int, and I was seldom
enabled to pass twenty-four consecutive hours at headquarters; but
Adjutant Surget, of whom mention has been made, conducted the business
of the district with vigor and discretion during my absence.
Subsequently, by using an ambulance in which one could sleep, and with
relays of mules, long distances were rapidly accomplished; and, like the
Irishman's bird, I almost succeeded in being in two places at the same
time.

Leaving Alexandria, I went south to visit the Lafourche and intervening
regions. At Vermilionville, in the parish of Lafayette, thirty miles
south of Opelousas, resided ex-Governor Mouton, a man of much influence
over the creole and Acadian populations, and an old acquaintance.
Desiring his aid to arouse public sentiment, depressed since the fall of
New Orleans, I stopped to see him. Past middle age, he had sent his sons
and kindred to the war, and was eager to assist the cause in all
possible ways. His eldest son and many of his kinsmen fell in battle,
his estate was diminished by voluntary contributions and wasted by
plunder, and he was taken to New Orleans and confined for many weeks;
yet he never faltered in his devotion, and preserved his dignity and
fortitude.

In camp near New Iberia, seven and twenty miles south of Vermilionville,
was Colonel Fournet, with a battalion of five companies raised in the
parish, St. Martin's. The men were without instruction, and inadequately
armed and equipped. Impressing on Fournet and his officers the
importance of discipline and instruction, and promising to supply them
with arms, I proceeded to the residence of Leclerc Fusilier, in the
parish of St. Mary's, twenty miles below New Iberia. Possessor of great
estates, and of a hospitable, generous nature, this gentleman had much
weight in his country. His sons were in the army, and sixty years had
not diminished his energy nor his enthusiasm. He desired to serve on my
staff as volunteer aide, promising to join me whenever fighting was to
be done; and he kept his promise. In subsequent actions on the Teche and
Red River, the first gun seemed the signal for the appearance of Captain
Fusilier, who, on his white pony, could be seen where the fight was the
thickest, leading on or encouraging his neighbors. His corn bins, his
flocks and herds, were given to the public service without stint; and no
hungry, destitute Confederate was permitted to pass his door. Fusilier
was twice captured, and on the fir