BAYOU GENTILLY--JUNE--FAREWELL TO GENTILLY CAMP--IN NEW
ORLEANS.
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.