And does therefore acquit him.
The case was clear and charges filed correctly, but, on his trial before a general court-martial, held in New Orleans, March 25th, the charges were not sustained; a material witness failed to remember anything.
The proceedings of this court-martial were approved by General Banks in General Orders of June 9th, when Captain Bailey was acquitted, released from arrest and returned to duty; the orders did not take effect until July 20th, when they reached the regiment.
At a general court-martial convened in New Orleans, January 27th, 1863, of which Major F. Frye, Ninth Connecticut Volunteers, was president, the following enlisted men of the Forty-Second were tried, in addition to the case of Private Denny, Company E, already mentioned:
Private William H. Thomas, Company B, for “sleeping on post.”
Private Frank L. Fisher, Company B, for “sleeping on post.”
Privates Thomas and Fisher when found asleep, were awakened and cautioned by the officer of the guard as to the penalty they would incur by going to sleep while on sentry duty. Notwithstanding the caution they allowed themselves to fall asleep again while on guard, and in the same relief.
The findings of this Court were not promulgated in General Orders until March 7th. In the case of Thomas, he was found asleep on post 13, in front of regimental headquarters at Gentilly Bayou, between the hours of one and half-past one o’clock on the morning of February 12th. He pleaded “guilty” to the charge and specification. His plea was accepted, and, as it appeared that he was sick at the time and excused from duty by the surgeon, it was recommended that he be returned to duty.
Private Fisher was found asleep on post 15, at the stable and quartermasters’ department at Gentilly Bayou, between the hours of one and two o’clock on the morning of February 10th. He pleaded “not guilty” to both charge and specification, and the Court on the evidence adduced found him “not guilty,” and recommended that he be returned to duty. Fisher and Thomas, confined since February 12th, were released from confinement in the guard-house March 18th.
Private Freeman Doane, Company F, was also found asleep on post at Lakeport on the twenty-ninth of April, and placed in arrest. Upon examination of the case Captain Cogswell was so well satisfied that Doane was sick and not fit to have been placed on sentry duty, being under the surgeon’s care, that he asked for and obtained his release the next day.
Lieutenant Albert E. Proctor, Company G, acting regimental quartermaster, met with a very serious accident on the morning of the twentieth by being thrown from his horse, in front of headquarters, immediately after mounting, preparatory to proceeding to the city on official business, sustaining a fracture of the right arm near the socket of the shoulder, which incapacitated him from further duty with the regiment during its term of service.
A moment before he left headquarters in fine spirits, and when brought in looking deathly pale everybody present was dumfounded. Luckily, Assistant-Surgeon Heintzelman was present on duty with the regiment, having reported at camp March 1st. He immediately made a careful examination of the fracture, properly bandaged it, and prepared everything to make Proctor comfortable until he arrived at the hospital in New Orleans, where he was sent the same day and had his arm reset. Lieutenant Proctor showed true fortitude throughout the day. Not a groan escaped his lips, although the pain he suffered was excruciating. He gave proper directions for the continued performance of his duties and what disposition to make of unfinished business he had on hand with utmost sang-froid.
Lieutenant Proctor was a twin brother of Captain Alfred N. Proctor, Company G, then a prisoner of war in Texas. It was difficult to say who was who, even when seen together. The lieutenant remarked, soon after the accident to himself, that his brother Alfred had met with an accident also. His reason for thinking so was because a sympathetic feeling had always existed between them. As a matter of fact, Captain Proctor did have one of the bones of an ankle broken while wrestling with Sergeant Wentworth, March 27th.
Until May 20th, when Quartermaster Burrell reported back for duty, having been relieved as acting brigade-quartermaster, when Colonel Cahill, Ninth Connecticut Volunteers, superseded Colonel Farr, the active duties of the position were well performed by Acting Quartermaster-Sergeant Alonzo I. Hodsdon, corporal in Company D.
The regiment was fortunate in having good quartermasters during the term of service, and in obtaining supplies of proper food. The salt meats, coffee, potatoes, bread, etc., were of excellent quality. It was necessary only once (May 15th) during the entire term of service to call for a Board of Survey to examine into the quality of subsistence stores received from the Commissary Department. Quartermaster Burrell was socially one of the best of men, with business qualifications for his duty of a high order. Acting-Quartermaster Proctor was also adapted to fill the position, and was a jovial man. Corporal Hodsdon, without a business training to fit him to hold such a position at once, had mastered the details to such extent from his connection with the department that during the time he performed the duties everything went along smoothly.
At the close of April there were present for duty in the four companies at Gentilly Bayou and vicinity, thirteen officers and three hundred and fifty-six men. Sick in regimental hospital: one officer (Lieutenant Harding, Company K, who arrived April 27th, sick with fever), and twenty-one men. Thirteen men were sick in quarters. The average sick per day for the month had been: taken sick, four; returned to duty, four; in hospital, twenty; in quarters, fourteen. One man died at the camp hospital of typhoid fever, Private Frank Covell, Company G, a paroled prisoner, April 22d. The body was embalmed and sent home. Private Covell, quite young in years, was careless of his health. He would insist on sleeping at night in the open air instead of under tent cover, exposed unprotected to change in the atmosphere, usually very rapid after nine o’clock. Repeated cautions not to do so were given him. Company G was unfortunate at this camp in the loss of men by death from disease. The other companies of paroled men, D and I, did not lose a man.
At Bayou Gentilly the night air was treacherous and dangerous. In good weather the days, at this season of the year, would be hot and sultry up to about ten o’clock in the night, when changes would commence to occur, becoming damp and hazy. About midnight sentinels were obliged to wear their great-coats. Many men would persist in sleeping upon the ground in the open air, regardless of repeated warnings not to do so. When the midnight change took place, if they by chance awoke, they would occupy their tents. This careless habit caused much sickness in the regiment from bowel complaints and fevers, that was charged by the sufferers to bad quality of rations issued.
Discipline of the camp continued good, and the paroled men behaved well under their enforced idleness. Very few men absented themselves without leave. Corporal Clapp, Privates Holt, Barnard and Davis, all from Company G, tried it on and were picked up by the patrol in New Orleans, April 4th. Privates Dolan, Dellanty, Contillon and Morgan, all from Company I, were bagged by the patrol on the fifth, and Private Marshall, Company G, was arrested by the police of New Orleans, April 12th. These men were returned to camp by the provost-marshal in one or two days after their arrest.
Two deserters reported back to the regiment this month: Private Chauncy Converse, Company K, on the eleventh; Private Lewis Buffum, Company B, on the twenty-fifth.
While able to furnish details of skilled mechanics, if wanted, on a call for telegraph operators, made on the twenty-ninth, to do duty in the Defences of New Orleans, a careful inquiry failed to find any—the only request ever made by a general officer, either of brigade or division, that the Forty-Second Regiment was not able to meet.
After hot weather fairly set in not much time was occupied in drill at Gentilly Camp. When the many details for regular camp and extra duty had been provided, there were few men left to go on drill. Most of the drills were by company, after Companies A and F had been detached. Previous to that time a battalion drill was in order every morning, after guard-mounting, either in command of the lieutenant-colonel or the major.
On the seventh General Sherman inspected the regiment in camp and the detachments at Batteries Gentilly and St. John. The number of men under inspection was not large, but they looked well and in good condition. The next day, eighth, to relieve the dull routine of camp life, Companies B and E, then remaining in camp, were marched along the Ponchartrain Railroad to Lakeport, there joined by men from Companies A and F, and an exhibition dress parade gone through with. After lying in the close camp at the bayou, this change, even for a short time, to the cool breezes of the lake shore, was very agreeable.
Orders were received at 9.15 A.M., May 9th, from division headquarters, for all men that could be mustered of the detached portions of the second division to immediately report, in heavy marching order, on Canal Street, in New Orleans, for review. The men were at once got under arms and marched into the city, arriving fifteen minutes too late to take part. One brigade (the Third) was absent on a reconnoissance; only the First and Second Brigades were in line. They made a handsome appearance. The One Hundred and Sixty-Fifth New York Infantry (Second Duryea Zouaves), Lieutenant-Colonel Smith in command, carried off the honors for best condition in everything.
Various rumors were in circulation in the city about this review, some people insisting upon it that the army under General Banks had fallen back from the Teche campaign, and the troops under review were a part of that army. Others said that General Banks had met with a bad defeat, and the troops were under orders to reënforce him. Numerous citizens industriously asked questions of the men at every opportunity; but, to give credit where it is due, the news they received must have puzzled if it did not mislead them. The men got the hang very quickly of what they were after, and acted accordingly. If instructions had been issued to cover such an attempt of the enemy’s spies to obtain information, they could not have been obeyed any better than was the case.
The true cause of such a hurried review of this division was soon apparent. General Sherman had received orders to report at Baton Rouge with two brigades. His three brigades, assigned to the Defences of New Orleans, were scattered along the various forts and entrances to the city, while the brigade not on review was distant some thirty miles on a reconnoissance; yet, in thirty-six hours after receipt of his orders, General Sherman had been rejoined by his Third Brigade, transferred some regiments of the Second to the First and Third, leaving the Second Brigade in the Defences, and was on his way, via the river, to Baton Rouge with two brigades to join General Augur in a demonstration against Port Hudson.
During the entire month men at Gentilly Camp and picket-stations on the lake were kept in a condition to move in twenty-four hours’ notice, in obedience to an order issued by the division commander. This was supplemented on the twenty-eighth by a confidential circular issued, to keep a careful watch and supervision at each camp and post, in such a manner as not to attract attention or excite alarm. All officers and men were obliged to remain in camp ready for any duty. Nothing of importance transpired during this time to furnish a key to these instructions. Perfect order and quiet reigned within the limits of the Defences of New Orleans.
Some changes in the commanding officers took place: Colonel Cahill, Ninth Connecticut Infantry, assumed command of the brigade on the ninth, and General Emory assumed command of the Defences New Orleans on the nineteenth.
No changes took place in the stations occupied by the Forty-Second. Companies A and F remained on picket at the lake. By Department General Orders, No. 35, issued April 27th, registered enemies of the United States were ordered, peremptorily, to leave the Department on or before May 15th. Many of them were sent by the provost-marshal-general via the lake. This placed extra duty on the men of the Forty-Second stationed there, as all of their baggage had to be overhauled and inspected upon the wharf before leaving, and guards furnished to steamers transporting them to points across the lake and on the Gulf shore. Large numbers were taken to Madisonville, Manderville, Pass Christian, Biloxi, Mississippi City, Pascagoula, and to Mobile.
Many captures were made of small boats endeavoring to get across the lake with supplies for the enemy. The occupants in every case escaped, for Department General Orders, No. 37, issued April 29th, announced that any person convicted before the commanding general of furnishing supplies to the enemy would suffer the penalty of death. In spite of this order attempts were constantly made, but the parties engaged in such acts lost no time in taking to the swamps when discovered at it.
The routine of guard and picket duty at this time is explained by the following letter to General Sherman:
“Sir,—I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your communication of the fourth instant. I would respectfully report the following facts concerning the guard duties at the mouth of Bayou St. John. Captain H. S. Coburn, of Company A, has under his command at that place: one sergeant, four corporals and thirty privates. He furnishes three sentinel-posts: one, a picket of three men at the extreme end of the bayou, who are relieved every twenty-four hours, one man being on duty all the time; the second post is at the quarters of the captain, and the third on the drawbridge across the bayou. These two posts are relieved every two hours by rotation of the men in the command. This manner of relieving the men at the last two posts is resorted to on account of the small command and to allow the men good rest between each tour of duty, for it often happens that six or ten men are called out in the night on extra duty, either to arrest some suspicious character or to watch for smugglers of contraband goods. One non-commissioned officer is detailed each day and has charge of the guard for the twenty-four hours, and his whole duty is to carefully observe all that is going on and to relieve the sentinels at proper hours. The reason of only five men appearing to be on duty at the time of the inspection was because the balance of the command was in line.
“In reference to the absence of the commanding officer at Bayou St. John, I have ascertained that he was away on Saturday afternoon at the lake-end of the bayou.
“Captain Coburn has frequently occasion to visit the office of the provost-marshal-general, and he had been away that day. It is found necessary to keep one commissioned officer at the mouth of the bayou all the time, for the purpose of examining passes, vessels, etc., going into and out of the bayou. Lieutenant Burrell has been in the habit of aiding Captain Coburn at times when he was in the city, and he was absent that day for this purpose, Captain Coburn having returned from General Bowen’s office a short time previous to your visit.
“Lieutenant Burrell has at Battery St. John thirty men. In reference to the absence of ten of his men, he reports as follows: two were away at Camp Farr for rations; three were at the lake-end of the bayou for a few days on account of sickness, and the surgeon considered a change good for them; two were in the city for a few hours on a pass; the remaining three were absent for a short time preparing a boat for use, in duty at the bayou.
“In regard to the strength of the guards within my command and the posts, I would respectfully report as follows:
“I have in this camp two companies for duty, viz., B and E. The number of effective enlisted men by this day’s report is one hundred and eighteen; commissioned officers, five. At this camp and from these companies I mount a daily guard, consisting of one commissioned officer, five non-commissioned officers and twenty-seven privates. This guard furnishes nine sentinel-posts. Five of these posts are a camp-guard, one at headquarters, one over the quartermaster’s stores, one at the crossing of the Ponchartrain Railroad and the Gentilly road, and one picket-station on the railroad in the direction of the city.
“At Battery Gentilly, near this camp, I have a detachment of Company A, consisting of one commissioned officer, two sergeants, three corporals and twenty privates. This detachment mans the guns, and for a guard mounts each day one non-commissioned officer and six men, furnishing two sentinel-posts: one on the parapet over the guns, and one as a picket-guard on the railroad and to prevent people from passing within the lines of the fort.
“At Lakeport Company F is stationed, under command of Captain J. D. Cogswell. He has at the present time eighty effective men, including non-commissioned officers. For a guard he mounts daily twelve men, having four sentinel-posts: two of these posts are on the wharf, for the purpose of observing all that transpires within sight on the lake and to detain all boats and persons from leaving the wharf without a proper pass; the second is at the entrance to the wharf, to keep order in the day-time, and to keep all persons from the wharf after nine p.m.; the third post is a picket-post and is rather more than a mile from the village, on the shore of the lake, at the “White House,” so called, for the purpose of observing all that transpires within sight of the lake, and to stop smugglers, etc.
“Besides these he sends a picket of six men and one sergeant to Bayou Cashon (eight miles distant), and these are relieved weekly. This picket is supplied with a small boat and sail, and can thus have communication with the commanding officer at any time.
“The schooner Hortense is sent to this picket-station every other day with fresh water and rations. In addition to the above sentinels and pickets, one corporal and four men are kept on the schooner Hortense at all times, ready for duty; also, two picket-boats have each a picked crew of one non-commissioned officer and two men, ready for duty at any time; at night they cruise back and forth (one on each side), from a point off the end of the wharf to points two miles from the wharf, for the purpose of intercepting smugglers of contraband goods.
“I believe the number of sentinels and location of all the posts in my command have now been stated, and I respectfully submit this report.
“I have neglected to state the number of sentinels at Battery St. John. At that place a daily guard of two privates and one non-commissioned officer is detailed. This guard is increased by one man every night. The first post is upon the bridge on the west side, the second upon the bridge on the east side of the fort; the extra man at night is placed on the parapet over the guns.
“I have the honor to remain,
“Respectfully, your obedient servant, “J. STEDMAN, Lieutenant-Colonel, “commanding 42d Regt., Mass. Vols.
From the main camp at the bayou various details of men were made for all sorts of duty:
On the seventeenth—Company E proceeded to New Orleans and acted as a funeral escort to the remains of Captain Albert Coan, Company A, Twelfth Maine, who was buried from the St. James Hospital.
On the nineteenth—Sergeant Turner, Corporals Lowey and Turner, and seven privates of Company B, Corporal Lovly and five privates of Company E, in heavy marching order, relieved a guard of the One Hundred and Sixty-Fifth New York at the University Hospital, on Baronne Street, New Orleans; relieved in turn, on the twenty-seventh, by Sergeant Emerson, Corporal Southworth and six privates of Company E, and Corporals Fales, Wales, and six privates of Company B.
On the twenty-second—Two corporals and two privates from Company E, with four privates from Company B, were detailed for guard duty at the headquarters of General Emory, in the city.
The extra-duty detailed men were few:
May 13th—Corporal Henry Mellen, Company E, was made orderly at brigade headquarters, serving until relieved in July.
May 24th—Private Frank A. Smith, Company F, was made orderly at brigade headquarters, serving until relieved in July.
April 28th—Private Chauncey K. Bullock, Company D, was placed on duty as hostler at brigade headquarters until relieved May 19th.
Some men of the paroled camp, to vary the tedium of their life, began to trespass upon private property in the neighborhood. It was trivial in its nature, but, on complaint being made, orders were issued, April 1st, to stop such trespassing. This order not having the desired effect, a Board of Inquiry was held May 10th, at the paroled camp, to ascertain the basis of complaints that were made of destruction of fences and depredations upon property. The result was to locate the breach of orders on a few unprincipled paroled men, and to clearly establish that the greater number were behaving in a most praiseworthy manner.
On the seventeenth of June Privates Thomas F. Igo, Thomas P. Contillon and Thomas Dellanty, paroled men of Company I, were placed in arrest on a charge of disturbing persons and property near the camp; the only cases where discipline had to be enforced to stop it.
The bad feeling displayed by the Ninth Connecticut men at Lakeport towards Company F was renewed by men of that regiment detailed for provost-guard in New Orleans, towards men from the Forty-Second who were in the city on furlough. It culminated in a cowardly attack on Sergeant Waterman, Company D, and was the cause of another complaint being made on the twelfth of May, this time to the provost-marshal. The facts are set forth in the following letter:
“Sir,—I would respectfully bring to your notice and attention the manner in which one of the members of the provost-guard treated several enlisted men of this command after having demanded their passes, seen them, and pronounced them correct. The circumstances are as follows:
“Orderly-Sergeant Waterman, Sergeants Hewins and Sawyer, Corporal Merrill, and two privates of this regiment, paroled but unexchanged prisoners of war, were in New Orleans on Saturday, the ninth inst., for the purpose of witnessing the brigade review on that day, and, when coming down St. Charles Street, a soldier with a musket stopped them and demanded their passes; they were shown and pronounced correct. This man, representing himself as a member of the patrol, made some insulting remarks to Orderly-Sergeant Waterman and then seized him by the throat, whereupon the sergeant shook him off. The patrol then fixed his bayonet and charged upon Sergeant Waterman, striking him in the breast and inflicting a slight flesh wound, at the same time calling the sergeant ’a d—n son of a b—h’; at this point an officer came across the street and sent the whole party away. Up to the time of the officer making his appearance no other members of the patrol had been seen by any of the party alluded to, and the man who stopped them had no stripes or insignia of office on his clothing. The name of this patrol has since been ascertained to be Corporal James Gibbens, Company I, Ninth Connecticut Volunteers.
“The same day of the above occurrence Sergeant Waterman went up to the square to learn the name of the man who had assaulted him, and the lieutenant who commanded the guard that day refused to give it to him. After his interview with the lieutenant, this man, Gibbens, came along, and seizing Sergeant Waterman by the collar pushed him out of the square, at the same time calling him ‘a nine-months’ conscript son of a b—h,’ also using much profane language. Other members of Gibbens’ company stood looking on, advising him to kick the sergeant, break his head, etc. All this time Sergeant Waterman did not resist in any manner, or make any retaliatory reply.
“I believe that I can prove that said Gibbens has several times before this stopped soldiers in the street and demanded their passes, even when he had no arms and was entirely unaccompanied by any patrol or member of the provost-guard. Trusting that this matter may receive a rigid investigation,
“I have the honor to remain,
“Very respectfully, your obedient servant, “J. STEDMAN, Lieutenant-Colonel, “commanding 42d Regt., Mass. Vols.
The provost-marshal promised to look into the affair and report what was done about it. Nothing further was heard about the matter.
With warm weather rapidly setting in, the unacclimated officers and men of the Forty-Second began to swell the sick list. Assistant-Surgeon Hitchcock, in charge of the regimental hospital, had been ordered to Berwick Bay on special duty April 19th, where a large number of sick and convalescent men from the army operating in the Teche district were in hospitals. On his departure, Assistant-Surgeon Heintzelman assumed charge of the regimental hospital at Bayou Gentilly, with the following organization: Private Charles H. Warren, Company F, acting hospital-steward; Private Thomas M. Lewis, Company D, ward-master; Private James Mitchell, Company B, nurse; Private William F. Lacount, Company F, nurse; Private Edwin Rycroft, Company K, nurse; Private John W. Robinson, Company K, nurse; Private Hiram B. Douglass, Company K, nurse; Private William Harris, Jr., Company I, cook; Private Archibald McDollen, Company E, cook. The arrangements of the hospital under Surgeon Heintzelman were excellent. He won the good opinion of all the men, with the exception of those who failed to play their points upon him by playing sick. His experience and knowledge promptly detected all such cases at surgeon’s call in the morning; the men being promptly returned back to their companies as fit for duty. These qualities in any officer never fails to command the good will, respect and confidence of the majority of men over whom he has control, for they feel that no shirks can cause extra duty to fall on other shoulders, because they cannot successfully evade it.
Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman and Major Stiles were on the sick list; the major in May and through June. Lieutenant Harding recovered and went to Port Hudson, May 25th, to join his company.
At the close of May there was present for duty, under orders of the lieutenant-colonel, seventeen officers and three hundred and fifty-seven men. Sick in regimental hospital, twenty-five men; and in quarters, ten men. The average sick per day for the month had been: taken sick, four; returned to duty, four; sick in hospital, twenty-four; sick in quarters, thirteen. On the seventeenth there were fifteen men of Company K in hospital, and on the twenty-third seventeen men of that company; nine of them were returned to duty on the twenty-sixth. About all sickness this month was among the men on duty. The paroled prisoners were in good health. Only one man of Company D was in hospital May 31st. Companies G and I did not have a case.
One death occurred. Private John H. Cary, Company G, May 6th, from delirium tremens, and he was buried near the camp. The case of Private Cary was the result of hard drinking. His body was found, badly decomposed, in the swamp by the roadside, not far from camp, on the thirteenth of May. Cary had been a hard drinker ever since his return from Texas, and shown such symptoms of delirium as to cause a watch to be kept on him. On the evening of the sixth he managed to get out of his tent without attracting the attention of any one, and immediately, it would seem, took to the swamp in the place where found, and there died. He was missed soon after disappearing, and for a week diligent search was made to find him. An impure odor, caused by decomposition of the body, attracted the attention of some members of the regiment passing by upon the road; they searched the swamp and found him. He was sitting at the foot of a tree, grasping with both hands the roots, with his legs immersed in mud almost to the knees. Thick bushes bordering on the swamp edge, by the roadside, screened him from being seen and prevented an earlier discovery. Cary was put in a box by the help of an old colored man, called John, who chopped wood in the camp. No one else could be induced to touch the body; but old John said: “I not afraid of a ’Yankee’ soger, sah! No sah, dead or alive, sah!” The remains were buried the same day with appropriate ceremonies.
This negro, John, was a camp follower from the time the regiment went into camp at Gentilly until it embarked for the North. He was formerly a slave, and lived a long distance from camp, but was always on hand at reveille, remaining until Peas on a Trencher, doing all the hard work of camp, splitting wood, getting water, etc., etc., and would work steady in the hottest sun, with perspiration coming from the pores of his skin like water. He worked for small pay; for a small sum of money sang the old religious hymns the negroes in that locality sang at their prayer meetings, danced as plantation darkies can dance, and was the jolliest old negro there was in camp. Old John’s wife did a large amount of washing for the boys, which brought additional picayunes to his wallet, and, although he made a few bad debts—some of the unprincipled men taking advantage of his ignorance to cheat him—on the whole, John made a good living from his labor for the Forty-Second. His boy was also a hanger-on at camp, but could not be made to do much work. This boy was a great imitator, and would watch attentively the drummers at practice, and soon became able to handle a drum with skill.
The month of May passed rapidly without the occurrence of any event of importance to the regiment. With the commencement of June affairs in the Department began to assume such a shape as to lead officers of the Forty-Second to think the regiment was to get some service.
Affairs at Port Hudson reached a stage when reënforcements were needed to maintain the effective strength of the army, and to continue the siege. Troops from Brashear City and Ship Island were ordered to Port Hudson, and from Key West and Pensacola to New Orleans, while the small garrison in the Defences of New Orleans had to be ready for instant service at all hours. It was evident to all hands the regiment was about to be concentrated, as far as possible, to be able to meet any emergency, and soon was it verified.
The detachment at Battery St. John, about sixty men of Company A, was relieved by a detachment Fifteenth Massachusetts Battery, and returned to the regiment June 1st. On the third the detachment under Lieutenant Martin Burrell, Jr., at Battery Gentilly, about twenty men, was also relieved by a detachment Fifteenth Massachusetts Battery, and returned to the regiment. On the sixth Companies C and H marched into camp with about one hundred and forty men, from Camp Parapet, having been relieved from engineer service. With the exception of a detachment Company A, about forty men, at Lake-end Bayou St. John, Company F at Lakeport, and Company K at Port Hudson, the regiment was again united.
Upon receipt of orders from brigade headquarters to draw as many men as possible from the post at Lakeport, in case the regiment was ordered to move, leaving only a small picket-guard upon the Lake shore and a camp-guard to look after regimental property and the hospital at Gentilly, drills were immediately resumed to an extent allowed by hot weather, and inspections made to see if every man was in proper condition for duty. All parades of ceremony, drill and guard-mounting had to be made before eight o’clock A.M. or after six o’clock P. M. The sentinels had to have sun shelters erected, or were posted in the shade so far as practicable.
The exact state of affairs was not generally known. A majority of the men refused to believe that any danger existed, or that the regiment would do any field duty, arguing that concentration meant the regiment was to proceed home promptly on the expiration of its time of enlistment, June 25th, as they claimed. This was not so, and could not be.
At this time the entire Second Brigade, Second Division, Nineteenth Corps, composed of two New York batteries, three Massachusetts batteries, not equipped, one squadron cavalry, the Twenty-Sixth, Forty-Second and Forty-Seventh Massachusetts Infantry, Ninth Connecticut Infantry, a detachment One Hundred and Seventy-Fifth New York Infantry and Twenty-Eighth Maine Infantry, with some smaller detachments of troops, composed the garrison in New Orleans and its defences, who were under standing orders to be ready to move immediately with one hundred rounds of ammunition to each infantry-man.
On the ninth, after a mixed detachment of one hundred men under Captain Cook had left camp for Brashear City, everybody woke up and began to think there was music in the air, causing them to feel anxious for something to come next. Their anxiety was increased when Captain Cook and Lieutenant Clifford reported at the regimental hospital on sick leave, and told what a hole the detachment was in.
The case of Captain Cook was singular. Other than a thick-coated tongue, the captain did not show any signs or symptoms of illness. He did not go into the hospital, but lived in his company tent, ate heartily, and acted in every way like a well man. Surgeon Heintzelman said, as his private opinion, that the case was one of fright. It is true that Captain Cook did not do any more duty during the regiment’s term of service, but remained on the sick list.
Two men were noticed lurking around camp on the nineteenth, and were recognized by some of the paroled men as Texans from the Confederate army. They were arrested, and claimed to have left the service and had taken the oath of allegiance. As General Emory had issued orders on the fourteenth to arrest and send to him any person found lurking around the forts or intrenched positions, they were sent to his headquarters for examination. What became of them is not known.
Positive information having been received that the enemy was raiding on the west bank of the river and threatened to cut communication with Brashear City, on the nineteenth all troops of the Second Brigade were again ordered to have two days cooked rations on hand, and be in readiness to move any moment, and Colonel Cahill was ordered to concentrate the brigade as much as possible. All officers and men, of all arms, whether on detached service, provost duty, or other duty, were under orders to hold themselves ready to move, with cooked rations and one hundred rounds each man. All outlying companies were to be ready to move into the city at a moment’s notice, except the guard over prisoners at Algiers and the troops at Pass Manchac. All leaves of absence were absolutely stopped, and every officer and man obliged to remain at their quarters.
By the sudden departure of all available troops at New Orleans to reënforce Colonel Stickney at La-Fourche Crossing, orders were received at noon on the twenty-first, at the Forty-Second camp, to immediately report in Lafayette Square to General Emory, in heavy marching order. The picket-posts at Lakeport and Bayou St. John were also ordered to be weakened, that as many men as possible should join the regiment. At two P.M., having packed baggage and struck camp, leaving behind the surplus baggage, a hospital-guard and the paroled men of Companies D, G and I, the regiment proceeded by rail to the city, with a total effective strength of about two hundred men.
On first receipt of marching orders a general impression prevailed in the ranks that they were en-route for Port Hudson. The prospect of active field duty was hailed by every one with feelings of lively satisfaction. After lying inactive in camp for nearly the whole term of enlistment everybody thought the regiment was to see a little service before going home, and perhaps taste powder in a different way than by biting cartridges when loading for guard duty. These feelings were dispelled on arriving at Lafayette Square, where the regiment was ordered to take possession of the Ninth Connecticut Infantry camp and to do provost duty in the city; a few days after joined by a detachment Twenty-Eighth Maine Infantry, from Camp Parapet.
All convalescent men and stragglers in the city capable of bearing arms were collected together and made ready for duty in case of necessity. Private instructions were given Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman, by General Emory, to have every available man in quarters ready for any emergency at a moment’s notice. The regiment was kept so, for there could not have been over five hundred soldiers in the city from the twenty-first to the twenty-sixth.
The city was remarkably quiet at this time. Movements of the troops were made so quietly the citizens were not aware of what was going on. There was no indication among the populace that the enemy were near, or expected to get near. Some of them must have been aware of it, but gave no outward sign.
When the enemy ceased to seriously menace New Orleans, on the twenty-sixth, most of the troops at Boutee Station, on the Opelousas Railroad, returned to the city, including a part of the detachment Forty-Second, in command of Lieutenant Tinkham, and the Ninth Connecticut Volunteers. They brought with them a small number of Texan prisoners, who looked more like Mexicans than Americans. They looked clean, were well clothed in loose-fitting trousers and jackets of gray cloth, with large, slouchy-looking, gray felt hats. Their blankets, carried slung over the shoulder, were of the best quality, in fact, better than those in use by men of the Forty-Second. The complexion of these prisoners was quite dark, and they had a savage look in their faces.
Some slight disturbances, soon quieted, occurred between men of the Ninth Connecticut and Forty-Second Massachusetts, growing out of disputes as to who should occupy the tents in Lafayette Square. On this occasion the Ninth Connecticut again behaved in a disgraceful manner, more like rowdies and bullies than soldiers, and it appeared as though the line officers had no control over their men.
The Forty-Second marched back to its old camp-ground at Bayou Gentilly, five miles in a hot sun, on the afternoon of June 27th. Camp was put in order and arrangements made for a long stay, the picket-post detachments rejoined their stations, when, the next morning, twenty-eighth, orders were received, by a mounted orderly, to report at once in the city at the Custom House and occupy quarters vacated by the Twenty-Sixth Massachusetts Infantry. The entire regiment, with the exception of small detachments left on picket-stations, arrived at the Custom House during the afternoon.
This was a final farewell to Bayou Gentilly. The duty detachments left behind on this second breaking up of this camp were: two sergeants, four corporals and thirteen men of Company A, under Captain Coburn (who was not in condition for field duty), on picket at Bayou St. John; four sergeants, three corporals and thirty-four men of Company F on picket at Lakeport; Private Rufus C. Greene, Company G, placed on detached service June 25th, in command of picket-schooner Hortense; a hospital-guard of one sergeant, two corporals, and eighteen men of Company A. These picket-posts, the Gentilly Camp and paroled men were under command of Major Stiles, then not well and unfit for active duty. There were fifty-eight men under the surgeon’s care June 28th; twelve were returned to duty, and there was left, when the regiment moved, twenty-six men sick in hospital and twenty men sick in quarters.
The accommodations for troops at the Custom House were not good, and it seems a pity and a shame men were obliged to occupy such dark, damp and feverish quarters for any length of time. No surgeon could sanction the quartering of troops in the manner they were placed at this Custom House, except under the most pressing circumstances. The men were distributed in quarters, the guard of the Twenty-Sixth Massachusetts relieved, and by sunset the Forty-Second was in full possession of the New Orleans Custom House, with regimental headquarters established in a room formerly occupied by Major-General Butler. A few officers, who did not like their quarters, provided for themselves elsewhere in the neighborhood. This could not be tolerated at the time, owing to the peculiar position of affairs; General Emory insisted on all officers quartering with their men.
At midnight, on the twenty-ninth, the long-roll called the regiment to arms, and crossing Algiers Ferry to Algiers, a reconnoissance was made for some miles to find the enemy’s cavalry, reported to be on the river road below that town. None were found, or any traces of them, and at eight o’clock A.M. next day the regiment was back in quarters again. On this occasion Company C was thrown out in skirmishing order to move down the road and over fields that bordered on a woody swamp, and here they first discovered those watermelon patches which they afterwards despoiled of the luscious fruit. That night march, who can forget it? Awakened from a sound sleep, clothes and equipments put on quick, ferried across to Algiers, and then marched down a lonely road for several miles on a hunt for an imaginary foe. Lucky was the man who wore his overcoat, for the air was damp and chilly, though it was in June. Every sentry on guard at storehouses along the river front of Algiers was dressed in his great-coat; experience had taught them to fear the treacherous midnight air.
An effort was made by General Banks to reënlist men from the nine months’ troops for one, two, or three years, at their option. For some reason it was not successful. From the Forty-Second the only man who reënlisted was Musician Bernard McKenna, Company C, who was discharged May 25th to reënlist as a bugler in the Twenty-Sixth New York Battery. The same date, Lewis Eddy, drummer in Company D, was discharged by Department orders, and returned home.
In connection with this reënlistment attempt, more men from the Forty-Second would have done so but were unable, on account of disqualifications or irregularity on the part of recruiting officers. Privates Diomede Roseline, Company G, Luigi Briana, Company D, and John Brown, Company G, offered to enlist in a battalion called the First Louisiana Sharpshooters. Roseline and Brown were under parole and could not do so until duly exchanged, and Briana was not a member of the regiment. Somebody had given an alias to Captain Salla, commanding the First Louisiana; who it was could not be ascertained. Privates Charles Slattery and George Ward, Company C, were claimed by Lieutenant Whitaker, Second Rhode Island Cavalry, as having reënlisted in that regiment, but they changed their minds before they could be mustered in.
At the close of June there was present for duty in New Orleans, twelve officers and three hundred and eighty-two men. Sick in hospital and quarters, five officers and forty-six men. Twenty-nine of the men were in the regimental hospital at Bayou Gentilly. The officers sick and not on duty were: Adjutant Davis, Captain Cook, Company B, Captain Emerson, Company E, and Lieutenant Tinkham, Company B. Adjutant Davis was absent from June 25th to July 9th; Lieutenant Powers, who was relieved from charge of the paroled camp by Major Stiles, acted as adjutant during that time.
The average sick per day for the month had been: taken sick, five; returned to duty, four; sick in hospital, twenty-one; sick in quarters, thirteen.
The extra-duty details for June were:
June 8th—Sergeant T. M. Turner, Company B, and Sergeant George Bell, Company C, as color-bearers.
June 8th—Privates Everett A. Denny, Company E, and John A. Paige, Company B, as clerks at headquarters Defences of New Orleans. Private Paige returned to his company for duty June 26th.
June 14th—Corporal Alfred Thayer was made chief-wagoner, vice Wagoner John Willy, Company B, ordered to his company. Private George A. Davis, Company D, on duty in Company E, was made wagoner. Private Warren A. Clark, Company B, was made wagoner.
The deaths in June were:
June 5th—Private Nelson Wright, Company E, typhoid fever.
June 13th—Private Buckley Waters, Company E, chronic diarrhœa.
June 19th—Private Lewis E. Wales, Company B, typhoid fever.
June 30th—Private Benjamin Gould, Company G, congestion of the brain.
The case of Private Waters was not considered fatal up to the time of his death. The surgeons were inclined to think he was suffering more from home-sickness than disease. He died quietly in the evening, as the glee club, composed of Sergeant Hunt, Company I, Sergeant Waterman, Company D, Quartermaster Burrell, and Lieutenant Powers, Company F, were singing an appropriate song in the headquarters office, adjoining the hospital ward. They did not know that Waters was dying, and when the nurse asked some one in the ward to stop it Waters requested them not to do so, as he preferred to listen to the song.
Notwithstanding the general orders issued April 24th by General Sherman, to prevent sending North bodies of deceased persons until after decomposition had ceased, in order to prevent any quarantine to Government vessels, the bodies of Privates Nelson Wright and Lewis E. Wales were prepared and partially embalmed by the regimental surgeons for transportation home.
The operation was performed in the rear of the hospital, a guard being posted to prevent men from coming near who had curiosity to witness it. The skin upon the chest was first cut, and after removing a small bone in the upper part was laid back upon each side a sufficient distance for work. Interior parts of the chest were then taken out and examined, followed by removing the bowels; the vacant space thus left was filled with charcoal, the skin replaced and sewed together. The body was then packed in liquor, with the heart separate, and was ready to be sent home. The parts of bodies removed were properly buried. This process is similar to that of dressing cattle for market.
Private Wright, according to the surgeons’ testimony who examined his lungs, could not have lived much more than a year longer, as they were diseased.
Of those men who were curious to witness these operations, some would stand, eyes wide open, with no evidence of any feeling more than of wonder that the surgeons could handle their knives with so much composure; others would evince so much interest and desire to get near, in order to learn such secrets of the human system as they could, that they troubled the guards; while others had a look of sorrow on their countenances, and after a short stay would saunter slowly away in deep thought. No man knew whether he would or not be treated in the same manner in case he sickened and died.
Bodies sent home were invariably escorted a certain distance from camp by the regular Guard of Honor detail, according to the rank held by the deceased, with arms reversed, followed by the regiment with side arms, as mourners, the band playing a dirge. On arrival at the prescribed distance three volleys were fired over the remains, when the regiment marched back to camp, while the body was carried to New Orleans in an ambulance, attended by a few members of the company to which the deceased belonged, and put aboard some steamer for New York. In all such cases burial service was held in front of the hospital, in presence of the regiment.
The dead that were buried near camp were escorted to the grave, and burial service held there. After the service all passed around the coffin to take a last look of the remains before committal to the earth. Burials were solemn occasions, and it was plain to see such scenes were not without some influence on the men. He must be a hardened man who can gaze upon the remains of a departed comrade, perhaps a few weeks and sometimes only days before as full of life and hope as himself, but now cold, rigid and at rest, without some mysterious sensation creeping over him. The chances were that any one was as likely in a short time to be an inhabitant of the same ground as the one just buried.
All coffins were made of pine board, painted a dark brown color, filled with shavings on which to rest the body. They were very good for the kind, and answered the purpose for which they were intended. Each grave was marked with a head-board, on which was inscribed the name of deceased, rank, company, regiment, age, and time of death.
Privates John H. Cary, Benjamin Gould, and Sergeant Philip P. Hackett, of Company G, Private Buckley Waters, Company E, Private Rufus G. Hildreth, Company C, and Private Thomas J. Clements, Company H, were buried at Bayou Gentilly. Their graves were situated near three large oak trees, between them and the swamp, at the end of the Gentilly race-course, looking towards it from the Ponchartrain Railroad. Some three or four soldiers of a native guard regiment (Union colored troops) were also buried at the same spot.
Chaplain Sanger officiated at these burial services. His remarks were generally to the point and well delivered. A brief resume of the deceased soldier’s life, as far as known, was usually given, and a prayer offered for his relations. The chaplain always attended to notifying relations of their loss, forwarding the personal effects, any rings or valuables, together with locks of hair taken from the person before burial. This duty was done well and conscientiously. It is not pleasant, however, to record that Chaplain Sanger was not popular with the command. A feeling was first manifested by the Galveston prisoners, and by them communicated to the rest of the regiment. The only reason for this, so far as could be ascertained, was that they did not like his behavior when the prisoners were marched from Texas to the Union lines. They accused him of neglect to their sick and suffering when he should have at least tried to do something for them; of currying favor with the Confederate officers in such a manner to lead them to suppose he was deficient in manly bearing.
On this march Chaplain Sanger was sick with diarrhœa, and remained so for some time after reaching regimental headquarters, a fact sufficient to account for any lack of energy he did display. He always spoke well of the men, was anxious to do for their good and to gain their esteem. That he did not do so was a misfortune for both. Many regarded the chaplain as ranking among some of the best that left Massachusetts. Except a rather quick temper, his personal behavior was in keeping with his profession.
Private William F. Lacount, Company F, a hospital nurse, acted as chaplain on Sundays from the time the regiment arrived in Louisiana, in December, until Chaplain Sanger returned with the paroled men, afterwards conducting divine service on the Sabbath at the paroled camp; the chaplain officiating at the regimental camp. It was thought proper to have these separate services on account of the feeling prevalent. Private Lacount deserves much credit, more than he received, for the able and intelligent manner in which he performed these volunteer duties. He displayed a true Christian spirit and was satisfied in doing good.
Colonel Cahill, Ninth Connecticut Infantry, commanding Second Brigade, Second Division, Nineteenth Army Corps, issued, June 9th, 1863, Special Orders No. 97, for Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman to have Company B, with details from other companies sufficient to make the full strength three officers and one hundred men, with one day’s cooked rations in the haversacks and at least forty rounds of ammunition to each man, proceed at once to Algiers and report to Captain Schenck, ordnance officer at the New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad depot, for transportation to Brashear City, and there report to Lieutenant-Colonel Stickney, Forty-Seventh Massachusetts Infantry, commanding the post.
Regimental Special Orders No. 107 were immediately issued, detailing Sergeant Charles L. Truchon, Corporal Francis N. Luce and eighteen privates of Company E, Corporals Charles M. Marden, —— Smith and twenty-three privates of Company H, Corporal John F. Cushing and eleven privates of Company A, to report to Captain Cook, commanding Company B. The lieutenants who accompanied the detachment were First-Lieutenant Benjamin C. Tinkham and Second-Lieutenant Joseph C. Clifford, both of Company B.
In heavy marching order this detachment left Gentilly Camp about half-past two o’clock the same afternoon orders were issued, and took the train for New Orleans, proceeding at once to Algiers, where a train made up of box and platform cars carried the men to Brashear City. They started about five o’clock and arrived about midnight, after a tiresome ride of eighty miles. In passing through New Orleans to the Algiers Ferry suspicious actions of two privates in the detachment were noticed, and Sergeant T. M. Turner, Company B, was ordered to keep in the rear and watch them, to prevent their desertion, an object they evidently had in view.
When General Banks made his first campaign through the Teche country towards Red River, in April and May, 1863, a garrison was left at Brashear City, and Berwick on the opposite side of the Atchafalaya River; Colonel Walker, Fourth Massachusetts Infantry, in command of the post, with his own regiment, and the Sixteenth New Hampshire Infantry forming a part of the garrison. The post was a base of supplies for the army in the field, and contained general hospitals to relieve the field hospitals of sick and wounded men, who are always sent to the rear as fast as possible. Naturally, a large amount of army material would accumulate at such a post.
From Algiers to La-Fourche the posts upon the railroad line were occupied by the Twenty-Third Connecticut Infantry, and the posts from Terrebonne to Brashear were in charge of the One Hundred and Seventy-Sixth New York Infantry.
All was quiet at these various posts until the latter part of May, the detachments on duty having what soldiers call “a soft thing.” On the twenty-first of May Colonel Chickering, commanding Forty-First Massachusetts Infantry, and other troops, convoying an immense train of six hundred wagons, three thousand horses and mules, one thousand five hundred head of cattle, with six thousand negro camp followers, who expected to locate on Government plantations in La-Fourche and adjoining parishes, left Barre’s Landing at daybreak on the march for Berwick, where he arrived May 26th, closely followed by the Confederate forces operating under the command of Major-General “Dick” Taylor. By the thirtieth all of this force under Colonel Chickering had proceeded to Port Hudson, including the Fourth Massachusetts and Sixteenth New Hampshire Regiments. On June 1st Colonel Holmes, Twenty-Third Connecticut, assumed command of Brashear City, with portions of his own regiment and that of the One Hundred and Seventy-Sixth New York in occupancy of the post.
In a few days Colonel Holmes was taken sick, and, as Colonel Nott, One Hundred and Seventy-Sixth New York, was also sick, the command fell to Lieutenant-Colonel ----, Twenty-Third Connecticut. He, frightened by the situation of affairs and deficient in nerve, was relieved by General Emory, who sent Lieutenant-Colonel Stickney from New Orleans to take command. Stickney was on detached service from his regiment, having been made inspector-general of the Defences of New Orleans June 6th, with orders to commence a thorough inspection of convalescent and other camps.
The troops on duty in Brashear under Stickney comprised detachments from the One Hundred and Seventy-Sixth New York, Twenty-Third Connecticut and Forty-Second Massachusetts Infantry, Twenty-First Indiana Artillery, one company of the Corps de’Afrique (colored troops), and various cavalry squads, in all about six hundred effective men. Adjutant Whiting, Twenty-Third Connecticut, was post-adjutant; Quartermaster Kimball, One Hundred and Seventy-Sixth New York, post-quartermaster; Lieutenant Kinsley, Forty-Seventh Massachusetts, was serving as an aide-de-camp.
The post hospital contained many sick and wounded soldiers, who were removed to New Orleans when able to undergo the journey. At one time near one thousand convalescent soldiers, capable of bearing arms in an emergency, were in camp at Brashear. A large amount of baggage, commissary, quartermaster and medical stores, cannon, arms and ammunition was stored in various buildings and places. Part of the baggage and stores was removed to Algiers previous to June 21st.
Passing the night of their arrival in bivouac about the depot, next day the detachment was ordered by Stickney to quarter in the depot building, and do picket duty upon the railroad line and guard a water tank used by locomotives of the road. Excursions across the river to Berwick were in order almost every day, to drive out cavalry scouts of the enemy and obtain cattle. The enemy always returned when the way was clear for them to do so, and an exchange of shots across the river was of frequent occurrence. The weather was extremely hot. There was some movement made by the troops each day, with guard, patrol and picket duty to be done at night. Mosquitos were thick and blood-thirsty enough to cause refreshing sleep to be an impossibility. With difficulty could food be obtained to serve out with any semblance of regularity. Food was plenty, but there was no system in delivering rations. The men were gradually becoming worn out.
The time and energy of all troops at the post was frittered away in this manner without any good accruing from it; instead of devoting the same time and labor to what was absolutely needed, i. e., to prepare defences for use in case of emergency, with plenty of idle convalescent men at hand capable of rendering assistance, besides a large number of negroes whose labor could be utilized. No intelligent attempt was made to organize the convalescent men for service, or to render efficient a number of field-guns that were in Brashear, posted on the river front.
The enemy was active in an annoying sort of way across the river, on the Berwick side, after it had been abandoned by troops of the garrison, and on the line of the Atchafalaya River. Danger of an attack existed from the first day of June.10 The officers of the Forty-Second detachment soon learned from various sources that the situation was rather ticklish. Even privates came into possession of information, from the many negroes in and around Brashear, that the enemy was up to mischief, and trying to get in between Brashear and New Orleans, upon the line of railroad.