18 HENRY HELL GOODELL 



forty days en route. There was only one thing that could 

 be done, and that was to destroy the Confederate army 

 west of the Mississippi, before he could with safety leave 

 New Orleans in his rear and advance on Port Hudson. 

 So, concentrating his army at Donaldson ville, he marched 

 across the country to Berwick Bay and followed up the 

 Bayou Teche to Alexandria on the Red River; then, follow- 

 ing down the Red River to the Mississippi, he advanced 

 upon Port Hudson from the North. The story of this long 

 march with its various vicissitudes will be given in Good- 

 ell's letters to one of his sisters, with an occasional note to 

 classmates, to illustrate the spirit with which he endured 

 the trials of an exceedingly tedious and fatiguing campaign. 



On the 15th of January, 1863, the companies of the 25th 

 Connecticut at New Orleans were sent up the river to Baton 

 Rouge, and joining their old companions, were brigaded 

 with the 13th Connecticut, the 26th Maine and the 159th 

 New York, under Colonel H. W. Birge as brigade com- 

 mander. These regiments formed the Third Brigade of 

 the Fourth Division of the 19th Army Corps, General 

 Grover division commander. 



They were now in the presence of the enemy, and the 

 position assigned to the 25th was on the extreme left in 

 advance, and Goodell gets his first taste of active service. 

 On January 26, he writes from Baton Rouge : 



"Our camp is about half a mile from the town, just on the 

 edge of a dense forest and cypress swamp. Last night I went 

 out for the first time on picket duty, with forty-five men. 

 Had fifteen posts to look after, extending over some mile 

 and a half through the centre of the forest. It was no joke, 

 I assure you, going the rounds all night visiting the posts, 



