batteries, which opened fire on her. I had all along thought that we
would open fire from our bow guns, on the topgallant forecastle, and
that, after discharging a few broadsides from the starboard side, the
action would be wound up by a parting compliment from our stern chasers.
To my surprise, however, we opened at once from our broadside guns. The
effect was startling, as the sound was unexpected; but beyond this I
really experienced no inconvenience from the concussion. There was
nothing unpleasant to the ear, and the jar to the ship was really quite
unappreciable. It may interest the uninitiated to be informed how a
broadside is fired from a vessel-of-war. I was told on board the
Richmond that all the guns were sometimes fired off simultaneously,
though it is not a very usual course, as it strains the ship. Last night
the broadsides were fired by commencing at the forward gun, and firing
all the rest off in rapid succession, as fast almost as the ticking of a
watch. The effect was grand and terrific; and, if the guns were rightly
pointed—a difficult thing in the dark, by the way—they could not fail in
carrying death and destruction among the enemy.
“Of course we did not have everything our own way; for the enemy poured
in his shot and shell as thick as hail. Over, ahead, astern, all around
us, flew the death-dealing missiles, the hissing, screaming, whistling,
shrieking, and howling of which rivaled Pandemonium. It must not be
supposed, however, that because our broadside guns were the tools we
principally worked with, our bow and stern chasers were idle. We soon
opened with our bow eighty-pounder Dahlgren, which was followed up not
long after by the guns astern, giving evidence to the fact that we had
passed some of the batteries.
“Soon after firing was heard astern of us, and it was soon ascertained
that the Monongahela, with her consort, the Kineo, and the Mississippi
were in action. The Monongahela carries a couple of two-hundred-pounder
rifled Parrot guns. The roar of cannon was incessant, and the flashes
from the guns, together with the flight of the shells from the mortar
boats, made up a combination of sound and sight impossible to describe.
To add to the horrors of the night, while it contributed toward the
enhancement of a certain terrible beauty, dense clouds of smoke began to
envelop the river, shutting out from view the several vessels and
confounding them with the batteries. It was very difficult to know how
to steer to prevent running ashore, perhaps right under a rebel battery
or into a consort. Upward and upward rolled the smoke, shutting out of
view the beautiful stars and obscuring the vision on every side. Then it
was that the order was passed, ‘Boys, don’t fire till you see the flash
from the enemy’s guns.’ That was our only guide through the ‘palpable
obscurity.’ Intermingled with the boom of the cannonade arose the cries
of the wounded and the shouts of their friends, suggesting that they
should be taken below for treatment. So thick was the smoke that we had
to cease firing several times, and to add to the horrors of the night,
it was next to impossible to tell whether we were running into the
Hartford or going ashore, and, if the latter, on which bank, or whether
some of the other vessels were about to run into us or into each other.
All this time the fire was kept up on both sides incessantly.
“‘Muzzle to muzzle.’ This phrase is familiar to most persons who have
read accounts of sea-fights that took place about fifty years ago; but
it is difficult for the uninitiated to realize all the horrors conveyed
in these three words. For the first time I had, last night, an
opportunity of knowing what the phrase really meant. The central battery
is situated about the middle of the segment of a circle I have already
compared to a horseshoe in shape, though it may be better understood by
the term ‘crescent.’ This battery stands on a bluff so high that a
vessel in passing immediately underneath cannot elevate her guns
sufficiently to reach those on the battery; neither can the guns on the
battery be sufficiently depressed to bear on the passing ship. In this
position the rebel batteries on the two horns of the crescent can
enfilade the passing vessel, pouring in a terrible cross-fire, which the
vessel can return, though at a great disadvantage, from her bow and
stern chasers. We fully realized this last night; for, as we got within
short range, the enemy poured into us a terrible fire of grape and
canister, which we were not slow to return—our guns being
double-shotted, each with a stand of both grape and canister. Every
vessel in its turn was exposed to the same fiery ordeal on nearing the
centre battery, and right promptly did their gallant tars return the
compliment. This was the hottest part of the engagement. We were
literally muzzle to muzzle, the distance between us and the enemy’s guns
being not more than twenty yards, though to me it seemed to be only as
many feet.
“Matters had gone on in this way for nearly an hour and a half—the first
gun having been fired at about half past eleven o’clock—when, to my
astonishment, I heard some shells whistling over our port side. Did the
rebels have batteries on the right bank of the river? was the query that
naturally suggested itself to me. To this the response was given that we
had turned back. I soon discovered that it was too true. Our return was,
of course, more rapid than our passage up. The rebels did not molest us
much, and I do not believe one of their shots took effect while we were
running down rapidly with the current. It was a melancholy affair, for
we did not know but what the whole expedition was a failure; neither
could we tell whether any of our vessels had been destroyed, nor how
many. We had the satisfaction of learning soon afterward, however, that
the Hartford and Albatross had succeeded in rounding the point above the
batteries. All the rest were compelled to return. As I passed the
machinery of the vessel, on my way forward, I was shown a large hole
that had been made by an eighty-pounder solid conical shell, which had
passed through the hull of the ship, damaging the machinery so as to
compel us to return.”
During the naval combat, General Banks marched three divisions of his
army from Baton Rouge, to a point within seven miles of Port Hudson,
where after engaging in a skirmish with the enemy, with trifling loss,
they returned to their starting point. Being unprepared as yet to
undertake the capture of Port Hudson, General Banks now turned his
attention to that portion of the State west of New Orleans, and
bordering on the Teche river. This diversion, it was afterward
discovered, would have been made unnecessary, had General Banks
possessed the means of learning the exact force of the rebels at Port
Hudson, which was by no means so formidable as he had reason for
believing.
The Teche river is a tortuous stream rising in St. Landry parish, and
flowing southwardly. On its bank are the towns of Franklin,
Martinsville, and Opelousas. General Weitzel had previously made an
unsuccessful expedition up that river, and to guard against further
invasion a considerable rebel force was now posted in that region, and
heavy earthworks were thrown up in the vicinity of Patersonville. The
district of country bordering on the Teche, comprised the parishes of
Terrebonne, Lafourche, Assumption, St. Mary, and St. Martin, rich in
agricultural wealth, and having a large slave population. This district
had furnished valuable supplies to the rebel army.
OPERATIONS ON THE TECHE AND ATCHAFALAYA RIVERS, LA.
APRIL 13–20, 1863.
General Banks having concentrated his forces at Brashear, General
Weitzel’s brigade was crossed over to Berwick on the 10th of April,
without opposition, followed on the succeeding day by General Emory’s
division, and both commands advanced upon the fortified position a few
miles above Pattersonville. On the 13th, there was considerable
artillery firing, in which the gunboat Diana, a late Federal capture,
took active part. On the 12th, the division of General Grover left
Brashear on the gunboats Clifton, Estrella, Arizona, and Calhoun, and
transports, and proceeded up the Atchafalaya river, which joins the
Teche at Berwick City, into Lake Chetimacha. The object was to get into
the rear of the enemy, and if possible cut off his retreat if he
evacuated his position, or to assail him in rear at the time of the
attack in front. The expedition effected a landing early the next
morning, about three miles west of Franklin, near a spot called Irish
Bend. At this time, the gunboat Queen of the West, which had been
captured previously by the enemy, was blown up and destroyed on the
lake. Skirmishing immediately ensued with a small force of the enemy,
that fell back as General Grover advanced. His position was about eleven
miles distant from General Banks.
BATTLE OF IRISH BEND, LA.
APRIL 13, 1863.
A correspondent in the army thus describes this battle:
“About seven o’clock A. M., the advance reached the edge of a dense line
of woods near what is known as Irish Bend (a sharp bend of the Teche),
about eleven miles distant from the rebel earthworks, where General
Banks was engaging the enemy. Here our force was met by a strong one of
the rebels, in position, from the banks of the Teche, across the front
and right flank of General Grover’s division. The enemy was strongly
posted at this point, their right flank supported by artillery, and
their left extending round into another wood, in such a manner as to
completely encircle any force which should simply attack their position
in the wood first spoken of.
“Colonel Birge, of the Third Brigade, of General Grover’s division, at
this time in command of the advance, and supported by two sections of
Rogers’s battery, now skirmished with the rebels in front for about an
hour, our skirmishers and their supports engaging the infantry and
dismounted cavalry of the enemy. Colonel Birge then ordered the
Twenty-fifth Connecticut and One Hundred and Fifty-ninth New York in
front of the first skirt of woods. He had no sooner done this than the
enemy commenced a flank attack, endeavoring to take the section of
Rogers’s battery which was on the right. These two regiments, assailed
by a fire on their front and right from an enemy very perfectly
concealed, replied ineffectually to the fire, became shaken, and finally
commenced to fall back, when General Grover rode up to the front and
rallied them, at the same time ordering General Dwight to hasten up with
his brigade. The section of Rogers’s battery was compelled to limber up
and go to the rear, the fire of the enemy being so lively as to pick off
nine cannoneers at their guns.
“At this time General Dwight moved on the field with his brigade, and
placed the Sixth New York on his right, in such a manner as to outflank
the enemy’s left, in a similar way that the enemy had outflanked our
right. The Ninety-first New York was ordered in front to advance against
the woods, with the First Louisiana supporting the Sixth New York, and
the Twenty-second Maine and One Hundred and Thirty-first New York in
support of the Ninety-first New York.
“The order to advance was given, and like veterans they moved forward
across the field, through the woods, and over another field, the enemy
slowly but surely falling back before them; sweeping on, taking from him
all his positions, and finally compelling him to so hasty a retreat that
he left over one hundred prisoners in our hands. Then the position which
Colonel Birge’s brigade failed to take, with a loss of something over
three hundred men, was taken by General Dwight, with a loss of only
seven killed and twenty-one wounded.
“General Dwight was now ordered to halt, take a favorable position, and
hold it. This was done, the enemy continuing to manœuvre in front of
General Dwight’s and Colonel Birge’s commands, for two or three hours.
“Our troops in the mean time, had been ordered by General Grover to rest
in their places until further orders, which they did until about three
P. M., when an order was given to feel the enemy on the front and flank,
with a view to our attacking their position in force.
“Before any considerable advance further was made the enemy evacuated,
retreating to the woods and canes, having previously set fire to the
gunboat Diana, and transports Gossamer, Newsboy, and Era No. 2. They
were signally repulsed, with a loss of from three to four hundred. On
the field of battle, one hundred and fifty prisoners were taken, and
thirty wounded.
“Among the killed is General Riley, and among the wounded, Colonel
Gray.”
This success of General Grover was followed by the evacuation of the
works before General Banks. Early on Tuesday, the 15th, the cavalry and
artillery, followed by General Weitzel’s brigade, with Colonel Ingram’s
force of General Emory’s division, as a support, followed the enemy. So
rapid was the pursuit that the enemy was unable to remove their
transports at New Iberia, and five, with all the commissary stores and
ammunition with which they were loaded, were destroyed at that place,
together with an incomplete iron-clad gunboat. On Thursday the army
reached New Iberia. A foundry for the manufacture of cannon and other
munitions of war was immediately taken possession of, and a similar one
had been seized two days before at Franklin. Two regiments were also
sent to destroy the tools and machinery at the celebrated salt mine of
the town. Thus far about fifteen hundred prisoners had been captured,
and more than five hundred horses, mules, and beef cattle taken from the
plantations. The Federal loss was small. The entire force of the enemy
was about ten thousand men.
On the next day, the 17th, the army moved forward, but General Grover,
who had marched from New Iberia by a shorter road, and thus gained the
advance, met the enemy at Bayou Vermilion. Their force consisted of a
considerable number of cavalry, one thousand infantry and six pieces of
artillery, massed in a strong position on the opposite bank. They were
immediately attacked and driven from their position but not until they
had succeeded in destroying by fire the bridge across the river. The
night of the 17th and the next day was passed in rebuilding the bridge.
On the 19th, the march was resumed, and continued to the vicinity of
Grand Coteau; and on the next day the main force of General Banks
occupied Opelousas. At the same time, the cavalry, supported by a
regiment of infantry and a section of artillery, were thrown forward six
miles to Washington, on the Courtableau. On the 21st, no movement was
made, but on the next day, Brigadier-General Dwight, of General Grover’s
division, with detachments of artillery and cavalry, was pushed forward
through Washington toward Alexandria. He found the bridges over the
Cocodrie and Bœuf destroyed, and during the evening and night replaced
them by a single bridge at the junction of the bayous. Orders were also
found there from General Moore to General Taylor, in command of the
Confederate force, directing him to retreat slowly to Alexandria, and,
if pressed, to retire to Texas.
Bute a la Rose, with its garrison of sixty men, two heavy guns, and a
large quantity of ammunition, was captured by General Banks. The result
of the expedition thus far is thus stated by General Banks: “We have
destroyed the enemy’s army and navy, and made their reorganization
impossible by destroying or removing the material. We hold the key of
the position. Among the evidences of our victory are two thousand
prisoners, two transports, and twenty guns taken, and three gunboats and
eight transports destroyed.” The Federal loss in the land battle was six
or seven hundred.
Admiral Porter took possession of Alexandria on the 6th of May, without
opposition, and General Banks established his headquarters at that place
on the day following. This town is situated on the Red river, one
hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. Admiral Porter thus describes
his operations at this time in a dispatch to Secretary Welles, dated May
13:
“SIR: I had the honor to inform you from Alexandria of the capture of
that place, and the forts defending the approaches to the city, by the
naval forces under my command. Twenty-four hours after we arrived the
advance guard of United States troops came into the city. General
Banks arriving soon after, I turned the place over to his keeping. The
water beginning to fall, I deemed it prudent to return with the
largest vessels to the mouth of the Red river. I dropped down to Fort
de Russe in the Benton, and undertook to destroy these works. I only
succeeded however, in destroying the three heavy casemates commanding
the channel and a small water battery for two guns. About six hundred
yards below it I destroyed by bursting one heavy thirty-two pounder
and some gun carriages left in their hurry by the enemy.
“The main fort, on a hill some nine hundred yards from the water, I
was unable to attend to. It is quite an extensive work, new and
incomplete, but built with much labor and pains. It will take two or
three vessels to pull it to pieces. I have not the powder to spare to
blow it up. The vessels will be ordered to work on it occasionally,
and it will be soon destroyed. In this last-mentioned fort was mounted
the 11-inch gun, which I am led to believe lies in the middle of the
river, near the fort, the rebels throwing it overboard in their panic
at the approach of our gunboats. The raft which closed the entrance I
have blown up, sawed in two, and presented to the poor of the
neighborhood. I sent Commander Woodworth in the Price, with the
Switzerland, Pittsburg, and Arizona, up Black river to make a
reconnoissance, and he destroyed a large amount of stores, valued at
three hundred thousand dollars, consisting of salt, sugar, rum,
molasses, tobacco, and bacon.
(Signed) DAVID D. PORTER,
Acting Rear-Admiral, Commanding Mississippi Squadron.
General Banks now concentrated his troops at Simmesport, preparatory to
an advance on Port Hudson.
Minor expeditions were meanwhile taking place in other districts of the
department. A brigade under General Nickerson advanced to the
neighborhood of Lake Pontchartrain, destroying some valuable property,
and capturing a few prisoners. A portion of General Auger’s division
penetrated to a point on the railroad between Clinton and Port Hudson,
where they encountered and routed a Confederate force, killing five and
capturing twenty-five. Colonel Grierson was also successful in an
expedition near Port Hudson, capturing three hundred head of cattle.
Admiral Farragut now in command of the fleet, was preparing to assist in
the attack on Port Hudson. General Banks’s army advanced about the
middle of May from Baton Rouge to Port Hudson, portions of his army on
either bank of the Mississippi, and a part being forwarded on
transports.
On the 21st of May General Banks landed, and on the next day a junction
was effected with the advance of Major-General Augur and
Brigadier-General Sherman. His line occupied the Bayou Sara road. On
this road General Augur had an encounter with a force of the enemy,
which resulted in their repulse with heavy loss. On the 25th the enemy
was compelled to abandon his first line of works. On the next day
General Weitzel’s brigade, which had covered the rear in the march from
Alexandria, arrived, and on the morning of the 27th a general assault
was made on the fortifications.
Three series of batteries extended along the river above Port Hudson to
a point on Thompson’s creek, making a continuous line about three and a
half miles in extent. Above Thompson’s creek is an impassable marsh,
forming a natural defence. From the lower battery began a line of land
fortifications, of semi-circular form, about ten miles in extent, with
Thompson’s Creek for its natural terminus above.
ATTACK ON PORT HUDSON, LA.
MAY 27, 1863.
It having been understood that a grand and simultaneous attack from
every part of the lines encircling Port Hudson was to be made on
Wednesday, the 27th, General Augur, as early as 6 A. M. of that day,
commenced a heavy cannonade upon the works, which continued incessantly
until 2 o’clock, P. M.
At 10 o’clock, General Weitzel’s brigade, with the division of General
Grover—reduced to about two brigades—and the division of General Emory,
temporarily reduced by detachments to about a brigade, under command of
Colonel Paine, with two regiments of colored troops, made an assault
upon the right of the enemy’s works, crossing Sandy creek, and driving
them through the woods into their fortifications. The fight lasted on
this line until 4 o’clock, and was very severely contested.
Brigadier-General Sherman, who intended to commence his assault at the
same time on the left, had his troops in readiness.
General Augur’s assaulting forces consisted only of Colonel E. P.
Chapin’s brigade, viz., the Forty-eighth Massachusetts, led by
Lieutenant-colonel O’Brien; the Forty-ninth Massachusetts, by Colonel F.
W. Bartlett; the One Hundred and Sixteenth New York, led by Major Love;
and the Twenty-first Maine, by Colonel Johnson; also two regiments of
Colonel Dudley’s brigade, called up from the right, viz., the Second
Louisiana, under Colonel Paine; and parts of the Fiftieth Massachusetts,
under Colonel Messer.
Before commencing the assault Captain Holcomb’s Vermont battery played
upon the works to draw their fire, which he did very effectively; and
then the order for the assault was given. A number of brave fellows from
each regiment had volunteered to go in advance with the fascines, for
the purpose of making a roadway through the moat; these were immediately
followed by others who had volunteered to form the assaulting party; and
after them the various regiments with their colonels, all under the
immediate direction of Major-General Augur.
The scene that presented itself to the view as the devoted men emerged
from the wood was really appalling. Between them and the fortifications
to be assaulted lay an immense open space, at least a mile in length,
from right to left, and at least half a mile in depth from the edge of
the wood. This space was originally a dense forest, but the rebels had
ingeniously felled the trees, leaving the huge branches to interlace
each other, and forming, with the thick brushwood underneath, a barrier
all but impassable.
It was enough to daunt the stoutest hearts; but the order had been given
that Port Hudson must be taken that day, and the brave men advanced.
In so horrible a place, where men could scarcely keep their footing, and
were sinking at every step up to their arm-pits, and tumbling along as
best they could with their muskets and fascines through the impenetrable
rubbish—the enemy all the while blazing away at them with grape, shell,
and canister—the result may easily be imagined. It was wholesale
slaughter.
But it was cheering to see the heroism and endurance of the men. Onward
they went—the old flag streaming proudly above them (the fascine-bearers
falling in every direction)—until they actually, many of them, fought
their way through the half mile of tangled rubbish to the narrow open
space between it and the breastworks, where, as a matter of course, the
gallant fellows perished. The unequal contest lasted from 3 P. M. to 5
P. M., when General Augur, finding it utterly impossible to carry out
the instructions he had received, withdrew his men in perfect
order—returning shot for shot as they got back to the wood.
A vigorous bombardment of the position had been made by Admiral Farragut
for a week previous to this assault; and reconnoissances had discovered
pretty accurately the nature of these formidable defences.
ASSAULT ON PORT HUDSON, LA.
JUNE 14, 1863.
After a bombardment of several days, another assault on Port Hudson was
made on the above date. General Banks deemed it necessary on this
occasion to change the position of his troops, and they now formed a
right and left wing, without the customary centre, and were joined in
the form of a right angle. The division of General Grover, on the upper
side of Port Hudson, extended a distance of nearly four miles from the
river, toward the interior, within supporting distance of General
Augur’s division, which was on the west side of the fortifications, and
extended a distance of three miles to the river, within hailing distance
of the fleet. The defences of the enemy formed nearly a right angle,
both lines of which extended to the river, and enclosed a sharp bend.
The point of attack was the extreme northeastern angle of the enemy’s
position.