The story of the Thirty Eighth regiment of Massachusetts volunteers

by George Whitefield Powers

As some relief to the disasters, all concurred in awarding great honor to Nims’s Battery, which, with double-shotted guns, mowed down the ranks of the advancing rebels while their ammunition lasted, and only attempted to save themselves when their horses were shot and there was no possibility of getting their pieces off the field. The Nineteenth Corps, also, acted as became it, and taught the enemy, that although repulsed, the Army of the Gulf was not demoralized; while the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps sustained the reputation they had acquired under Gen. Grant.

Extensive breastworks were erected at Grand Ecore, each regiment building opposite its own line; so that the whole camp was soon enclosed, in anticipation of an attack.

Thursday, April 16, a detail of one hundred men being called for from the regiment, Cos. C, G, and H, were selected, and sent to guard a transport on her passage down the river; and the next day the regiment again changed camp. But the water was rapidly falling; it began to be whispered that a large force was collecting on the river below, to cut off all supplies; and the news of the defeat of Gen. Steele was confirmed. On the 21st, marching orders were received; and the entire army prepared to evacuate Grand Ecore, and retreat to Alexandria. As a rapid march was expected, with the probability of having to fight all the way down, everything superfluous was destroyed, and blankets, overcoats, extra clothing, and relics went to feed the flames which were rising in every direction through the pine woods. Not a hard-tack box was left for the enemy; and their only spoils of war consisted in the well constructed line of breastworks surrounding the encampment.

The sick men were put on board of transports; and at five o’clock in the afternoon, the retreat began, the Nineteenth Corps in advance. Working its way slowly through the immense wagon-train, the third brigade took the road through the pine woods, in which large fires had been built to guide the men in picking their way among the stumps. The Thirteenth Corps followed the Nineteenth; and the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps, under the command of Gen. A. J. Smith, brought up the rear. The advance marched till four o’clock in the morning, through woods and plains, and then went into camp, having made over twenty-five miles; while far in the rear, the lurid light of burning barns and mills told where the Western soldiers, thinking of the tortures of their fifty thousand comrades in the prisons of Virginia and Carolina, were making war with ungloved hands.

The march was continued the next day; and, in the twenty-four hours after leaving Grand Ecore, forty miles had been travelled. But the enemy, who had been exulting over the anticipated capture of Gen. Banks and his entire army, were not disposed to let the prize slip through their fingers so easily; and on the morning of the 23d of April, as the Nineteenth Corps were marching along the banks of Cane River, near the crossing, the rebels opened with artillery on the advance. The infantry at once formed in line of battle, in the road and the adjoining fields, while the light batteries were sent to the front, followed by Gen. Banks and staff. After a brisk cannonading with little apparent result, a body of troops, under command of Gen. Birge, was sent across the river,—the detachment of the third brigade, led by Col. Smith, of the One Hundred and Twenty Eighth New York, being the first to ford the stream. Climbing up the steep banks, the brigade entered the woods, and, marching through a swamp, came in the rear of the enemy, when the Thirty Eighth was sent forward in advance to skirmish, and ascertain the position of the rebels. Moving steadily forward through woods and across open fields, occasionally receiving a shot from a concealed enemy, the regiment passed a narrow stream, skirmished up a thickly wooded hill, and down its descending slope, till a rail-fence was reached, bounding a cleared piece of ground, beyond which was another wooded bluff, showing signs of rebel occupancy. A halt was made behind this fence, while the reserve formed in the rear, and dismounted cavalry was sent into the woods on the right to reconnoitre. The order “Forward” soon came; and the Thirty Eighth, still deployed, went over the fence, and charged the hill under a heavy fire. Thanks to Gen. Birge, the regiment was not thrown forward unsupported. Emerging from the woods, the Thirtieth Maine and the One Hundred and Sixty Second and the One Hundred and Sixty Fifth New York followed the skirmishers, in a magnificent line of battle, charging across the open field and up the bluff, from which, after a short resistance, the rebels retreated precipitately, leaving a portion of their dead and wounded on the ground.

Reforming the lines, and being strongly reinforced, the column advanced through the woods to another opening, with a hill beyond similar to the one just taken, and where it was expected the enemy would make a more stubborn resistance; but when the charge was made in lines of battle, with fixed bayonets, no foe was found, and the road to the river was clear.

That night the regiment encamped near the spot where it had crossed in the morning; and glad enough were the men to unsling the knapsacks which they had carried all day, and gather around the camp-fires, to discuss the battle, while they prepared their simple supper.

The casualties had been comparatively few, the close ranks of the support furnishing a fairer target than the skirmish-line. Capt. Julius M. Lathrop, of Co. I, was mortally wounded, and died a few days afterward. Capt. Lathrop had rode in an ambulance the day previous, unable to march; but, upon the approach of an engagement, had taken command of his company, and was leading his men when he received the fatal shot. The regiment lost two killed and eight wounded, the greater part of the wounded men dying during the summer.

As soon as the enemy was driven off, a pontoon bridge was thrown across the river, and the wagon-trains and the batteries passed over. The Nineteenth Corps had continued the march during the night, followed by the Thirteenth Corps; and the next morning the One Hundred and Twenty Eighth marched on, leaving the Thirty Eighth with the Western corps, who had been engaged with the enemy in the morning, and who reached the crossing as the rear of the other corps left it.