have just fifty-nine men to answer to their names out of the five
hundred or so that started in the morning. Bayou Vermillion is a
considerable stream. The enemy are crossing when we come in
sight. They set the bridge on fire, and we have an opportunity to
rest while it is rebuilt.
"Through some mistake we had retained our knapsacks, and
so were in heavy marching order. The road was bordered by
a hedge of orange-trees, whose fruit the soldiers could gather as
they passed. Everywhere were signs of great wealth. The day
124 HISTORY OF THE 52D REGIMENT
grew burning hot. We marched rapidly on, stopping occasionally
to catch our breath. It was a forced march. Gen. Banks knows
that every commander has been censured for not following up suc-
cess, and now the success was to be followed up. Right, it should
be so. Honor to our leader's energy ! But you people who
clamor for rapid movements, how little do you know what these
things cost the poor infantry soldiers ! I felt well, and marched
with the best ; but, when it grew to be late afternoon, there was
something cruel about the steadfastness with which the blue and
white brigade flag kept the road in advance. It turned at last into
a field, which was to be our bivouac. We accomplished that day
twenty-five miles by universal agreement, marching from seven in
the morning till sundown. During the night the enemy retreated
again, and we were early in pursuit. The road was still beautiful,
but the heat became most oppressive. I have never found march-
ing so difficult. Men exhausted by the rapid movement of the
regiment were turning in under hedge and bush. I was deter-
mined to stand it while I could ; but hotter grew the sun, the dust
filled the stifling air, rests seemed infrequent. I was at the last
point of exhaustion. I turned aside under a clump of bushes, and
had just time to fling open my belt and straps, when my brain
swam. 1 reeled, and had just consciousness enough to break my
fall so as to have my knapsack for a pillow : then down I went,
completely used up. I lay in a stupor thus, half-fainting, half-con-
scious, while within a few feet rolled and rumbled onward the ad-
vancing and victorious army. ' Yah moole,' I heard a darky say
to his mule, 'I know you's tired and weak ' ; but there is no rest
for man or beast. Others came and sat down with me, and so
we rested. A negro came by with chickens and ducks slung on
a pole. I got a duck from him, and from another a handful of
onions to flavor the stew. Thus we reached New Iberia. We
supposed we were to halt for a day or two in this village ; but the
enemy fled fast, so the next morning early we start out on another
tedious march. The order to ' fall in ' came so early and suddenly
that we had no time to make coffee or take any breakfast.
Capt. Long and four companies of the 52d were left behind as a
guard. After a mile or two we came to a turn in the road where
the advance had had a sharp skirmish with the retreating rebels-
Six or seven dead horses along the road, and one poor fellow in
butternut lay stretched on the sod, the morning light on his uncov-
ered face. Five or six more were in a gulley close by. There had
UP THE TECHE 125
been no time to bury them. We, the living, had not even time to
eat, and were sweeping onward in our pursuit.
"It was dreadfully tedious and hot. We marched by the hour
together over dusty plains, under the burning sun. It was noon.
We are still without breakfast. It is now two o'clock, and we
have hobbled on some fourteen miles. I am sadly foot-sore. ' B.,'
I exclaimed at last, ' I will fall out if you will.' He is sick and
weary, more nearly spent than I am. We have half the regiment
for company, strewn along the whole line of our march. We sleep
for an hour by the side of the road, when two men of a Maine
regiment come up with a hand-cart they have confiscated. We
get permission to throw in our burdens, if only we will help draw
the cart. In this way we pull and push forward a mile or two,
our blistered feet making us limp at every step. Night comes,
and every trace of the army disappears. I am for pushing on
through the twilight, but B. is too ill. The Maine men are worn
out, and the vote is to stay till morning. During the evening
other stragglers arrive, ā Bill Wilson's men. Irishmen, negroes, ā
so that we have a large assembly. One fellow has stolen a fiddle,
on whose broken strings he manages to scrape out some tunes.
We listen for a while, but sleep comes very soon. The next morn-
ing we start off, hoping to overtake the regiment. We learn that
they are in a grove on the Bayou Vermillion. So close were they
to the flying remnant of the rebel column that the bridge across
the bayou was still in flames, and had become impassable. As
they stack arms in the rear of Nims's battery, only four men of
Co. D were left, the rest having fallen out. Of the ' Color Guard,'
none were left. Of the five hundred strong that left that morn-
ing, only fifty-nine stood in their places. It was hard.
"Wednesday we accomplished twenty -five miles; Thursday,
twelve or thirteen ; Friday, without any time to cook anything,
eighteen or nineteen. There was more to be done, however.
'Which is better,' said the colonel, 'to undergo all this fatigue
and labor or to have bloody battles and lose half the regiment?'
Banks had the alternative to follow by forced marches on the very
heels of the rebels or to fight battles. He chose the former
course. On Saturday night the bridge was rebuilt, and the 5 2d
was ordered across to guard it. We lay down after dark on the
opposite bank, and presently were drenched in torrents of rain in
a furious tempest. We lay in the pools, under the storm, until
morning : then, with all our baggage weighing double, we started
126 HISTORY OF THE 52D REGIMENT
off through deep mud for Opelousas, accompUshing the march of
twenty-five miles during Sunday and Monday. I have just had a
glance at the map. How little one can tell ! Louisiana is done
up neatly in pink. There is a cool-looking sheet of water, that
dismal Grand Lake where we came pretty near 'going up,' all of
us, on the 'St. Mary.' From Franklin to New Iberia is a little
stretch up through the pink, with not a mention of those dusty
leagues along which we almost left our lives as we limped over
them. The map is unsatisfactory; but catch us forgetting what
ache and sweat and hunger that distance cost us !"
The chaplain to his wife : ā
You suggest in one of your letters that an egg beaten up with
whiskey would be very strengthening on a long march. Yes, un-
doubtedly ; but the trouble is, first, where is the whiskey to come
from, and, secondly, where the egg ? There is the rub. Hard-tack
and coffee Uncle Sam furnishes for such occasions.
April 19. ā Orders came to start early. Capt. Perkins asked
me to eat some chicken broth with him. By the time it was
cooked another shower deluged us. As I ate the broth, about as
much water ran into the cup from my cap and from the clouds as
I could eat with my spoon. So the cup of soup held out a great
while. It was Sunday morning. During the pouring rain the
army was defiling by, the artillery dragging through the mud, and
the infantry soaked with rain. Before the rain was over we
wheeled into the line, and tramped on through mud and water all
day. It was a hard Sunday. Nothing to remind one that it was
Sunday. Our road lay along broad plains, stretching on for miles,
on which were immense herds of cattle. Horses, mules, sheep,
and swine were very abundant ; and the idea of starving out the
rebels, which had been discussed so freely, was seen to be quite
ridiculous. Whenever we stopped for the night, men were at once
sent out, and brought in beef, pork, and poultry for the regiment.
The rebels, as they retreated, attempted to burn, and in many
places succeeded in burning, the cotton ; but we were so near their
heels that they could not do much of that work. Every bridge
they could burn they did, and made us stop to repair it or wade
through the stream.
April 20. ā Monday night brought us to the little tumble-down
town of Opelousas, where we expected the rebels would make a
stand. But they were too much used up for that, and the town
made an unconditional surrender.
UP THE TECHE
127
We reached here as tired and jaded a set of men as you can
think of. Here we rested till Sunday morning in a tolerable camp-
ing ground, only there was no water within a quarter of a mile,
and then it was so muddy and slimy it seemed almost impossible
to drink or wash in it. This lack of decent water is a great draw-
back to this country. On Sunday we marched to Barre's Landing.
From Sergt. Whitney : ā
" Saturday, April 18, we have for a rest. By night the bridge
being completed, we move across the bayou, and camp beside the
road, to protect the new bridge from rebel assault. The chaplain
and sergeant-major have made their beds together for most of
these campaigning nights, and they select a place on which now to
get their sleep. The clouds threatened rain, and the proposed
place is dishing ; but the spot is sheltered by the dense foliage of
a tree, and there are bulging roots for pillows. They have been
too long in the field to be particular, so they roll themselves up in
the blankets, and are soon fast asleep, side by side. Then come
the first drops of rain, increasing in quantity slowly. The chaplain
and sergeant-major are awake enough to keep from being stepped
on ; and at last the rain pours, and, working through the foliage,
falls down upon them. They draw up their rubber blankets, and
the rain falls upon their feet. They push down their blankets, and
it comes through their hair. The chaplain gets up, and looks for
a better place. He comes back. ' Sergeant-major, I have found a
good dry place : you would better come with me.' ' Where is it ? '
sleepily. ' In a pig-pen, ā a nice, dry shelf in a pig-pen, under the
roof. I am going there, and you would better come.' The sergeant-
major aches in every bone, besides being very doubtful whether, in
this excellent and attractive place, there is room enough for two.
' I guess I will stay here ' ; and, after covering himself to keep off
the rain, he goes off to sleep. In half an hour he is disturbed by
some one who proposes to lie down by his side. This is not sur-
prising, for war makes strange bed-fellows. But he sleepily and
mildly asks, ' Who is it .? ' ' It is I,' the chaplain replies : ' I have
come back.' ' What is the matter ? Why did you not stay ? ' A
fresh flash of lightning reveals the chaplain giving an uneasy
scratch to his trousers : it is not necessary for him to add the
single word ' fleas.' In the morning the two comrades find them-
selves on an island in the midst of a considerable pond. Luckily,
by the help of a darky, they are able to dry their blankets before
it pours again."
128 HISTORY OF THE 52D REGIMENT
From Church's journal : ā
'ā ^ April 19. ā With clothes, blankets, etc., wet, weighing twice
their usual weight, we marched on five or six miles to Lafayette.
From Vermillion Bayou a two days' march brought us to Ope-
lousas, fording a bayou where the water was up to our waists.
Dick Taylor's army was thoroughly disposed of. We had followed
them up so closely that they had not time to concentrate. Here
we rested five days. Some confiscated tobacco was issued, and
we forgot our troubles, and our blisters healed. In six days we
had marched one hundred and forty miles. Rations have beer>
scarce ; and we were a hard-looking crowd, so sunburnt as to look
like mulattoes, out at the elbows, out at the knees, out of money,
out of patience, ā nothing plenty but hard marching, lice, and
fleas.
"One day an effort was made to skin the hind legs of an alliga-
tor, which had been shot an hour or two before. Eight or ten of
us were standing around to witness the operation. When the
knife penetrated the thick hide, Mr. Alligator swung around his
long tail, and we very unanimously lay in the dust. 'Golly,
massa soger ! ' said an old darky : ' dat critter won't die till de sun
go down.' And he did not."
XII.
OPELOUSAS TO BARRE'S LANDING.
[April 20 to May 10, 1S63.]
From Col. Greenleaf : ā
"When the brigade reached Vermillion Bayou at sundown, the
six remaining companies of the 52d Massachusetts could muster
but fifty-nine men with the colors, the 24th Connecticut but one
hundred and fifty, etc., by far the greater number of each com-
mand having fallen out by the way, from sheer physical exhaus-
tion.
" Veterans all understand the necessity for preserving the proper
intervals between regiments and brigades on such a march, and
that no regimental or brigade commander has any alternative but
to bear aloft and carry forward his colors, however hot the ad-
vance may make the pace. And thus the physical energies of man
and beast were taxed to the utmost in reaching Opelousas, and
apparently to little purpose, as we took few prisoners and captured
little property ; but we did make things lively for Gen. Taylor.
We at least demoralized his army and scattered his forces."
Gen. Banks gives a more cheerful account of the enterprise.
GEN. BANKS'S REPORT TO GEN. GRANT.
OrELOUSAS, April 23, 1863.
We have pushed with vigor the expedition upon which we were
engaged. Our success has been complete. We have utterly de-
stroyed the army and navy of this part of the Confederacy, and
made it impossible for the enemy to reorganize his forces for some
months to come. The infantry is completely dispersed. We have
captured two thousand prisoners, one thousand stand of arms,
ammunition, ordnance stores, etc., twenty heavy guns, demol-
ished his founderies at Franklin and New Iberia, and the salt-
works below Iberia. We have captured two steamers and several
boats, and compelled the destruction of ten or twelve transport
steamers. The capture of the fortifications at Butte a la Rose
opens to us completely the Atchafalaya to Red River.
130 HISTORY OF THE 52D REGIMENT *
At the same time Gen. Banks issued a proclamation of thanks
to the army for the vigor with which they had conducted the cam-
paign and the success which had attended their efforts.
The colonel's account : ā
" After resting a few days at Opelousas, Grover's division was
ordered to Barre's Landing, on the Courtableau, a tributary of the
Atchafalaya, nine miles distant, and near the head of steam navi-
gation for Mississippi River boats, where it set to work at once to
* gobble' up the products of the country, ā cotton, sugar, molasses,
horses, cattle, mules, etc., ā to ship to New Orleans everything
{nearly everything) but the live stock. But soon the army was
ready to move on to Alexandria on the Red River ; and yet it was
regarded important that a considerable force should be left at
Barre's Landing to continue the service of seizing the products of
the country, shipping the same to New Orleans, receiving and for-
warding other troops and supplies for the main army above, and
last, though not least, receiving and guarding Gen. Butler's his-
toric 'contraband of war.'
"Accordingly, at this time the colonel of the 52d Regiment re-
ceived an order from the general commanding, appointing him
commandant of the post, and charging him with these somewhat
important duties.
"The army moved forward, but the general was kind enough
and considerate enough to allow me to retain the six companies of
my regiment as a part of the post command.
" Soon after I had been assigned to this command, and just as
Gen. Grover was leaving the landing with his division, I was
waited upon by his quartermaster, Capt. F. W. Perkins, ā a gentle-
man and scholar as well as soldier, ā and was informed by him
that, while engaged in the general confiscation business with which
he had heretofore been specially charged, he had made the acquaint-
ance of a genuine Union man, ā a wealthy planter residing about
two miles from the post, ā who had voluntarily delivered to him
his cotton, sugar, and molasses, and hauled it to the steamboat
landing himself, taking the quartermaster's receipt therefor ; and
that, in addition to this, the planter had actually saved him and
his foraging squad from capture while on confiscating duty, by
giving him timely warning of the presence of the enemy, w'ho was
lying in ambush for him ; that, on being thus warned, he procured
additional force, and dispersed the enemy ; that, in consideration
of this double service rendered, as well as in consideration of the
OPELOUSAS TO BARRE S LANDING I3I
fact that he had already parted with much property, he promised
the planter that he would not molest him further ; and that, on
learning that he (Capt. Perkins) was to move on with Gen. Grover,
while I was to remain, he had given the planter a letter to me,
setting forth these facts, and commending him to my favor and
consideration, not then expecting that he would be able to see me
in person ; but that, having the opportunity, he improved it to see
me.
" I answered the quartermaster that I was willing to accept his
statement of the case, and disposed to act upon his suggestion ;
that I was disposed to discriminate always, so far as possible in
such matters, between the loyal and disloyal citizen, and that I
saw no reason why I should make an exception to the rule with
his friend, the planter. The quartermaster ā noble fellow! met a
tragic death ā thanked me, and left; and a day or two later the
Union man and planter came with his letter.
" I found the letter as represented, and the planter confirmed
the statements made to me by the quartermaster. I promised to
protect him (the planter) from further molestation ; and, with a
cordial invitation for me to visit him on his plantation, he left me.
A few days later a delegation of negroes ā intelligent, healthy,
hearty-looking fellows ā waited upon me, as they said, 'to advise
with me about the situation.' They had noticed men, women, and
children of their people flocking to the post by the thousand, and
that they were protected and fed when they reached us. They
wanted my advice with regard to their own coming, also, with their
families. I asked them whence they came and to whom they be-
longed. They answered that they came from a plantation about
two miles away, and that they belonged to 'Massa Gantt,' ā our
Union friend and planter.
"I then asked them if 'Massa Gantt' was kind to them. They
said he was. If he fed and clothed them well. They said he did;
that they had no fault whatever to find with his treatment of them,
but they ' wanted to be free.' I answered them that they could
come within our lines, with their families, if they wished, and that,
if they came, they should be protected the same as others ; but
that, from what I had learned of ' Massa Gantt ' before and from
what they had just told me, my advice to them would be to re-
main, for the present, just where they were. I told them I had
little doubt that they would all be free when the war should be
over, wherever they might be, but that, if they undertook to follow
132 HISTORY OF THE 52D REGIMENT
the fortunes of the army with their families, I feared but few of
them would live to return. And I predicated the latter statement
on what I had known of the great mortality which had prevailed
among negroes when congregated in camp in large numbers. The
death-rate had been fearful : they had died off like diseased
sheep.
"These ' Gantt ' negroes thanked me for my advice, said they
should act upon it, and bowed themselves out of headquarters. A
week or two later I accepted Mr. Gantt's invitation, and visited
him at his house. I then and there saw some of the negroes
again, ā saw how they fared, how they lived, etc., ā and was con-
firmed in the opinion that I had given them wise counsel. Time
passed on. Gen. Banks was advised that Gen. Gardner had, as
anticipated, reduced his force at Port Hudson. Accordingly, he
hastened from Alexandria with the main army, recrossed the
Mississippi, and formally invested the offending town."
To my wife : ā
Opelousas, April 25, 1S63.
We have had a hard, long march to this place. The rebels were
on the run ; and, the faster we marched, the less chance they had
to turn back and fight us. So on, on we went. The days were hot,
the roads good, the fields on every hand were covered with herds
which told us that the rebels were not starving. We halted once
where several dead horses told of a sharp skirmish. A house near
by was completely sacked by our boys. I am sorry to say the
52d helped. They destroyed everything they could lay hands on.
That night I slept with the men of Co. H, and our horses came
up at night, and of course I felt stronger. It was with some diffi-
culty, however, I rode. My jaundice made me so sleepy that I
could hardly keep my seat.
April 20. ā Next day was Sunday. We were roused up early,
and had breakfast, but before we were through with it there came
another shower. I had a present of some chicken broth, which was
a great refreshment. We spent the day in a dreary, hot, wearying
march, twenty miles, to Opelousas. We must make it in two days,
and make all manner of detours in order to cross the streams where
the rebels had burned the bridges. We had to wade the horses
and guns through the bayous. The last day we w^aded the whole
army through a large pond with water two feet deep. We
reached Opelousas at sundown on Monday, April 20, tired and
OPELOUSAS TO BARRE S LANDING I33
jaded as we possibly could be. We could hardly hav^e stood it
another da3^ We had accomplished our part of scattering the
rebel forces. It was good policy, doubtless, to push us on in that
way, but a hard one for our regiment. The next day Banks issued
an order which was read at dress parade, in which he congratu-
lated us upon the success of the movement and the great things
we had achieved. The rest here has been very grateful. The
drawback is the miserable water, not fit to use. We have to
drink water that you would not suppose a pig would drink,
ā muddy, slimy, nasty, hot. Yesterday I bathed in a mud-puddle
that removed one layer of dirt and replaced it by another. We
are living well just now, plenty of poultry and fresh beef. Whitney
and I eat out of the same tin plate. We have allied our forces.
We have two cups, one plate, two spoons, between us. Fortu-
nately, he does not swear nor use tobacco.
We have left an awful scene of desolation behind us. In spite
of the orders not to pillage, burned and sacked houses mark our
course. We are getting impatient to have the time come for our
return home, but I do not regret coming ; but I do want to see
something accomplished.
The only looting I have observed in which the 5 2d Regiment
have taken a part has been on this march. Looting is a very dif-
ferent thing from foraging. The latter is securing, without pay to
the owner, the necessary food for the support of an army while in
a hostile country, and can be defended by the necessities of war.
Looting is stealing and destroying all property the men can lay
their hands on, without any idea of benefit to themselves.
We have done a good deal of foraging, of course, but never till
this march any looting that I have observed. Our men had be-
come careless of the rights of property, and it must be confessed
there were provocations for looting. For instance, one day on
this march we were passing a large, fine-looking plantation house.
A guard of Union soldiers was placed there, as was usually done,
to protect the place from molestation from the army passing by.
But the owner came out in a great rage, cursed the guard and the
officer who placed it as well as the army and the Union govern-
ment, whereupon the officer removed the guard, and left the place
to its fate. The soldiers at once rushed into the house, and ran-
sacked it from basement to attic, broke up the furniture, including
a nice piano, carried off such articles of ornament as they fancied,
and left the place a desolate wreck. Of course, the boys were to
134 HISTORY OF THE 52D REGIMENT
blame; but the owner, by his intemperate rage, brought the evil
upon himself.
Barre's Landing, April 27, 1S63.
Everything promised a quiet Sunday, and that implied a relig-
ious service, which we have not heard for about two months.
Ball came back this morning with about fifty others, who had been
left sick at Bayou Boeuf. He has been a long time on the way.
Saturday p.m. came an order to prepare to move next morning
at six o'clock from Opelousas. Just after we started Booth, of