in the rear after passing the fork. The army halted for the
night at Jeannerette.

On the following afternoon Banks entered New Iberia. Here the ways
parted, the right-hand road by Saint Martinville following for
many miles the windings of the Teche, while the left-hand road
leads almost directly to Opelousas, by way of Vermilionville, now
called Lafayette.

Beyond Indian Bend the lowlands, in many places below and nowhere
much above the level of the adjacent waters, may be said to end
and the plains to begin; and soon after leaving New Iberia and
Saint Martinville the troops found themselves on the broad prairies
of Western Louisiana, where the rich grasses that flourish in the
light soil sustain almost in a wild state vast herds of small yet
fat beeves and of small yet strong horses; where in favored spots
the cotton plant is cultivated to advantage; where the ground,
gently undulating, gradually rises as one travels northward; where
the streams become small rivers that drain the land upon their
borders, instead of merely bayous taking the back waters of the
Mississippi and the Red. Near the right bank of the Teche runs
even a narrow ribbon of bluffs that may be said to form the western
margin of the great swamps of the Atchafalaya. Along the streams
live-oaks, magnolias, pecans, and other trees grow luxuriantly;
but, for the most part, the prairies are open to the horizon, and
at this time, though the gin-houses were full of cotton, the fields
were mainly given over to the raising of corn for the armies and
the people of the Confederacy.

From New Iberia Banks ordered Grover to send a detachment to destroy
the famous Avery salt-works, on Petit Anse Island, distant about
twelve miles toward the southwest. On the 17th of April, Grover
accordingly dispatched Kimball on this errand, with his 12th Maine,
the 41st Massachusetts, one company of the 24th Connecticut, and
Snow's section of Nims's battery. The extremely rich natural
deposit of rock salt was, at that time, in the hands of the
Confederate government, being, indeed, the main source of supply
of this indispensable article for the whole Confederacy, especially
for the region between the Mississippi and the Atlantic. The works
required for its extraction are, however, very simple, for the
deposit lies close to the surface, and has only to be quarried in
blocks of convenient size. These, always as clear and beautiful
as crystal, have only to be crushed