We arrived [at Simsport]. This place is simply a point where
the Red River road crosses the Atchaffalaya Bayou. There are two or three
houses in sight. On the way heavy cannonading was heard in the direction of
Port Hudson, and an orderly came back and reported that Vicksburg had fallen
and Port Hudson was on fire and about ready to surrender. So the army halted in
the road under a broiling sun, and the band played “The Star Spangled Banner,”
and the army cheered to the echo. Many negroes had collected here from the
surrounding plantations. At 8 p. m. the First Louisiana embarked on the St.
Maurice bound for Bayou Sara. Stayed up until we passed into Red River, thence
into the Mississippi, when I retired.
SOURCE: Abstracted from George G. Smith, Leaves from
a Soldier's Diary, p. 55-6
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