in camp until the 20th, when the retreat was resumed by the army, 'the Ninety-fifth forming the rearguard, and expecting an attack at any moment by the pursuing enemy, now flushed and emboldened by his recent successes. The line of retreat was on the Nachitoches road. On the 22nd, a few hours after leaving the city of Nachitoches, three thousand rebels attacked the rear of General Banks' army, then guarded by Colonel Ward's brigade. The Ninety-fifth being the rear regiment, was the first to form in line of battle and receive the attack. An hour's fight ensued, in which the enemy was driven back in confusion. In this engagement, Sergeant Caleb Cornwell, of Company "K," was killed by a ball passing through his head, and he was buried on the following day at Clouterville. Near this place, on the 23rd, while the Ninety-fifth still held the rear, the rebels again came up and opened with three pieces of artillery. Colonel Ward's entire brigade immediately formed in line of battle, and engaged in a furious conflict which lasted two hours. Here, too, the rebels were handsomely repulsed. On the same day the Federal army was attacked in front, resulting in complete defeat to the enemy. At night the regiment bivouacked, after a short march, and at an early hour on the following morning the Union camps were aroused by the enemy's

shells from the rear. In this action the Ninety-fifth took an important part, and the attacking force was driven back with heavy loss The army arrived at Alexandria on the 28th of April, having been constantly harassed by the enemy.

At this place a halt was made for several days, while the gunboats and transports could be passed below the falls. Since the army had been absent on the expedition, the river had fallen so much that it became necessary to build a dam and float the boats over this difficult place in the river. Meanwhile the enemy was active, and threatening attack on every side, but our land forces were so disposed as to hold them in check until the safety of the steamers could be secured. The Ninety-fifth, with other troops, was sent out to Governor More's plantation, and remained there several days, watching the movements of the enemy, and preventing his advance.

By the 14th day of May the gunboats and transports had successfully passed over the falls. Alexandria was evacuated, a large quantity of cotton, which cotton speculators had gathered in there, was burned, including a portion of the city itself, and the whole army again resumed the retreat. On the 15th, at dark, the Ninety-fifth arrived at Fort DeRussey, and passed on fifteen miles farther. Sharp skirmishing took place

at Marksville, and an important artillery duel occurred at Mansouri, in which the rebels were badly worsted. On the 16th, the enemy offered battle in front, and as usual, was repulsed, and on the 17th he was again defeated in an attack on the rear of the Federal army, then held by General Mower's division, of the 16th Army Corps. On the 18th, occurred the hard-fought battle of Yellow Bayou, in which the rebels fought desperately, but were everywhere overwhelmed with defeat, losing three hundred prisoners and many killed and wounded. The 16th corps was hotly engaged, and the Ninety-fifth fought during a portion of the time under one of the severest fires of artillery it ever experienced in a field fight. Fortunately, however, the regiment was so near to the enemy's batteries that most of their shot and shell passed over the men without injuring them. The Federal loss was heavy, and several of the regiments (among them the 58th Illinois,) were badly cut to pieces. After this severe contest, in which the enemy was well punished, the forces under General Banks met with no farther hindrance of importance, in evacuating the country, and reached the mouth of Red river on the 21st day of May, 1864.

Thus ended, ingloriously, the great, expensive and fruitless attempt to penetrate to the head-waters of the

Red river. Not inglorious for the troops composing the expedition, for they at all times performed their whole duty, and even after the battle of Pleasant Hill, stood ready to fight their way to Shreveport, and would certainly have done so, had they been commanded to that effect, and led in that direction. General A. J. Smith, the brave leader of the 16th Army Corps, confident of whipping the enemy and reaching Shreveport, desired not to give up the contest in that manner; but the disheartened commanding officer of the army, supposing his forces had met with great defeat, and fearing they would be annihilated by a farther prosecution of his undertaking, decided to abandon the expedition, and ordered the long and tedious retreat to the Mississippi. It is a well-known fact that both armies, supposing themselves defeated, retreated about the same time, and equal distances from the battle field of Pleasant Hill, and on the following day, each party sent in flags of truce for the purpose of burying their dead-each expecting to find the other occupying and holding the ground where the battle had raged. It was in truth no more a defeat for the Federals than the rebels, and it was a general belief in the army that a few more days of perseverance would have placed the great object of the expedition in possession of the Union troops. The order

to retreat was imperative, however, but was obeyed with feelings of reluctance and disappointment.

แ

On the 22nd of April, the Ninety-fifth embarked at the mouth of the Red river upon the steamer Golden Era," sailed up the Mississippi, and reached Vicksburg on the 23rd. When the regiment left this place, in March previous, it was well understood and so expressed in the orders, that it was only temporarily detached from the 17th Army Corps, then encamped there, and after the completion of the Red River expedition, which was originally intended to take twenty days, it was expected to rejoin the command at Vicksburg, where it properly belonged. The most of that corps had, meanwhile, been ordered up the river to Cairo, and had moved forward to take part in the Georgia campaign, then about opening. The detachment, camp and garrison equipage and baggage of the Ninety-fifth, which had been left at Vicksburg, was also taken in the same direction, though it was known that the regiment was to return soon to that place. The brigade to which it legitimately belonged was still at Vicksburg on its arrival, but it was no longer considered as belonging to the command from which it had been loaned for the time being, and for some reason, through orders never explained, it was sent to Memphis, Tenn.