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636 Series I Volume XLI-IV Serial 86 - Price's Missouri Expedition Part IV

Page 636 LOUISIANA AND THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. Chapter LIII.

I hear with much satisfaction of the prospect of your recovery, which I hope may be speedy, and have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, yours,

S. P. LEE,

Acting Rear-Admiral, Commanding Mississippi Squadron.


HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SIGNAL OFFICER,
New Orleans, La., November 21, 1864.

Lieutenant Colonel C. T. CHRISTENSEN,

Asst. Adjt. General, Mil. Div. of West Miss., New Orleans, La.:

SIR: I have the honor to submit to your consideration a statement of the information received at this office this 21st day of November, 1864, from the following sources, a report from Captain M. Hawke, Pass Manchac, la., November 18; the statement of Father Jean marie, New Orleans, November 19; the statement of Bernard Norton, a scout, sent with the late raid into the Grossetete country, New Orleans, November 21, the statement of A. F. Roaker; the statement of Thomas F. Chapman, New Orleans, November 21:

Captain Doyal, with 100 men, is reported on the Amite River, scouting and conscripting. Lieutenant John Robinson has thirty men and a pack of fifteen hounds at Waldress, seven miles northwest of Springfield. He has committed many outrages, hunting down men with his hounds and burning their houses. Father Marie left Alexandria on the 1st instant. There were no troops in Alexandria except the paroled prisoners from Vicksburg and Port Hudson. There were no troops between Alexandria-and Marksville. The position of troops along the Atchafalaya was about the same as when last reported, under command of General Debray. The Fourth Louisiana Cavalry was scattered on the Teche at New Iberia, Saint Martinsville, and franklin (said to be of poor material.) The country occupied by General Debray is almost exhausted, and as there are no depots of supplies it must soon be abandoned. The advance of Polignac's cavalry from Arkansas had arrived opposite Alexandria. Walker's infantry was to retreat to Shreveport. A steamer, loaded with stone, was sunk across the sluice in the dam at Alexandria about the last of October. Previous to this all the machinery in Avoyelles was sent to Shreveport. By the late raid into the Grossetete no force of amount was discovered. Considerable smuggling is still carried on in the vicinity of Plaquemine. Three companies of rebels are reported at Calcasieu Bay. The informant thinks that two regiments of cavalry could bring from Vermillion Parish several thousand head of cattle, many horses and mules. Information of the movements which resulted in the fight on the Atchafalaya October 17 was given to Colonel Terrill, commanding the rebel force, the night before. It is supposed to have been conveyed by Captain Johnson and Marshall stop at Downing's, in the rebel lines, when in that region. One Teagardner carried $25,000 worth of quinine from New Orleans across the Atchafalaya, four miles above Morgan's Ferry, on the 12th instant.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. M. JACKSON,

Second Lieutenant, Signal Corps, U. S. Army.


Page 636 LOUISIANA AND THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. Chapter LIII.