TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION. 45 



Early in 1861, when the State of Louisiana seceded, the 

 port of New Orleans was blockaded, and no one allowed to 

 leave the city. So a great many Union sympathizers were 

 caught in the trap, and rushed down the Mississippi River to 

 Forts Jackson and St. Philip to do garrison duty, sandwiched 

 in with strong Secessionists, and compelled to work the big 

 guns against Farragut's ships. After the fleet had passed 

 the forts, and destroyed the Confederate navy, it proceeded 

 up the river to New Orleans. The Union men in Fort Jack- 

 son laid a plot to desert the fort that night; some two or 

 three hundred of them made a dash at midnight for the 

 Union lines. When the Secessionists saw what was up, 

 they gave the alarm. The commanding officer ordered his 

 men to man the big guns on the parapet, which they did at 

 once, and expected to blow the Yankee deserters to smith- 

 ereens. But to their great surprise and dismay every big 

 gun on the parapet had been safely spiked ; and Timothy 

 O'Connor and James O'Neill, who led the deserters, marched 

 to the Union lines bearing a flag of truce (which was a piece 

 of old mosquito netting), and surrendered to the picket guard 

 of the 26th Massachusetts Regiment. General Butler paroled 

 them at once. They might go North if they chose, or enlist 

 in the Union service. Many of them availed themselves of the 

 ofl"er to enlist, and Timothy O'Connor and James O'NeiU both 

 enlisted in the Groton Company, and were credited to the 

 quota of the town. No name is more deserving to be hon- 

 ored than that of Timothy O'Connor. I have been asked 

 why James O'Neill's name is not on the tablet. My answer 

 to that is he was not killed in battle. At a later period 

 O'Neill was transferred to the 5th United States Artillery. 



Timothy O'Connor's brother John was for several years a 

 resident of the South before the War, but unlike his brother 

 Timothy, he was a rabid rebel and enlisted in the Confeder- 

 ate service, just after Timothy's escape. There was an old 

 river-boat anchored in the Mississippi River between Algiers 

 and New Orleans. This boat was used by the Union forces 

 as a prison for rebel prisoners of war. At this time there were 

 about two hundred prisoners on the boat. It was the custom 



