“The artillery was posted as follows: a 12 Pr. gun upon the railroad bridge, near the left bank of the bayou; two 12 Pr. howitzers and one 6 Pr. gun on the battle line front, one of the howitzers being so placed upon the extreme right so that its fire could be directed to the front or right flank.”
These movements were the first indication of an action in which this detachment of the Forty-Second had seen an opportunity to participate. Not without reason Lieutenant-Colonel Stickney rode up to Lieutenant Tinkham and asked him what he thought about the behavior of his men under fire; the lieutenant answered, he did not know, but thought they would fight. Cavalry-Captain Blober, a plucky little German, was boiling over for a fight. He was just the man to put courage into any one a little weak in the knees. Later in the day this captain captured a Confederate bugler upon the road.
With nothing to eat since the evening before, a hot, dusty and tedious ride in the cars early that morning, lounging around all day in a hot sun, no wonder there were many anxious inquiries, at all hours of the day, for some stimulant. Those who had it in their possession kept still, and the welcome friend was hard to find. However, no sooner had position in line been taken to meet the expected enemy, when out came the secreted whiskey, and was passed around to those in need of it.
About five o’clock the enemy came marching down the bayou road, mounted, in column of fours, and as soon as the head of the column was in sight a shot was fired from the gun upon the bridge, causing them to halt and retire. They soon advanced about one hundred skirmishers, who drove in the Federal pickets and moved on until encountering the detachment Twenty-Third Connecticut, hid in tall grass, who, after an exchange of shots, fell back upon the right flank of the main line without loss.
The artillery gave them a few solid shot and shell, when the enemy retired towards Thibodeaux with their killed and wounded.
Even here, almost before a gun was fired, the malady which seemed to have attacked some officers on duty in this section was made manifest. Major Miller, Twenty-Third Connecticut, during the day had spoken to Major Morgans and Lieutenant Tinkham about a surrender to the enemy; said he was in favor of it, and that it was of no use to make a fight. He got an unfavorable response from these officers, but the major continued panic-struck, for, after the first fire by the enemy upon the Twenty-Third Connecticut in the grass, as Lieutenant-Colonel Stickney says in his official report: “I found Major Miller, some distance to the rear of his command, crouching in the high weeds on the levee. I ordered him under arrest, and put in command of this detachment the next senior officer, who faithfully executed my order.”
Soon after the enemy’s disappearance, instead of promptly throwing out his skirmishers to follow up their retrograde movement and ascertain what they were doing, Stickney sent a flag of truce to obtain permission to remove his hospital stores and sick from the hospital, which was in front of his lines and exposed to his fire. The truce party went two and one-half miles on the road before meeting the Confederate pickets. True to their own cowardly use of flags of truce, they refused to comply with Stickney’s request. This made no difference, however, as they could not interfere where they were, and the hospital contents were removed to the Federal rear, and, just before dark, the building was burned, to prevent interference with the range of fire. A building upon the other side of the bayou was also set on fire, to enable movements of the enemy to be seen, as it was feared they might come down on that side and attempt to cross the railroad bridge.
The position in line of battle was maintained all night, ready to repel at any moment an attack: the men rested upon the ground as best they could; pickets were thrown out about four hundred yards to the front; squads of cavalry kept scouting to the right and rear; everything upon this Johnson Plantation that could be used for fuel was torn down to keep fires going.
About eleven o’clock at night a train arrived from Algiers with five companies, three hundred and six men, Twenty-Sixth Massachusetts Infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Sawtelle. Being the senior officer, Stickney tendered him the command, which Lieutenant-Colonel Sawtelle refused. The Twenty-Sixth Massachusetts went into line on the front. No demonstrations were made by the enemy during the night.
The next morning, Sunday, June 21st, Captain Grow with one section of the Twenty-Fifth New York Battery and thirty men arrived from Algiers. One gun went into position on the extreme left of the line to cover the bayou road, and one gun was held in reserve, where it could be moved to the front or upon the right flank, as occasion should require. Slight earthworks were thrown up, at no point over two feet high, but they extended only a few yards in either direction from the angle formed on the right flank by the two fronts.