CHAPTER XII.
Grand Ecore—What caused the Repulse?—Retreat through the Pine Woods—Battle of Cane River—Rear-Guard—The Retreat continued—Arrival at Alexandria.
Grand Ecore—What caused the Repulse?—Retreat through the Pine Woods—Battle of Cane River—Rear-Guard—The Retreat continued—Arrival at Alexandria.
letter T
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 whichtime 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 responsiblefor 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 GrandEcore, 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 retreatbegan, 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 thecrossing, 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 andmissus 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 aretreating 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.