Brigadier-General Elias S. Dennis to Lieutenant-Colonel John A. Rawlins, June 13, 1863

HDQRS. DISTRICT OF NORTHEASTERN LOUISIANA,        

Young's Point, La., June 13, 1863.

COLONEL: I have the honor to inform you that an attack was made on Lake Providence, La., June 9, 1863, by a rebel force of about 600 strong—the Thirteenth Texas Infantry [Cavalry] and 200 mounted men of the Thirteenth Louisiana Battalion. They were met by two companies of the First Kansas Mounted Infantry, 6 miles from town, and skirmishing kept up until the rebel force reached Bayou Tensas, 1 mile from town, where they were met by General Reid's entire force, about 800 strong, including 300 of the [Eighth] Louisiana Regiment, African descent, under Colonel [Hiram] Scofield.

The mounted companies fell back behind the bayou, destroying the bridge, when the enemy formed in line of battle, advanced their skirmishers to the bayou, and planted a 6-pounder so as to command the bridge, which they attempted to reconstruct, but were prevented by our skirmishers. A heavy force of skirmishers was then sent forward to meet their whole line on the bayou, and, after a brisk fire of an hour and a half, the rebels retreated (it being dark) to Floyd, leaving only a small force near the bayou. General Reid then withdrew the skirmishers and ordered the Eighth Louisiana in line of battle up to the bayou. They fired four volleys into the rebels, which forced them to retire.

The entire force of the enemy was commanded by Colonel [Frank A.] Bartlett, of the Thirteenth Louisiana Battalion, who has for some time past been stationed west of Bayou Macon.

The only mischief done by the enemy, so far as heard from, is the destruction of a cotton-gin at Spencer's plantation.

We have 1 man wounded. The enemy's loss is 2 killed and 5 wounded.

I am, colonel, very respectfully, yours, &c.,

ELIAS S. DENNIS,        

Brigadier-Genera1.

Lieut. Col. JOHN A. RAWLINS,
        Assistant Adjutant-General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 24, Part 2 (Serial No. 37), p. 448-9

Colonel Hiram Scofield* to Asst. Adjt., District of Northeastern Louisiana, July 19,1863

[July 19,1863]

Enclosed you will please find the statements of officers of this Regmient [sic] with regard to a matter the investigation of which has been made ordered by Maj Genl Grant—I refer to the charge of the exercise of undue means to on the part of an officer of this Regmient to procure recruits from the 'Duncan Plantations' In justice to the officer—now deceased having lost his life from wounds received in defence of his country—it is due me to say there was no better officer in the regiment & his personal appearance and known character in the Regmient would go far to disprove any charge of the kind I was with the Regmient at or about the time the recruits were received into the Regmient— concerning the means of getting which there is complaint—no complaints were made to me as it would seem to me there would have been had they (men) been forced into the regmient against their will—for the men were always very free to lay all their complaints before me The negro race—as every one acquainted with it knows—has very strong attachments for family—and a negro will risk his liberty and life for his family—The men now connected with this Regmient are absent from their families and are feeling very desirous of seeing them as they have been unable to do for since the Regmient left Lake Providence—the result is that they will resort to almost any means to get back to see them and in my opinion this motive went far to cause them to make the declarations they did as to their being forced into the service[.]

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* Of the 8th Louisiana Volunteer Infantry of African Descent.

SOURCE: John Y. Simon, Editor, The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Volume 9, p. 40

Diary of Gideon Welles: Wednesday, February 18, 1863

Have a long dispatch from Admiral Porter relative to operations on the Mississippi, a cut at the Delta between Helena and the Yazoo on the east, and at Lake Providence into Tensas on the west.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 1: 1861 – March 30, 1864, p. 238

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Monday, August 24, 1863

Spending the night here we started early this morning and moved on to Bayou Mason only seven miles further on. Here we remained during the balance of the day and for the night. There being no bridge, we had to wade the bayou to enter the town. Our cavalry routed about one hundred and fifty of the rebels in a camp on the west bank of the bayou. Most of our way today was shaded by forest trees. The country here is low and heavily timbered with cypress and the ground is covered with masses of palm leaf. We noticed driftwood high up in the trees, some forty or fifty feet, and were told by the natives that it was carried there last winter when the "Yanks" cut the levee up at Lake Providence, flooding the whole country. So we were permitted to see some of the results of our attempt at directing the waters of the Mississippi.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 137