JULY--IN NEW ORLEANS--AT ALGIERS.
New Orleans on a Sunday during the summer of 1863 would have shocked
those staid old New Englanders who believed in a proper observance of
the day. Army and navy officers, soldiers and sailors, who could obtain
furloughs, did not hesitate to use the day for a grand spree. All the
elements were there to have a merry time, and upon the Shell-road there
was seen a cosmopolite crowd bent on enjoyment of the day. The colored
population was always out in full force. Until one got so used to it
that the novelty was gone, all this excitement, in endless variety, was
not to be lost by those who could take part.
The Fourth of July was made a gala-day. Salutes were fired morning,
noon and night. A street parade was made by the Forty-Second
Massachusetts and a few small companies from the One Hundred and
Seventy-Sixth New York, Twenty-Third Connecticut Infantry and
Twenty-Fifth New York Battery, with two squadrons cavalry, as an escort
to a procession of citizens, mostly dark colored. Fireworks in front of
the Custom House at night closed the jubilations of the day.
At the Custom House the regiment remained until July 14th, on provost
duty and on guard over Confederate prisoners, confined in the best
part of the building. The treatment of these prisoners was good; their
food was the same furnished to the regiment on guard, and except
deprivation of their liberty they had no reason to complain. It was a
hot time the day these Confederate officers arrived from Port Hudson. A
large crowd of sympathizers were on hand to welcome them, so boisterous
in behavior the cavalry-men, who assisted the infantry guard, in a
number of cases lost their temper and drove the people into stores and
houses by backing their horses into the crowd; sabres were also used
a few times. The crowd threatened at one time to make an attempt to
seize some stacked arms in a street near the Custom House, after the
prisoners were placed in quarters. In a day or two quiet was restored
and all expressions of sympathy ceased.
While on duty in the city all drills were suspended; parades of
ceremony, guard-mounting and dress parade, took place on the reserved
ground in the centre of Canal Street. These parades were gone through
with in an indifferent manner on account of hot weather and debility,
which began to affect a great majority of the men. Not being acclimated
the extreme hot weather told on their health in a marked degree; not
exactly in a condition to be called sick, they did not feel well; what
duty had to be done was made easy as possible. Guards for hospitals,
men for patrol, funeral escorts, and regular sentry duty at quarters
kept at work every man able to do duty. One funeral escort was
furnished every day, always at six o’clock in the afternoon.
After several assaults had been made upon solitary unarmed soldiers
by the rough element in the city, an order was issued July 11th for
every officer and soldier to wear his side-arms whenever upon the
street. Several men had been roughly handled, and reports were current
of the assassination of two men in the suburbs, but of the truth of
this report there is no definite knowledge. The night patrol had
orders to prevent more than three persons assembling together and to
arrest all officers and men of the army without side-arms. The patrol
furnished by the Forty-Second consisted of one lieutenant and eighteen
men, who covered all streets within the limits of--from St. Mary’s
Market to Eliseum Field Street, to Dauphin Street, to Canal Street, to
St. Charles Street, to Julia Street, to Tchoupitoulas Street, and to
Custom House Street. These limits covered many questionable places of
resort and afforded night patrols an opportunity to see very curious
incidents. At reunions of the regiment these incidents form the basis
of a large number of amusing anecdotes.
To while away care and to lighten the burden of duty a few officers and
men conceived an idea of forming a mock Sons of Malta Lodge. Prominent
in this amusement were Captain Leonard, Lieutenants Sanderson and
Phillips, Sergeant-Major Bosson, Sergeants Nichols, Vialle, Attwell,
and others. The first move was to secure a victim for an initiation
ceremony. It was decided to try Sergeant John Binney, of Company A, a
man well known to all on duty at the Custom House. After broaching the
subject in a careful way to the sergeant, he was anxious to join such
a lodge, which he was informed had already been formed, and thought it
an excellent idea. He was kept in suspense a few days on the plea that
his name would have to go before the lodge, and if not black-balled he
would be admitted on a certain evening. Binney caught at the bait like
a hungry fish.
When everything was ready the _pseudo_-lodge members assembled, masked,
in a dimly-lighted room in the Custom House, prepared for fun. A bugle,
trombone, bass-drum and cymbals were procured from the band, officers
appointed, and the sergeant, blindfolded, was admitted after passing
through certain mock forms at the door. All worked well; the questions
and answers and chorus from lodge members were carried out with due
decorum until the moment the embrace of fellowship was to be given.
There was attached to Company C, as cook, an immense large negro, a
regular old plantation hand, tall, burly looking, black as coal, with
an odor about him as bad as from a skunk. With some difficulty, and not
without threats, this negro was got into the room and made to strip
naked to the waist. As the arms of Binney were placed around this negro
and his head laid upon the bare, black breast the whole ceremony came
near being spoiled by those present bursting into a roar of laughter;
fortunately this was stifled, and amid a crashing din, made by band
instruments, gas was turned on and the bandage removed from the eyes
of candidate Binney. For a moment dead silence reigned, while Binney
stared around and then at the negro in such a manner those present can
never forget. Suddenly he kicked him, and with an exclamation more
forcible than polite he proceeded to kick him out of the room amid
peals of laughter. The negro did not lose any time in escaping from
Binney’s wrath, for the poor fellow had been almost frightened out of
his wits during the initiation; large drops of sweat stood out upon his
face and breast like moisture on a well-filled ice pitcher.
Binney was mad. It was some time before he was cooled down. Finally he
saw the joke, took it good-naturedly, and had his revenge in assisting
at the initiation of others. Quite a number were “put through,” but
as the proceedings leaked out candidates became scarce, and the lodge
adjourned _sine die_.
While at Bayou Gentilly there was much discussion among some officers
and men about their time of enlistment, caused by a regimental order,
issued May 19th, promulgating the time of service for the regiment to
expire on July 14th. Opinions varied, and naturally the men inclined
to believe that theory which made their time for discharge come early.
Some company officers allowed themselves to display their ignorance
by agreeing with the short-term men, and did all in their power to
keep up that belief. Those who knew better did not try to stop this
short-term theory by informing the men of the true facts in the case.
By a decision of the War Department, promulgated at the time when nine
months regiments were called for, and modified at various times so that
it was at last expressly stated that companies could be mustered when
full, the men to draw pay from time of enlistment, though it be a month
or two before their company was mustered; that when ten companies were
mustered and formed into a regiment, then the field and staff were to
be mustered, and the time of the regiment would date from the time the
tenth company was mustered into service. This should have been known
by all officers. Men in the companies who did not have the correct
information imparted to them had an idea their term expired from date
of muster of each company, and thought they could be sent home by
companies. These men seemed to think of nothing but to get home as soon
as possible, and they did not show any pride in the duty of a soldier,
nor any regard for the cause they were in service for.
A few company commanders sent in to Department headquarters a
notification their time would be out on a certain date--which was
required by regulations--and received for reply the information, in
substance, as issued by the War Department. Notwithstanding this
official information they still refused to believe such to be the case,
and took no steps to quell a mutinous sentiment which prevailed to a
great extent; men swearing they would rather be shot than do another
day’s duty, and similar foolish remarks.
This feeling reached a climax on the morning of July 14th. In the
morning orders had been received to have the companies in readiness to
move at a moment’s notice, in light marching order. The men and a few
officers declared the time of the regiment had expired, and refused
to do further duty. It was necessary to notify General Emory. The day
before it was with difficulty a detachment of seventy-three men was
furnished Lieutenant-Colonel Fitzgibbon, who ordered the detail.
The men on duty were assembled upon the top of the Custom House and
addressed by Lieutenant-Colonel W. D. Smith, One Hundred and Tenth New
York Volunteers, acting assistant-adjutant-general on the staff of the
general commanding. The trouble was mortifying, besides interfering
with plans of the general, and it is no wonder Lieutenant-Colonel
Smith could not control his temper, and used threats, combined with
entreaty, to bring the men to a proper sense of their duty. The state
of affairs was told to them, with a warning of what to expect if a
refusal to do duty was persisted in. One officer, Lieutenant Duncan,
Company F, protested, claiming that his time had expired, and asked in
the name of _justice_ that he and his men be sent home. He was promptly
placed in arrest and his sword taken from him. This summary action was
well-timed, for Lieutenant Duncan was a special champion of the “want
to go home” men. It was proof to the men to butt against the Government
was not an easy matter. When the Twenty-Sixth Massachusetts marched
into the Custom House in the afternoon, to occupy their old quarters
and relieve the Forty-Second, ordered to Algiers, the men thought and
so expressed themselves that the commanding officer intended to coerce
the regiment into doing duty, if it was found necessary. Fortunately,
without further difficulty, the regiment went over to Algiers in the
afternoon. Lieutenant Duncan was released from arrest and his sword
returned, after an apology for his hasty, ill-timed behavior.
A history of the regiment would not be correct, and the truth not told,
without recording these events, though it is unpleasant to do so. All
true friends of the Forty-Second have every reason to be thankful
nothing further took place to bring discredit on the regiment. This
ebullition of sentiment about expiration of time of enlistment is the
only act the enlisted men, as a body, have reason to feel ashamed about
during their term of service.
From the fourteenth to the twenty-ninth the regiment was on picket
duty upon the Opelousas and Gulf Railroad. Headquarters of troops
on the west bank of the Mississippi River were at Company Canal,
Brigadier-General McMillan in command (from July 21st, when he relieved
Colonel Plumley) of all troops from Algiers to Des Allemands, and
troops were pushed forward to La-Fourche Crossing, repairing the track
and bridges to that point. The picket-detail usually consisted of from
thirty to forty men, who were out on duty forty-eight hours, carrying
rations for that time, their blankets and mosquito bars. The bars did
not prove effective protection, and it was generally the case these men
could not obtain any sleep, for they were obliged to keep awake and
fight the terribly annoying insects. This was all of the fighting done
on picket.
This picket duty extended to Jefferson Station, eight miles from
Algiers, where two companies of Colonel Desanger’s regiment of
sixty-day free colored troops and a battery of artillery were on
duty. These colored troops were neatly dressed in the United States
regulation uniform, and to all appearances were doing their duty well.
Besides this picket-detail a guard was retained on duty, comprising
nine men from Company A, eight men from Company B, nine men from
Company C, five men from Company E, seven men from Company F, seven men
from Company H, forty-five men in all, and acting Lieutenant George
G. Nichols, Company G, under the command of Lieutenant White, Company
C, who were sent to the Bellevue Iron Works in Algiers, July 13th, to
relieve a guard from the Ninth Connecticut over Confederate prisoners
of war confined there.
Another permanent guard was detailed for duty at Canal Street and
French Market Ferries from New Orleans. Their duty was to prevent
soldiers or citizens from crossing over without passes and to arrest
suspicious persons.
Algiers and vicinity would not have pleased a tourist, with its
dilapidated and uncared-for buildings, abandoned and neglected
plantations and small population. All drills were stopped. Men not on
duty could stroll where they pleased. A mixed contraband camp, not far
away, was a favorite spot for many men to pass their spare hours. The
men raided on all watermelon patches within a radius of several miles
until complaints were made to the provost-marshal. In more than one
case did these melons effect a cure of that scourge in armies--chronic
diarrhœa. Singular as it may seem several men with this complaint,
unable to get relief from the surgeons, were completely cured by eating
these melons.
Quarters were taken in an old salt warehouse close to the river, with
all the companies located in the building, space allotted each company,
every man making himself comfortable upon the floor. Doors and windows
torn out, there was no trouble about ventilation in the extreme hot
weather that prevailed. The guard occupied tents on the opposite side
of the road; the company cooks[18] and kitchens were in tents upon the
levee. A house situated within a fine orchard, not far from the men’s
quarters, was used by the surgeons for a hospital, the grounds in front
for the field and staff-officers’ tents.
[18] One day a negro cook of Company C (the same man who took a part in
the Sons of Malta ceremonies at the New Orleans Custom House) got into
a difficulty with a camp-follower colored boy. Bantered into frenzy by
this little devil the cook got a small dagger, and would have committed
a murder had not the sergeant-major and Private John Davis, Company
H, seized him, as he was about to stab the boy. A short struggle took
place before this dagger was obtained. For punishment the negro cook
was kicked for some distance down the road. Whatever became of the
burly, quick-tempered negro has often been a subject of speculation
among those who remember him.
Each night, after taps, the men made this salt warehouse ring with
fun and music up to midnight. Many rough remarks were passed to and
fro with special reference to the lieutenant-colonel, who, the men
thought, was not exerting himself to obtain transportation home. As
great injustice was done Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman while at Algiers,
it is proper some of the correspondence in relation to securing passage
North should be read by the regiment. At first he endeavored to have
the paroled men sent home; affairs in the Department would not warrant
an application to send home those men able to do duty, as every man was
wanted.
“HEADQUARTERS 42D REGIMENT, MASS. VOLS.,
“CUSTOM HOUSE, NEW ORLEANS, LA., July 5th, 1863.
“_Sir_,--I would respectfully present the following facts to the
attention of the commanding general of the Defences of New Orleans:
“January 1st, 1863, three companies of the Forty-Second Massachusetts
Volunteers, viz., D, G and I, under Colonel I. S. Burrell, were taken
prisoners at Galveston, Texas. These men were taken to Houston and
kept several weeks, when they were sent to our lines at Baton Rouge
and paroled. February 25th they arrived in New Orleans and were ordered
by General Sherman to report to me at the camp of the Forty-Second
Regiment at Gentilly Crossing, on the Ponchartrain Railroad, since
which time they have been in camp at that place.
“These men have had nothing to do or to engage their attention, and
as a consequence they have become very low spirited and much reduced
in bodily vigor. Several of them have lately died very suddenly, and
several are daily taken sick. One sergeant taken sick July 3d was
buried July 4th.
“The time of this regiment expires the fourteenth of this month,
according to the rule established by the War Department for the service
of the nine months troops, this date being nine months from the date
of muster of the last company in the regiment. In view of these
circumstances and of the fact that these men have been of no service to
the Government in their present condition, I would respectfully ask the
commanding general that they be sent to their homes as soon as possible.
“Many of these men are from the best families in Boston and vicinity,
and their friends are deeply anxious that they should be sent North,
and personally I am deeply interested that their case may be acted on
at an early day, for if they are kept in this climate even a few weeks
longer many more will be lost by reason of sickness, not only to their
friends but for future use to the country.
“There are also at Algiers forty-four men from different companies of
this regiment who are paroled, having been taken at Brashear City;
these with those first spoken of make a total of two hundred and
seventy-six paroled men of this regiment.
“By allowing these men to be sent to their homes not only a humane act
will be accomplished but a great and never-to-be-forgotten favor will
be bestowed on these men, who faithfully served their country when in
service, and on many true friends of the Union in Massachusetts.
“With the highest consideration,
“I remain, your obedient servant,
“J. STEDMAN, _Lieutenant-Colonel_,
“_commanding 42d Mass. Vols._
“TO LIEUT.-COL. W. D. SMITH, _A. A. General_,
“_Defences New Orleans_.”
The transport-steamer _F. A. Scott_ was partially promised
by Provost-Marshal-General Bowen, but on July 11th he wrote
Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman as follows: “General Emory, in view of
the altered condition of affairs since the fall of Vicksburg and
Port Hudson, revokes the order for the transportation of the paroled
soldiers of the Forty-Second Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers to New
York.” This letter was the first intimation that an early return North
could be expected of all nine months regiments whose time had expired.
Until the two Confederate strongholds surrendered they would have been
retained in the Department.
As a matter of form a letter was sent to the Department commander June
19th, stating the time of expiration of service, with a request for
transportation to Massachusetts.
The two following letters explain themselves:
“HEADQUARTERS FORTY-SECOND REGT., MASS. VOLS.,
“LAFAYETTE SQUARE, NEW ORLEANS, June 21st, 1863.
“_Sir_,--I have the honor to report that your communication of the
eighteenth instant, relative to the muster into service of this
regiment, is received.
“I would respectfully state that no formal muster was ever made of
this regiment, and the field and staff were mustered on the eleventh
November, 1862. But the War Department have decided that in the case
of the nine months’ troops their time was to expire nine months from
the date of muster of the last company, which in this regiment was the
fourteenth of October, making our time, as above, the fourteenth of
July next.
“I received a short time since an official order from Governor Andrew,
based on an order from Secretary Stanton, that the time would be
reckoned as above stated.
“I have the honor to remain,
“Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
“J. STEDMAN, _Lieutenant-Colonel_,
“_commanding 42d Mass. Vols._
“TO LIEUT.-COL. R. B. IRWIN, _A. A. General_,
“_19th Army Corps_.”
“HEADQUARTERS FORTY-SECOND REGT., MASS., VOLS.
“CAMP AT ALGIERS, LA., July 27th, 1863.
“_Sir_,--The time of service of the Forty-Second Regiment Massachusetts
Volunteers having expired the fourteenth instant, I would respectfully
request that transportation be furnished the regiment for their return
to Massachusetts. I would state for the information of the commanding
general that the aggregate strength of the regiment at this time is as
follows: on duty with the regiment and on detached service, including
sick, five hundred and eighty; paroled enlisted men, two hundred and
seventy-five; this making a total of eight hundred and fifty-five
officers and enlisted men, for whom I apply for transportation. Of
this number from twenty to thirty will be unable to travel with
the regiment on account of sickness, and these will need separate
transportation. Of the above number I have only about two hundred men
fit for duty. Many have become debilitated from exposure and from the
effects of the climate (fever and ague being quite prevalent), which
incapacitated them for duty at the present time.
“Of all the commissioned officers I have only the adjutant, one captain
and nine lieutenants for duty, the balance being either sick, on
detached service, or prisoners of war at Huntsville, Texas.
“I have five captains sick, who will probably never get well in this
climate. In view of the present condition of the regiment I would
urgently request that this matter receive an early consideration from
the commanding general, on the ground of humanity, if for _no other
reason_.
“The paroled men have done no duty since their capture at Galveston
January 1st, and they have become much debilitated from this constant
inactivity, and they have lost a large percentage of their number by
death, and many more will be lost, not only to their friends but to
their country, if a change of climate is not granted them soon.
“Nothing has yet been asked of the Forty-Second Regiment that they have
not fully carried out, and if Port Hudson still remained in the hands
of the enemy there is not a man but would volunteer to stay to assist
in any manner in accomplishing so desirable a result, as its capture.
“But having been informed that the exigencies do not now exist for our
services that prevailed previous to the fourteenth of July, and our
time having expired, as above stated, every member of the regiment is
more or less anxious that the Government should allow them their right
of returning to their homes and friends.
“I have the honor to remain,
“Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
“J. STEDMAN, _Lieutenant-Colonel_,
“_commanding 42d Mass. Vols._
“TO LIEUT.-COL. R. B. IRWIN, _A. A. General_,
“_19th Army Corps_.”
A letter from Brigadier-General McMillan, dated July 28th, stated
that the major-general commanding the Department would send all nine
months men home in such order as he would select, and as fast as
transportation could be obtained; that he would send all at once if
he could, and that all petitions and representations would fail to
expedite the sending.
July 17th--Paroled men of Companies D, G, I, A, B, E and H arrived at
Algiers from Gentilly Camp and were assigned quarters in the warehouse.
July 21st--Company K rejoined the regiment.
On one occasion while at Algiers an act of insubordination had to
be summarily dealt with. Details for picket duty had been ordered,
and first-sergeants had notified their men for that duty. When
the hour arrived to “fall in” and report to the adjutant, the men
from Companies C, H and E refused to do so. Their company officers
proved powerless to enforce the orders, and the case was reported at
regimental headquarters, when the lieutenant-colonel, major, adjutant
and sergeant-major went to quarters to straighten matters out. Most
of the trouble was in Companies C and H. Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman
ordered the first-sergeant of Company C to order his detail to “fall
in,” fully equipped. The first man called absolutely refused to do so.
He was given five minutes to obey by the lieutenant-colonel, who held
his watch in one hand and a pistol in the other. This man reluctantly
did as ordered before the time expired, and the rest followed suit. No
difficulty was experienced with other company details, and the picket
on duty was regularly relieved. This ended all serious trouble of this
kind, although Private Lawrence Mannocks, Company I, was placed in
arrest July 19th for inciting to mutiny and indulging in blasphemous
remarks; it was also necessary, on the twenty-eighth, to reduce to the
ranks Corporal Thomas P. Hobart, Company A; a regimental special order
was issued to that effect. At Battery St. John Captain Coburn reduced
to the ranks Corporal E. C. Crocker, Company A, June 5th.
The guard-house was filled each day by men temporarily placed there
for being drunk. They were old, hard, chronic cases, poor soldiers,
unfit to be in service. Captain Leonard, Company C, found it necessary,
in June and July, to arrest and confine quite a number of his men for
disobedience of orders. Of his men, Private Charles F. Towle was in
arrest from June 10th to July 13th, for desertion; Private John Myers,
for same cause, from July 1st to the 10th. No further action was taken
in either case.
Confinements in the guard-house while at Gentilly were few. Privates
Owen Fox, Michael Bresneau, Company A, and Thomas Matthews, Company D,
frequently got placed there for drunkenness, disobedience of orders,
and insolence. Private Fox was once sentenced to carry cannon balls for
two days (February 25th and 26th), without a proper hearing into his
case in the regular manner. Private Bresneau was once confined a week
for insolence. At other times they would be released in a few days,
when sober.
At Algiers the men suffered more from sickness than at any other period
of service. The regimental hospital was at Bayou Gentilly until July
18th, Surgeon Heintzelman in charge, leaving that part of the regiment
at Algiers without a medical-officer, as Surgeon Hitchcock was at Port
Hudson on a visit, without orders. Hitchcock always claimed permission
was granted him to go there, but the only order received at regimental
headquarters which authorized his absence was Special Orders No.
207, Defences New Orleans, issued April 19th, 1863, ordering him to
report for duty at Berwick Bay, where he remained for a short time.
Department Special Orders No. 185, issued July 30th, read: “Relieved
from duty at Berwick Bay.” This want of a surgeon caused a letter to be
sent the medical director, Defences New Orleans, which read: “I would
respectfully bring to your attention the following facts: many men of
this command are sick at this camp, and without any medical attendance.
Unless a surgeon can be sent us some of our men will die in forty-eight
hours. The reason of our being destitute of a surgeon will be explained
by Chaplain Sanger, the bearer of this note. Please send us a good
surgeon for temporary service.” Surgeon Hitchcock allowed a personal
matter with the lieutenant-colonel to interfere with his duty.
The medical director had the regimental hospital removed to Algiers on
the nineteenth, in order to secure the services of Surgeon Heintzelman.
The hospital record tells the following story of sickness in July. At
Bayou Gentilly, July 2d, forty-four men were taken sick, most of the
cases among the paroled men recently arrived from Brashear City. On
the third, of sick in quarters: fourteen were in Company A, twelve
in B, six in C, two in D, fourteen in E, and eight in H. July 4th,
ninety-five men were sick: twenty-seven in hospital and sixty-eight
in quarters. The average sick per day at Gentilly up to July 11th was:
taken sick, twelve; returned to duty, ten; in hospital, twenty-seven;
in quarters, fifty-five. At Algiers, July 20th, one hundred and seven
new cases were reported on the sick list; nearly all were sick in
quarters. The largest number sick on any one day was reported by
the surgeon in his morning report of July 22d, when one hundred and
forty-five men were sick and unfit for duty, in and out of hospital,
viz.: Company A, twenty-one; B, twenty-two; C, seventeen; D, two; E,
twenty-seven; F, fifteen; G, two; H, eighteen; I, five; K, sixteen. Not
until the twenty-third did the paroled men from Galveston begin to show
signs of breaking down, when eleven men of Company D, six of G, and
eight of I were taken sick. After this date sick in quarters gradually
diminished, but the sick in hospital kept that building full. The
average sick per day at Algiers was: taken sick, twenty-three; returned
to duty, seventeen; in hospital, thirty; in quarters, sixty-two.
Had the regiment remained in the Department another month the deaths
would have doubled those in July, owing to the debilitated condition of
many men. The deaths were:
July 4th--Sergeant Philip P. Hackett, Company G, congestion of the
brain. At Gentilly.
July 7th--Corporal Uriel Josephs, Company A, jaundice. At Marine
Hospital, New Orleans.
July 8th--Private Rufus G. Hildreth, Company C, dysentery. At Gentilly.
July 12th--Quartermaster-Sergeant Henry C. Foster, suicide. In New
Orleans.
July 17th--Private Thomas J. Clements, Company H, chronic diarrhœa. At
Gentilly.
July 17th--Private Welcome Temple, Company H, disease not known. At
United States Barracks.
July--Private Patrick Fitzpatrick, Company E, chronic diarrhœa. In New
Orleans.
July 26th--Private Ezekiel W. Hanaford, Company H, chills and fever. At
St. James Hospital, New Orleans.
July 25th--Private John M. Gates, Company K, chronic diarrhœa. At
Algiers.
July 26th--Private William H. Bickers, Company G, swelling of glands.
At Algiers.
Sergeant Hackett (at one time an active member of old Barnicoat Engine
No. 4, of Boston) was a clever man, full of life and good spirits. His
disease was the result of hard drinking.
Corporal Josephs was a thorough believer in the cold-water cure. When
his disease first showed its symptoms, about one month before he
died, while on duty as ordnance-sergeant, he refused to report to the
surgeon, but got permission to hire a room in a house not far distant
on the Gentilly road. Every day he would bathe in a tub of water and
then go to bed wrapped up in a wet sheet, until the landlady complained
at headquarters about the corporal acting like a crazy man in her
house, and asked for his removal. As Josephs was found to be very sick,
he was removed to the Marine Hospital in the city.
Poor Hildreth lost all courage and hope a month before his death. He
was then able to move about, and was cheered up by those who met him,
without any effect. Had he shown some strength of will, as others did,
he might have reached home and recovered.
The case of Private Gates was sad. Although blind in one eye and
quite old when mustered into service, being a good marksman, very
enthusiastic to serve, the officers and men of his company assisted him
to deceive the mustering officer that he was only forty-two years old.
He did duty manfully until his disease took such a hold upon him that
he gradually wasted away. At his death he could not have weighed more
than fifty pounds.
Private Bickers was unconscious when he died. He was placed on an
operating chair in an upright position, a nurse standing near with a
fan to stir the air for him to breathe, and drive away swarms of flies
infesting the place. Around the room were beds arranged upon the floor,
occupied by sick patients, all watching with intense interest poor
Bickers draw his last breath. The sight was not calculated to give them
courage, for Bickers was sick in the hospital only a short time.
Privates Temple, Fitzpatrick and Hanaford were sent to the general
hospitals for better treatment than could be given them in the
regimental hospital. During the latter part of July medical supplies
became scarce. With difficulty were sufficient quantities of proper
medicines obtained to treat a majority of cases; the supply of quinine
gave out completely. Such a large quantity of medical stores lost at
Brashear City could not be replaced until supplies from New York were
received.
Private Hanaford lay upon the warehouse floor for some days, suffering
with chills and fever, and nothing could be done for him. When taken
with chills, it seemed as though he would shake the breath out of him.
His removal to St. James Hospital was not made until nearly dead. This
case caused much comment among the men, who freely charged he had been
neglected.
About noon, July 12th, word was brought in to the headquarters
room by a corporal in charge of the guard stationed at a house on
Canal Street, corner of Magazine Street, occupied by the regimental
quartermaster, quartermaster-sergeant and commissary-sergeant, that
Quartermaster-Sergeant Foster had committed suicide a few minutes
before. The news was hardly credited, but an immediate visit to his
room, in which the sad event happened, proved it to be a fact. Foster
lay upon the floor near the centre of the room, not far from a bureau,
feet towards the door, dressed in his flannel shirt, pants and socks,
just as he fell; a small pool of blood upon the floor near his head, a
small bullet wound in the centre of his forehead, encircled by a small
black-and-blue ring, and a pistol upon the floor by his side. Sergeant
Foster had not been in good health for some time, and latterly shown
great despondency. The reason was not known. His sickness was nothing
more than came from extreme debility, and was not dangerous. For a few
days previous he had given some evidence of not being exactly in his
right mind, but there was nothing exhibited to lead any one to think
him not capable of taking care of himself. He occupied a room with
acting Quartermaster-Sergeant Hodsdon, both men sleeping in the same
bed.
That morning Hodsdon thought Foster spoke and acted queer, without
exciting any suspicion however, and when obliged to go out on business
Hodsdon, contrary to his usual custom, laid his belt, containing a
holster and pistol, upon the bureau, intending to be back in a moment
and then wear it. He left the room, leaving Foster upon the bed, and
had barely closed the door when he heard the report of a pistol and
immediately opened the door again, to see Foster lying upon the floor
as described. He never spoke, dying in a few moments.
His effects were taken in charge by the chaplain and sent to his
parents, then residing in Dorchester, Massachusetts, from which place
Foster enlisted. From a partial examination of his knapsack, where
a few letters were found, it was thought the sad act was caused by
unwelcome news from home.
The weather being hot, by orders of the commanding general
all bodies had to be buried the same day that death occurred.
Quartermaster-Sergeant Foster was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, at
dusk, on the twelfth, escorted to the cemetery by a proper detail
becoming to his rank, under command of Sergeant-Major Bosson, and the
customary volleys fired over his grave. The burial party started at
half-past three in the afternoon, and reported back to quarters at nine
o’clock same evening.
Corporal Alonzo I. Hodsdon was made quartermaster-sergeant, July 13th,
_vice_ Foster, deceased.
Special-duty details in July were few:
July 18th--Private William A. Clark, Company B, was placed on duty as a
wagoner.
July 23d--Private Leavitt Bates, Company A, was made clerk at
regimental headquarters in place of Clark K. Denny, returned to duty
with Company F.
July 25th--Private Lewis Buffum, Company B, to be a locomotive engineer
on the Opelousas and Great Western Railroad.