which we had shamefully lost, with | Donaldsonville by assault; but Far nearly 1,000 prisoners, a strong fort, 10 heavy guns, many small arms, and tents, equipments, supplies, valued by the enemy at $6,000,000, and possibly worth to us $2,000,000. Thousands of negroes, liberated by Banks's triumphant advance to Alexandria, were reduced by this and our kindred reverses to a harsher slavery than that from which they had so recently been delivered. 38 The road to New Orleans ❞—at least, to Algiers, its western suburbwas now open; for Lafourche had been evacuated by Stickney after a gallant defense by the 47th Massachusetts, in which they had repulsed two assaults; but Taylor was too weak to make the great venture. If he had, as is asserted, but 4,000 men at Brashear and between it and La fourche, he could not have assailed New Orleans with more than double that number at most; and, so long as Farragut held the mastery of the river, this was not enough even to compel Banks to raise the siege of Port Hudson." Moving north instead of east, Taylor's van, under Green, menaced Donaldsonville, while a small force of Texans, raiding into Plaquemine, burned two steamboats lying there, and took 68 convalescents prisoners; but were soon shelled out by the gunboat Winona. Green next attempted" to carry 38 The Louisiana Democrat (Alexandria, July 1) has a magnifying Rebel letter from one engaged in the capture of Brashear, who claims for that post an importance hardly second to Vicksburg, numbers 1,800 prisoners and 6,000 negroes among the spoils, and adds: "This brilliant campaign of Gen. Taylor has another great object in view, and one of vast importance, namely: A diversion to force the enemy to raise the siege of Port Hudson. He ragut had been seasonably apprised of his intention, and had sent thither the Princess Royal, Kineo, and Winona; which, cöoperating with the little garrison (225) of the 28th Maine, Maj. Bullen, tore the assaulting column with their shells, and soon put the Rebels to flight, with a loss of 200 killed and wounded, and 124 prisoners. Among their killed was Col. Phillips. Pollard reports another fight," six miles from Donaldsonville, between 1,200 Texans, under Green, and "the enemy, over 4,000 strong;" wherein we were beaten, with a loss of 500 killed and wounded, 300 prisoners, 3 guns, many small arms, and the flag of a New York regiment. Banks's report is silent with regard to this fight; yet it seems that a collision actually took place; the forces on our side being commanded by Gen. Dudley, and our loss considerable 450 killed and wounded, with two guns, says a newspaper report. The affair can not have been creditable to the Union side, or it would not have been so completely hushed up. 42 Gen. Banks's force in the field having been rendered disposable by the fall of Port Hudson, Taylor and his subordinates made haste to abandon the country east of the Atchafalaya; evacuating " Brashear City just one month after its capture; but not till they had carefully stripped it of now has his choice, to lose New Orleans or to abandon his operations against Port Hudson, and retire with his beaten and demoralized army into that city." "Banks says that barely 400 of our men at one time held New Orleans; but the river and the fleet, with his army not far away, were its main defenses. FRANKLIN'S FAILURE AT SABINE PASS. 339 every thing of value that was either | rectly upon them with the gunboats, movable or combustible. after having been 24 hours in sight, so as to give the Rebels ample warning of their peril. The result proved this a foolha:dy procedure. The gunboats were old merchant steamers, of inferior strength; their guns were of mode Gen. Banks now united with Gen. Grant in urging an immediate combined movement upon Mobile; but the suggestion was overruled at Washington, in deference to the urgent representations of Texan refugees; and Gen. B. directed" to op-rate caliber, and made no impression erate against Texas. He was advised that a movement by the Red river on Natchitoches or Shreveport was deemed most feasible, but was authorized to act as his own judgment should dictate. Deeming the route suggested impracticable at that season, he decided to demonstrate by way of the Sabine, with Houston as his objective point. Accordingly, an expedition, including a land force of 4,000 men, was fitted out at New Orleans, and dispatched" to the Sabine, under command of Maj.-Gen. Franklin; the naval force, detailed by Admiral Farragut, consisting of the gunboats Clifton, Sachem, Arizona, and Granite City, under command of Lt. Fred. Crocker. Banks gave Franklin written instructions to debark his troops 10 or 12 miles below Sabine Pass; thence moving rapidly on the Rebel defenses, unless a naval reconnoissance should prove those works unoccupied, or so weak that they could be easily and promptly reduced by bombardment. Decently managed, this movement could not have miscarried. The troops were abundant and efficient; the weather fine; the sea smooth; and the enemy unwarned of the point of attack. But Franklin and Crocker decided to take the works at once by a naval attack; and, without landing the troops, moved" di on the Rebel works; while several of them soon grounded in the shallow water of the Pass, where they were exposed to certain destruction by the fire of the batteries, and were soon torn to pieces; when Crocker surrendered the Clifton, as Lt. Johnson did the Sachem; each having been quickly disabled by a shot through her boiler-Franklin thus achieving the distinction of being the first American General [for Renshaw was not a General] who managed to lose a fleet in a contest with land batteries alone. The Arizona grounded, and had her engine disabled; but was kedged off with difficulty at midnight, having received no damage. She was, in fact, of too heavy draft to run fairly abreast of the batteries at least, to maneuver there with safety. Crocker and Johnson fought their vessels bravely and well; but they were light-draft boats, utterly unfit to assail such batteries, and should not have been impelled to their certain destruction. Our loss in this affair, beside the two boats and their 15 heavy rifled guns, was 50 killed and wounded, beside 200 prisoners-in all, just about equal to the whole number of Rebels engaged; of whom (says Pollard) "not a man was lost on our side, nor a gun injured." Franklin had still his 4,000 sol- Sept. 5. concerning Texas but that of a marine expedition; which was accordingly resolved on. diers, with his transports and two remaining gunboats; while there were not Rebel soldiers enough within a day's ride to have brought to a halt Meantime, a considerable force had one of his regiments, properly led. been sent, under Gen. F. J. Herron, Dick Taylor's force, such as it was, to Morganzia, opposite but above was far away; Houston, flanking Port Hudson, where the Rebels had Galveston, was but 40 miles distant; a vicious habit of taking advantage Gen. Washburne was at Brashear, of the narrowness and crookedness with a force equal to Franklin's, of the Mississippi to bushwhack' ready to cooperate in the purposed advance, in case the latter had taken these poor earthworks, defended by a captain" and 250 men, and sent back his transports for rëenforcements. Instead of taking them, however, or even trying, Franklin-finding no place to land where he might not get his feet wet-slunk meekly back to New Orleans;" leaving the Texans to exult, very fairly, over a fruitful victory gained against odds of at least twenty to one. Gen. Banks now concentrated his disposable forces on the Atchafalaya, with intent to advance directly upon Shreveport; but found this utterly impracticable. The country west and north-west of Brashear had been so exhausted by the armies that had successively occupied it that no food and little forage was to be gleaned from it; an intense drouth now prevailed all over that flat region; where, though bayous abound, living springs and brooks of drinkable water are scarce; the roads were few and very bad, often winding for miles through dense forests; and it was not possible to transport by wagons all the food and forage needed by an army strong enough to overcome all probale resistance. No course seemed open for a fulfillment of the desires and expectations of the Government 47 Arriving Sept. 11. 46 F. A. Odlum. our passing vessels. No resistance being here encountered, an outpost had been established several miles inland, consisting of the 19th Iowa and 26th Indiana, with two guns, under Lt.-Col. Leake, with 150 cavalry, under Major Montgomery-in all, some 600 to 800 strong. Though it was known that Green, with a far stronger Rebel force, was in their front across the Atchafalaya, no proper vigilance was exercised; and, three weeks after this outpost had been established, it was surprised by Green, who, with a far superior force, crossed the bayou during a dark night, surrounded our camp, and captured our guns and most of our infantry-not less than 400, including Leake and Lt.-Col. Rose. The cavalry escaped with a loss of five men. We had 14 killed and 40 wounded. Gen. N. J. T. Dana had just succeeded Herron in command at Morganzia. 48 In order to mask his intended movement on Texas by sea, Gen. Banks now pushed out a considerable force, under Gen. C. C. Washburne, to Opelousas, which was reached without a conflict; but, when Washburne commenced" his retreat to the Teche, pursuant to orders, the Rebels, under Taylor and Green, followed sharply on his track, and, GENS. BANKS AND DANA IN WESTERN TEXAS. 341 ern entrance to Matagorda Bay, our army invested Fort Esperanza, which was thereupon abandoned; most of its garrison escaping to the main land. stealing up," under cover of woods, | 100 prisoners. Moving thence on to our right, under Gen. Burbridge, Pass Cavallo, commanding the weststruck suddenly and heavily, about noon, while the 23d Wisconsin was engaged in voting for State officers that being election day in their State. That regiment was speedily Banks had expected to follow up reduced from 226 to 98 men-many this success-which gave us control of the rest, of course, prisoners, in- of the coast from the Rio Grande to cluding its Colonel, Guppy, who was the Brazos-by a movement on Inwounded; while the brigade of which dianola or on Matagorda: but this it formed a part went into the fight involved a collision with whatever numbering 1,010, and came out 361. Rebel force could be collected in The loss was mainly in the 67th In- Texas; and he deemed himself too | diana, which ingloriously surrender- weak to challenge such an encounter. ed without having lost a man. Our With a moderate rëenforcement, he. right, thus suddenly assailed in great might have seized Galveston Islandforce, and with intense fury, was sealing up the coast of Texas against broken, and was saved from utter blockade-runners: as it was, he felt destruction by the devoted bravery obliged to desist and return to New of the 23d Wisconsin and the efficient Orleans. service of Nim's battery. We lost one gun, which was not recovered; the Rebels, upon the bringing up of the 3d division, Gen. McGinnis, retreating rapidly to the shelter of the adjacent woods. Washburne reports a loss of 26 killed, 124 wounded, and 566 missing (prisoners); total: 716. The Rebels lost 60 killed, 65 prisoners, and 300 wounded. Gen. Dana, after Banks had left him in command at Brownsville, sent an expedition up the river 120 miles to Roma, which encountered much privation, but no enemy; then another 70 miles eastward, toward Corpus Christi, which found no Rebel force in this direction. The Rebels had shifted their Mexican trade to Eagle Pass, 350 miles up, whither Dana was unable to follow them. Being afterward ordered to Pass C2vallo, he found " two of our brigades in quiet possession of Indianola, on the main land, with an equal force on the Matagorda peninsula opposite, and all Texas west of the Colorado virtually abandoned to our arms. He believed we had force enough then on that coast to have moved boldly inland and contested the mastery of the State; but he was overruled, and soon relieved from command. b2 Nov. 2. 53 XVI. THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC UNDER BURNSIDE AND HOOKER. and grounded vessels on the way: so that they did not reach Falmouth till after most of Lee's army had been concentrated on the heights across the river, ready to dispute its passage. 5 GEN. BURNSIDE reluctantly, and to impel their dispatch from Washwith unfeigned self-distrust, succeed-ington-did not start so early as ed' to the command of the Army of they should have done, and then exthe Potomac. The devotion to Mc-perienced detention from bad roads Clellan of its principal officers, and of many of their subordinates, was so ardent that any other commander must have had a poor chance of hearty, unquestioning support; and Burnside would gladly have shrunk from the ordeal. Having no alternative, however, but disobedience of orders, he accepted the trust, and immediately commenced preparations for a movement of his forces down the Rappahannock to FREDERICKSBURG, which he had selected as on the proper as well as the direct line of operations from Washington against Richmond: masking his purpose, for a few days, by menacing an advance on Gordonsville. Lee soon' penetrated his real design, and commenced a parallel movement down the south bank of the river; while J. E. B. Stuart, raiding across at Warrenton Springs, entered Warrenton just after our rear-guard had left it, obtaining ample confirmation of his chief's conclusions; whereupon, the residue of Longstreet's corps was moved rapidly eastward. Meantime, Gen. Sumner's advance had reached' Falmouth, and attempted to cross to Fredericksburg, but been easily repulsed; the bridges being burned and our pontoons-owing to a misunderstanding between Gens. Halleck and Burnside, each of whom conceived that the other was 3 Nov. 8, 1862. 2 Nov. 15. 3 Nov. 18. 6 Fredericksburg was summoned by Gen. Sumner: the authorities replying that, while it would not be used to assail us, its occupation by our troops would be resisted to the utmost. Most of the inhabitants thereupon. abandoned the place, which was occupied by Barksdale's Mississippi brigade, sharp-shooting from behind houses; while Lee's engineers pressed the fortification of the heights behind it, and Wade Hampton dashed across the river above, raiding up to Dumfries and the Occoquan, capturing 200 cavalry and a number of wagons; and a like dash across was made below Port Royal, in boats, by part of Beale's regiment; taking some prisoners. Our gunboats having steamed up the river so far as Port Royal, D. H. Hill assailed' them with cannon, and compelled them to retire; when he proceeded to fortify the right bank, so as to prevent their return. The Rappahannock, above Port Royal, being generally narrow, with high bluffs often approaching it, now on one side, then on the other, Lee decided that he could not prevent its • Nov. 17. " Nov. 21. • Nov. 28. 7 Dec. 5. |