Cross the Atchafalaya—The Fleet and Army part
Company.—Morganza—Saw-mill Expedition—Up the River—Embark for
Algiers—Serenade the Lieutenant-colonel—Good-by to Louisiana.
On the 18th, the Nineteenth Corps crossed the Atchafalaya, near which
it remained, merely changing camp several times, until the 20th; and
on the evening of that day, the entire naval and military force left
Semmesport for the Mississippi. The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps
were on the transports, on their return to the department from which
they had been borrowed; while the Thirteenth and Nineteenth Corps,
with the cavalry, were to continue the march through the country.
At the junction of the Atchafalaya and the Red Rivers the main army
and the navy separated. The sun was setting as the long procession
of river-boats, gun-boats, and monitors swept around the bend of the
river; and a feeling of loneliness fell on the army as it turned
inland, and took the course for the Mississippi.
The previous year, the country was everywhere flooded, and the
water-mark could now be seen on the houses and trees; but the summer
of 1864 was a dry one, and the roads in good condition to march. At
midnight, the army went into camp; and the day following reached the
banks of the Mississippi, at Morganza Bend, after one of the most
fatiguing marches the regiment had ever experienced. After a great
deal of manœuvring on the evening of the 21st and the forenoon of
the following day, the division finally encamped on the sandy plain
between the new levee and the river, where it quietly remained,
recovering from the fatigue of the march, until the morning of the
30th, when the third brigade of the second division, and a portion of
the Thirteenth corps, with cavalry and artillery, left the camp and
took the road to the Atchafalaya.
The column marched until 10 A. M., halted during the heat of the day,
and started again at 8 P. M. As night came on, the road became poor,
and marching difficult; but no danger was evidently anticipated by
the commanding officer, for the usual precaution, when in an enemy’s
country, of throwing out flankers, was dispensed with. Suddenly,
from a thickly wooded hill on the left, across a bayou, a volley
of musketry broke upon the stillness of the night, taking effect in
the Twenty Second Iowa, in advance of the Thirty Eighth. “Ambushed!”
was the thought of all, as the ranks closed up, and formed in line
of battle in good order. A battery sent a shell into the woods from
whence the discharge had come; but there was no response; and, after
remaining in line for a short time, the column moved forward, but had
scarcely started when another volley came from the woods, this time
directed against the regiments in the rear. The echoes had not died
away, when a sheet of flame flashed along the line of the One Hundred
and Fifty Sixth and One Hundred and Seventy Fifth, followed by a
crashing report.
Nothing more was heard from the enemy; and as soon as a bridge was
reached, the Thirty Eighth was sent across the bayou, to act as
“flankers.” The darkness could almost be felt; and as the men groped
their way through the woods, falling into holes, tumbling over
stumps, and occasionally running into a thorn-tree, with a lurking
suspicion all the time, which was afterward confirmed, that the main
army did not know of their presence across the stream, and that the
accidental discharge of a rifle would be the signal for a murderous
volley from their friends, it will not be wondered at that respect
for those in command was, for the time being, lost, and that officers
and men alike were disgusted at the incompetency shown. It is
needless to say that Gen. Emory was not with the expedition.
After a mile or two of this stumbling work, the column halted, it
being then midnight, and “bivouacked in rear of the stacks.” One
officer in the Twenty Second Iowa had been killed, and several men in
the One Hundred and Fifty Sixth and One Hundred and Seventy Fifth New
York, wounded, by the fire of the guerillas; and it was reported that
a number of the enemy had been killed by the heavy volley of the two
latter regiments. Several parties living near the spot were arrested,
but their fate was never made known.
In the morning, the command retraced its steps, and marched back, to
the resting-place of the day previous, where it remained during the
night, getting the benefit of a summer rain. The next day, June 1,
the expedition again marched toward the Atchafalaya, and remained
in reserve a short distance from that river while the Seventh
Massachusetts Battery shelled a saw-mill on the opposite side,
destroying its machinery, and rendering it useless. Another night
was spent in the vicinity, and on the morning of the 2d the command
marched back to camp, glad that the “saw-mill expedition” was over.
Nothing further transpired until the 6th of the month, when the
paymaster arrived, and the division received four months’ pay, to
its own satisfaction and to the great profit of the sutlers, who
gathered as turkey-buzzards to a feast. With the exception of several
reviews, for the gratification of travelling generals, the regiment
remained in camp, sending out a picket every day, and drilling in the
morning, until June 19, when it embarked on the steamer Starlight,
and proceeded up the river as far as Fort Adams, in the State of
Mississippi, the guerillas having made their appearance in that
vicinity. This excursion was a pleasant one, the regiment bivouacking
under the trees on the bank of the river during the day, and retiring
on board the transport when the mosquitoes became troublesome at
night. No enemy being discovered, the troops returned to Morganza on
the 21st, and occupied their old camps.
From this time until the 1st of July, about all the volunteer labor
performed by the men consisted in writing the two words “very hot”
in their diaries, although there was some involuntary work, such as
corps reviews, inspections, etc., with the thermometer up to 100°
in the shade, and the sand blistering to the feet; while the picket
had a nightly contest with the mosquitoes,—Louisiana mosquitoes,
be it remembered. On the 1st of July, the Sixth Massachusetts
Cavalry (formerly the Thirty First Infantry) passed by Morganza in
a transport, on their way home on furlough, having re-enlisted; and
the Thirty Eighth formed in line on the river-bank, and gave them a
farewell cheer.
The camp as usual was full of rumors with regard to future movements;
and one day the brigade would be going to Texas; then to New
Orleans to do provost duty; then they were to be transformed into
marines, and patrol the river on steamboats; again, Col. Ingraham
had procured a “soft thing for the regiment in Washington.” On the
3d of June, however, the brigade, now increased by the addition of
the One Hundred and Seventy Sixth New York, embarked on board of
the City of Memphis, and the next day (July 4), landed at Algiers,
and went into camp, where it remained until the 20th. On the march
to Morganza, for some frivolous pretext, the brigade commander, who
was disliked by the entire brigade, had put the lieutenant-colonel
of the Thirty Eighth under arrest. The charges were investigated by
a court-martial, and Lieut.-Col. Richardson was honorably acquitted
and restored to his command. The entire absence, in this officer,
of that pomp assumed by many of the Eastern officers, and which was
seldom found in the Western regiments, together with his desire to
make the duties of the rank and file as agreeable as was compatible
with good discipline, and his superior military acquirements, had won
the attachment of the regiment; and, upon his being restored to the
command, the men procured a band, and serenaded him in his quarters,
to which he replied in a neat speech.
The regiment remained at Algiers, trying to keep cool during the
day, and fighting mosquitoes at night, until the 20th of July, when
it took passage on the Karnack, with two companies of the Thirteenth
Connecticut, and squads belonging to other regiments, and, bidding
good-by to the Mississippi, was once more on the blue water.
Fortunate was it for the Thirty Eighth that no storms disturbed the
Atlantic during this passage, or their history would have had a
sudden termination; for the vessel on which they embarked was old,
and had been on the Florida reefs the previous voyage; the crew
scarcely knew one rope from another, and their officers knew very
little more; the troops were packed so close, above deck and below,
that there was barely room to turn over; the cooks, even by working
all night, could not supply the men with half rations; and there was
no protection whatever from the sun or the rain.