On the 26th of October, with a force of about 4,000 effectives of the Second division of the Thirteenth Corps under Dana, augmented by the 13th and 15th Maine, the 1st Engineers and 16th infantry of the Corps d'Afrique, and the 1st Texas cavalry, Banks embarked at New Orleans for the mouth of the Rio Grande. After long delays and great peril from bad weather, the expedition landed at Brazos Santiago between the 3d and 5th of November, and on the 6th occupied Point Isabel and Brownsville, distant thirty miles on the main land.
Having thus at last secured the foothold in Texas so urgently desired by the government, Banks, who had now entered heartily into the expansive scheme, set about occupying successively all the passes or inlets that connect the Gulf of Mexico with the land-locked lagoons or sounds of the Texas coast from the Rio Grande to the Sabine.
Accordingly, he sent for the rest of the Thirteenth Corps, and by the end of December had taken possession of the fringe of the coast as far east and north as Matagorda Bay. So far he had met with little opposition, the Confederate force in this part of Texas being small. The Brazos and Galveston were still to be gained, and here, if anywhere in Texas, a vigorous resistance was to be counted on. Banks was bending everything to the attempt when, as the new year opened, the government stopped him, and turned his head in a new direction.
During these operations on the Texas coast the 13th Maine, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Hesseltine, and the 15th Maine formed part of the Second division of the Thirteenth Corps. Both regiments did good service, especially under Ransom, in the expedition that, led by Washburn, landed on Mustang Island on the 16th of November, took the Confederate battery commanding Aransas Pass, and then, crossing to Matagorda Island, rapidly reduced Fort Esperanza, and thus gained the control of Matagorda Bay before the month was out.
(1) Banks to Halleck, July 30 and August 1, 1863: "Official Records," vol. xxvi., part I, pp. 661, 666.
(2) Halleck to Banks, July 24, 1863, July 31st, August 6th, August 10th, August 12th: "Official Records," vol. xxvi., part I, pp. 652, 664, 672, 673, 675.
CHAPTER XXII. WINTER QUARTERS.
In preparation for Washburn's departure on the 27th of October, Franklin began to draw back from Opelousas to New Iberia. Lawler led off, and was followed on the 1st of November by McGinnis, Grover, Weitzel, and the cavalry under Fonda, in the order named. Burbridge, followed by Mudd's cavalry brigade, took the Teche road, by Grand Coteau.
On the 3d, while the Nineteenth Corps rested at the Vermilion and McGinnis at the Carencro, Burbridge, who was in camp on Bayou Bourbeau, was surprised by the sudden descent of Green with two brigades. Burbridge had with him only his First brigade, about 1,200 strong, with 500 men of the 118th Illinois mounted infantry and the 14th New York cavalry, under Fonda, Rice's 17th Ohio battery, and Marland's section of Nims's battery; in all, 1,625 men. The 23d Wisconsin, 96th Ohio, 60th Indiana, and the gunners of Rice and Nims fought hard to prevent a rout and to save the wagon-trains and the cavalry; and, McGinnis coming up in good time, Green drew off, taking with him nothing save one of the Ohio 10-pounder Parrotts. At one moment both of Marland's guns, abandoned by their supports, were completely cut off by the Confederate cavalry, but Marland, rising to the occasion, bade his cannoneers draw their revolvers, and charged at a full gallop directly through the lines of Green's cavalry, to the complete astonishment of both armies, and came into battery on the right of the 46th Indiana. "The bringing off of the section of Nims's battery, commanded by Lieutenant Marland," says Washburn, "after the regiment sent to its support had surrendered, extorted the admiration of every beholder."
Marland's loss in this brilliant little affair was but two men missing. Burbridge had 25 killed, 129 wounded, and 562 captured or missing; in all, 716. Green reports his loss as 22 killed, 103 wounded, and 53 missing. Green's report shows that he had in the fight three regiments of infantry, seven of cavalry, and two sections of artillery.