42 HENRY HILL GOODELL 



flict. It seemed as though my throat would burst. I had 

 eaten nothing since the night before, a sick headache came 

 on, and I could scarcely move after the real excitement 

 was over till I got an hour or two of sleep there in the woods. 

 At 5 p.m. we marched back to the Bayou and encamped. 



' April 15, we started for Newton or New Iberia, distance 

 thirty -one miles, reaching there on the eve of the 16th. It 

 was a terribly hot and dusty march and the men were very 

 foot-sore. Emory's Division was ahead of us and skir- 

 mished all the way with General Taylor's forces (for he 

 commands the rebel forces and is a son of old Z. Taylor). 

 They took some five hundred prisoners. At Newton we 

 found most of our missing men, who had been paroled 

 by General Taylor and left there. New Iberia is a very 

 pleasant place of some fifteen hundred inhabitants. There 

 are some very beautiful mansions, with grounds laid out in 

 fancy style. There is a small foundry in the place and a 

 couple of magazines; one of its three churches was stored 

 with powder and ammunition abandoned in the flight. 

 The people were more Union than any we have previously 

 seen, and were of a better class than the ordinary run. 

 Provisions were at almost fabulous prices. Eggs fifty cents 

 a dozen, coffee six dollars a pound, and flour one hundred 

 and fifty dollars a barrel ! Just think of that ! By the way, 

 we found out from our rebel prisoners how their men lived. 

 They had only one commissary wagon drawn by six oxen 

 for an army of six thousand men. They lived upon the 

 plantations as they passed along. 



" April 17, we were aroused at 3 a.m., but through some 

 delay we did not start till 6 o'clock. Our division was alone, 

 Emory's division having taken a circuitous route. We made 



