AEMY OPERATIONS. 



69 



The Kineo received a shot through her rudder 

 post, and her propeller was made foul by a 

 hawser, which rendered her unmanageable, 

 and she floated down and anchored. After 

 the guns of the batteries were got into range 

 the fire was so accurate and constant as to 

 threaten the destruction of every gunboat in 

 the fleet. The Mississippi grounded under the 

 guns of a battery astern, another on the bovr, 

 and others opposite to her. The enemy, upon 

 discovering her position, concentrated their 

 nearest guns upon her. She continued her 

 fire for some time after getting aground. Capt. 

 Smith, finding it to be impossible to get her 

 off, determined to abandon her. He then 

 ordered the engines to be destroyed, the guns 

 to be spiked, and the vessel to be set on fire. 

 The officers and crew were then hurried off to 

 the shore opposite the batteries. Some of the 

 crew are supposed to have jumped overboard, 

 a few were taken prisoners, and the rest pro- 

 ceeded down the shore and were taken off by 

 the other vessels. Of two hundred and thir- 

 ty-three officers and men, twenty-nine were 

 missing. The vessel, after becoming lighter by 

 burning her top, drifted off, and, floating down 

 the stream, finally blew up. Her armament 

 consisted of nineteen eight-inch, one ten-inch, 

 one twenty-pound Parrott, and two small how- 

 itzers in the tops. 



Meanwhile, at three o'clock on Friday after- 

 noon, Gen. Grover's division marched out of 

 Baton Eouge, followed in the evening by Gen. 

 Emery's division, and on the next morning by 

 that of Gen. Augur. The army readied 

 Springfield road crossing without a skirmish. 

 The headquarters of Gen. Banks were estab- 

 lished here, which was about seven miles from 

 Port Hudson. During Saturday the entire 

 body of cavalry and some infantry regiments 

 were sent out on the Bayou Sara road toward 

 Port Hudson, and down the Ross and Spring- 

 field Landing roads to reconnoitre. One or 

 two sharp skirmishes took place with a force 

 of Confederate cavalry and infantry sent out 

 from Port Hudson and deployed as skirmishers 

 in the woods. Toward evening the enemy re- 

 tired within their intrenchments. Two Fede- 

 ral officers were wounded. On Sunday morn- 

 ing orders were issued to return to Baton 

 Rouge, which was accomplished by evening. 

 On the next day, an attempt to open communi- 

 cation with Admiral Farragut by sending a 

 small force across the point of land opposite 

 Port Hudson the fourth effort to cross the 

 point was successful, but Admiral Farragut 

 had moved up the river. The difficulties were 

 caused by a flood. The rebels had cut the 

 levee above. 



The attention of Gen. Banks was now turned 

 to that part of the State west of New Orleans 

 arid bordering on the Teche river. Opposite 

 New Orleans, on the other side of the Missis- 

 sippi river, commences the New Orleans and 

 Opelousas railroad, which runs westwardly a 

 distance of eighty miles to Brashear. This 



place is situated on the Atchafalaya river 

 where it flows out of Lake Chetimacha into the 

 Gulf of Mexico. Nearly opposite, on the west- 

 ern side of the river, is Berwick City, situated 

 at the junction of the Teche river, or bayou, 

 with the Atchafalaya. The Teche river com- 

 mences in St. Landry parish, a few miles from 

 Opelousas, and flows southeast in a very tor- 

 tuous course for two hundred miles. During 

 high water it is navigable nearly its whole 

 length. On the banks of this river flourish the 

 finest sugar-cane plantations in the State. The 

 chief towns on the river are Franklin, Martins- 

 ville, and Opelousas. 



A considerable force of the enemy was at 

 this time stationed within supporting distance 

 on the Teche. It had been kept there to repel 

 a threatened invasion up that stream by the 

 Federal force under Gen. Weitzel. The plant- 

 ers, supposing the Confederate force sufficient 

 for their protection, had put in their crops as 

 usual. When Gen. "Weitzel made the first at- 

 tempt to advance up the river, with the in- 

 tention of establishing his headquarters at 

 Franklin, the river was obstructed a few miles 

 above its moxith. To prevent these obstruc- 

 tions from being removed, the enemy had 

 thrown up earthworks, extending from the 

 bank of the river back to an impassable swamp, 

 and planted a battery. Here Gen. Moulton, 

 with fifteen hundred men, aided by the gunboat 

 Cotton, made sv.ch a stubborn resistance, that 

 Gen. Weitzel was obliged to fall back. The 

 enemy, supposing his object had been to cap- 

 ture the gunboat, removed her stores and am- 

 munition immediately afterward, and burned 

 her ; thus showing that they apprehended a 

 defeat on another attack. Subsequently the 

 water washed a channel round the obstruc- 

 tions, and the passage up ceased to be disputed 

 at that point. But much more formidable 

 works were constructed a few miles above Pat- 

 tersonville, and earthworks thrown up on the 

 opposite side of the river, to prevent a flank 

 movement by land or water. The distance at 

 this point from the river back to the swamp 

 was about three fourths of a mile. A small 

 force could thus hold at bay here one greatly 

 superior in numbers. Several thousand troops 

 of the enemy were posted here, and those be- 

 low were expected to fall back as the Federal 

 force advanced. 



It was to this region, comprising the parishes 

 or counties of Terrebonne, Lafourche, Assump- 

 tion, St. Mary, and St. Martin, that Gen. Banks 

 now transferred his army from Baton Rouge. 

 His object was the reclamation of this rich 

 country, which had furnished inestimable sup-^ 

 plies to the enemy, and which sustained a dense 

 slave population. Having concentrated his for- 

 ces at Brashear, Gen. Weitzel's brigade was 

 crossed over to Berwick on the 10th of April. 

 The landing was not disputed, but a reconnois- 

 sance discovered a force of the enemy, which re- 

 tired. On the next day, Saturday, the infantry 

 advanced a short distance. On Sunday, the di- 



