First Louisiana
ordered to Donaldsonville. Went in wagons by way of Springfield Landing, 18
miles below Port Hudson, where we went on board the Iberville at 10 p. m. Next
morning, at daylight, arrived at Fort Butler. Rumor of a fight here had reached
us, but we were not fully aware of the magnitude of the conflict until now.
Port Barro, a little cluster of houses on the same side of the bayou with the
fort, had been nearly all burned, and some of the houses in Donaldson were
burning. The First Louisiana disembarked and went into the fort. New made
graves were seen along the levee and the slope of the parapet towards the river
was completely covered with a gore of blood.
We learned that at
2 o'clock on the morning of the 28th, a force of Texas rebels under General
Morton, 5,000 strong, had attacked the fort. The garrison in the fort consisted
of a detachment from the 28th Maine, commanded by Major Bullen and a few
convalescents from the hospital, belonging to the First Louisiana; in all about
183 efficient men. Six heavy 24-pound siege guns were mounted on the parapet,
and the Essex lay in the river. This was our force and armament. The plan of
attack was this: A force was to make a feint upon the main entrance by the side
of the bayou, while a storming party of 500 picked men were to steal down
behind the levee, under cover of darkness, wade around the stockade in the
river, and scale the parapet on the river side, where there was no moat. By
some mistake the storming party arrived first, and while some were wading
around the stockade, others tried to cut an opening in it with axes. This
alarmed the garrison, and in an instant the parapet was bristling with bayonets.
Then commenced “some savage biting.” For three long mortal hours did this
little heroic band withstand the assault of three times their number in a
hand-to-hand conflict with only a bank of earth six feet wide and as high as a
man's breast to separate them. Charge after charge was made by the rebels,
yelling as only Texans know how to yell, but each was met by a volley that sent
the maddened desperate adventurers hurling back down the parapet with mortal
wounds. Some tried to creep over, but these were met by the bayonets. They then
resorted to throwing bricks, but all of no avail. _ One desperate fellow
mounted the gate in the stockade with a lantern, and tried to open it inside.
He fell pierced with many bullets. In the meantime, while this was going on,
the main force had arrived and the fort was besieged on all sides. The heavy
guns then opened their black throats and vomited forth death and swift
destruction, while two gunboats, lying up the river, hearing the conflict,
rushed to the scene of action under full steam, and rounding the bend above the
fort, opened broadside after broadside, of shot and shell, in the midst of the
enemy. It was then that death and destruction reigned supreme, and the Death
Angel flapped her broad wings amid the glare of bursting bombs and the terrible
flashes of the deep-mouthed cannon. The horrified rebels retreated in dismay
and confusion, while the death-dealing missiles pursued them for miles, and
strewed the country with the slain.
The story of that
terrible night is now soon told. At early dawn the Essex spied the few hundred
rebels who had crept behind the stockade between the parapet and the river.
They immediately opened a broadside of grape and canister. A flag of truce was
raised, and they were prisoners of war.
This ended one of
the most bloody conflicts of the war, according to numbers. But the loss was
nearly all on one side. The enemy lost 1,000 men in killed and taken prisoners.
Our loss was six killed and 11 wounded.
It was my original
intention not to relate anything but what I saw with my own eyes or
participated in personally. I have, however, departed somewhat from that
purpose, but not without the best of evidence either from eye-witnesses or
participants themselves. In relating the foregoing account of the attack on
Fort Butler, the language may seem overdrawn, but if it is, it was not my
intention to have it so. I had the best of opportunities to obtain the facts,
and I can conscientiously say that I have related them truly and faithfully as
they were told me.
Companies F, C and
E of the First Louisiana remained at the fort, and the remainder of the
regiment was ordered back to Port Hudson. At night I was detailed as officer of
the picket guard. Houses were burning all night, but all was quiet so far as
the enemy was concerned. But at noon of the next day the advanced mounted
videttes came rushing in seemingly in a terrible fright, reporting that a large
force of rebel cavalry was close at hand and approaching rapidly. At the time I
was with the reserve at the post on the river road above the fort. There was a
bend in the levee and the road above this station, which shut out from view
everything beyond. Consequently the cavalry would be upon us before we could
see them. So, of course, we must retreat or be captured I chose the former. An
orderly met us with a message from the commander of the fort, ordering us to
hasten so the guns could sweep the road. When we came in sight, the men were at
the guns and the garrison was ready to fight. No enemy appeared however, and we
returned to our positions. At about 4 o'clock p. m. a mulatto girl came down
from a plantation above and stated that a large force of cavalry came there at
about noon to see how many gun boats were at the fort, stating that they
intended to attack us again at night. Relieved at sundown.
SOURCE: Abstracted
from George G. Smith, Leaves from a Soldier's Diary, p. 80-5
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