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one hundred men "to join the expedition," and we were notified that a
steamer would call for them on the morrow. Details of picked men were
selected from each company. Five days' rations and forty rounds of
ammunition, were dealt out to each, and in light marching order they
waited several days for the steamer to appear. It was in vain,
however, and we reluctantly gave up the prospect of some little
excitement. We came to the conclusion that somebody at headquarters
had forgotten to countermand the order, or, like Mr. Toots, had deemed
it of no consequence.

We discussed the varying prospects of change, sometimes coming as a
rumor that we should be ordered to Texas, where was the first
battalion of our regiment; sometimes that we should join the Red River
expedition, which was then forming, or the expedition against Mobile
which was in contemplation. But after six weeks delay at English Turn,
we received orders to move up the river to Plaquemine, a point some
one hundred and twenty miles above New Orleans, a few miles below and
on the opposite bank from Baton Rouge. This town was at the entrance
of the Bayou Plaquemine, of which Longfellow makes mention in the
story of Evangeline's search for her lover; a description which gives
so good an idea of the bayous by which Louisiana is intersected, that
I quote it in this connection.

"They * * * entering the Bayou of Plaquemine,
Soon were lost in a maze of sluggish and devious waters,
Which, like a network of steel, extended in every direction.
Over their heads the towering and tenebrous boughs of the cypress
Waved like banners that hang on the walls of ancient cathedrals.
Deathlike the silence seemed, and unbroken save by the herons
Home to their roosts in the cedar trees returning at sunset,
Or by the owl, as he greeted the moon with demoniac laughter."

Here we relieved the Forty-Second Ohio, and went into camp. As we
marched through the streets of the village to the site of our camp,
the scowling looks of the white spectators, sufficiently indicated
their sentiments and especially their wrath at being guarded by
"niggers."

We found the state of affairs very different from the tranquil
neighborhood we had just left. The surrounding country was infested
with guerilla bands, and in the jail were a number of rebel prisoners
who had been captured in recent raids. The latter received from the
town's people very gratifying evidences of s