Albert Plummer

“ The rebels were on the watch and immediately the flames of a vast bonfire in front of the heaviest batteries lighting up the entire breadth of the river shot up into the sky and the next instant the earth trembled to the roar of all the rebel batteries, whereupon our mortar boats below began firing thirteen-inch shell, and four frigates and five gunboats moved up into the fight. ”

“ We see very few white men. Most of them have doubtless gone into the rebel army. Now and then a planter standing on the bank gazes at us sullenly as we pass. It seemed evident that they were not over-pleased to see us. Our only welcome was from the negroes. Their shouts from the levee, accompanied by laughter and frantic gesticulations, bespoke their joy. One white man, bolder than his fellows, shouted the inquiry: “What regiment is that?” ”

“ No one who witnessed those regiments of infantry and cavalry and the fine batteries accompanying them as they crossed the pontoon bridge and came springing up the hillside, and with their gun-barrels glistening in the rays of the setting sun disappeared from view on the winding road ahead will ever lose the impression there gained.
We reached our camp at Baton Rouge at about 9 o’clock. Most of us were footsore and all were weary, and creeping into our tents we were just settling down to a good night’s rest when down from headquarters came an order to march at 3 the next morning. ”

“ We shall no doubt soon be sent home. Home! Can any outside the army imagine what this word means to us who have lain so many weary weeks in the swamps of Louisiana, watching the lines of the enemy with the eyes of hungry wolves, dying by hundreds, by bullet, and shell, and disease. It means friends, comfort, life itself, in exchange for misery, squalor, dirt, a dog’s life, and death, and an unknown grave.
July 10. Reached Donaldsonville at 9 o’clock A. M. While on the passage down, and we were at breakfast, the steamer was fired on from the shore, but happily no one was hit. ”

“ The people of Kentucky alone before they were constituted a State gave formal notice to the Federal Government that if the United States did not conquer Louisiana they would conquer it themselves. In the words of a distinguished citizen of that martial State: “The mouths of the Mississippi belong by the gift of God to the inhabitants of its great valley. Nothing but irresistible force can disinherit them.”
Akin to this was the feeling of the men of the Northwest at the outbreak of the Civil War. ”

“ The only evidence of the desperate fight of the year before when Farragut ran the gauntlet of these forts are the remnants of several rebel gunboats which were destroyed during the fight and driven as high as possible on the banks of the river, and the Union sloop-of-war Varuna, which lay on the bottom of this river with only the tops of her masts out of water. After passing the forts, as we approach New Orleans the country becomes somewhat more interesting. We pass some fine plantations with stately mansions, large sugar houses and long rows of cabins, the habitations of the blacks. ”

“ Jefferson Davis, while on a visit to Mississippi to inspect the defences of Vicksburg, spoke as follows in a speech at Jackson before the Mississippi Legislature: “Vicksburg and Port Hudson are the real points of attack. Every effort will be made to capture these places with the object of forcing the navigation of the Mississippi and severing the eastern from the western portion of the Confederacy. Let all then who have at heart the welfare and safety of the country go without delay to Vicksburg and Port Hudson. ”

“ If any at the opening of the war supposed that those powerful States, comprising a great and energetic population, would ever consent to a peace that would put the lower course of that great national outlet to the sea in the hands of a foreign power far weaker than themselves, they were blind indeed to the lessons of history. ”

“ As we advanced the march from quick time soon became double quick, and finally a mad rush, passing over dead and wounded in the road. The air fairly hissed with bullets and shell, the groans of the wounded mingled with the cheers and yells of the charging troops, the shouts of the officers and also their imprecations as some poor fellows, losing their presence of mind, would try to dodge the flying missiles as they passed to bury themselves with a sickening “thud” in some other doomed comrade’s body ”

“ He died at four o’clock P. M., on Thursday and was buried at sunset in the Gulf Stream off coast of Florida, Latitude 25, Longitude 20 west.
Let me assure you that everything possible was done for him, by his comrades and our good surgeon, Dr. Hurd, to save him from ravages of ship fever, but all our efforts were in vain. The light of his youthful countenance has gone out forever.
What can I say to you, his good mother, who gave her only son an offering upon the altar of our common country?
A fond mother will desire the sad details, his last acts and words. ”

“ Our march from this place to Baton Rouge was a rapid one. We were within a short distance of a comparatively large and powerful army of the enemy and it was quite within the bounds of possibility [Pg 27] that a force might be sent out to fall upon us before we could reach our camp. But the reconnaissance on the whole was a success. The road was clear of rebels and about five miles from Baton Rouge where the Montecino Bayou crosses the road we met the division of General Cuvier Grover fresh from their camp at Baton Rouge. ”

“ Another regiment accompanied us and two companies of cavalry. We had started on a reconnaissance. We were convoyed by the famous gunboat Essex which kept a half a mile ahead of us and occasionally threw a shell into the woods along the shore. We disembarked a few miles below Port Hudson under cover of the guns of the Essex. The road leading to the bluff a distance of a quarter of a mile from the river, swollen by the spring freshets, was entirely under water, in some places reaching nearly to the waists of the shorter men. Wading through this the order of march was formed upon the bluff. ”

“ The “Forlorn Hope” had commenced the charge, O’Brien saying, “Come boys! pick up your bundles and follow me,” and General Augur gave the command, “Forward the Brigade,” and the whole brigade advanced into the “slashings.” The whole forest of large trees and small had been felled and the limbs lopped off and left upon the ground, which was entirely covered with the stumps, logs and brush; and through this almost impenetrable Chevaux de Frise, the men attempted to charge, and over which a perfect storm of shell, canister and rifle bullets flew like hail ”

“ The morning after this memorable night found the 48th guarding a bridge on a road parallel to the main road from Baton Rouge to Port Hudson. We had fuel prepared ready in an emergency to burn the bridge as it was feared the enemy’s cavalry might attempt to make a dash on the flank of our army. No cavalry appeared, however, and we were soon withdrawn and went into camp on the banks of the Montecino Bayou. And now the troops came pouring back from Port Hudson. They had advanced to the outer works, fired a few shots and retired. ”

“ A week later all the troops were withdrawn to Baton Rouge. Banks with the larger part of the army left for an expedition in Western Louisiana and our Division was left to garrison Baton Rouge. We took up again the daily routine of picket duty, guard duty, and drill, varied occasionally by a [Pg 31] night alarm from the picket line when we would hastily fall in in the darkness and prepare to meet an enemy that did not come. Such was our life for two months. Its monotony was broken on the 2d of May when Grierson with his troopers dusty, haggard and wayworn, rode into Baton Rouge. ”

“ The events of that memorable night form one of the most stirring chapters of the history of the war. Farragut having learned of our loss of the steamer Queen of the West between Vicksburg and Port Hudson determined to run past the batteries at the latter place and recover command of the river above. ”

“ The numbers in the right wing were so few that the General supposed at the time that there was but one company. He said the regiment did as well as any but veteran troops would do under the circumstances; that they had by mistake been placed in the wrong position and were very badly posted on either side of the road. He kindly criticised Lieut.-Col. O’Brien and told him that he made a great mistake by trying to make a wheel to the rear in the face of an aggressive enemy, his men being under fire for the first time; none but seasoned troops could do that safely. ”

“ When the regiment advanced on Port Hudson he was in the hospital sick of malarial fever. Hearing of the affair of Plains Store, the Captain, somewhat relieved of the fever but weak and emaciated, decided to join the regiment. The surgeons tried to induce him to remain a while longer, but not succeeding in this, gave orders forbidding it. The next morning the Captain put on his uniform, left the hospital, and took the early steamer for Springfield Landing. There he was met by the surgeons who called him a “walking ghost,” and ordered him back to Baton Rouge. ”

“ Port Hudson is situated on a bend on the eastern side of the Mississippi about twenty-two miles north of Baton Rouge, and 147 miles from New Orleans. It is 300 miles below Vicksburg. The bluff rising abruptly some forty feet above the surface of the river was covered with fortifications for a space of nearly four miles, constructed upon the most scientific principles of military art and armed with the heaviest and most approved guns which England could furnish the Confederates. ”

“ The rebels tried several times to charge across the open field in our front, but were as often driven back by the steady fire from our men in the ditch.
While this was transpiring, the rebels had driven back the brigade on the opposite side of the bayou until their fire enfiladed the left of our brigade, and at the same time were rapidly flanking the whole force on our right which began to fall back, and in a short time we were left alone upon the field. A staff officer from Col. Dudley rode up and ordered the Lieutenant-Colonel to retire the regiment. ”

“ Communication with the army was for some reason broken and it was quite late in the day before the message was delivered to Gen. Banks. It was at once communicated to the troops in the trenches; from man to man, from company to company, from regiment to regiment the word passed, and the cheers from the men rang out and the long silenced bands filled the forests with the strains of the “Star Spangled Banner,” “America,” “Yankee Doodle” and other patriotic music. Received orders for the 48th to [Pg 48] occupy the rifle pits and support Holcomb’s 2d Vermont Battery tonight. ”

“ By the Summer of 1863, after many a bloody fight on the river and on the land, they had reached Vicksburg, and Grant had drawn his lines of investment around that stronghold. Meantime their brethren of the East had ascended the river from its mouth and had taken possession of all the rebel defences on the lower Mississippi. Subsequently Farragut, being away on the Gulf coast, the rebels seized the opportunity to fortify and garrison Port Hudson, in Louisiana. ”

“ The garrison filed off as prisoners of war, and all was over.
More than 6,000 rebels surrendered. The soldiers were paroled but the officers were held as prisoners of war. Twenty pieces of heavy artillery and more than 30 pieces of field artillery were captured. The loss of [Pg 51] the 19th army corps during the siege has been nearly 5,000 men. No correct account has been made of the rebel loss, but an approximate calculation will give it as nearly 1,000, which, considering that their fighting has been entirely behind breastworks, is very heavy. ”

“ Double your outer picket line, keep your men well in hand and allow none to sleep. If any attempt is made to break out it must be prevented at all hazards till reinforcements reach you, which you may feel assured will be pushed forward to your assistance at the first alarm, and you must check the attack at the hazard of your lives; two companies from another regiment will be ordered into the rifle pits to strengthen your line.” Regiment went into the rifle pits at about 9 o’clock in the evening. ”

“ The voyage South lasted until the 30th day of January during which the deadly ship fever (the surgeons call it “Purpura”) broke out on board and several of our men died from its effects and received a soldier’s burial at sea.
It is a sad sight to see the poor fellows launched into the deep dark waves, while their comrades stand nigh with anxious tearful faces. The fever increasing rapidly the men all came upon deck, the hatches battened down and the ship thoroughly fumigated. ”

“ Seventeen hundred men had ridden through the entire length of the State of Mississippi from the northeast to the southwest corner, encountering every conceivable danger and hardship. Thousands of Confederates had been trying to find and intercept them. But with matchless skill Grierson had escaped them by circuits, outwitted them by ruses, and attacked and routed them with far inferior numbers. ”