April 12th. We steamed out of the bay at 9 o'clock, the Clifton flagship ahead, then the Calhoun, Arizona, Laurel Hill, and St. Mary, also several tugs. We were now under convoy of these gunboats; they were to pilot us up through the chain of lakes from Burwick Bay into Grand Lake, where we arrived about 12 o'clock. It was an extremely hot day for so many to be crowded together, and we slept but little.
April 13th. We went ashore at one o'clock. There was some firing on our picket line at night. I was detailed to go back to the lake and help bring up some rations where our forces were stationed. There was a heavy thunder shower and we slept but little all night.
I want to say here that we landed our forces, after sending out a party to reconnoitre under cover of the Calhoun, which shelled the woods while we came ashore. Our object was to cut off the retreat of the Confederates while Emory's and Sherman's division crossed Burwick Bay to attack them.
April 14th. On this date came the hard-fought battle of Irish Bend. We started out at daylight as skirmishers without any breakfast. When we had gone about a mile, brisk firing commenced on both sides. We advanced very fast, loading and firing as we went. When we had advanced very near the Rebel batteries and supposed that everything was going well, we were flanked by the enemy. We were immediately ordered to fall back a short distance. The Thirteenth Connecticut took our places soon in solid column, when the tune changed and the Confederates retreated into the woods, whence they came. When our brigade got together and formed in line of battle, we were again ordered to the front, where the Rebels sent shells into our ranks from their gunboat Diana. They burned her about two o'clock and retreated.
April 15th. This morning I thought I must write a little in my diary. I think it was through the mercy of God that my life was spared through the previous day's fight. It seemed a miracle that one came out alive. I felt very thankful that I was able to come out of the Battle of Irish Bend without a scratch, after hearing the horrible results. Our regiment suffered severely. For about two hours we were under a hot fire entirely unsupported. We went into the fight with 380 men and lost 83 killed and wounded and 14 missing. Our third brigade was about the only one engaged and we lost in that short space of time over 300 men killed, wounded and missing. Colonel Birge had his horse shot from under him. We had two officers killed and four wounded. It seems almost a miracle, when I think of it at this time, that so many escaped without a mark. We started on the march on the morning of April 15, about nine o'clock pursuing the Rebels very closely through the day. It was a fine rich country that we passed through; the cane and cotton fields were looking finely. We went into camp at night near a sugar mill that had a quantity of sugar in it, to which we helped ourselves. There was considerable firing through the day.
A more detailed account of the Battle of Irish Bend is here given by Major Thomas McManus of the Twenty-fifth.
THE BATTLE OF IRISH BEND.
Interesting Reminiscences of Terrible Conflict Between States.
Horrors of War Graphically Told by General Thomas McManus, Who Was Major of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers.