Today in History:

319 Series I Volume XLIX-I Serial 103 - Mobile Bay Campaign Part I

Page 319 THE MOBILE CAMPAIGN.

ADDENDA.

Farewell address of Brigadier General R. L. Gibson to the Louisiana Brigade after the terms of surrender had been agreed upon between Lieutenant General Richard Taylor, C. S. Army, and Major General E. R. S. Canby, U. S. Army.


HEADQUARTERS GIBSON'S BRIGADE,
Near Meridian, Miss., May 8, 1865.

FELLOW-SOLDIERS:

For more than four years we have shared together the fortunes of war. Throughout all the scenes of this eventful revolution you have been fully tried, and now retire with the consciousness of having achieved a character for discipline, for valor, and for unselfish patriotism of which you may be justly proud. There is nothing in your career to look back upon with regret. You have always been in front of the enemy; you have never feasted in soft places at the rear, nor fought your battles at comfortable firesides. Your banners are garlanded with the emblems of every soldierly virtue. More than twenty battle-fields have seen them unfurled. They were never lowered save over the bier of a comrade. Forget not the good and true men who have fallen. No sculptured marble may perpetuate the memory of their services, but you will wear their names ever green in your hearts, and they will be enshrined forever in the affections of the Southern people, in whose cause they fell. Comrades, henceforth other duties will devolve upon you. Adversities can only strengthen the ties that bind you to your country and increase the obligations you owe to her interests and her honor. As soldiers, you have been among the bravest and most steadfast, and as citizens, be law abiding, peaceable, and industrious. You have not surrendered and will never surrender your self-respect and love of country. You separate not as friends, but brethren whom common hopes, mutual trials, and equal have made kinsmen. Hereafter you shall recount to your children, with conscious pride, the story of these rugged days, and you will always greet a comrade of the old brigade with open arms. Having commanded a company and regiment in the brigade, I have known many of you from the very beginning of the struggle, have been with you through all its varied fortunes, and offer to each one of you a grateful and affectionate farewell. May God bless you.

R. L. GIBSON,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.


No. 98. Report of Lieutenant John W. Bennett, C. S. Navy, commanding Steamer Nashville, of operations March 27-April 11.

C. S. STEAMER NASHVILLE,

Demopolis, Ala., April 25, 1865.

SIR: In obedience to your order of yesterday's date I have the honor to make a detailed report of the part taken by the Nashville, under my command, in the operations against the enemy near Spanish Fort and at Blakely. The better to understand these varied movements I will record them in the form of a diary:

The Nashville left her station near obstructions in Spanish River on the morning of March 27 and arrived at Blakely at 8 a.m. During the forenoon I communicated with Generals Maury and Liddell, who desired the ship placed near the bridge over Minette River, which had


Page 319 THE MOBILE CAMPAIGN.