The National tribune., 1907-06-27
Information Regarding the Gun 'Lady
Davis"

New England States except Rhode Is
land. a number of regiments from New
York, Michigan, Wisconsin and In
diana, as well as those comrades belong
ing to the naval vessels which had eN-
perience with the Lady Davis" this
letter will, ] believe, if published, be of
great interest to a large number of COM
rades. The Lady Davis was one of
the guns that pounded Commodore
Farraguts fleet so disastrously at the
time he attempted to pass Port Hudson
to join Commodore Porter's feet at
Vicksburg Farragut was unable to get
but two of his vessels by. All members
of the cath Conn, as well as all the other
soldiers at Port Hudson, well remember
the reputation of the Lady Davis
during the siege which lasted from May
81 to July 8, 1868. Being a pivot gun,
it gave much trouble to the land forces
on the extreme left Of the Union line, as
well as hammering the fleet in the river.
The gun was named Lady Davis in
honor of the wife of the President OF
the Southern Confederacy. The follow
ing letter of Comrade SamuelS shows
the kind Of material of which the boys
of 1S61-1S65 We're made.-A. ii. Conk-
lin, Second Lieutenant, 24th Conn.,, East
Hamilton, Conn.
Comrade Pelton: / was pleased to get
your letter in reply to my Lady Davis
at Port Hudson" and would say l am
registered Hoosier, brot up with the
wild turkey and deer on the banks of
the historic Wabash. l served four
years and three months in the 21st Ind,
and that means l am getting old. My
eyes are dim and it is difficult for me TO
write to my old comrades. Still l am
not SO old as Comrade Hetsell. We are
all getting old in years. but it makes us
feel young again when we return in
memory to the scenes of our old cam
paigns. Then most of us were rosy
checked, beardless boys. full of rich
blood and full of fight, too. We filled
our places in the most magnificent army
that ever was marshalled on this earth.
Our amazing deeds and achievements
Tivalled even the Greeks and Spartans
of old, and the civilized world looked
in amazement on the American volun-
teer. The veterans of Wellington and
Napoleon could never have stood before
the fierce charges of Longstreet, Lee,
and Jackson, but the boys from the
Western prairies and their comrades
from Eastern factories and farms met
those naughty rebels on their own
ground. We humbled their pride and
with sword and bayonet compelled them
to beg for quarter. Yes, comrade, /
was at Port Hudson from start to finish.
] knew the Lady Davis" intimately.
Battery B, to which l belonged, had
Special lHtfouuCliOu " tile BiCde 6uii
called by that name. Our first position
was on the left center, May %. We
were there but two days-long enough
to silence a large smooth-bore gun in
our front. We then moved to the ex-
treme left and went into what was
called the 17-Gun Battery, composed of
all sorts of guns and mortars. The NOR
tars belonged to my regiment, and 10
inch. At this place we were quite near
the "L8iy Davis" but our breastwOrks
and embrasures were SO arranged we
could not get at her. In the meantime
the old Lady" was making it extreme
ly warm for the fleet and land forces.
The Chief of Artillery came to US one
afternoon and said, That gun must be
silenced." Our Captain, ]. T. Connolly,
took the contract He selected force
of seven men and the rest of the boys
crept up with our small breecn-loadine
rifles as close as possible to the Lady
in order to prevent the gunners from
operating her. We then pulled No. /,
one of the big battery, about quarter
of mile to the left, and were directly
in front of Her Majesty; in fact we
could see right into her black muZzle.
We at once opened with percussion
shell, and all this time the little breech
leaders were playing 1t hard on the same
target. After five shells we gave her
solid 30s. We could see the fragments
OF timbers fly in the air and vainly her
gunners tried to man her. They even
tried to catch her with moose and pull
her from the parapct, but no use: her
glory and prestige had departed. With
great chunks knocked from her muZ-
z!e, her carriage rent and torn, she sank
back on her breech hopeless wreck
and thus lay when we entered the fort
after the surrender. So much for
Lady Davis" In few days afterwards
we got permission from the Chief OF
Artillery to cross the river TO the west
side with our two guns. This would
bring us directly in front of all the big
guns ard water batteries; the same guns
that had pounded Farragut to pieces
All who knew where we were going
thought US a set of fools and predicted
awful things. To tell thetruth, we fell
little trepidity ourselves, but Uncle
Sam had given us the best guns in tho
world and il was our business to FIND
the best positions to use them. This
last position was al that could be de-
sired: in fact. IL was too good. and be-
fore we got thru with it we wished We
were back on the east side playing
'peek-a-boo'' with Lady Davis" II
be brief. We dismounted four of thu
best guns on the water front. Thos'
who entered the fort after the surren
der know this. We had our No. gui
entirely dismounted. We had run he
in battery and were in the act of firing
] myself was No. 3 and in another mo
ment would have pulled the lanyard
The carriage was a mass of splinter
and the gun gashcd from muZZle I,
breech. If that gun is in existence
would go across the continent to see il
We held this last position till the sur
render. July SIS. II. Samuels. Cayuga
Ind.