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[311]

On Saturday morning orders were issued for all the troops to embark on their respective transports, and be ready to move by nine o'clock on Sunday morning, but from want of system, many unexpected delays occurred, which detained the fleet until late in the afternoon. The scene of confusion which characterized this embarkation was probably never paralleled, except by an army making a precipitate retreat. Companies were separated from their regiments, and officers from their companies; batteries were on one boat, and caissons belonging to them on another; and the horses and artillerymen on still another. The case was just as bad with the cavalry regiments, if not worse. There seemed to have been no places provided for them, and so they and their horses were scattered about on various beats, in little squads, wherever room could be found, and not the slightest attention was paid to putting the men on the same boats with their horses. In case of emergency, to have put a single company of cavalry on shore, mounted and equipped, would have involved the necessity of landing half a dozen boats. Part of this confusion may have been attributable to the fact that on the day previous the army had been paid off for the first time in several months, and men and officers were nearly all lively with drink.

All the transports were crowded to their utmost capacity, and as they had all been hastily pressed into the service without preparation, of course there were no adequate accommodations for the troops, either for comfort or cleanliness. The men were all huddled between decks and on the guards like so many sheep, and at night were compelled to sleep in a space scarcely sufficient for them to stand comfortably in in the daytime. To make a bad matter worse, nearly every soldier had managed to get a canteen of whisky, enough to keep him drunk for two days with what they had already taken, and for that space of time such a scene of riot and filthiness was scarce ever witnessed. I was shut up on a small boat with such a crowd, and never before realized the full force of the expression: “Hell broke loose.” In the cabin, among the officers, affairs were but little better, so far as sobriety was concerned. A large proportion of the officers were drinking and gambling, day and night during the entire trip, and their behavior was unbecoming in the extreme. Their conduct excited any other idea, rather than that of a band of patriots going down to fight the battles of their country. Of course there were many noble exceptions, but neither their example nor influence could restrain their more unruly companions.

Until we got below Helena, wood was so scarce on the river, that it was only to be obtained by cutting it, either entirely green or from the waterlogged drifts which had caught against the banks. Wherever a good placer was discovered, the boats lucky enough to find it landed and all hands went out with axes, and in a few hours enough was obtained to steam on to the next good place.

When the fleet approached Napoleon, Ark., the Post Boy, which is a transportation boat, was in the advance, and as she neared the shore she was hailed by a person bearing a flag of truce, with the information that there was a band of guerrillas just below, waiting to fire upon her. At this time she was the only boat visible, but in a short time the remainder of the fleet made its appearance, and the guerrillas, if there were any, concluded no doubt that we were too many for them. At all events, at this point there was no firing. The houses in the town appeared to be nearly all deserted, but in some of them could be seen persons standing back in the door, as if to escape the observation of their neighbors, and waving their handkerchiefs. Napoleon is the place where the first shot was fired at a Federal steamer on the Mississippi River, but there may be some Union people there nevertheless.

Helena.

As we reached this point, where a large portion of Gen. Sherman's army was camped, very little of the city could be seen for the long line of tents stretched along the bank. The fleet stopped there for the night and took on the troops that were to accompany the expedition, and next morning started on for Friar's Point, the first place of rendezvous. It lay there all night apparently without any object, and about nine o'clock next morning again started down the river, and reached Gaines's Landing, one hundred and fifty miles below Helena, about two o'clock P. M.., where it stopped to wood. As the fleet approached this point the bank appeared to be lined with negroes, who all started down the shore hurrahing and shouting and jumping, and cutting all kinds of antics. I learned from some of them that they thought the fleet was going down to set all the slaves free.

When the boats landed, a negro gave information of a large store of wood of the best quality, amounting to more than two thousand cords, secreted in the timber near the bank, in a place where it would not readily have been found. This was a great prize, and was instantly levied on for the use of Uncle Sam. Every soldier able to do duty was sent on shore to pack wood, and by nightfall, all the boats were well supplied for nearly the whole trip. Near the wood were some ten or twelve houses, one of them a very fine frame. The negroes said the owners had gone to join the Southern army, and the soldiers, without more ado, burned them all down. Many of the negroes, if not all, came on the boats, and are now under the protection of the army.

At early light the next morning the fleet moved on again, and as General Morgan's division came opposite a little village known as Wood Cottage Landing, some guerrillas, secreted in a clump of undergrowth, fired a volley at one of his transports. To teach them a lesson for the future, Gen. Morgan sent some troops on shore and burnt every house in the neighborhood.

Milliken's Bend.

This was to be the last rendezvous of the fleet before it started out for active operations on Vicksburgh


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