fell back to the lane, and there remained until a staff-officer, Lieutenant Weber, got to them by the rear and ordered the regiment to save itself, as it was cut off. This was done by making a detour of some three miles through cane fields before it could rejoin the command.

The Sixth Battery lost one gun, dismounted and carried a short distance to the rear for repairs, where it had to be left, because sudden orders to retreat were given before it could be mounted to bring away.

Total casualties to Massachusetts troops in this action were:

Thirtieth Infantry--Eight killed; thirty-seven wounded; one missing.

Forty-Eighth Infantry--Three killed; seven wounded; twenty-three missing.

Forty-Ninth Infantry--One killed; twenty wounded; one missing.

Sixth Battery--One wounded.

Other regiments in the two brigades and Colonel Morgan’s detachment lost in about the same ratio as above, because the enemy must have captured at least two hundred prisoners, probably more, and men in Company K saw at Donaldsonville, laid out for burial, about forty Federal soldiers, picked up on the field by a flag-of-truce party. Most of these men were shot in the head.

July 14th and 15th baggage and teams were unloaded from the steamer. On the sixteenth two hundred and thirteen feet of bridge was thrown across Bayou La-Fourche, under the direction of Sergeant Austin Hawes. The company remained on guard until July 20th, when they parted from their pontoons, relieved from further engineer duty by Captain John J. Smith, with one company First Louisiana (colored) Engineers.

Camp was struck July 21st, when the company proceeded to New Orleans upon the steamer _Sallie List_ and reported to the regiment at Algiers late in the afternoon. Department Special Orders No. 181, issued July 25th, formally relieved Company K from detached duty in the engineer service.

During this tour of active field service sick men of Company K were left in hospitals at Berwick, Brashear City, New Orleans, and many men were sent to Gentilly Bayou regimental hospital. Deaths from sickness were as follows:

March 31st--Private Albert N. Bliss, fever, at Marine Hospital, New Orleans.

April 26th--Private Charles L. Atwood, fever, at Brashear City Hospital.

May 1st--Private Charles B. Bacon, fever, at Brashear City Hospital.

May 3d--Corporal George H. Shepard, congestion of bowels, at Berwick City Hospital.

May 24th--Private Samuel A. Knight, ----, at Baton Rouge Hospital.

May 28th--Private Elias H. Cutler, fever, at Brashear City Hospital.

July 4th--Private George H. Allen, dysentery, at New Orleans Hospital.

July 5th--Private William Stone, typhoid fever, in camp at Port Hudson.