While able to furnish details of skilled mechanics, if wanted, on a call for telegraph operators, made on the twenty-ninth, to do duty in the Defences of New Orleans, a careful inquiry failed to find any—the only request ever made by a general officer, either of brigade or division, that the Forty-Second Regiment was not able to meet.
CHAPTER IX.
At Bayou Gentilly—May.
After hot weather fairly set in not much time was occupied in drill at Gentilly Camp. When the many details for regular camp and extra duty had been provided, there were few men left to go on drill. Most of the drills were by company, after Companies A and F had been detached. Previous to that time a battalion drill was in order every morning, after guard-mounting, either in command of the lieutenant-colonel or the major.
On the seventh General Sherman inspected the regiment in camp and the detachments at Batteries Gentilly and St. John. The number of men under inspection was not large, but they looked well and in good condition. The next day, eighth, to relieve the dull routine of camp life, Companies B and E, then remaining in camp, were marched along the Ponchartrain Railroad to Lakeport, there joined by men from Companies A and F, and an exhibition dress parade gone through with. After lying in the close camp at the bayou, this change, even for a short time, to the cool breezes of the lake shore, was very agreeable.
Orders were received at 9.15 A.M., May 9th, from division headquarters, for all men that could be mustered of the detached portions of the second division to immediately report, in heavy marching order, on Canal Street, in New Orleans, for review. The men were at once got under arms and marched into the city, arriving fifteen minutes too late to take part. One brigade (the Third) was absent on a reconnoissance; only the First and Second Brigades were in line. They made a handsome appearance. The One Hundred and Sixty-Fifth New York Infantry (Second Duryea Zouaves), Lieutenant-Colonel Smith in command, carried off the honors for best condition in everything.
Various rumors were in circulation in the city about this review, some people insisting upon it that the army under General Banks had fallen back from the Teche campaign, and the troops under review were a part of that army. Others said that General Banks had met with a bad defeat, and the troops were under orders to reënforce him. Numerous citizens industriously asked questions of the men at every opportunity; but, to give credit where it is due, the news they received must have puzzled if it did not mislead them. The men got the hang very quickly of what they were after, and acted accordingly. If instructions had been issued to cover such an attempt of the enemy’s spies to obtain information, they could not have been obeyed any better than was the case.
The true cause of such a hurried review of this division was soon apparent. General Sherman had received orders to report at Baton Rouge with two brigades. His three brigades, assigned to the Defences of New Orleans, were scattered along the various forts and entrances to the city, while the brigade not on review was distant some thirty miles on a reconnoissance; yet, in thirty-six hours after receipt of his orders, General Sherman had been rejoined by his Third Brigade, transferred some regiments of the Second to the First and Third, leaving the Second Brigade in the Defences, and was on his way, via the river, to Baton Rouge with two brigades to join General Augur in a demonstration against Port Hudson.
During the entire month men at Gentilly Camp and picket-stations on the lake were kept in a condition to move in twenty-four hours’ notice, in obedience to an order issued by the division commander. This was supplemented on the twenty-eighth by a confidential circular issued, to keep a careful watch and supervision at each camp and post, in such a manner as not to attract attention or excite alarm. All officers and men were obliged to remain in camp ready for any duty. Nothing of importance transpired during this time to furnish a key to these instructions. Perfect order and quiet reigned within the limits of the Defences of New Orleans.
Some changes in the commanding officers took place: Colonel Cahill, Ninth Connecticut Infantry, assumed command of the brigade on the ninth, and General Emory assumed command of the Defences New Orleans on the nineteenth.
No changes took place in the stations occupied by the Forty-Second. Companies A and F remained on picket at the lake. By Department General Orders, No. 35, issued April 27th, registered enemies of the United States were ordered, peremptorily, to leave the Department on or before May 15th. Many of them were sent by the provost-marshal-general via the lake. This placed extra duty on the men of the Forty-Second stationed there, as all of their baggage had to be overhauled and inspected upon the wharf before leaving, and guards furnished to steamers transporting them to points across the lake and on the Gulf shore. Large numbers were taken to Madisonville, Manderville, Pass Christian, Biloxi, Mississippi City, Pascagoula, and to Mobile.