Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 10.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[719] skirmishers, when we were ordered to charge. The skirmishers were routed, and the regiment halted in a “pea patch,” and ordered to lie down here. We received a heavy fire, killing one man and wounding five men. We were again ordered forward and to charge, which order was executed in gallant style. Passing over the ground occupied by the enemy, we saw the bodies of a few dead of our enemy. Another charge brought us into a road near the enemy's camp, through which we charged and halted, and remained for some time; and seeing that our line, to the left, was not up on line with us, I placed Captain Edwards in command temporarily, until I went to the rear to see where to form the line, with instructions to remain in position until I could return. After obtaining the necessary information, I started on my return, with the regiment falling back in good order. When I demanded to know why the regiment was doing so, I was informed it was by order of Brigadier-General Clark. I then resumed command and formed on line with the brigade. Soon Colonel Thompson ordered me to fall back to a cut in the road, which order was promptly executed. We remained in this position for nearly one hour, firing nearly thirty rounds of ammunition at the enemy, at times they being in short range of our rifles. The regiment was then ordered to charge forward, by Colonel Crossland, which order was promptly executed, and again we passed through their encampment, and were ordered to fall back, which order was executed without any confusion or excitement. Without a single exception, the officers of the regiment bore themselves gallantly, and too much cannot be said in praise of the conduct of the men. Our infirmary corps kept close on our heels, and promptly removed and took care of our wounded.

Sir: I herewith submit the report of the participation of this battalion, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Sam Boyd, in the action of the fifth inst. Its force consisted of the following: one field, three staff, and nine company officers, and one hundred and ninety enlisted men. They composed the centre of Colonel Allen's brigade, the Thirtieth Louisiana regiment, Colonel Breaux, on the right, and the Fourth Louisiana regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Hunter, on the left. The line of battle was formed in the woods back and leftward of the residence of Captain E. W. Robinson, and about three-fourths of a mile to the rear of a central portion of Baton Rouge. As soon as the line was formed, it was put in forward motion, feeling its way slowly through tall weeds, in the morning's haze, for the enemy's first line of force. Marching straight to the front through briers, hedges, and over picket fences, the brigade was halted in the face of a line of the foe drawn up to receive us, and after giving them two well-directed volleys, charged upon them, when they fled. The brigade having paused a few moments, resumed its line as well as the nature of the undergrowth would permit, and marched some two or three hundred yards forward in a left oblique direction. Receiving reports of a battery of the enemy supported by a regiment right on our front, about a hundred and fifty yards distant, our commander, after calling for three cheers for the Confederacy, ordered us to charge. Alarmed at our shouts and dash, the enemy broke, taking off their battery, but leaving heaps of slain and wounded. It was here that Captain Chinn fell, from a wound in the leg, while gallantly responding, at the head of his company, to Colonel Allen's orders. Resuming our course, we soon found ourselves upon the edge of an old field, on the opposite side of which is the Benton Ferry road, and the enclosure of the race track. Square in our front was posted, along the roadside, a number of the enemy's skirmishers or sharpshooters, and to their left a battery was planted at the mouth of a street in front of the outskirts of the corporation of Baton Rouge. A regiment (the Sixth Michigan) supported the battery, and its men were placed behind the fences and houses in the neighborhood of Hockney's. Colonel Allen, taking the colors of his command in his hand, rapidly drew up his command in line, which, at his call and example, rushed, under a galling fire of grape, canister, and Minnie, across the field. There was not a shrub, even as a screen, upon it, and over the three hundred yards of that open space the foe sent many a missile of death and shaft of anguish within a hundred yards of the cannon.

Lieutenant Causey, of Buffington's company, and commanding it, fell, shot through the brain. No victim in this great struggle against fanaticism and the principles of rapine and spoliation, leaves to his family and friends a brighter memory for chivalrous courage and unsullied patriotism. A few yards further on Lieutenant-Colonel Boyd fell, shot through the arm, and was borne off the field. In a moment or so after the enemy retreated, leaving two cannon and a Lieutenant, and eight or ten prisoners in our hands. In passing beyond the fence enclosing Turner's house, and getting partially into the street, the gallant leader fell, helpless, from his horse into the arms of his trusty soldiers, and was by them carried from the field. His fall was peculiarly unfortunate. It completely paralyzed his old regiment (the Fourth, at whose head he was) even in that moment of victory Notwithstanding his repeated shouts to go for ward, it became confused and huddled up, lost in a maze of stolidity and dismay. At this critical moment the undersigned first became apprised, by Colonel Breaux, now commanding the brigade, that it was his duty to assume