Lieutenant-Colonel H. F. Douglass

in The Swamp, Sunday Morning.

Dear Genl.:

I start on this morning to discover whether the enemy are still on the river or near to Shields, obstructing the upper road. I advise you to return to Miller's and will despatch you there the condition of affairs.

The road over which I am passing can not be passed by any wheel conveyance. I deem it my duty to inform you of this fact. Were there a chance for you I should say come, but as it is I must say the route is impracticable. Should the upper route be free of the enemy's presence, it remains for you to determine whether you will run the risk attendant on it. I believe from all that I have heard, after the most diligent inquiries, that should the enemy have gone, you can pass in safety to the river—of course, there may be enemies there at any time, but such risks fade into utter insignificance compared with this road. You have to pass down the river eight miles, but under cover of night I scarcely think there can be much danger. Should I find the enemy still on the river I will advise you immediately of it. I would suggest that as the only practicable means of solving the difficult problem of reaching the East bank of the Mississippi, that you recross the Black River and proceed to Trinity, getting from Col. Purvis, who commands a regiment now stationed there, an escort who know the roads and country, being residents of that part of the state, and proceed to Columbia, crossing the Ouachita River at that point and proceeding via Bayou Macon and St. Joseph road to St. Joseph or Boninsburg. It is with sincere regret that I should find such a course the only one possible for you, but the difficulties on this route, naturally much greater than I had supposed, have been greatly augmented by the recent rains.

The nearest route for you to St. Joseph or Boninsburg would be to cross the Ouachita at Harrisonburg, but as the Bayou Louis, three miles from Harrisonburg, may not be crossable, I give you the other route. Col. Purvis can inform you whether you can cross Bayou Louis, and if you can would take that road.

I do not know whether I can cross the river at the point near to which I shall debouch from this road or not. If you think it necessary for me to go with you to Boninsburg I will go, although I do not know the road and it will delay me very much. I deem it my duty, however, to assist you to the last extremity.

Very respectfully,

H. F. Douglas,

Lt. Co. Eng."

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 203-5