Diary of Private W. J. Davidson, February 28, 1863

WATERLOO. We got under way yesterday evening and came up to Waterloo, the scene of our first battle, where we again tied up, to allow the men to cook rations and take on wood. We will impress some negroes here, and make some other preparations for the voyage, so that we might get started to-day, our gallant commander being too much of a sailor to begin any great undertaking on Friday.

We had quite a peaceful time last night, as the officers and men were not allowed to approach the vicinity of the Bad Spirit, as Surgeon Houston facetiously terms the Louisiana rum on which we all got so drunk on the first voyage. Speaking of the Doctor, I will say that he is a trump. He keeps a journal in which he jots down every good thing that is said and done, and has written an account of our late victory for the papers.

We have no better fellow on board; and during the fight with the Indianola, he was on deck all of the time, though his proper place was below. It is now ascertained that we are going to raise the wreck of the Indianola, if possible, and have twenty-five carpenters on board for this work. It is confidently believed by practical men, that she can be raised without much trouble.

We are now opposite Bayou Sara, once a pretty village of which nothing remains except the blackened walls and a few scattering houses which escaped the flames. It was destroyed by the Federals last summer, in retaliation for the loss of one of their gun-boats which got aground on the opposite shore and was burned, after it was abandoned, by some of our cavalry. This morning the weather is decidedly wet.

SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 122-3