On the ninth, after a mixed detachment of one hundred men under Captain Cook had left camp for Brashear City, everybody woke up and began to think there was music in the air, causing them to feel anxious for something to come next. Their anxiety was increased when Captain Cook and Lieutenant Clifford reported at the regimental hospital on sick leave, and told what a hole the detachment was in.
The case of Captain Cook was singular. Other than a thick-coated tongue, the captain did not show any signs or symptoms of illness. He did not go into the hospital, but lived in his company tent, ate heartily, and acted in every way like a well man. Surgeon Heintzelman said, as his private opinion, that the case was one of fright. It is true that Captain Cook did not do any more duty during the regiment’s term of service, but remained on the sick list.
Two men were noticed lurking around camp on the nineteenth, and were recognized by some of the paroled men as Texans from the Confederate army. They were arrested, and claimed to have left the service and had taken the oath of allegiance. As General Emory had issued orders on the fourteenth to arrest and send to him any person found lurking around the forts or intrenched positions, they were sent to his headquarters for examination. What became of them is not known.
Positive information having been received that the enemy was raiding on the west bank of the river and threatened to cut communication with Brashear City, on the nineteenth all troops of the Second Brigade were again ordered to have two days cooked rations on hand, and be in readiness to move any moment, and Colonel Cahill was ordered to concentrate the brigade as much as possible. All officers and men, of all arms, whether on detached service, provost duty, or other duty, were under orders to hold themselves ready to move, with cooked rations and one hundred rounds each man. All outlying companies were to be ready to move into the city at a moment’s notice, except the guard over prisoners at Algiers and the troops at Pass Manchac. All leaves of absence were absolutely stopped, and every officer and man obliged to remain at their quarters.
By the sudden departure of all available troops at New Orleans to reënforce Colonel Stickney at La-Fourche Crossing, orders were received at noon on the twenty-first, at the Forty-Second camp, to immediately report in Lafayette Square to General Emory, in heavy marching order. The picket-posts at Lakeport and Bayou St. John were also ordered to be weakened, that as many men as possible should join the regiment. At two P.M., having packed baggage and struck camp, leaving behind the surplus baggage, a hospital-guard and the paroled men of Companies D, G and I, the regiment proceeded by rail to the city, with a total effective strength of about two hundred men.
On first receipt of marching orders a general impression prevailed in the ranks that they were en-route for Port Hudson. The prospect of active field duty was hailed by every one with feelings of lively satisfaction. After lying inactive in camp for nearly the whole term of enlistment everybody thought the regiment was to see a little service before going home, and perhaps taste powder in a different way than by biting cartridges when loading for guard duty. These feelings were dispelled on arriving at Lafayette Square, where the regiment was ordered to take possession of the Ninth Connecticut Infantry camp and to do provost duty in the city; a few days after joined by a detachment Twenty-Eighth Maine Infantry, from Camp Parapet.
All convalescent men and stragglers in the city capable of bearing arms were collected together and made ready for duty in case of necessity. Private instructions were given Lieutenant-Colonel Stedman, by General Emory, to have every available man in quarters ready for any emergency at a moment’s notice. The regiment was kept so, for there could not have been over five hundred soldiers in the city from the twenty-first to the twenty-sixth.
The city was remarkably quiet at this time. Movements of the troops were made so quietly the citizens were not aware of what was going on. There was no indication among the populace that the enemy were near, or expected to get near. Some of them must have been aware of it, but gave no outward sign.
When the enemy ceased to seriously menace New Orleans, on the twenty-sixth, most of the troops at Boutee Station, on the Opelousas Railroad, returned to the city, including a part of the detachment Forty-Second, in command of Lieutenant Tinkham, and the Ninth Connecticut Volunteers. They brought with them a small number of Texan prisoners, who looked more like Mexicans than Americans. They looked clean, were well clothed in loose-fitting trousers and jackets of gray cloth, with large, slouchy-looking, gray felt hats. Their blankets, carried slung over the shoulder, were of the best quality, in fact, better than those in use by men of the Forty-Second. The complexion of these prisoners was quite dark, and they had a savage look in their faces.
Some slight disturbances, soon quieted, occurred between men of the Ninth Connecticut and Forty-Second Massachusetts, growing out of disputes as to who should occupy the tents in Lafayette Square. On this occasion the Ninth Connecticut again behaved in a disgraceful manner, more like rowdies and bullies than soldiers, and it appeared as though the line officers had no control over their men.