Today in History:

1094 Series I Volume XV- Serial 21 - Baton Rouge-Natchez

Page 1094 W. FLA., S.ALA.,S.MISS., LA., TEX., N. MEX. Chapter XXVII.

but he, the said Brigadier General H. H. Sibley, ordered the said sick and wounded officers and soldiers of the C. S. Army, and certain prisoners who had been captured from the enemy, to be placed on the steamboat Cornie, and the said steamboat having on board the sick and wounded and prisoners aforesaid, was ordered by the said Brigadier General H. H. Sibley to proceed up the Bayou Teche, from Franklin to New Iberia, although he, the said Brigadier General H. H. Sibley, had been informed by Major-General Taylor, commanding, that the enemy was in position on said bayou, between Franklin and New Iberia, and commanded the passage of the same between those points; and by these orders of the said Brigadier General H. H. Sibley the steamboat Cornie and a large number of sick and wounded officers and soldiers of the C. S. Army were captured by the enemy, and the said Federal prisoners were recaptured by the enemy. All this between Camp Bisland and Franklin, on the 13th and 14th days of April, 1863.

Specification 3rd.-In this that on the 14th day of April, 1863, at Franklin, La., Major General R. Maylor, commanding ordered the said Brigadier General H. H. Sibley, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, to place himself at the head of the column, then retreating from Franklin toward New Iberia, to conduct and direct the same, to prevent straggling and disorderly by the troops, and to select a suitable encampment for the army for the night of the 14th April, 1863; the said army being closely pursued by a largely superior force of the enemy; but he, the said Brigadier General H. H. Sibley, without obtaining permission from his commanding officer, without reporting to his commanding officer his intention, without applying for permission to leave his command, and without communicating the orders and instructions aforesaid to the officer next in command with the said retreating column, did leave his command, and retire toward New Iberia by a road different from that taken by the said troops, and did fail and neglect to execute the order aforesaid, by which said failure and neglect to obey the orders aforesaid great confusion was created, much straggling occurred among the troops, and the safety of the army and its train was seriously endangered. This on the march between Franklin and New Iberia, on the 14th of April, 1863.

CHARGE 2ND.-Unofficer-like conduct.

Specification 1st.-In this, that on the 14th April, 1863, Brigadier General H. H. Sibley, Provisional of the Confederate States, having been ordered by Major-General Taylor, commanding, to conduct the retreating column from Franklin toward New Iberia, while Col. Thomas Green, Fifth Texas Mounted Volunteers, in command of the rear guard, was covering the retreat, did send an order by one his staff officers to the said Colonel Green, to fall back in haste through the town of Franklin, stating that the enemy was advancing on the only road by which the retreat could be made, and this order, given by Brigadier General H. H. Sibley when the enemy were not advancing as stated by him, was not communicated to the major-general commanding, who was in the rear, and personally superintending the retreat through Franklin; and by the falling back of the said rear guard, in obedience to Brigadier-General Sibley's orders, the retreat of the force under Brigadier-General Mouton, then holding the enemy in check to the right of and above Franklin, was greatly endangered, and Captain [O. J.] Semmes and the other officers and crew of the gunboat Diana were captured by the enemy.

Specification 2nd.-In this, that the said Brigadier General H. H. Sibley, Provisional Army of the Confederate States, having been ordered by Major General Taylor, commanding, to superintend and conduct the retreat of


Page 1094 W. FLA., S.ALA.,S.MISS., LA., TEX., N. MEX. Chapter XXVII.