The National tribune., 1906-02-08
Edmund H. Russell, of the 9th Pa. Re-
serves Acting Signal Officer

Edmund H. Russell, of the 9th Pa. Re-
serves, Acting Signal Officer.
'"Then the officers and men quietly
prepared themselves for the serious
work expected of them. Those that
had anything to leave made their wills
ir the manner sanctioned by the GUS
tom of armies, and all cOnfided to the
hands of comraGes the last words for
their families or their friends.
TayIOr's Movements.
Meanwhile an event took place,
trifling in itself, yet accenting sharply
some of the more serious reasons that
had, in the first instance, led Banks to
resist the repeated urging Of the Gov
ernment to join Grant with his whole
force, and afterward had formed pow
erful factors in determining him to de-
liver and to renew the assault. Early
on the morning of the 18th of June a
detachment of Confederate cavalry rode
into the village of Plaquemine, sur
prised the provost-guard. captured
Lieut.. c. Fl. Witham and % men of the
2Sth Me-, and burned three steamers
lying in the bayou. the Sykes, Anglo
American and Belfast. Capt Albert
Stearns, of the 131st N. Y, who was
stationed at Plaquemine as Provost
Marshal Of the Parish, made his escape
with 3 men of his guard. The COnfed-
crates were fired upon by the guard and
lost one man killed and two wounded.
In their turn they fired upon the steam
boats, and wounded two Of the crew.
Three hours later the gunboat Winona,
Capt. Weaver, came down from Baton
Rouge, and, shelling the enemy. has
tened their departure. In the tension
of greater events little notice was taken
at the moment of this incident: yet it
was not long before it was discovered
that the raiders were the advance guard
nf 1iff1a with which TaV1nr
was about to invade La Fourche, intent
upon the bold design of raising the
siege of Port Hudson by blOckading the
river and threatening New Orleans.
Banks's Dilemma.
"Thus Banks was brought face to
face with the condition described in his
letter of the 4th of June to Halleck:
1.-The course to be pursued here gives
me great anxiety. If I abandon Port
Hudson, leave it's garrison, some 5000
or 1000 men, the force under Moulton
and Sibley, now threatening Brashear
City and the Army of Mobile, large or
small, to threaten or attack New Or.
leans. If / detach from my command
in the field sufficient force to defend
that city, which ought not to be less
than 5000 or 10000, my assistance to
Gen. Grant is unimportant, and I leave
an equal or larger number of the enc
my to reinforce Johnston. If I defend
New Orleans and it's adjacent territory.
the enemy will go against Grant If
go with a force sufficient to aid him,
my rear will be seriously threatened.
My force Is not large enough to do both.
Under these circumstances, my only
course seems to be to carry this post as
soon as possible, and then to join Gen.
Grant. II ! abandon 1T / cannot ma
terially aid him.
Rebel Cavalry I'm the Rear.
about the same time Logan again
became troublesome. At first he seems
to have thought Of retiring on Jackson.
Miss: but this Johnston forbade, telling
him to stay where he was, to observe
and annoy the besiegers, and If pressed
by too strong force to fall back only
SO far as necessary, hinderfng and re-
tarding the advance of his assailantS.
By daylight, on the morning of the 18th
of June, Logan dashed down the Clin-
ton road. surprised the camp Of the
14th n. Y. Cav, who made little resist
ance, and the guard of the hospital at
the Carter House. who made none. In
this raid Logan took nearly 100 dis
abled prisoners, including six officers,
and carried off a number of wagons.
However, finding Grierson instantly on
his heels, Logan promptly fell back as
far as necessary On the evening of
the goth of June, while lowering In the
rear of Dwight, Logan captured and
carried off Brig Gen. Dow, who, while
waiting for his wound to heal, had TAX
en- up his headquarters in a house some
distance behind the lines. At daylight,
on the morning Of the I'd Of July, Lo-
gan surprised the depot at Springfield
guarded by the 1920 N. Y,
Lieut.-Col. blanchard, and a small de-
tachment of the 18th N. H.. under
Capt. Hersey. Careless picket duty was
the cause, and great stampede the
but Logan hardly stayed
long enough to find out exactly what
he had accomplished, since he reports