E 499. .5 23d .^ ^0^ io. ...0'^ V V ,. ' ^^ -■ ^' ■ '^^ ■ '■'•^'^ ' "% i-^,^ 0" a JV » . » .0 O ■' . . s * -'v 5°^ >P'^^ ^°-^^. ^V c - Ok »v \^ --^ "^ ^f" .. '^^. -"- .V A*^ ;"»• t ,,-,, ■i^'"" ^. <■ j-;v -.'7-, t^o^ c' -0 ^°^Jv -^^0^ c" o - G , ^c ^^ ^^rrT'' o,^ •^^ ,0^^ o - o '..5^ A ^0^ ^:<^mr-^.^u %^: . ^^9^ -■■-::>-.F.- >.-v;^ -'-^ ^^ii^'-^^ qO V =;o' ^^■ \^ ^, .0^ c .^' ^oV -Jy 4 O •7' . » * G^ \D *.T.T^ ^^ ^, c t ,v-Jo_ • V o ^ 0' .V ^. to V v^ \ . * * Accept this from Yours truly, A. M. Sherman. P. S.— -l^ * '-^ * Write soon and direct your letter to A. M. Sherman, Centerville Racecourse, Jamaica, N. Y. , 23d Regt. Ct. Vols., Co. F. " Among the incidents of our brief sojourn at Camp Bucking- ham, was the receipt, on the day before Thanksgivirig, of a good- sized wooden box, from two sisters residing in the vicinity of Boston, filled with delicacies. When the box was started from IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 9 its donors it contained, as I could but infer from general appear- ances, sandwiches, buttered biscuits, cake, cookies, crullers, mince pies, cheese and fruit. When I opened the box in camp, I found to my great surprise and disappointment, a most strange admixture of all the articles mentioned. It was, indeed, a box of mush, from which I was able to pick a few only of the various articles so tenderly placed by willing hands in the box at its place of departure. It was not until several years afterward that I in- formed my sisters of the decidedly mixed condition of the Thanks- giving delicacies sent me at Camp Buckingham. On the 30th of November, 1862, the Twenty-third and Twenty-eighth Regiments of Connecticut Volunteers broke camp at the Centerville Racecourse, and marched buoyantly down At- lantic Avenue, Brooklyn, to the East River. Here, seven com- panies of the Twenty-third and seven companies of the Twenty- eighth, about a thousand men in all, embarked on the steamer "Che-Kiang," or, in our language, the " Sea-King. " Whither we were going none of us certainly knew ; it was whispered among the boys that we were to form a part of the military expedition to be commanded by General Banks, and that was our only clew. Company F of the Twenty-third Connecticut Volunteers, of which I was a member, was among the troops that embarked on the "Che-Kiang" on that bleak, cold day in November, 1862. Barring the usual seasickness, the first few days of the voy- age to the southward were pleasant, and to most of the boys the novelty of being on the great, blue ocean was fascinating ; but on the 5th of December, when off Cape Hatteras, a terrific storm burst upon the "Che-Kiang." "The vessel," — I now quote the words of another — " with its freight of a thousand men, refused to obey the helm, and wallowed helplessly in the trough of the sea, shivering under the mountainous waves ; while flash after tiash of lurid lightning revealed the terrors of the situation." Men trembled who never trembled before; men knelt in fer- vent prayer on the sea-washed decks of the "Che-Kiang" who had not, perhaps, prayed since the innocent days of " Now I lay me down to sleep "; and many whose lives had been far from exem- lo IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISL\NA IN 1S63. plary vowed future obedience, if only the storm would abate and the imperiled vessel reach her destination in safety. Alas 1 how few of those solemn vows were remembered, or,, jf remembered, were performed. The " Che-Kiang,'' with her precious human freight, weath- ered the storm ; and after an uneventful voyage of a few days touched at theTortugas, at the southwestern extremity of Florida. From the Tortugas the steamer made a quick passage through the placid waters of the Gulf of Mexico, with its myriad of porpoises, which seemed to be rolling round and round in the blue waters like so many wheels, but which were simply coming- to the surface of the vj'ater, showing for a moment a small por- tion of the back, and then suddenly disappearing. To men un- accustomed to the sight it was one of extraordinary interest. At Ship Island, in the northern part of the Gulf of Mexico, the men on the "Che-Kiang" disembarked. Here they remained long enough to recover somewhat from the effects of their rough sea voyage. The following description of Ship Island, written home by the Rev. Richard Wheatley, chaplain of the Twenty-eighth Con- necticut, will convey some idea of it : " This low sandbank is the creation of the restless Mexican (julf. It boasts but little vegetation. A few grasses, cacti, flow- ering herbs and shrubs, and some stunted pines, exhaust the list. Nor is the fauna more extensive than the flora. A dilapidated cow and an untimely calf, some splendid horses and refractory mules, ugly alligators, venomous spiders and spiteful mosquitos would chiefly claim the attention of the naturalist. The encir- cling waves swarm with fish." Re-embarking on board steamer, the men of the Twenty- third and Twenty-eighth Connecticut proceeded by way of the INlissiesippi River to New Orleans. It was on the 17th of December, 1862, that these two regi- ments pitched their tents at Camp Parapet, which was one of the outer defences of the Crescent City, on the north. Here they drilled and performed camp-guard duty. One of the peculiarities of Camp Parapet, situated on the bank of the swiftly-flowing Mississippi River, was the great sud- IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOrLSL\NA IN 1863. it denness with which thunder storms came up in the summer time. To illustrate this, it may be said that if a soldier was only a short distance away from camp, and the usual signs of a storm made their appearance in the heavens, he would have to do some tall hustling^ to get back to the siielter of his tent before the rain would begin to come down in torrents, and perhaps drench him to the skin. Many a soldier did get svich a drenching, before he became accustomed to the ways of the region as regards thunder storms. On the nth of Januar}^ 1S63, the seven companies of the Twenty-third Connecticut which had taken passage on the " Che Kiang, " in command of the colonel of the regiment, crossed the Mississippi River to Algiers, where they took the cars on what was then the Opelousas and Great Western Railroad to Brashear City, distant about ninety miles almost due west from New Or- leans. The Twentj-^-third Connecticut was expected to join General \\'eitzel in an attack on the Confederate gunboat "J. A. Cotton,' up the Teche ; but for some reason they did not do so. Brashear City is situated on an island formed by Lake Ches- timache, Bayou Boeuf and the Atchafalaya River. During the Civil War it was a village containing perhaps thirty or forty build-' ings of all kinds. The population could not have been to exceed 600 in its most prosperous days. This place with its high-sounding name had been General Banks' depot of su|iplies for his entire army, and a large quantity of military stores had been gathered there. In an immense frame building which stood on the shore of Berwick Bay a million and a half dollars' worth of Goverment stores, so it was said, had been piled. When the bulk of General Banks' troops went to Port Hudson to take part in the now famous siege of that Confederate strong- hold, the officers of many of the regiments which were to engage in the siege left their personal baggage in an old sugar mill in the lower part of the village. The private soldiers, also — some of them, at least — left their knapsacks at Brashear City, in one of the old sugar mills. This private and government propert}' must, of course be faithfully guarded, and protected from capture _ •■- TEE^se 3fcr:s VTT XK liK Use IKaTzE i •^TTE. c v-2= inn I. iwrx ET -rrr,TT=^ zi»r ^rz^ TM^f 3r 3K^iv Tux :21s so- TThP^^ itch «; .^, .^ _^fE7-_— t STTwet a: i^ :rwpii73PT lacr TE Is: ±3^ yrr r:?- -w.- esT 3^2*' Tint ^-vvs: aseacB is: the LO^KXAJTDS of LOTIS TA ^-A IK 18^. 12 '- MotBdaty,-j2ii. jt&l. — ^Went to l»ed afser scpper iast lagiat. and g^ Tip lias rmoirEing; feeling rafber laadily ; bist -sras aui rigiit T uebiaT, Jam. 131k. — Took a irai tm fte gnaErier-dteck: i:.-r ~ :niic!^; saw groaps of SjiQ^fesb aiid sea roinuSj as well -;..r - - - : " -''.Is of birds. Ail quiei dirrliig- the daj. -adaj, Jan. I4iii.-^ — Was awaceiied rerr earlj "Snds ■ by a kacrsh, rBmbSiif; soimd, TrMcii I expected was the : f the ship's keel cm the saad. ShortlT afiervranfe, a - - . _ >ck that fair! J shook the ship from stem lo siena. It r-hook me CfUt cm deck tu domhie-qnick thne, aad as I was pmtfm^ on EDT ckrthixtg. Major MfHer msihed in send say^ : • My God ! ire i-a-re struck on the rocks '. ' • • I went oat an deck ; eieij IMd^ was in coraEisiQii. Arri- „r - :■' tf i' 1 ^: L'-'I "isages nve: joc at exf - --- ut ::.r _r.t. :.:.-r liz'.i.-:. very anxioxts asd t. .:^e i-ari>enter to soimd the pumps. Carpenter shonted : ■ Foot and a itaif feet of water, sir ! • • * Oh, Lord ! the skip is lost I ' exctaimed the captaiiL • = AH iflfris wMle the ship was bumpiag- on the rocis .; ptarka started f* " - :n and :£oated oS, and lie wster wats gain- -U.g in tiT : _ T t'iDe. ■• We soon saw sn island in ifee distance, and I feir more ri :' - ~T mind : the prospect of : ' T^^ i^ 2.11 orier boat, -.: . ""' ; r 1 vrith men, or perhaps nth.. _. _ ' way 10 iand wrrh only the help of a spar or plank orer rough breakers, was not aH a ■ • A: : - _3e and a half o'clock ths boals were lowered, iDd all ready for the mesi to embark : and afsr eve i v imim hair l -eft the ship. L- - StereriS arid mvseif f- -: znd "eached the sborr " - T' tafcisg- Eoihing brt 0'_: ^:s. but the rest of onr g'oods were brosigiLt oS" by Use crew the next dav. *' Our passag-e to the shore was a pieriions one. I exjjeced erery minute to strike on ihe ree&. which ra-m - - — -- ^ui gf the water. The breakers were passed with mach . : . , and we fijially arriTed at the share. When wxA rm aboin Ktrr leet, -fee I'Ciat strack a rock, staring is her side and fillsHg the boat with water. We then threw osirserres inio the waier and were washed 14 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. to the shore. I tell you I felt thankful when my feet were plant- ed on the coral rocks, which the island is composed of ! " Water and provision were the next things to look after. Three boats, after much trouble, brought off the most needed articles. In the afternoon a sail hove in sight. We hoisted a signal of distress ; she saw it and came for the island. We found her to be a wrecker from Green Turtle Key, about fifty miles dis- tant from us. They informed us that water was at the other end of the island, about five miles distant ; so we moved up there and built houses of palm leaves and sticks. The weather is as hot here as it is in Connecticut in July and August. >f; ;;< <^ >]: '^ ^ " Well, we had hard times on Stranger's Key, living on raw pork and hardtack, with very poor and brackish water. We were on the island eighteen days ; long enough to eat all the provi- sions we had saved with the help of the wreckers. * * * * " We made a dish of hardtack and pork, called ' scouse ' ; traded pork with the negroes from Green Turtle Key for sweet potatoes and oranges. * * ^: * " I will now close with the promise that if my life is spared, I will write more particulars. Direct your letters to " Lieut. J. W, Buckingham, " Co. I, 23d Regt. C. v., " Gen. Banks' Expedition." Companies A, H, and I rejoined the regiment at Brashear City on the iith of January. The occasion was made one of rejoic- ing. At Brashear City the Twenty-third Connecticut remained, performing guard duty, until the gth of February, when the reg- iment was ordered to strike tents and march to the railroad. The various companies were then distributed, as a guard along the whole length of the Opelousas and Great Western Railroad, from Berwick Bay to Jefferson, nearly opposite the Crescent City. Headquarters were established at La Fourche Crossing, about 30 miles to the east of Brashear City. The different companies of the regiment were posted as fol- lows : Company E, Captain Lewis Northrop in command, at IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 15 Bayou Ramos. Company A, Captain Alfred Mills , at Bayou Boeuf. Company K, Captain S. G. Bailey, at Tigerville. Com- pany I, Captain W. H. May, at Terrebonne. Company B, Cap- t.iin James H. Jenkins, at Bayou La Fourche. Company H, Captain A. D. Hopkins, at Raceland. Company C, Captain Juli- us Sanford, at Bayou des AUemands. Company F, Captain D. T. Johnson, at Boutte Station. Company G, Captain G. S. Cro- fut, at St. Charles, and Company D, Lieutenant S. ]\L Nichols, at Jefferson . About the ist of I\L'irch Companies E and I were ordered to headquarters, and Company A to reinforce Captain Sanford at Bayou des AUemands. By the ist of April, Company B was also transferred to Napoleon ville, south of Donaldson ville, and Com- pany A to Labadieville, still further south. Boutte Station, to which Company F was ordered, was situ- ated about 30 miles to the west of New Orleans, and was so des- ignated because of the principal man of the settlement, a Mr. Boutte. Of the sojourn of Company F at Boutte Station I will now tell you something. The station consisted of about a dozen building^s, all told. The former residence of Mr. Boutte was occupied by the captain and the other commissioned officers of our company. The men, for the most part occupied the other and smaller buildings ; a few, however, living in tents. I had very comfortable quarters in one of the smaller dwell- ing-houses ; comfortable, that is to say, so far as the quarters were concerned The mosquitoes, however, were so numerous and troublesome during the nights that the only way we could sleep at all was by inclosing our bunks with mosquito netting. The extreme closeness of the air in these netting-inclosed bunks, on a hot night in the summer time, can perhaps be imagined. I sometimes debated the question, in my mind, which was the greater evil, the mosquitoes or the stifling air of the inclosed bunks .^ But the mosqiutoes were not the only pests at Boutte Sta- tion ; it vi^as no uncommon thing for the boys to be awakened in the night by a slimy lizard crawling across the face or neck, or some other part of the body. Some of these lizards were said to i6 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. be poisonous, while others were considered harmless ; and after we boys had learned to distinguish the one from the other, the lizard problem was considerably simplified. Nevertheless, I very much i^refer sleeping and living in a part of the country where lizards are unknown. The chameleons of Louisiana, a species of lizard, I believe, were very interesting to the Yankee boys from the North ; and these chameleons abounded at Boutte Station. The boys often caught them, and watched them as they assumed the color of the object on which they were placed, a leaf or stick, perchance ; and more than one letter written home from camp contained a de- tailed account of these strange little reptiles and their ways. But not by night only were the mosquitoes troublesome at Boutte Station : along toward evening, particularly, they were a veritable torment — so much so, indeed, that while on guard or picket after sunset, the boys had to completely inclose the face and neck in mosquito netting. It really seemed to me some evenings that I should be eaten alive by these infernal insects, for, not- withstanding the netting, the moscjuitoes were very active with their proboscides. The recollection of my experience with mosquitoes while on guard in the evening is made the more vivid by the fact that one evening, when these insects were unusually troublesome, and while walking my beat with my musket in the most comfortable position possible, General Banks and one or two of his staff sud- denly appeared. Upon being informed who it was that had so suddenly made their appearance, I at once brought my musket to a present arms, with an explanation of my seeming lack of respect for superior officers. Every word of my expla^iation was punctuated with a violent stroke of first one and then the other of my hands at the mosquitoes, which seemed to be taking a most contemptible advantage of my preoccupation with my distinguished visitors. I shall never forget the remark of General Banks, as he watched me in my frantic efforts to defend myself from the fero- cious assaults of the Louisiana mosquitoes : "Never mind about presenting arms, my boy ; make your- self as comfortable as possible," and with these words he and IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISL\NA IN 1863. 17 his staff oflicers moved away, all the time, however, slapping right and left to escape being- eaten alive by the busy insects swarming about them. But mosquitoes and lizards were not by any means the only nor the largest pests we encountered in the '' Lowlands of Lou- isiana " ; alligators were plentiful, and sometimes not only troub- lesome, but dangerous. They were so silent in their movements, and their color seemed to blend so completely with the color of their environment, that usually, before one was aware of their presence, they would suddenly appear as though they had then and there sprang into existence. If an alligator's fast had not re- cently been broken, there was good reason for the boj^s to look well to their means of self-defense. I distinctly remember that one day while on guard near an old, abandoned farm wagon a short distance from the camp (it was on the apology for a road leading to the Mississippi River), an alligator suddenly appeared in the roadway, having stealthily emerged from the near-by woods. It was the tirst alligator of any considerable dimensions I had seen in the South ; and I am free to confess that I was not a little startled at the sight of the animal. He seemed to be coming straight for me, Andrew M. Sherman. As he half walked and half crawled toward me, he seemed a most hideous object. I discharged my musket. This, as I anticipated, brought several of the boys from camp with their muskets. It took them but a moment to grasp the situa- tion ; but it took a good deal longer than that for us to place that ugly alligator hors dti combat. We fired bullet after bullet into the animal's seemingly impervious body ; we beat him about the head with our musket stocks ; we ran our bayonets into him ; we pelted him with the biggest stones the region afforded, but these modes of attack were apparently ineffectual. At length, one of the more thoughtful of the boys sent a well-directed bullet into his savage eye and another into his gaping mouth, and our efforts were soon rewarded by seeing the huge animal slowly yield up the ghost. Of course, we had to measure him, and he measured from the tip of his tail to the tip of his nose about nine feet. His carcass was dragged off into the adjacent woods, and there left for future inspection by the incredulous. iS IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISLINA IN 1S63. I must say a word about the water we had to drink at Boutte Station. It was what was familiarly known as " tank water/' As the name indicates, it was rainwater that had been caught in an immense wooden tank. Some of these tanks held several hundreds of gallons. This tank water, after standing for a few weeks, became so foul as to be unfit for a human being to drink; indeed, no Connecticut farmer would for a moment think of offer- ing it to his cows to drink. And yet, we had to drink it, except we walked a distance of four Jiiiles to the Mississippi River, and en- joyed the luxury of a drink from the " Father of Waters.'' This we occasionally did ; of which, more will be said. The tank water, which was of necessity our regular beverage, aside, of course, from coffee, after remaining in the wooden tank for a few weeks, became filled with what are sometimes termed "wrig- glers" (this may not be the scientific name for them, but it is, however, a highly suggestive one), a tiny insect of remarkable rapidity of movement. Once in a while the boys would climb up the side of the tank on a ladder or box, so as to look over the top into the water, and we would then strike with a stick or stone on the outside of the tank, and behold ! the water would suddenly become alive with the wrigglers. It verily seemed as if there were millions of them. In a few moments the wrigglers would assume their usual place around the inner sides of the tank, and become en- tirely (|uiescent, until again disturbed by some curious Yankee soldier. ' Although the water was drawn from a wooden faucet near the bottom of the tank, the water was almost invariably tepid and unwholesome ; and the wonder is that the company were not prostrated with sickness of some sort during the nearly four months we were encamped at Boutte Station. You may be as- sured the boys did not drink any more of that foul water than they were absolutely obliged to; and if the entire company had taken to using whisky for a drink it would, it seems to me, have been i)erfectly justifiable under the circumstances. And I will not deny that some of the boys drank fully as much whisky as tank water. To walk to the Mississippi River and get a drink from that IX THE LOWLANDS OF LOl'ISLVXA IN 1S63. 19 swift-flo^Ying stream was considered a great treat ; and yet, when I tell you that the water we dipped from the " Father of Waters" was scarcely less uuhealthful than the aforesaid tank water, you will doubtless wonder why we preferred it. The explanation is as follows : The Mississippi River, as you may be aware, runs at the rate of from seven to ten miles an hour ; one of the conse- quences of which is that the water is decidedly muddy. It is a red mud, and so full of red mud is the water, that if a cup is dipped from the river and permitted to stand for a short time, there can be seen at the bottom of the cup a thick, reddish sedi- ment. Notwithstanding this, the boys drank the water from the Mississippi with great relish. Why? Because it was compara- tively cool, and because there were no nasty wrigglers in it. If the boys who drank this river water had thereafter " no sand," it certainly wasn't because the beverage was lacking in that es- sential ingredient of human character. It is still a question in my mind, which of Lincoln's boys in blue faced the greater peril, those at Port Hudson and Vicksburg, or those doing duty in the lowlands of Louisiana (some portions of which are from six to ten feet below the surface of the Missis- sippi River), with its malarial atmosphere, its unwholesome wa- ter and its disease-imparting mosquitoes and poisonous reptiles. Early on the morning of the 5th of May, the anniversary, by the way, of my nineteenth birthday, a squad of men from our company was detailed to cross the Mississippi River, for the pur- pose of dispersing a band of Confederate guerillas. I was not among the number at first detailed, but wishing for a little relief from the monotony of camp life, I asked and received permission to accompany the squad. Upon reaching the opposite side of the river, we learned that a number of slaves on one of the large plantations had risen and had threatened the life of their master, a reputed Union man, and that we had been sent over to quell the insurrection. This was somewhat mortifying to the boys who were itching for a scrap with the Confederates. The oral expres- sions of disappointment and chagrin were of such a character as to be scarcely proper for repetition in this presence. The squad from Company F was in charge of one Lieutenant Brainard (so says a letter written home by me soon after the oc- 20 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISLANA IN 1S63. curreuce), of another regiment. After marching about a mile from the landing-place, making nearly five miles we had marched since leaving camp in the morning, we reached the plantation where the incipient insurrection was in progress. Lieutenant Brainard at once reported to the master whose slaves had risen, after which the squad was marched to the slaves' quarters, situ- ated in the rear of the house, for the purpose of arresting the ringleaders. We found only three of the insurrectionists at their quarters, the others having disappeared on hearing of our ap- proach. Lieutenant Brainard immediately threw out a guard to pre- vent the rest of the slaves from leaving the plantation ; but de- spite his efforts, about forty of them escaped to the adjacent woods. At about ten o'clock a. m. the guard was ordered in, and the entire squad spent the remainder of the forenoon under the com- fortable shade of an old oak tree. At twelve o'clock the entire squad was invited into the house to dinner ; and for the first time in several months I sat down to a table spread with a white cloth, and partook of an excellent dinner. Dinner over, we all again sought the shelter of the oak tree, where we passed the afternoon, some in reading and others in lounging and sleeping. After tea, another guard was posted. The mosquitoes were so troublesome that I got but little sleep during the night. Next morning, after breakfast, having accomplished our mis- sion, we started, with three slaves as prisoners, recrossed the Mis- sissippi, and, at about eleven o'clock, reached camp at Boutte Station. While Company F was encamped at Boutte Station, one of the members of our company and I were permitted to visit Bra- shear City — and I hold in my hand the pass given us by our com- pany commander. I think you will be interested to hear it read : IN THR LOWLANDS OF LOULSL^NA IN 1863. 21 " BouTTE Station, O. G. W. R. R. " La., May 24th, 1863. '' Pass " Mr. John Woodruff and Andrew Sliermau from Boutte Station to Brashear City and return on the 26th. " D. T. Johnson, " Capt. of Comp. F, 23d Regt., " &Dept. P. M." I have in my haud, also, two letters, written from Boutte Station ; one is dated May 6, 1863, and the other is dated May 22, 1863. It is needless for me to remark that I prize these let- ters very highly ; not alone for the interesting data they contain, but for the host of pleasant memories they revive — memories of a period of my life when the words of the poet following were marvelously true : " Hope with a goodly prospect feeds the eye. Shows from a rising ground possessions nigh, Shortens the distance or o'erlooks it quite. So easy 'tis to^travel with the sight." In the latter part of May, 1863, orders came to our company to prepare at once for removal to Brashear City ; and at twelve o'clock on one Monday we boarded the cars, and at about five o'clock on the evening of the same day we were at our destina- tion. In a few hours our tentS; were pitched, and our regimental camp was once more arranged. The bulk of General Banks' troops were laying siege to Port Hudson ; and in their ab.sence. General " Dick " Taylor, a son of ex-President " Zack " Taylor, by the way, resolved to drive from western Louisiana the Union soldiers left there chiefly for guard duty. A small Union force was, therefore, concentrated at Bra- shear City to meet General Taylor, including a battery from Rhode Island ; Colonel Holmes, of our regiment, was placed in command of the troops at that point. Three companies of our regiment were advantageously posted along the line of the rail- road leading from the east into Brashear City. It was expected however, that the principal resistance to the Confederates would be made at Brashear City. 22 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. On the ist of June, 1863, the Confederates attacked with a small force the hospital at Berwick Cit^-, another settlement with a high-sounding name, on the opposite side of a bay (Berwick Bay) about an eighth of a mile in width, which separates Bra- / shear City and Berwick City. Company K of our regiment in- stantly embarked on a small steamer lying at the village wharf, and was soon followed by Companies G, I and C. This force, in command of Captain Crofut of Company G, advanced rapidly, and drove off the Confederates on the double-quick, afterward covering those who were engaged in removing the Union sick and wounded and the Government property. (. Colonel Holmes was soon prostrated with sickness, and he was not again able to perform the duties of a soldier. I Lieutenant-Colonel Wordeu being ill, the command of the regiment then devolved upon Major Miller. Lieutenant Colonel Stickuey, of a Massachusetts regiment, \ now assumed the command at Brashear City. Under the severe discipline of Lieutenant-Colonel Stickney our regiment knew no rest. Despite the warning given to the ] commanding officer, by Major Miller, that "Colonel Stickney, you are killing the men of my regiment ! " the men at Brashear City were kept moving every day, and lay upon their arms almost every night, and the result was that in ten days half the entire number of soldiers at Brashear City were on the sick list. On the 3d of June our company received orders to fall into line with guns and accoutrements. Because of the impaired physical condition of many of the men. Lieutenant Middlebrooks, who was in command of Company F (the captain being at the time provost marshal of Brashear City), announced that anyone w'ho did not feel able to march could remain in camp ; and some four or five fell out of the ranks. We then, in command of Lieu- tenant Middlebrooks, marched to the wharf in the village, where we took a small steamer across Berwick Bay to Berwick City. Companies H and K soon followed us across the bay. Our forces further up the country had captured, a tew days previously, a large number of cattle and horses, and they had been driven down to Berwick City for safekeeping. It hav- IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN iS6.v 23 ing been reported that the Confederates purposed attempting their recapture, we were sent across to foil the attempt. Soon after crossing, we saw at some distance above Berwick Cit3' the Confederate force drawn up in line of battle, apparently awaiting attack from us. For some reason, perhaps the fear of our artillery on the Brashear City side, the Confederates did not attack us; and as the Union force was, as I remember it, much smaller than that of the enemy, our commanding officer deemed it the better part of valor not to bring on an engagement. So we contented ourselves with guarding the cattle and horses, and preventing their recapture by the needy Confederates. This we did by gathering them at the lower end of the village, under the cover of our guns on the Brashear City side. Among the incidents of the day in Berwick City were the following : One of our men who ventured too near the Con- federate lines, had a horse shot from under him ; and several ne- groes who had accompanied the Union forces across the bay were killed by the enemy. The Confederates cherished a special dis- like for negroes in any way affiliated with Yankee soldiers. During our stay in Berwick City I procured a bridle, capt- ured a horse, and rode bareback to my heart's content. In capt- uring the horse, I strayed upon the Confederates' picket line ; and having left my musket with one of my comrades, and being, therefore, in a defenseless state, I had a narrow escape from capt- ure. Some of the boys who had watched me said afterward they thought [ was " a goner." Peter Hughes — " Bishop Hughes," we used to call him — a jolly son of the Emerald Isle, who belonged to my company, wish- ing to have, as he expre.ssed it, "a little fun," tied a red hand- kerchief to the end of his bayonet and audaciously waved it in the face of a big steer ; whereupon the steer became infuriated and ran toward Hughes with evidently murderous intent. At all ev^ents, Hughes took to his heels, and barely escaped being gored to death by his four-legged pursuer. Hughes was thoroughly frightened. In subsequently relating the incident to the boys in camp, he invariably concluded with : " Och ! begorra ! but Oi'll uiver flag a cow agin ! '' and I don't believe he ever did. 24 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. It was this same comrade who expressed himself so emphat- ically with regard to the quinine with which he was dosed in the hospital, whither he had been taken for some illness. The qui- nine must have been given him in large doses, with the usual ringing sensation in the head ; and it may have produced other unpleasant sensations, for after his return to the company, his displeasure found vigorous expression in the words: "D — n the the kenan ! D — n the kenan ! " Another characteristic of Comrade Hughes, which clings like a thistle to my memory, was his inability to keep step in march- ing ; with the inevitable consequence that the comrade in front of him was not infrequently obliged to sing out : " Keep off my heels, will you ? " I have in my hands, Mr. President and Comrades, a letter written to "my best girl" at home, containing a statement of many of the circumstances of the expedition across Berwick Bay, of which I have been speaking. The letter was written from " Brashear City, June 4, 1863, Eighty-six miles west of New Or- leans." You will notice that it is written on a sheet of paper con- taining one of the patriotic embellishments so common in " the sixties." About the middle of June, 1863, Lieutenant-Colonel Stickney, having been informed that the Confederates were coming down the Bayou La Fourche, from the Plaquemine district, took all the men he thought could be spared from Brashear City, and moved down to La Fourche Crossing, about thirty miles to the eastward, toward New Orleans. Companies B and E of our regiment were already at La Fourche Crossing. When our company was drawn up in line preparatory to starting for La Fourche Crossing, I fell in with the rest of the boys. Our commanding officer. Lieutenant Middlebrooks, upon seeing me in the ranks, said : "Andrew, you can't go; you're not able"; and notwith- standing my reiterated wish to accompany the boys, I was not permitted to go to La Fourche Crossing. The fact is, I was just out of the local hospital, and was very IN THi; LOWLANDS O.F LOUISL^NA IN 1863. 25 much reduced in strenijth from the disease so prevalent amoni,' the boys in the hivvlands of Louisiana. So I remained at I>rashear City, with what result, we shall see. Soon after the arrival of the reinforcements taken by Lieu- tenant-Colonel Stickney to La Fourche Crossing, the Union force there was attacked by the Confederate cavalry ; but the enemv were repulsed after a sharp engagement. At about 5 o'clock on the evening of June 21st, the Confed- erate infantry and artillery, in command of Gen. " Dick " Tay- lor, attacked our forces at La Fourche Crossing, the latter of whom were behind breastworks thrown up for the occasion. The I'nion forces were supportetl by several pieces of light artillery, planted just inside the breastworks. . The Confederates, full of whisky and gunpowder (as was ascertained by an examination of their canteens left on the battlet^eld in front of the Union breastworks), which made them utterly regardless of life, came up to the very mouths of our cannon during the engagement, and, placing their hands upon them, demanded their surrender. The audacious Confederates were either shot down or ba\-oiieteti where they stood. The engagement at La Fourche Crossing, which lasted about thirty minutes, was a hot one ; and demonstrated the fact that Connecticut nine months troops could tight with honor to their State and country. I have been told by comrades who took part in the fight at La Fourche Crossing, that on the following morning the Confed- erate dead and wounded were found in windrows on the field in front of our breastworks. Our loss was comparatively small, owing, doubtless, to the fact that the Union troops were behind breastworks ; but among the killed and wounded were some of the Hovver of the regiment. Company F did not escape. The comparative numerical weakness of the L'nion force for- bade a pursuit of the enemy. On the 22d of June the Confederates sent into our lines a flag of truce ; and over a hundred of their dead and wounded were delivered up to them. We captured about tifty prisoners. 26 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. Of the engagement at La Fourche Crossing, we at Brashear City did not, of course, learn until some time afterward. On the 23d of June Lieutenant-Colonel Stickney, in pursu- ance of orders from headquarters, fell back with the forces un- .. ( der his immediate command, including the bulk of the Twenty- third Connecticut, on New Orleans, thus uncovering Brashear City. The Twenty-third Connecticut were encamped in New Or- leans until June 26th, when they were ordered to Camp Fair, IVIetaire Racecourse. Let us now return to Brashear City. C At about ^ o'clock on the morning of June 23d the Confeder- ates began throwing shell from Berwick City across the interven- ing bay into Brashear City ; but every shell went clear over our ' regimental camp and, so far as 1 am now able to recall, exploded in an open field in the rear, without injury to men or camp. Li retrospect, those were most significant facts. It was great sport, as I distinctly recollect, for the boys, few ( of whom had ever witnessed such a sight, to watch the shells in their encircling aerial flight across the bay and as they exploded in our rear. This almost incessant shelling, which was kept up for two hours or more, was evidently, as we learned when it was too late to profit by the knowledge, done to divert the attention of the Union troops in Brashear City ; for during all this time a Confed- f erate force was marching by a circuitous and extremely difficult route to attack us in the rear. To reach our rear the enemy had to get through a dense swamp, which had been considered im- passable by the Union troops. This probably accounts for the fact that no Union pickets had been placed at that point, and the alert enemy, taking advantage of our neglect, got into our rear " as slick as a pin." Major R, C. Anthony seems to have been in command at Brashear City on that fateful June morning in 1863. At about 8 o'clock on the morniiT^ mentioned, the Confeder- I ates, consisting of about 800 men, mostly Texans, with a yell that made one's hair stand on end "like quills upon the fretful IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOl"ISL\NA IN 1S63. 27 porcupine," came rushing- in from a piece (jf woods just back of j the village upon a thoroughly surprised Union camp. We had not to exceed 150 effective men at Rrashear City, and of those only about fifty were formed in battle line in one of our company streets, the remainder being scattered about the village, some having been firing from behind rude breastworks '" on the shore of the bay, across the bay, into Berwick City. Oth- ers had been loitering about the village at different i)oints — and all totally unprepared for attack. The few men of the Twenty-third, under the command of two of our regimental captains, Jenkins and Crofut, after making | a brief but heroic stand against the overwhelming Confederate force, were compelled to surrender. I do not hesitate to declare that the pluck exhibited by those fifty men and their oiificers was of the highest character. As the Confederates moved down toward the lower part of the village, they encoimtered some resistance from isolated squads of Union soldiers ; and ni several instances individual Union soldiers stood and fired at the oncoming Confederates. For example : While facing, in the vicinity of the local hos- pital, and heroically fighting two or three Confederate soldiers, Thomas C. Cornell, of Company D, fell, shot in the forehead. Later in the day, I saw the lifeless body of ComradeCornell lying where he had fallen. A member of Company F, Samuel Oulds, about eighteen years of age, a special chum of mine, who had just been dis- charged from the local hospital, was wounded in the arm while fighting single-handed, in Indian fashion, from behind a tree, as the Confederates came into the village. Comrade Oulds' arm was afterward amputated, in consequence of which he died seventeen days later, and his body now lies in Southern soil. He was as brave a soldier as ever wore the Union blue. Memorial Day never comes round but this comrade is uppermost in my thought. I was at a considerable distance from the regimental camp when the Confederates came rushing into Brashear City with their unearthly yell. With others — I distinctly recollect "Sam- my" Oulds of my company as having been one of them — I had been down on the shore of Berwick Bay, behind the rude earth- 2S IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOX'ISIANA IX rSoj. works there constructed, firing across the bay at Confederates who had climbed on the housetops, evidently for the purpose of watchf ing the movements of the Union troops on the Brashear City side. Among those on the housetops, as we subsequently learned, was one General Green. Our firing across the baj' was not altogether ineffective, for I saw several heads diick after the discharge of our muskets, among them General Green's, as I was informed by a Confederate soldier, after the fight at Brashear City. When I first saw the Confederates they were rushing in squads of fifteen or twenty men through the streets ot the village, yelling and firing as they came. I was then entirely separated from my company comrades, and the few Union soldiers who were in sight were unknown to me. With a few of these un- known soldiers I started for the lower part of the village, our ob- jective being, so far I can now recall, the big frame building on the shore of Berwick Bay- Here we could join a squad of the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts regiment, which had been perform- ing special guard duty there. It was while on our way to this building ihai. lor the first time in my army life, I saw a Union soldier wounded. I shall never forget the scene ! This soldier, whoever it may have been (^and 1 have often wondered), was hit somewhere in the lower part of the body : wiih a shriek that I can now almost hear, he clapped both hands over his abdomen, bending nearly double as he did so. The wound was probably fatal The bullets were now flying all about me ; they seemed to be coming from two or three directions, and it verily seemed as if every bullet was aimed at me, and that each particular bullet would hit me. This feeling, however, gradually wore off. Still. 1 prefer being in this place to facing Confederate bullets, as they flew about me with their '"zip," "zip," on that June day forty- five years ago. Instead of going into the big building for which, with others. I had started, I ran down the railroad track a short distance and climbed into an open freight car standing on the track. From this car I fired for a few minutes at the onrushing Con- federates. It was a strange sight to see the enemy rushing furi- IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 29 ously around the corners of the adjacent buildings, yelling as they came. Each one seemed to mean business. The car into which 1 had climbed had been fitted up with wooden railroad sleepers on the sides and ends for reconnoitering purposes along the line of the railroad. These sleepers formed an excellent protection. In the car, when I reached it, were a few Union soldiers, and also a few negroes. I do not recollect whether these negroes were armed or not, but I do distinctly recollect that the Confederate fire was soon concentrated on this car; the bullets fairly rained against the side nearest the upper part of the village — evidently because of the presence of the negroes. Tumbling at length to this fact, I concluded it was the better part of valor to change my base, which I did by slipping from the rear side of the car aiid falling into line with the squad of Massachusetts soldiers which had just emerged from the big building where they had been performing guard duty. To have remained in that freight car five minutes longer, would have been certain, and brutal, death to a white soldier ; of that I was satisfied. As the squad of Union soldiers were marching parallel to, and in the rear of the train of freight cars on the track, and as the sergeant in command, a large, fine-looking fellow, was pass- ing the opening between two of the cars, a Confederate bullet hit him in the left arm. The squad of Massachusetts men stood for a few minutes after coming out from behind the freight cars and fired at the Confederates ; but they were soon overwhelmed, and we scat- tered to places of safety ; each one looking out for himself. I had fired all my ammunition and, seeing that it was all up with us, I threw my musket and empty cartridge box into a deep ditch just above the railroad track and started toward camp. I was soon accosted by a Confederate major, who personally demanded my surrender ; and as this seemed the only sensible thing to do under the circumstances, I readily acceded to the demand. Seeing that I was without a musket, the officer inquired of me what had become of it, and upon being informed that I had 30 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. thrown it into the water, he manifested his appreciation of my thoughtfuiness for Uncle Sam by a broad, good-natured smile. As near as I can recollect, it was at about 1 1 o'clock in the 1 day when the firing in the village ceased and the Confederates took possession ; it may not, however, have been later than about 10 o'clock. About 12 o'clock, the Union prisoners were marched up to a spot near where the Rhode Island battery had been stationed. Here, the Confederates gave us a few pounds of wheat fl(»ur ; and this, so far as I observed, was the only food they gave us while were in their hands, notwithstanding they had captured enough hardtack, salt-horse and other rations to supply an army for several weeks. Of the flour dealt out to us by the enemy we made what were termed "flapjacks,'' which I assure you were greatly en- joyed by hungry Union soldiers. The flapjacks were supple- mented by a small quantity of coffee and sugar, which we were fortunate enough to have in our haversacks. As for our knapsacks, the Confederates had captured them, and, indeed, everything else belonging to us except what we had on our backs. In my knapsack I had several letters which I had found in the garret of General '• Dick" Taylor's house near the Mississippi River ; some choice shells picked up on Ship Island. There must, also, have been other articles in my knapsack left in my tent, including, probably, a few love letters. Besides my extra clothing, there were in my tent several orangewood sticks for canes, which I had intended bringing home. I have often wondered what became of these articles, captured by the Confed- erates on that June morning. From "The Twenty-third Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry in the War of the Rebellion," I quote the following : " The enemy, after the repulse at La Fourche, retreated down the railroad to Brashear, capturing small detachments guarding the different stations. Captain Julius Sandford. Compa- ny C, at Bayou Boeuf, finding it impossible to hold the place, fired the large sugar house in which was stored a large quantity of officers' baggage and regimental stores belonging to the troops IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 51 engaged before Port Hudson, to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy. ' On the 25th and 26th of June the Union soldiers captured at Brashear City and at Bayou Boeuf were paroled. I have with me a duplicate of my parole. I prize it highly, I will read it : ** Headquarters C. S. Forces, South of Red River. " Brashear City, La., June 25th, 1863. " I, Private A. M. Sherman, Co. F 23d Regt. C. V^ols., do solemnly swear and pledge this, my Parole of Honor, that I will not take up arms against the Confederate States, or their allies, nor in any manner whatsoever aid, assist, or abet the Govern- ment of the United States, during the existing war, until regularly and duly exchanged. "A. M. Sherman. " Attest : A. J. Watt, A. D. C, " C. S. A." Across this parole duplicate are written the words : " Attest, R. C. Anthony, Maj. U. S. A., Cmdg," in the major's hand- writing. The parole also bears the signature of the Confederate aide- de-camp, as well as my own. The commissioned officers captured at Brashear City and at Bayou Boeuf, were taken to Tyler, Texas, where they were kept as prisoners of war until July, 1864, a period of thirteen months. It was a sad sight to see the ofHcers — particularly of our own regiment — turn toward Texas and a Confederate prison ; but they deported themselves like men. The scene of the parting of the officers and privates on this occasion is ineffaceably impressed upon my memory. Of the faces of our officers about to start for Texas those of Captain Hopkins and Lieutenant Hurlburt ("Char- lie"' Hurlburt, as he was called when off duty) alone linger in my visual memory. At the end of three days the captured Union soldiers started, under Confederate guard, for the Union lines, then at Algiers. When 1 tell you that fully nine-tenths of the Union prisoners were convalescents, but recently discharged from the hospital at Bra- sheaf City, you will not be surprised to hear that we were sevew 32 IX THE LOWLAXDS OF LOUISIAXA IK iS6.;. days in marching a distance of about one hundred miles : and that on that march, so enfeebled were most of the boys from recent illness that the line was several miles in length. So far as I was able to observe, the Confederate guard were very considerate in their treatment of their prisoners : which i^ accounted for, as I have always thought, by the fact that the guard was composed of Te.xans, whose ancestors were from the North and West. I conversed very freely with several Confederate officers on the march toward the Union lines, about the war, its causes, its progress and its probable outcome. One otttcer, in particular, seemed to enjoy the boyish enthusiasm with which I conducted my side of the discussion. Many incidents of great interest occurred on our march ; of these. I can now relate only a few. For at least one-half the distance from Brashear City to Al- giers we marched on the railroad, the general course of which was east and west. With the southern sun beating directly down upon us, and with dense forest on either side of the track, which shut out any air that may have been stirring, the heat on those June days was almost unbearable to men so recently out of the hospital. I recall that on one afternoon during the march on the rail- road I became so thoroughly exhausted from the heat and fatigue that, staggering down the embankment, and finding a compara- tively dry spot, I lay down, with the feeling that I should not rise again ; indeed, I did not care whether I ever rose again or not. I fell asleep. After an hour or more I was awakened by the Confederate rear guard, and, very much refreshed from my sleep, I resumed the march toward the Union lines. On either side of the railroad on which we marched it was decidedly swampy, and there was an abundance of stagnant water, covered with a thick, green scum. This water the boys were sometimes obliged to drink to relieve their extreme thirst. Kneeling down on the ground, we would push aside the ofttimes heavy scum and drink water, every mouthful of which contained poisonous matter. Alligators were numerous all along the railroad, and some IN THK LOWLANDS OF LorLSL\NA IN 1863. 35 were of such dimensions that we did not care, in our defenseless condition, to disturb them. My chum, during- most of the march, was "Pep" Short, a member of my company. On the march, the Confederates did not give us one morsel of food to eat ; hence it was forage, or go hungry, and the latter we were disinclined to do. We had brought a little coffee and sugar with us from Brashear City, and occasionally stopping by the way we would build a little fire and boil some coffee in the familiar and indispensable tin can. A few ears of sweet corn plucked from an adjacent field and roasted over our coffee fire were considered a great treat by two hungry Union soldiers. That we had good teeth for eating sweet corn *' off the cob" goes without saynig. As for blankets, neither " Pep " nor 1 had one ; henceforth the Confederates would sleep under our gray blankets. I recall that on one night in particular our only coverings were the rail- ings of the rude southern fence under which we bunked. The bare ground was, of course, our only bed. These things I men* tion, not as examples of the hardships we endurexl, but because of the ludicrous aspect of these incidents as I now look back on them from the standpoint of present comforts. Tired from the long march, and almost famished after a prolonged fast, my chum and I came one evening to a plantation which had been abandoned by everyone ex'cept a few negroes. Entering- a hut, we requested the occupants, a somewhat aged negro couple, to furnish us with some hoecake and sweet pota- toes, which they willingly did. The potatoes were baked in the ashes of the big fireplace and the hoecake was cooked in the tyj)- ical southern iron frying pan. That late supper, so far as our relish of it was concerned, could not be surp;isseil by the best course dinner ever served at Delmonico's. In payment for that appetizing plantation supper I gave the negroes a five-dollar Confederate bill, which 1 had been sacredly keeping to bring home as a souvenir, and I received as change a two-dollar Confederate bill. This two-dollar bill I brought home and I have it among my modest collection of Civil War sou- venirs. Inasmuch as the Confederates were so soon to reoccu|)v 34 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISLINA IN 1S63. that portion of the State, their money was readily accepted by the negroes who fed us. On reaching- Boutte Station my chum and I struck off into the country about half a mile, our objective being a house which we had frequently visited during our four months' sojourn at that place. The family, we discovered on reaching the house, were all gone and the doors were fastened. We were two hungry soldiers ; we knew this family during our stay at Boutte Station to have been in sympathy with the Southern cause, hence our scruples were easily overcome. We broke open one of the doors, and entered and ransacked the house from cellar to garret in the hope of finding something to cat. All we found were two or three loaves of dry bread, covered with green mold ; we were not hungry enough to eat such ra- tions. Continuing our search, we came across an old wooden chest, painted red. It took us but a few moments to go through that chest, and our search was rewarded by the discovery of what, upon due examination, proved to be two bottles of good whis- ky. " Pep '' Short confiscated one bottle, and, more for the mis- chief of it than otherwise, I appropriated the other. We then re- sumed the march toward the Union lines. Although I was not addicted to the use of strong drink in any form while in the army, I did, after our arrival at Algiers, use some of the confiscated Confederate whisky ; sharing it, howev- er, with my old tent chum, whom I had not seen since the morn- ing the bulk of Company F and the regiment went to La Fourche Crossing, where they helped to whip the Confederates so nicely. The bottle I brought home, and it was in use for several years before it was accidentally broken. The first turtle soup I ever ate was in Algiers, during my short stay there ; and for that soup I paid, in greenbacks, two dollars per plate, and I was so hungry, after having boarded with the. Con federates for about ten days, that I think I would have been willing to pay double that sum. The paroled prisoners of the Twenty-third Connecticut were soon started for Ship Island, there to await exchange. Concerning the regimental organization, the following extract from "The Twenty-third Regiment Connecticut Volunteer In- IN THE LOWLANDS OP LOULSLVNA IN 1863. .■^s fantry in the War of the Rebellion " will ^ive us some informa- tion : "July 1st, the regiment was in camp at Congo Square, New Orleans. July 4th, as an attempt to recapture the city of New Orleans was expected, the regiment, together with all the troops quartered there, was on duty patrolling the city. July 25tli, the regiment was ordered to camp at Bonnet Carre." I thank you, INlr. President and Comrades, for the opportun- ity of reviewing, with you, a portion of our experiences in the Lowlands of Louisiana in 1S63. ERR.\TA. Page 15 (top line). For "Captain Alfred Mills," read Cap- tain Alfred Wells. i, Gulf of Mexico, July 28, 1863. Dear -^^^-^ r Vours of the 12th in."*t. was duly received. * * * * When } tell you that this island on which we have ])een encamped since the first part of the month, consists almost entirely of line, whit^ sand, with scarcely a tree for shade or ornament, antl with only here and there a patch of grass, you cannot doulit the propriety of applying the word •' barren" to our present (piarters. In this sand our tents are pitched, and on this sand, with a mere blanket for a bed, we lie, and sleep as best we can, with the various insects that minister to our (dis)comfort. ( )ur shoes arc never free from the irritating presence of this sand. ^'ou may find it difficult to believe me when I say that from 10.- 30 A. M. till about 1.30 p. M. the sand is so hot from the sun's rays that an attempt on t)ur part to walk in it with bare feet, as some of the acclimated natives do, "vvill prove so painful as to deter one from a second attempt. The comfortable nights which we invariably have offset, to a considerable degree, other inconveniences we suffer. Every steamer that lands at the wharf is eagerly watched by the boys, in the oft-disappointed hope that it is the one to take us to the land of trees, and shrubbery, and grass, and to our regimental comrades wlio are strangely endeared to us. IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOflSL^NA IN iS6.v 37 We ha\c picked up on the beaches of this island, in our wanderings here and there, ipiite a few pretty shells, and as the M^jhting- days of the 23d are now passed, there is a good prospect t)f my getting some of them home for preservation, as reminders of our sojourn in the malarial lowlands of Louisiana, and espe- cially of our encampment on this barren isle. Our journey from New Orleans to Ship Island was an amus- ing as well as an exciting one. A portion of the journey lay through a narrow canal, and our conveyance was a small stern- wheel steamboat, which in the North would be a decided curiosi- ty. The wheel by which these boats were propelled was at the rear end of the vessel, and resembled an overshot wheel, such as used to be seen in many of the old mills at the North " befo' de wah." The amusing part of our journey through the canal con- sisted of the frequency with which the steamer ran first against one side and then against the other of the narrow canal, some- times nearly taking us off our feet with the short, sharp, abrupt manner in which the homely craft came to a standstill, and caus- ing great hilarity among the boys, who, after a good rest, were overflowing with animal spirits. The banter of which the i)oor captain of the boat was the object, must have thoroughly tested his peppery Southern temper. Soon after entering Lake Pontchartrain we made a brief land- ing and re-embarked on a sidewheel steamer, and after a delight- ful trip through the lake, with its picturesque surroundings, we reached Ship Island, the first sight of which was productive of no little merriment on the part of those who had not been there before. The only circumstance to mar the enjoyment of our trip through Lake Ponchartrain was the incessant reports of the pres- ence of Confederate guerillas along the shores, ready to hre into a comparatively defenseless transport, and perhaps send us to the bottom, wdth no chance for self-defense ; but the guerrillas, for some reason, did not appear, and we went on our way unmo- lested. We were, however, kept on the qui rhr every moment until we emerged in the broad waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Many of the boys are making an effort to " kill time " with cards and checkers ; others have suddenly blossomed into stud- 38 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1S63, ents, and a book or periodical is their constant companion. I have re-read "Hamlet" and "The Lady of Lyons" with new pleasure, and have thus made more tolerable our life on this waste of nature. But already I have, I fear, exceeded the limits of acceptability ; so with kindest regards to Mrs. , and hoping that letter- writing between us may soon cease, I remain as ever, Yours sincerely, A. M. Sherman. As I close my letter, a report is in circulation that we are soon to return to New Orleans, ])reparatory to being mustered out. I only hope it is true. [The above letter must have been written early in the day, for at about nine o'clock in the evening of the 28th of July the paroled prisoners of our regiment had rejoined the regiment at Bonnet Carre, above the Crescent City.] IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISIANA IN 1863. 39 Cairo, 111., August 17, 1863. Dear : After an exceedingly interesting trip of about ten clays from Bonnet Carre, La., we arrived here to-day, and I hasten to write you, with the expectation that this letter will reach you some hours before the Twenty-third will reach Connecticut. We left New Orleans on Tuesday, July 2Sth, the same day of our arrival from Ship Island, and reached Bonnet Carre about nine o'clock the same day. On Sunday morning, August 9th, we left Bonnet Carre on the river steamer " Chamberville," and the ecstacy of the boys in realizing that their faces were turned homeward is indescrib- able. On our way up the Mississippi we stopped several times : at Port Hudson, the scene of the never-to-be-forgotten "forlorn hope," on the iith of August. Here we buried one of Company E's boys. On the morning of the 13th we went ashore and buried in sadness, on the banks of the swiftly-flowing river, another of E's boys. On the 14th we arrived at Vicksburg, where we spent a few hours in hastily inspecting the famous battleground, and where we buried one of Company B's boys. At Vicksburg we changed boats, going on board the "Albert Pierce." On the 15th, after leaving Vicksburg, we threw overboard a negro, who had died on the boat. We stopped for an hour or so at Helena, Ark., where I pur- chased some cheese at the rate of seventy-five cents per pound ; and more delicious cheese I never tasted. One of our chief pleasures on the homeward trip was the fresh bread served out to the boys by the quartermaster at seve- ral different points where we stopped. To say that the Mississippi River is crooked, is to convey a very inadequate idea of its tortuous course, which frequently ren- ders it necessary to sail many miles to gain a short distance. But our trip was not entirely pleasant. I cannot tell you 40 IN THE LOWLANDS OF LOUISLINA IN 1S65, how many times our steamer, a stern-wheeler, ran against a huge snag in the river, forcing the steam from the boiler in great clouds, and producing, until we became accustomed to it, the greatest consternation among the boys, of whom there must have been nearly 1,000 on board, as portions of regiments other than the Twenty-third, came up the river with us. But the snags and the escaping steam were not our greatest annoyance by any means. Along the western shore, at several points, small bodies of Confederate soldiers could be seen ; and the report coming to us at one of our landing-places that the Confederates had artillery and would fire into our boat, we were got in readiness to. land and punish these audacious troublers. Several rifle balls were fired into our boat, but fortunately no one was hurt, and we did not land, although the boys were itching to do so. Making a landing for a supply of wood for the boat, several of the boys assisted in loading, taking great sticks on their shoul- ders and running across the gang-plank with the agility of old salts. As we approached Island No. 10 all eyes were wide open to get sight of this scene of so many thrilling naval exploits ; and how glad we were to set our feet on loyal soil at this place ! We expect soon to leave here on the cars for home. Thi^> is probably my last letter to you by mail ; the next one, I hope to bring myself. Till then, good-bye. Yours sincerely, A. 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