Grand Ecore—What caused the Repulse?—Retreat through the Pine
Woods—Battle of Cane River—Rear-Guard—The Retreat continued—Arrival
at Alexandria.
The greater portion of Gen. Banks’s army was then at Grand Ecore, and
busily at work throwing up breastworks,—the pine forests furnishing
abundant logs for the purpose,—while the river was crowded with
gun-boats and transports. Of course the recent battles were the
general topics discussed, and there appeared to be as many opinions
regarding the details as there were soldiers present. The Western
officers and men laid the blame of the repulse on the Eastern
generals; the infantry charged it on the cavalry, the artillery on
the infantry support; the navy on the army. But there were a few
general facts on which all the stories agreed, and which may be
stated in the following order: 1st. The rebels having steadily fallen
back before the advance of the Union army, neither officers nor men
expected a serious opposition until the works at Shreveport were
reached, by which time it was supposed that Gen. Steele would be
ready to coöperate; consequently, the advance was taken by surprise
when they found the entire force of the enemy stopping their path.
2d. A portion of the cavalry had been but recently mounted; and
men who were excellent infantry soldiers when armed with infantry
weapons, being obliged to dismount in the woods, found their cavalry
equipments a great hindrance. 3d. This imperfect cavalry, with a few
light batteries, and a small infantry support, was separated by four
or five hours’ march from the Nineteenth Corps, with the cavalry
baggage-train well up to the front, and blocking up the road between.
4th. The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps were not within supporting
distance of the other portion of the army. These statements were made
by scores of men at the time, and are substantially embodied in the
Adjutant General’s reports of the various Massachusetts’ regiments
engaged in the expedition. Although the fall of the water in the Red
River made it necessary to retreat from Grand Ecore, the repulse at
Sabine Cross Roads was a purely military disaster,—the result of a
disposition of the forces which invited attack. Others may apportion
the blame, and say who was responsible for the lives of the men
sacrificed in this disastrous campaign; the failure did not result
from lack of courage in either the Eastern or Western portions of the
army. During the second Red River expedition, the Army of the Gulf
did not have that confidence in some of its commanders so essential
to success. The troops thought it bad enough to get the condemned
hard-tack of the Army of the Potomac, without having its condemned
generals; and Emory and Weitzel and Paine and Grover, under Gen.
Banks, were considered competent to lead them to victory as they had
done the year before.
As some relief to the disasters, all concurred in awarding great
honor to Nims’s Battery, which, with double-shotted guns, mowed down
the ranks of the advancing rebels while their ammunition lasted, and
only attempted to save themselves when their horses were shot and
there was no possibility of getting their pieces off the field. The
Nineteenth Corps, also, acted as became it, and taught the enemy,
that although repulsed, the Army of the Gulf was not demoralized;
while the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps sustained the reputation
they had acquired under Gen. Grant.
Extensive breastworks were erected at Grand Ecore, each regiment
building opposite its own line; so that the whole camp was soon
enclosed, in anticipation of an attack.
Thursday, April 16, a detail of one hundred men being called for from
the regiment, Cos. C, G, and H, were selected, and sent to guard
a transport on her passage down the river; and the next day the
regiment again changed camp. But the water was rapidly falling; it
began to be whispered that a large force was collecting on the river
below, to cut off all supplies; and the news of the defeat of Gen.
Steele was confirmed. On the 21st, marching orders were received;
and the entire army prepared to evacuate Grand Ecore, and retreat
to Alexandria. As a rapid march was expected, with the probability
of having to fight all the way down, everything superfluous was
destroyed, and blankets, overcoats, extra clothing, and relics went
to feed the flames which were rising in every direction through
the pine woods. Not a hard-tack box was left for the enemy; and
their only spoils of war consisted in the well constructed line of
breastworks surrounding the encampment.
The sick men were put on board of transports; and at five o’clock
in the afternoon, the retreat began, the Nineteenth Corps in
advance. Working its way slowly through the immense wagon-train, the
third brigade took the road through the pine woods, in which large
fires had been built to guide the men in picking their way among
the stumps. The Thirteenth Corps followed the Nineteenth; and the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps, under the command of Gen. A. J.
Smith, brought up the rear. The advance marched till four o’clock
in the morning, through woods and plains, and then went into camp,
having made over twenty-five miles; while far in the rear, the lurid
light of burning barns and mills told where the Western soldiers,
thinking of the tortures of their fifty thousand comrades in the
prisons of Virginia and Carolina, were making war with ungloved hands.
The march was continued the next day; and, in the twenty-four hours
after leaving Grand Ecore, forty miles had been travelled. But the
enemy, who had been exulting over the anticipated capture of Gen.
Banks and his entire army, were not disposed to let the prize slip
through their fingers so easily; and on the morning of the 23d of
April, as the Nineteenth Corps were marching along the banks of
Cane River, near the crossing, the rebels opened with artillery
on the advance. The infantry at once formed in line of battle, in
the road and the adjoining fields, while the light batteries were
sent to the front, followed by Gen. Banks and staff. After a brisk
cannonading with little apparent result, a body of troops, under
command of Gen. Birge, was sent across the river,—the detachment of
the third brigade, led by Col. Smith, of the One Hundred and Twenty
Eighth New York, being the first to ford the stream. Climbing up the
steep banks, the brigade entered the woods, and, marching through a
swamp, came in the rear of the enemy, when the Thirty Eighth was sent
forward in advance to skirmish, and ascertain the position of the
rebels. Moving steadily forward through woods and across open fields,
occasionally receiving a shot from a concealed enemy, the regiment
passed a narrow stream, skirmished up a thickly wooded hill, and
down its descending slope, till a rail-fence was reached, bounding
a cleared piece of ground, beyond which was another wooded bluff,
showing signs of rebel occupancy. A halt was made behind this fence,
while the reserve formed in the rear, and dismounted cavalry was sent
into the woods on the right to reconnoitre. The order “Forward” soon
came; and the Thirty Eighth, still deployed, went over the fence,
and charged the hill under a heavy fire. Thanks to Gen. Birge, the
regiment was not thrown forward unsupported. Emerging from the woods,
the Thirtieth Maine and the One Hundred and Sixty Second and the
One Hundred and Sixty Fifth New York followed the skirmishers, in a
magnificent line of battle, charging across the open field and up the
bluff, from which, after a short resistance, the rebels retreated
precipitately, leaving a portion of their dead and wounded on the
ground.
Reforming the lines, and being strongly reinforced, the column
advanced through the woods to another opening, with a hill beyond
similar to the one just taken, and where it was expected the enemy
would make a more stubborn resistance; but when the charge was made
in lines of battle, with fixed bayonets, no foe was found, and the
road to the river was clear.
That night the regiment encamped near the spot where it had crossed
in the morning; and glad enough were the men to unsling the knapsacks
which they had carried all day, and gather around the camp-fires, to
discuss the battle, while they prepared their simple supper.
The casualties had been comparatively few, the close ranks of the
support furnishing a fairer target than the skirmish-line. Capt.
Julius M. Lathrop, of Co. I, was mortally wounded, and died a few
days afterward. Capt. Lathrop had rode in an ambulance the day
previous, unable to march; but, upon the approach of an engagement,
had taken command of his company, and was leading his men when he
received the fatal shot. The regiment lost two killed and eight
wounded, the greater part of the wounded men dying during the summer.
As soon as the enemy was driven off, a pontoon bridge was thrown
across the river, and the wagon-trains and the batteries passed
over. The Nineteenth Corps had continued the march during the
night, followed by the Thirteenth Corps; and the next morning the
One Hundred and Twenty Eighth marched on, leaving the Thirty Eighth
with the Western corps, who had been engaged with the enemy in the
morning, and who reached the crossing as the rear of the other corps
left it.
An immense number of contrabands, of all ages, sizes, and colors,
came in with Gen. Smith, laden down with bundles, hastily packed up
as they deserted the plantation, and left old massa and missus to
hoe their own corn and bake their own hoecakes. Some were mounted on
mules, and some had rigged up old mule-carts, and filled them with
bags of clothes, iron pots, and babies. An artist would have found
many subjects worthy of his pencil in the quaint procession; and one
group impressed itself very vividly upon the mind of the present
writer. A woman, with an immense bundle on her head, was leading a
mule by a rope-halter, walking with as stately a tread as did ever
Cleopatra. Astride of the mule were two little children, the foremost
one holding on to a large bundle, the other clasping her companion’s
waist. The children were neatly dressed, the long fringe on their
straw hats partially shading their faces, while their eyes were
steadily fixed on their mother; and the complexion of the whole party
told of other than African blood.
The appearance of these contrabands reminded the spectator of the
exodus of the Israelites from Egypt; for, like the ancient fugitives
from slavery, these modern ones had evidently borrowed largely
from their masters and mistresses, and many a gay parasol and lace
mantle spoke of the mansion rather than the cabin. They were illy
prepared, however, with such loads, to accompany a retreating army,
closely pursued by its foes; and, either by the advice or command
of some wise officer, a sifting of their effects took place at the
crossing, and a portion of their burdens was left behind. The Western
boys rigged themselves in the cast-off bonnets and gowns, and the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps looked like a masquerading party as
they filed across the pontoon.
For some unexplained reason, the Thirty Eighth was detained to
support a battery, until the whole army had crossed the river, and
the pontoon was taken up, when the battery moved on, and the regiment
followed. Everything now in the rear was rebel; and the unfortunate
soldier who fell out had a fair chance of seeing Galveston via
Shreveport. The enemy followed, and had constant skirmishes with the
cavalry; but the infantry was not again engaged; and, after three
days hard marching, partly through the pine woods, the regiment
entered Alexandria on the afternoon of the 26th, and went into camp
near the place from which it had started fourteen days previously,
finding a large mail awaiting it, much to its gratification.