Eleven days later, April 28th, an uproar of voices within this same camp alarmed Private Martin, on sentry duty, who thought trouble was brewing in the camp and raised an alarm, which caused both guard-reliefs to turn out and double-quick to the spot, while the rest of the men also ran down, some with arms, others without, seizing for a weapon anything they could lay hands on, ready and willing to fight anybody if their comrades were in danger. An investigation showed that the contrabands had built a large bonfire, and were singing around it. After these two events no further trouble was given by the negroes on engineer duty.
Thrown in contact with such large numbers of contrabands of both sexes as they were, it would not be Companies C and H if the men did not manage to find amusement in their surroundings. Perhaps the officers could tell a good story in connection with the marriage of Captain Bailey’s negro servant, an occasion they graced with their presence; while enlisted men could spin startling and true tales of pranks they played in these camps when off duty.
First-Sergeant Henry C. Mann, Company C, met with a serious and curious misfortune March 26th. It is surmised he had imbibed freely during the day, a fault common to many enlisted men at this camp, and as acting officer of the guard slept at night in the guard tent, upon the ground, without covering. At daylight he was quite sick from a cold thus contracted, and was unable to speak above a whisper. Nothing was thought of this at the time, as every one supposed upon a recovery from the cold his voice would return. It did not, and Sergeant Mann was incapacitated from further duty with his company during the term of service on account of this infirmity. One year after, while walking on Washington Street, Boston, Mann was seized with a violent coughing spell, and coughed up two pieces of gristle-like matter, when his natural voice suddenly returned. Sergeant Mann afterwards served in an unattached heavy artillery company. He died from consumption several years ago.
Of the officers from the regiment on detached service, Lieutenant White had more adventure than the rest. Immediately after the two companies arrived at Camp Parapet he was detailed, by orders from General Banks, to visit any abandoned plantations he could find within or without the Federal lines, gather together what negroes he could and bring them to the Parapet to work on the fortifications. He usually took from the two companies a detail of ten men as a guard, finally reducing this detail to seven men, for his own convenience and to obviate some difficulty he had experienced in obtaining rations. All of his trips were successful.
The first trip was made January 17th, and resulted in bringing in about four hundred on the nineteenth. The second trip was made on the twenty-seventh, when about six hundred were obtained and brought in January 30th. The third and last trip was made early in February to Donaldsonville and below. The detail for this trip consisted of: Corporal Augustus H. Young, Privates Elbridge G. Martin, Jr., Cornelius Dougherty, and Francis Droll, Company C; Sergeant Joseph J. Whitney, Company H; Private George H. Brown, Company C; and John Scroder, a Boston boy, who had been servant to Captain Leonard.
Complaints had been made by old resident planters in the parish, who remained to work their plantations, that many negroes were gathered on the plantations committing depredations. Major W. O. Fiske, First Louisiana Infantry (white troops), suggested to Lieutenant White that a trip to those plantations be made, and he would be able to get together a considerable number of negroes to bring down; by so doing benefit the planters, if they told the truth in their complaint, and also the Government. Caution was to be exercised, however, as the major did not fully believe the planters wished to have these negroes disturbed, as they had work for them to do upon the plantations. What occurred on the trip would seem to prove this view of the case was correct.
There was a detachment of thirty men, under a lieutenant from the One Hundred and Tenth New York, stationed at Magnolia Plantation, in St. John Parish, for what purpose Major Fiske said he did not understand, but did know this officer was having a fine time there and was on good terms with the planters, a fact that would make it probable he could not be counted on to render any assistance. This proved to be so.
Taking a river boat White and his men arrived at a landing two miles below this plantation about ten o’clock at night. On visiting this lieutenant a pleasant evening was passed without any mention made of the business in hand. Quarters were furnished for the night. Early next morning Lieutenant White, in company of the New York officer, made a round of adjacent plantations to look over the ground carefully. Upon their return White explained what he was after, when the lieutenant stated his position: he was pleasantly situated, well treated, on good terms with the inhabitants, and did not feel like doing a thing to disturb his pleasant life. Lieutenant White at once made up his mind the work must be done without assistance. He quietly gathered his men together and informed them there was considerable work to do, with a hint how easier it was to ride than to walk, then left them for the night. After breakfast, next morning, when he reached the place where his men quartered, he found seven horses ready, bridled and saddled. To his inquiry: “What does this mean?” one of the men replied: “It is White’s cavalry.” As he said it was easier to ride than walk, his men acted on the suggestion and equipped themselves in the night. Without difficulty he procured a mount for himself and proceeded to make a tour of the surrounding plantations, collect the negroes together, and explain what he wanted to do with them. They received the intelligence with delight, and were told to bring all of their effects and families with them, occupy a large storehouse situated by the river bank, where they could live until he could take them down river. They came in large numbers.
White left two men to look after matters at the storehouse, with instructions how to find him in case of need, and with five men started upon another tour on the succeeding day. While absent, a civilian provost-marshal, named Marmillon, or calling himself by that name, rode up to the storehouse, accompanied by a squad of hard-looking characters, fully armed, and demanded to see the lieutenant in charge. Word was despatched to White, who returned and confronted the gang. After some parley, Marmillon demanded that the detail should get out of the parish; said they had no business there; that he had orders of a later date than White’s instructions, which stated that all officers on such detailed duty as his should cease their operations and forthwith join their commands, insisting that White should read the orders, which he refused to do in a positive manner, but informed Marmillon no such orders had been received by him, furthermore, he could not receive them through him as official, and that he was on a service he meant to put through to the best of his ability.
The following orders were all that Marmillon could have had at the time, issued from headquarters of the Department, viz.: a circular of February 16th, 1863, which explained a system of labor adopted for the year in utilizing unemployed negroes, and General Orders No. 17, issued February 18th, 1863, that reads: “No negroes will be taken from the plantations until further orders, by any officer or other person in the service of the United States, without previous authority from these headquarters.”