Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1863-09-25

CAMP OF TIE ELEVENTH Iowa INF,
Near Vicksburp. Scot. 7.


EDITOR JOURNAL II know that at the pres
cnt day it is very common for would-be liter
airy characters, who imagine that the fires of
genius are hotly coursing their veins, and
only waiting favorable time to burst forth
to astonish and enlighten the world, to scrib-
BILE articles for any paper that will publish
them, for the sole purpose of gratifying their
vanity by seeing their names in print. Such,
however, is not the motive which actuates
me in the present instance.
know there are very many of the readers
of the Journal who have deep and abiding
interest in the members Of the odd Eleventh, ,
and who will read with the liveliest interest
in relation to their welfare; and
this knowledge has prompted me to attempt
in my imperfect manner, to give a brief &C
count of an expedition into the State of
Louisiana, of which the Iowa Brigade :"
formed part
On the goth Of August we received orders
to be ready to march at l l A. N. the next day.
Conjecture was Immediately busy in regard to
our destination and the object Of the expedi-
ton, and various were the rumors concerning
the same, but nothing definite was ascertain
ed till the regiment was formed in readiness
to start, when an order from Brig Gen. John
B. Stevenson, commander of the expedition,
was read to US, stating that by the petition of
large number of the citizens of Louisiana,
the expedition was organized for the purpose
of proceeding into the interior Of that State,
to drive out any enemy that might be found
there, and take military possession of dis
trict not hitherto penetrated by our forces
and jayhawking was strictly forbidden, under
the severest penalties.
Owing to the unhealthiness of either our
location or the climate, or probably both COM
bined, our regiment was reduced lower than
it has been before since soon after the battle
of Shiloh, which was the most sickly time it
has ever known. We started with only 312
men and IL commissioned officers ..
We arrived at the landing, one mile and a
half from camp, about 10 o'clock NJ and ali
the afternoon we had to lay in the full
blaze of a burning sun, without the friendly
prote ction of single shade.tree, while our
wagons were being loaded-which we thought
could as we'll have been done while we were
in camp. But the afternoon passed, as all
afternoons will, and about shutdown we EN-
barked, and soon after started up the river
After running all night VIC landed at daylight
at Goodrich's Land ng, about Is miles below
Lake Providence. There we disembarked and
marched two miles and half up the river
where we went into camp and remained till
the next morning.
Previous to leaving this camp, twenty-four
of our men and cur Adjutant were taken sick
and sent back.
Of the 23d, and marched back to the Land
ing, and then struck out into the interior oil
the country.
Up to this time we had heard glowing de-
scr'ptions Of the country which we were te
pass through-that it was one of the richest
portions OF the State, and abounded in fruit
and vegetables of all kinds, as well as the
staple productions, and our minds were
filled with wild visions of the delicious luxu
ries with which We expected to regale our
selves.
Judge, then, Of our disappointment when
after travelling about two miles from the riv
er we left all Indicate ns of civilization behinc
US, and entered low, swampy country, where
the marks on the trees showed that in time
of high water it overlooked from to Is feet
This was covered with o heavy growth O
mber, such as is natural to low, marshy
ground, through which space of 60 or Il
feet in width had been cleared out for the
road. This space was filled with dense
mass of Cuckle-bur, six or seven feet high
vrh if.b c0mn1,.talv chi,f hot 1sft1o ~,
might otherwise have been stirring. 1t was
one of the hottest days of the season. I he
sun poured down upon us with almost over
towering intensity, and the air was so close
and cOntin ID as to be almost suffocating anC
was rendered doubly oppressive by the sick
ening stencil arising from the burs.
About IL NJ. We reached the Tensas river
or, rather, a part of us did, for nearly one
half OF the men became so over-heated as &c
be Obliged to fall out of ranks and seek the
nearest shade. Tue most of these came uE
during the afternoon, but some had to be
brought in in the ambulances.
From this place six mere sick were SEM
back to Goodrich's Landing, 10 miles distant
We remained on the Tensas over night Il
is sluggish stream, IL or 10 yards in width
The next morning we moved on through q
slightly more elevated country. and at long
intervals passed small serted plantations
That day we only marched to Bayou Macon
eight miles distant. The day was not SC
warm as the day before, and we had great
deal more comfortable march.
Here believe our advance first came upon
the enemy, and had light skirmish with
them, in which our forces captured 40 men
and considerable number of horses and cat
tie. From this point the enemy were contin
they retreating as we advanced.
About daylight on the morning of the 25th
We were again on the move. We marched
about a mile along the bank of the Bayou,
passing long line of rife-pits, intended, I
suppose, to obstruct the navigation of the
Bayou in case our Providence canal had
proved success. We then left the stream,
and soon entered one of the most dreary re
gions imaginable. The marks on the trees
showed an overflow of Is or 16 feet. The
timber was such as finds the clammy soil and
miasmatic atmosphere the most congenial to
its growth. There was but little underground
except what the darkies call swamp palmetto,
which consists of a single, half cylindrical
stem, from Is to Is inches in length, from the
topsof which proceeds leaves very muth re
sembling the leaf Of the common flag They
are generally united or inches, when they
gradually diverge, and the outer ends form a
circle of two or three feet in diameter. These
give the woods strange appearance.
This was the general character of the coun-
try, but occasionally we would find some
slightly elevated ground on which some poor,
deluded white trash" had made q clearing,
erected an old fashioned log cabin, and was
endeavoring, between the shakes of ague, to
scratch out precarious livelihood. Their
homes were the very personifcation of pow
erty and want, and in their careworn, ague-
colored features you might read almost utter
That day we marched sixteen miles, and
a hout 9 D uo comnod IN thu ,,,ost d.o,,,