The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-06

carried the case to the supreme court
 but were defeated. The large house
 used as hospital during the war and
 in which Lieutenant James Francis of
 the Twelfth Connecticut lay sick so
 long in the spring and summer of 1863, stands serviceable as ever and
 still belongs to the same family, Col. John A. O'Neills, that owned and oc- John A. O'Neill's, that owned and oc- cupied it in 1863,
 IRISH BAND.
 The day following my arrival I drove
 to the battlefield of Irish Bend, three
 and one-half miles further up the
 Bayou. At the north edge of the city
 stands the stately mansion occupied
 for many years past by the family of
 the late Senator Dan Caffrey who died during the last winter and who was one of the states greatest men. The mansion stands back hundred and fifty yards from the road in the midst of large grove of old vigorous live
 oak. The mansion itself is of the New
 England style, of Colonial architecture rather than the southern And if the
 expression is proper, Senator Caffrey himself was of the New England style, physically, rather than the southern, short, stout and firm, like the late
 Governor R. D. Hubbard--a man of
 most impressive presence.
 FAMILIAR TERRITORY.
 
 sugar refinery on the right bank of
 the Teche The road bends and turns to conform to the Bayou windings, on through the little village. Teche, near which lie the remains of the old Diana -her boilers and machinery have long since sunk deep in the mud and below the bed of the stream. The old forest
 where Taylor's forces held us so long,
 is all cleared and transformed into a
 most productive sugar field. The vil-
 lage of Irish Bend is off in the dis
 tance ahead and reaching up to the
 north. It is easy to locate the very
 spot where the line of the Thirteenth
 Connecticut crossed the road on the
 left of our brigade line. The road is
 margined all along by a hedge of Osage
 orange. I asked the colored driver the
 name of the hedge and he replied that he thought it was "Bodark' hedge-I suggested that it might be Osage Orange, but he said he didn't know any such hedge. It occurred to me that the driver meant bois dare (boW wood), the name given 1t by the early French settlers, as it was the wood
 commonly used by Indians in making their bows in consequence of it's strength and fexibility.
 THE BATTLEFIELD.
 Although the woods have been filled and the sugar mill has disappeared and many neat new houses have been
 built along the road below Madame Porter's stately mansion, almost any veteran of Birges brigade would
 recognize the battlefield of Irish Bend on reaching it.. A large store on the
 road across from the old sugar mill
 site, is kept by the same proprietor
 who was there when Father Quinn and I visited the place in February, 1896, and although he removed soon af- terward to the north and remained away several years he recently return ed and is again carrying on the store. He recognized me as soon as I entered the door, and gave me hospitable greeting. The old pond, in rear of the sugar mill site, is yet visible, though dry, and portions of the mill foundation walls yet are intact below the surface of RaII UTo Jn, +I,a ,,I1
 share occasionally throws up a human skull or bone, bullet or grape shot or fragment of a she'll Above and below the Porter mansion the place is changed very little, excepting that di- rectly in front of the house, the road and fence have been removed some rods to the west. At the rear of the mansion in the Bayou are the black and decayed cypress piles that SUD- ported the bridge that was over the Bayou in 1865 and the live oak grove around the building is more dense than the ordinary grove, especially so near home. No one who ever saw the spot can ever forget it's impressive beauty. It is more than beautiful. It | is magnificent.
 IDEAL HOMES.
 Time refuses to finger even in this l lovely, languorous region, and there | were other places and persons to see. We drove back to Franklin and called | at the home of General Foster mile | into the city. His house is more mod | ern and has a more elaborate exterior | than the Don Caffrey or Porter man. sions; yet each is an ideal Louisiana home. Two or three groups of young l ladies were walking on the broad lawn. 1 Gardeners were here and there trim l ming hedges and shrubs, and attend | ing to the driveways and walks. In | answer to my ring at the doorbell | there came one of the most beautiful 1 imaginable little misses, apparently eight or nine years of age, leading by | the hand a child of between two and three. Not wishing to disturb any oA the family I gave my name and mes sage to the little miss to give to her mother, with my apology for my haste, and asked her if the smaller one was the baby of the family. She replied | yes" and added with a smile that | would have delighted President Roose- welt, There are nine of us." l have 1