At 3 a.m. long roll sounded and the First Louisiana fell
into line. Colonel Holcomb gave instructions to be ready to embark at the
earliest possible moment and ordered the troops to break ranks. Soon bon-fires
were in every company street and beds, camp furniture and everything the
soldiers could not carry in their knapsacks was going up in smoke. As soon as
daylight came the good people of Donaldsonville began to find out what was
going on and came flocking into camp. A kind of intimacy or friendship had
sprung up between the citizens and soldiers of the First Louisiana and on this
occasion the sentiment was exhibited in its full light. Many good byes were
said and many affectionate leave takings were seen. I noticed it was the home
of many of the members of the regiment and reminded me of a regiment leaving
home in the North land for the seat of war. At 11 o'clock a. m., the regiment
was all on board the good steamer Iberville, and to the tune of the “Mocking
Bird” by the band, and amid the waving of handkerchiefs and other
manifestations of friendship we bade adieu perhaps forever to Donaldsonville.
At 5 p. m. we landed in Baton Rouge, disembarked and marched about a mile in
rear of the town and camped in the tents of the Thirtieth Massachusetts
regiment. The main forces had arrived before we did and had been disposed in
line of battle: the right resting in rear of Port Hudson and the left at Baton
Rouge, a distance of eighteen miles.
SOURCE: Abstracted from George G. Smith, Leaves from
a Soldier's Diary, p. 39-40
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