The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-17
United Daughters
 Of Ghe c Confederacy

q v - I was appointed to collect subscriptions and books that have been pledged to the Library under the auspices of James Cantey Chapter, U. D. C., and Mrs H. B. Perry. Mrs J. L. Pollard. Mrs. L. D Mckee and Miss Carrie B. Jennigs were appointed a committee to select suitable books for the Library Mrs. W. H. Holland invited the Chap ter to meet with her at the next reg ular meeting at g o'clock a. m. The invitation was gladly accepted and the meeting adjourned
 Mrs. J. L. Henry. Secretary Pro Tenn. The two following contributions are from Pelham Chapter, others sent will appear in successive issues until all are published
 Editor U. D. c. Column. An old Confederate Dollar Bill. You ask me to tell you l Something of the story Of the time worn note. the old one dol lar bill,
 Of the anguish and tears, the pride and the glory
 | Of the wonderful heroes whose brave hearts are still.
 You ask for . story. So precious and olden
 Like strains of sweet music. its mem ories float.
 And dreams of past greatness, all hal- l lowed and golden, Cling round the old ragged Confeder- | ate note.
 l You ask me to tell you? | Why rake up the ashes | t-at @ora hath lAff buried and cold? 'Tis an oft told tale. whose brilliant | flashes
 Through ages and ages will never A dollar. however, is always alluring | And this one, tho worthless, Is to memory dear.
 The brave deeds 1t recalls, forever en- during
 I but sent it to you for a souvenir. A. s. T. May 22. 1899.
 Written by Mrs. A. S. Tardy Birm- fngham, Ala
 In the spring of 1883 Port Hudson La, was defended by line of batteries on the east bank of the Mississippi River, covering about a mile of river front. These batteries had from one to
 
 the old smooth bore class. with the exception of a Parrot gun on the ex- treme left and a bronze piece (name l now forgotten) on the extreme right. There was at battery and at one ten-inch 'Colunibiad, at battery one | eight-inch Columbiad All other guns were 42 and 32 pounders. The object in fortifying this point was to prevent the Federals from as cending the river and to control the | river between Port Hudson and vicks- burg, Miss..- thereby keeping open com munication between the East and the West.
 The troops at Port Hudson were commanded by Major General Franklin | Gardner, who had. beside the artillery troops. considerable infantry force. | The batteries were in charge of the
 1st Alabama Regiment and a Louisiana
 Regiment. The right wing was com
 manded by Colonel I. c. W. Steedman | (1st Alabama), and the left wing by Colonel DeGournay Gouisiana.l The respective batteries were com
 manded as follows: No. 1. Captain T. | G. Whitfield. No. 3, Captain J. D.
 Meadows: No. 8, Captain R. H. Riley;
 No. {, Captain Seawell; No. 5, Captain
 lst Alabama except Captain Seawell | (No. 4). The names of the command | CTS of the respective batteries of the | left wing are forgotten. i. Below Port Hudson lay a large Fed
 eral fleet. commanded by Admiral Far- | ragut, and below the fleet a large army. | with headquarters at Baton Rouge, La. commanded by General N P. Banks.
 It was expected that the feet would
 at some time try to pass the batteries.
 and a sharp lookout was kept for sev- eral weeks. A signal corps was loca- ted on the west side of the river, as
 near the fleet as was advisable. On
 the night of March 21st the signal was given that the fleet was moving up the
 river Each battery repeated the sig
 nal and the guns were immediately
 manned and prepared for action. The fleet which came up the river consis- ted of river vessels, and approached as
 follows: Hartford (hagship), Rich l mond Monongahela Gone name forgot
 ten), Mississippi tside wheeler). The
 first four had similar vessels lashed to | their fort sides. These were all wood
 en vessels and mounted (that is the
 large ones), forty or fifty guns each, enabling them to fire from their star
 board sides. broadsides of twenty or
 twenty-five guns The batteries re-
 sponded to the fire quickly and effec-
 tually One great disadvantage to the
 Confederates was that after the yes
 sells succeeded in passing the batter
 les on the left they, following one of
 the deep currents of the river, ran
 close to the shore when opposite bat
 teries 5, 4 and 8. where the large guns
 were mounted. and the blum was so
 hig hthat the guns could not be de-