The Forty-Second marched back to its old camp-ground at Bayou Gentilly, five miles in a hot sun, on the afternoon of June 27th. Camp was put in order and arrangements made for a long stay, the picket-post detachments rejoined their stations, when, the next morning, twenty-eighth, orders were received, by a mounted orderly, to report at once in the city at the Custom House and occupy quarters vacated by the Twenty-Sixth Massachusetts Infantry. The entire regiment, with the exception of small detachments left on picket-stations, arrived at the Custom House during the afternoon.
This was a final farewell to Bayou Gentilly. The duty detachments left behind on this second breaking up of this camp were: two sergeants, four corporals and thirteen men of Company A, under Captain Coburn (who was not in condition for field duty), on picket at Bayou St. John; four sergeants, three corporals and thirty-four men of Company F on picket at Lakeport; Private Rufus C. Greene, Company G, placed on detached service June 25th, in command of picket-schooner Hortense; a hospital-guard of one sergeant, two corporals, and eighteen men of Company A. These picket-posts, the Gentilly Camp and paroled men were under command of Major Stiles, then not well and unfit for active duty. There were fifty-eight men under the surgeon’s care June 28th; twelve were returned to duty, and there was left, when the regiment moved, twenty-six men sick in hospital and twenty men sick in quarters.
The accommodations for troops at the Custom House were not good, and it seems a pity and a shame men were obliged to occupy such dark, damp and feverish quarters for any length of time. No surgeon could sanction the quartering of troops in the manner they were placed at this Custom House, except under the most pressing circumstances. The men were distributed in quarters, the guard of the Twenty-Sixth Massachusetts relieved, and by sunset the Forty-Second was in full possession of the New Orleans Custom House, with regimental headquarters established in a room formerly occupied by Major-General Butler. A few officers, who did not like their quarters, provided for themselves elsewhere in the neighborhood. This could not be tolerated at the time, owing to the peculiar position of affairs; General Emory insisted on all officers quartering with their men.
At midnight, on the twenty-ninth, the long-roll called the regiment to arms, and crossing Algiers Ferry to Algiers, a reconnoissance was made for some miles to find the enemy’s cavalry, reported to be on the river road below that town. None were found, or any traces of them, and at eight o’clock A.M. next day the regiment was back in quarters again. On this occasion Company C was thrown out in skirmishing order to move down the road and over fields that bordered on a woody swamp, and here they first discovered those watermelon patches which they afterwards despoiled of the luscious fruit. That night march, who can forget it? Awakened from a sound sleep, clothes and equipments put on quick, ferried across to Algiers, and then marched down a lonely road for several miles on a hunt for an imaginary foe. Lucky was the man who wore his overcoat, for the air was damp and chilly, though it was in June. Every sentry on guard at storehouses along the river front of Algiers was dressed in his great-coat; experience had taught them to fear the treacherous midnight air.
An effort was made by General Banks to reënlist men from the nine months’ troops for one, two, or three years, at their option. For some reason it was not successful. From the Forty-Second the only man who reënlisted was Musician Bernard McKenna, Company C, who was discharged May 25th to reënlist as a bugler in the Twenty-Sixth New York Battery. The same date, Lewis Eddy, drummer in Company D, was discharged by Department orders, and returned home.
In connection with this reënlistment attempt, more men from the Forty-Second would have done so but were unable, on account of disqualifications or irregularity on the part of recruiting officers. Privates Diomede Roseline, Company G, Luigi Briana, Company D, and John Brown, Company G, offered to enlist in a battalion called the First Louisiana Sharpshooters. Roseline and Brown were under parole and could not do so until duly exchanged, and Briana was not a member of the regiment. Somebody had given an alias to Captain Salla, commanding the First Louisiana; who it was could not be ascertained. Privates Charles Slattery and George Ward, Company C, were claimed by Lieutenant Whitaker, Second Rhode Island Cavalry, as having reënlisted in that regiment, but they changed their minds before they could be mustered in.
At the close of June there was present for duty in New Orleans, twelve officers and three hundred and eighty-two men. Sick in hospital and quarters, five officers and forty-six men. Twenty-nine of the men were in the regimental hospital at Bayou Gentilly. The officers sick and not on duty were: Adjutant Davis, Captain Cook, Company B, Captain Emerson, Company E, and Lieutenant Tinkham, Company B. Adjutant Davis was absent from June 25th to July 9th; Lieutenant Powers, who was relieved from charge of the paroled camp by Major Stiles, acted as adjutant during that time.
The average sick per day for the month had been: taken sick, five; returned to duty, four; sick in hospital, twenty-one; sick in quarters, thirteen.
The extra-duty details for June were:
June 8th—Sergeant T. M. Turner, Company B, and Sergeant George Bell, Company C, as color-bearers.