Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-07-08

n the Northwestern extremity o.
Louisiana. held by the Confederates.
One force. under the command of Cen
eral Steele, was to approach the spot
freni Arkansas, while a second. led by
General Banks, was to advance up the
Red River
Upon March Ieth the expedition SET
out from Vicksburg. and on the 18th
Admiral Porter reached the mouth of
the Red River. and. shipping frank
Inns soldiers from New Orleans, pro-
ceeded towards Alexandria. At first
nothing bnt success crowned their pro-
gress. Alexandria was captured. and
part of the army, Franklin at their
head, marched in advance after the
apparently retreating Confederates.
On April 18th, however, the luck turned.
and black disaster met the invading
troops. Tie flying foe. now oYertaken,
turned upon their pursuers. and in two
decisive battles utterly defeated them.
and General Banks was forced TO fall
back.
I
| Emboldened by their victories the
| Confederates followed up the unfor-
tnTafe expedition, and harrassed Adj
miral Porters fleet with heavy fire.
/ The danger of the position was in.
creased by the shrinkage of the river
owing to the dry weather, and at one
point the vessels were brought TO
dead stop by shallowness of the water.
FINALLY, a Federal engineer contrived
a dam. the water was raised to the
requisite height. and the expedition,
its ranks pitiably thinned by casualty
and the retention of prisoners, aoated
/ into safety.
/ Here is Sir ChgrIes's terse dese 1ie.
tion of the deed that won admira lon
| Il is written In The language If the
man of action whoiihas no time to
waste upon superfuous. words. But
the brave badness of the narrative
proves the personal experience of the
chances Of war, to which no reference
IS made.
The blayest act I have ever Wit
messed was that of an American officer
during the American Civil war. The
! United States government had organ
lied large army to proceed from
| Louisiana and invade Texas. For a
very long time the road and the river
tthe Red River ran side by side
Consequently our victories were easy
and many, because we had the gun
boats TO protect US. IGhare often
! thought that these were arranged By
the enemy TO give us a false security
and lure us further on Anyway, the
result was that after some weeks Of
marching and fighting we found our
selves on a huge plain in the midst
of the forest, and thirty miles from
the river The enemy here turned upon
us, and after two battles captured our
guns and many prisoners Dangerous
as was our position that of our fleet
of gunboats became, after this catas-
trophe, more dangerous still. They
| We're proceeding up the river toward
the point where road and river were
again to cone togethe. The enemy.
now free from attack, could build
4 forts in the rear of the feet, and cap
ture them too. 1t was necessary that
they should be ordered TO retreat down
| the river as soon as the second battle
ended. The quickest way was to go
straight ahead right through he
enemy's camp, and ride for life to the
river hank Neither gun nor cavalry
could toucl him, though be was in
their midst. and so. after hard ride,
he reached the river. Here. alas. the
presence of single United States
officer was so unexpected that our own
people shot at him. aud he fell pierced
by several bullets. Ills pursuers. in
recognition Of his gallantry, forbore
taking him prisoner, and allowed him
to be carried on board his compatriots'
gunboats. where lie fingered for many
weeks in the greatest agony. Event
ually he reached New Orleans, where
in few DAYS more he died. / myself
arrived in that city and attended his
funeral" s v