We passed Baton Rouge and Port Hudson entering the mouth of
Red river at about noon. On the way up two men hailed us from the shore in the
woods. We took them in and found they were deserters from the gun boats at Fort
De Russey. Poor fellows, they could get nothing to eat along that river but
aligators: and I guess the hard tack and salt junk tasted good to them. They
were turned over to the Essex when we arrived at the fort and what happened to
them after that we never stopped to learn.
SOURCE: Abstracted from George G. Smith, Leaves from
a Soldier's Diary, p. 91
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