the 5th of May, detained by fear of Mouton's horse to the
west. Unfortunately, this officer was forced by want of supplies to move
to the Sabine, more than a hundred miles away, and thrown out of the
game for many days.

In the "Report on the Conduct of the War," vol. ii., pp. 309 and 310,
the Federal General Banks makes the following statements: "During these
operations on the Teche we captured over twenty-five hundred prisoners
and twenty-two guns; destroyed three gunboats and eight steamers"; and
further: "A dispatch from Governor Moore to General Taylor was
intercepted, in which Taylor was directed to fall back into Texas." At
the time, my entire force in western Louisiana was under three thousand,
and it is rather startling to learn that we were all captured. Two
twenty-fours and one field gun were abandoned at Bisland, and two
twenty-fours lost at Butte a la Rose. We scuttled and burnt the Cotton
at Bisland, and blew up the Diana (captured from the enemy) at Franklin.
The Queen (also captured) was destroyed in action on Grand Lake. The
Federals caught two small steamers, the Ellen and Cornie, in the
Atchafalaya, and we destroyed two in the Teche. The other four reported
by General Banks must have come from the realm of the multitude of
prisoners and guns. It also appears from the intercepted dispatch of
Governor Moore that major-generals of the Confederate army were under
the orders of State governors--an original discovery.

The delay of the Federals at Opelousas gave abundant time to remove our
stores from Alexandria. General Kirby Smith, the new departmental
commander, was advised to retire to Shreveport, two hundred miles up Red
River, where, remote from danger or disturbance, he could organize his
administration. Threatened in rear, Fort De Russy was untenable; so the
place was dismantled and the little garrison withdrawn. On the 16th of
April Admiral Porter with several gunboats had passed the Vicksburg
batteries, and the abandonment of De Russy now left the Red River open
to him. He reached Alexandria on the 9th of May, a few hours in advance
of Banks's army. From the 8th to the 11th of the same month some of his
gunboats bombarded Fort Beauregard, on the Washita, but were driven off
by the garrison under Colonel Logan.

At this time I was sorely stricken by domestic grief. On the approach of
the enemy to Alexandria my family embarked on a steamer for Shreveport.
Accustomed to the gentlest care, my good