Baton Rouge

“ These, each, bore in his hands the war-macana, le Baton Rouge, the painted red-club, which announces to the young warriors the will of their superior. The runner speeds with this sign of blood to the distant village, strikes the war-post in its centre, waves his potent sign to the people, declares the place of gathering, and darts away to spread still more the tidings. When he faints, the emblem is seized by another, who continues on the route. In this way, the whole nation is aroused, as by the sudden flaming of a thousand mountain beacons. ”

“ When Baton Rouge was threatened, and indeed after its capture, trunks, bags, and bundles, belonging to men off “on service,” were at various times [Pg 55] conveyed to Arlington for safe-keeping. These I now opened, and all the letters and papers they contained were destroyed.
The mules safely locked in the stable, the harnesses all ready to slip on, extra straps and ropes thrown into the wagon—too excited to sleep, we threw ourselves on our beds for the last time; too tired to talk, sore at heart, too worn out to weep. There we lay in a fitful and uneasy slumber. ”

“ When the Federals left the town I do not remember, but after a while they did leave, and we had something to say about a barren victory, forgetting that Baton Rouge was no strategic point. In those days, to us Baton Rouge was a considerable place, only second in importance to New Orleans, and that city ranked with Richmond in our estimation. One fine day the fleet of gunboats steamed away, accompanied by transports loaded to the edge with their black freight. Negroes from every direction flocked in after the battle, old and young and of both sexes. Some went from Arlington, too ”

“ There are extensive manufacturing interests, including lumber, cottonseed products, brick, sugar, and artificial ice. The city is governed, under a charter of 1898, by a mayor, elected every four years, and a city council, which has power of election in departments of police, improvements, finance, and judiciary. Baton Rouge was one of the earliest French settlements in Louisiana. ”

“ Baton Rouge, the last place at which we see high land, in descending the Mississippi, must, I think, originally have been the confines of the Mexican Gulf; for, if here we preserve an east course, we pretty generally find the same appearance in the complexion of the earth and its productions, that are to be met with at the entrance of lake Ponchantrain into the gulf ”

“ WE left for St. Louis in the 'City of Baton Rouge,' on a delightfully hot day, but with the main purpose of my visit but lamely accomplished. I had hoped to hunt up and talk with a hundred steamboatmen, but got so pleasantly involved in the social life of the town that I got nothing more than mere five-minute talks with a couple of dozen of the craft.
I was on the bench of the pilot-house when we backed out and 'straightened up' for the start—the boat pausing for a 'good ready,' in the old-fashioned way, and the black smoke piling out of the chimneys equally in the old-fashioned way. ”

“ Baton Rouge—Review by General Banks—March on Port Hudson—Passage of the Batteries by Hartford and Albatross—Burning of the Mississippi—Return to Baton Rouge—Wood-chopping—Embark for Algiers—Easter Incident—Take Cars for Brashear—Berwick City.
BATON ROUGE was alive with troops, belonging to every branch of the service. Staff-officers and orderlies were galloping through the town; quartermasters and commissaries were full of business; and flags were waving continually from the signal-towers. A few citizens were to be seen in the streets, grim and sullen ”

“ Gray's neighbors.
"There was the blackest smoke over toward the river that I ever saw in my life," was the answer. "Baton Rouge is gone up. You'd better leave while you can. You may save your lives, but you can't save your property. Get along there, mule! Me and mine will take to the brush."
Every story to which Mr. Gray and Ned Griffin listened was more thrilling than the one that came before it. ”

“ Other important institutions at Baton Rouge are a State Agricultural Experiment Station, asylums and schools for the deaf and dumb, for the blind, and for orphans, and the state penitentiary. The surrounding bluff and alluvial country is very rich. ”

“ Breckinridge, in exile with saddened eyes, strives through the mists of the great lakes of the north, to catch some glimpse of the land he loved so fervently and served so faithfully. Of their less distinguished comrades, hundreds are lying all along the route of the sad retreat from Bowling Green, consigned to unconsecrated earth, their requiem the sighs of their sorrowing comrades. Many are resting by the lonely banks of the Tennessee and beneath the deep shadows of the tropical foliage of Baton Rouge. ”

“ Women searching for their babies along the road, where they had been lost; others sitting in the dust crying and wringing their hands; for by this time we had not an idea but what Baton Rouge was either in ashes, or being plundered, and we had saved nothing. I had one dress, Miriam two, but Tiche had them, and we had lost her before we left home. ”

“ The Federals are cutting down all our beautiful woods near the Penitentiary, to throw up breastworks, some say. Cannon are to be planted on the foundation of Mr. Pike's new house; everybody is in a state of expectation. Honestly, if Baton Rouge has to be shelled, I shall hate to miss the fun. ”

“ Baton-Rouge stands upon the left bank of the river, one hundred and thirty-seven miles above New Orleans. In this passage, the navigation of the river is very interesting. For several miles after leaving New Orleans, the eye reposes agreeably upon the shores, enriched with fine cotton and sugar plantations, and embellished with clusters of orange trees, from the midst of which rise the white and showy dwellings of the planters. By degrees the gardens and houses become more rare; but all the way to Baton-Rouge one continues to see fine and well cultivated lands. ”

“ On the Men of Maine
killed in the Victory of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Afar they fell. It was the zone
⁠Of fig and orange, cane and lime
(A land how all unlike their own,
With the cold pine-grove overgrown) ,
⁠But still their Country's clime. ”

“ As you say, I have stolen his boat, stolen his wine, stolen his fried potatoes, stolen his waistcoats. But, bear witness, I drew the line at his neckties. Nowhere else, however!” And as I added this I looked at her narrowly.
“Will you put us ashore?” she asked, her color rising.
“No.”
“We’re coming to a town.”
“Baton Rouge. The capital of Louisiana. A quaint and delightful city of some sixty thousand inhabitants. The surrounding country is largely devoted to the sugar industry. But we do not stop. Tell me, are you engaged?” ”

“ Baton Rouge was one of the earliest French settlements in the state. As a part of West Florida, it passed into the hands of the British in 1763, and in 1779 was captured by Bernardo Galvez, the Spanish governor of Louisiana. The town was incorporated in 1817. In 1849 it was made the state capital, remaining so until 1862, when Shreveport became the Confederate state capital. In 1864 the Unionists made New Orleans the seat of government. The Secession Ordinance of Louisiana was passed on the 26th of January 1861 by a convention that met at Baton Rouge. ”

“ Everybody knew that there were no Federal troops in Baton Rouge, but there were war vessels in the Mississippi holding the city under their guns, and their presence had a depressing effect upon a good many red-hot rebels besides Tom Randolph. ”

“ But then it shows what Southern girls
For Southern Rights will do."
The war dragged on. New Orleans fell. Baton Rouge was in the hands of the enemy. Some of the Baton Rouge people refugeed to the country, living in churches, schoolhouses and deserted log cabins; others were compelled to remain, as they had no shelter and no means of living outside [47] of the city. ”

“ At Baton Rouge a military post of the United States' army, we came upon the first rise in the banks: this place looks over a noble reach and bay; the barracks appeared roomy and outwardly in good order.
We frequently drew alongside the forest for a supply of wood, which the proprietors keep ready prepared in piles for the use of boats, being paid for it by the cord. The consumption is of course enormous, and in any other region would remind one that a scarcity must speedily ensue ”

“ These loud cannon make me heartsick, and yet I am so excited! How rapidly they answer each other! I am told the attack commenced at five this morning, and lasted three hours. Those girls are shouting that Baton Rouge must be on fire, from the volume of smoke in that direction. How they scream as the balls go up, to show it to each other. I think I'll take a look, too.
We are all going four or five miles through this warm sun to be nearer the scene of action. Any one might know there was no white man on the premises. There is the carriage! ”

“ If you had gone to any street corner in Chicago or Baton Rouge or Selma or Trenton or Arcola, Mississippi — you would have found the same young men and women without hope, without prospects, and without a sense of destiny other than life on the edge — the edge of the law, the edge of the economy, the edge of family structures and communities. ”

“ I remember the day the arsenal at Baton Rouge was seized by Louisiana, and all the citizens and the college girls marched down to the barracks on the river to see our soldiers drill. The women and girls went to work making clothes and little conveniences for the soldiers to take with them. In a few weeks we were thrilled with enthusiasm when our first companies marched through the city with their knapsacks, blankets, and a half loaf of bread strapped on their backs. Poor boys, they lived to learn that "a half loaf is better than none." ”

“ The belief of the scientific people is, that the mouth used to be at Baton Rouge, where the hills cease, and that the two hundred miles of land between there and the Gulf was built by the river. This gives us the age of that piece of country, without any trouble at all--one hundred and twenty thousand years. ”

“ The face of the country is also much diversified—a dead swampy but very rich level borders the Mississippi the whole length of the territory and West Florida, from the Walnut hills to Baton Rouge, with the exception of some ends of ridges, or bluffs as they are called, at the Walnut hills, the Grand and Petit gulphs—Natchez and Baton Rouge. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is called only four miles from hence to Baton Rouge, but the badness of the road made me think it eight, perhaps six may be the true distance. I passed some small neglected French plantations on the left on the summit of a range of low hills, which extend from Montesano, while on the right I had a swamp, out of which the cypress has been cut, between me and the river, the road being very bad, through a natural savanna of coarse grass, intersected by deep ravines, and miry sloughs. ”

“ The worst calamity which befell Baton Rouge was the death of General Williams, the gentlemanly and considerate Federal commander.
Butler's man who took his place lacked both his soldierly training and his fine scruples as a Christian gentleman. There were no more guards placed around "Rebel" homes.
The marauder came with swift sure tread on the heels of victory.
A squad of officers and men smashed in the front door at Fairview without so much as a knock for signal. To the shivering servant who stood in the hall the leader called:
"Where are the damned secesh women? ”

“ 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. ”

“ From Natchez, where the hills or uplands constitute the bank of the river, to Baton Rouge, the line of hill or upland does not follow the course of the river, but recedes therefrom for a certain distance and then again abuts on the river, this process being repeated from point to point until Baton Rouge is reached. ”

“ Louis, they were not magnificent, perhaps; not palaces; but to the great majority of those populations, and to the entire populations spread over both banks between Baton Rouge and St. Louis, they were palaces; they tallied with the citizen's dream of what magnificence was, and satisfied it.
Every town and village along that vast stretch of double river-frontage had a best dwelling, finest dwelling, mansion,—the home of its wealthiest and most conspicuous citizen. It is easy to describe it: large grassy yard, with paling fence painted white—in fair repair; brick walk from gate to door ”