Biographical.
[290] [291]Major-Generals and brigadier-generals, pro-visional army of the Confederate States, Accredited to Louisiana.
Brigadier-General Daniel W. Adams
Brigadier-General Daniel W. Adams—‘Dan Adams,’ as he was familiarly called—was one of the gallant leaders so well known in the military operations in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi. At the call to arms in 1861 he hastened to the defense of the South and entered the field as second-lieutenant of Mississippi State troops. On October 30, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the First regiment, Louisiana infantry, at Pensacola, brigade of General Gladden. Later he served at Mobile. When, in the spring of 1862, the forces of Albert Sidney Johnston and Beauregard were being concentrated at Corinth for the advance upon Grant, the First Louisiana was in Wither's division of the corps commanded by Gen. Braxton Bragg. On the first day at Shiloh these troops were in the fierce fight with the division of Prentiss which fought so stoutly that day until at last surrounded and captured. Early in the day the able brigade commander, Gladden, was killed, and not long after the gallant Col. Dan. Adams was borne from the field seriously wounded. On May 23, 1862, he was commissioned brigadier-general. He recovered from his wound in time to lead his command in the Kentucky campaign. At Perryville, Adams' brigade was in the division of Patton Anderson attached to the wing led by General Hardee, who commended Adams for his gallantry. The Confederates in this battle pressed steadily forward all along the line, and on both wings, forcing the Federals back nearly a mile, capturing prisoners, guns and colors, and stopping only when darkness compelled a cessation of hostilities. On December 31st at the battle of Murfreesboro or Stone's river, Adams' brigade was detached from Breckinridge's division of [292] Hardee's corps, and under orders from General Polk made a desperate charge against the Federal right, in the course of which General Adams was seriously wounded. In the second day's battle at Chickamauga the brigade of Adams steadily advanced and got in the rear of the Federal intrenchments, but Federal reinforcements coming up the brigade was temporarily repulsed. While gallantly leading his men he was again wounded, the command devolving on Col. R. L. Gibson. ‘Here General Adams,’ said Breckinridge, ‘who is as remarkable for his judgment on the field as for his courage, was severely wounded and fell into the hands of the enemy.’ Said D. H. Hill: ‘Brigadier-General Adams was for the third time severely wounded It was difficult for me to decide which the most to admire, his extraordinary judgment as an officer, his courage on the field, or his unparalleled cheerfulness under suffering.’ As soon as he was exchanged and had sufficiently recovered from his wounds, he commanded a cavalry brigade operating in northern Alabama and Mississippi. In September, 1864, he was assigned to command of the district of Central Alabama, and on March 1, 1865, of the entire State north of the Gulf department. He evacuated Montgomery a month later and fell back before Wilson's force to Columbus, where a battle was fought by his command and Howell Cobb's on April 16th. When peace had been restored he settled in New Orleans, engaging there in business. In that city he died June 14, 1872.
Brigadier-General Henry Watkins Allen
Brigadier-General Henry Watkins Allen was born in Prince Edward county, Va., April 29, 1820. His early life was spent in a workshop. His parents removing to the West he became a student at Marion college, Missouri. In consequence of a dispute with his father he ran away from college and opened a school at Grand Gulf, in Mississippi, studying law at the same time. He was soon admitted to the bar and practiced law with great [293] success. In 1842, when President Houston, of Texas, called for volunteers to repel any renewed invasion from Mexico, Allen, who was only 23 years of age, raised a company and joined the forces of Texas, so acquitting himself as to win the confidence and esteem of his men and of his superior officers. Returning home he resumed his law practice. In 1846 he was elected to the legislature. Soon after the expiration of his term he went to Louisiana, purchased an estate near Baton Rouge and became a planter. In 1853, he was sent to the legislature of Louisiana. The next year he went to Harvard university to take a higher course in law, but he became so interested in the struggle of the Italians for independence that he sailed for Europe with the purpose of joining them in their fight for freedom. Finding the contest ended when he arrived he made a tour of Europe, and on his return published a book entitled ‘The Travels of a Sugar Planter.’ During his absence he was a second time elected to the legislature, where he gave great satisfaction to his constituents, besides making a reputation throughout the State. When the storm of civil war began in 1861, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel in the Confederate service and was stationed at Ship Island. He preferred more active service and was commissioned colonel of the Fourth Louisiana. At the battle of Shiloh the brigade to which this regiment was attached suffered a loss of officers and men exceeding that of most other brigades in the battle. Allen was himself among the wounded in the first day's conflict, on April 6th. At Vicksburg he superintended the construction of fortifications under a heavy fire. After the repulse of the Union force and fleets from Vicksburg in 1862, Van Dorn, at that time in command at the city, organized an expedition against Baton Rouge, which was led by Breckinridge. In the severe battle fought at that place August 5, 1862, Allen was dangerously wounded in both legs by a shell. He was promoted to brigadier-general early in 1864, but soon [294] after being elected governor of Louisiana he retired from the army. He promoted important things for the Confederacy. Among these was the payment of the cotton tax to the Confederate government in kind, and the opening of trade between Mexico and the State of Texas by which cotton was exchanged for medicine, clothing and other articles of necessity. In his suppression of the liquor traffic Governor Allen used dictatorial powers, and succeeded in a way that was never before known. After the war he made his home in the city of Mexico, where he established a newspaper entitled ‘The Mexican Times.’ General Allen died in that city April 22, 1866.
Brigadier-General Albert G. Blanchard
Brigadier-General Albert G. Blanchard.—It has often been matter of comment that some of our most efficient officers in the Confederate war were of Northern birth; while on the other hand the South furnished to the Union armies and fleets some of their best commanders, notably Thomas of Virginia, and Farragut of Tennessee; and frequently it happened that brothers were arrayed on opposite sides, as in the case of the Crittendens of Kentucky, and the McIntoshes of Florida. It is this fact that makes the term ‘civil war’ appropriate for the great struggle of 1861-65, although in other and greater features the war between the States resembled an international conflict. Albert G. Blanchard, who in the Confederate records is credited to the State of Louisiana, was born in Charlestown, Mass., in 1810. There he received his early education. When quite young he entered the United States military academy, where he was graduated in 1829 as brevet second-lieutenant of the Third infantry, being a classmate of Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston. He served on frontier duty, in recruiting services and in improving Sabine river and lake. In 1840 he resigned the rank of first-lieutenant, Third infantry, and then engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1846, being also director of public schools in Louisiana from 1843 [295] to 1845. He again entered the service of the United States as captain of Louisiana volunteers on the 15th of May, 846. Winning distinction at the battle of Monterey and the siege of Vera Cruz, he was tendered appointment in the regular army as captain of the Voltigeurs, but declined that and accepted a commission as major of the Twelfth infantry, May 27, 1847. He was next superintendent of the recruiting service at New Orleans, and was afterward in command of his regiment at Cuernavaca, Mexico. Returning to New Orleans after that war he was a teacher in the public schools until 1850. Then he was for several years employed as surveyor, and from 1854 to 1861 was secretary and treasurer of the New Orleans & Carrollton and of the Jefferson & Lake Ponchartrain railroad companies. At the opening of the war he espoused the cause of his adopted State and entered the army as colonel of the First Louisiana infantry. He served with his regiment at Norfolk, Va., and in May, 1861, was in command of one of the two divisions of Huger's forces. With promotion to brigadier-general he commanded a brigade at Portsmouth, Va., consisting of the Third, Fourth and Twenty-second Georgia regiments of infantry, the Third Alabama infantry, the Third Louisiana infantry, Colonel Williams' North Carolina battalion of infantry, Girardey's Louisiana Guard artillery, and the Sussex cavalry. In April, 1862, he supported Colonel Wright in the operations about South Mills. In June, 1862, Gen. A. R. Wright took command of the brigade, and on account of his advanced age General Blanchard was not longer actively engaged. He was for a while in command at Drewry's bluff, afterward in North Carolina. After the war he returned to New Orleans and was surveyor and civil engineer from 1866 until 1870. He was deputy surveyor of the city of New Orleans from 1870 to 1878, and assistant city surveyor from 1878 to 1891. He died in New Orleans June 21, 1891.
[296]
Brigadier-General Johnson Kelly Duncan
Brigadier-General Johnson Kelly Duncan was born at York, Pa, March 19, 1827. He was graduated at West Point July 1, 1849, as brevet second-lieutenant of the Second artillery. He served in Florida against the Seminole Indians in 1849 and 1850, and on garrison duty at Forts Sullivan and Preble, Me.; then as assistant on Northern Pacific railroad exploration from 1853 to 1854. He resigned January 31, 1855, being at that time first-lieutenant, Third artillery. He then became superintendent of repairs of New Orleans branch mint, marine hospital and quarantine warehouse, and Pass á l'outre boarding station; subsequently civil engineer, surveyor and architect at New Orleans, 1859-60, and from 1860 to 1861 chief engineer of the board of public works of Louisiana. Living so long in the South he had become thoroughly identified with the people of his adopted State, and regarded their interests as his own. Therefore, when the war began, he resolved to maintain to the best of his ability the cause of those whose rights and interests he thought imperilled. He offered his services to Mr. Davis, who gladly accepted them and had him commissioned first as colonel, and on January 7, 1862, as brigadier-general. He was placed in command of the coast defenses, including Forts Jackson and St. Philip, which were intended to defend the city of New Orleans against any fleet that might attempt the ascent of the Mississippi river. Toward the last of April, 1862, Commodore David G. Farragut with a powerful fleet of armored vessels supplied with the best guns then known in naval warfare, after bombarding for six days Forts Jackson and St. Philip and failing to silence them, made a bold dash past the forts, and attacking the small Confederate fleet of rams and fire-rafts, destroyed them and appeared before the city of New Orleans, which could do nothing but surrender. Seventy per cent of the Confederate guns were 32-pounders and below, while sixty-three per cent of the Union guns were of heavier caliber. As the passage was open so that the [297] fleet was not long under the fire of the guns, the forts had no advantage over the ships. General Duncan had made a gallant fight, but, after all succor had been cut off, he was compelled to surrender. After his exchange he acted as aide to General Bragg. But he lived only a few months longer to serve the cause which he loved so well. He died on the 18th of December, 1862, in Knoxville, Tenn., in his 36th year.
Major-General Franklin Gardner
Major-General Franklin Gardner was born in New York in 1823. His family moved West and he was appointed to the United States military academy from Iowa in 1839. After his graduation in 1843 and promotion to brevet second-lieutenant of the Seventh infantry he served in the garrison at Pensacola harbor, in scouting on the frontier, in the military occupation of Texas, and in the war with Mexico. He participated in the defense of Fort Brown, and the battle of Monterey, where he was brevetted first-lieutenant for gallant and meritorious conduct. He served at the siege of Vera Cruz; the battle of Cerro Gordo, where he was brevetted as captain; the battles of Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Rey and other operations before the city of Mexico, and in the capture of that city. He was afterward on frontier and garrison duty at various posts in Florida, Louisiana and Arkansas, Wisconsin and Minnesota. At the commencement of the war between the States he was stationed in Utah Territory, and was captain of the Tenth infantry. He had spent a great part of his army life among the Southern people, and in sentiment and sympathy was one of them. The army officers who in such large numbers resigned their commissions and embraced the cause of the South, did not regard the Southern people as rebels against the government of the United States. They looked upon the Union as already divided into two governments, and felt that they had the right to choose the defense of that side whose cause not only their inclinations, but also their ideas [298] of duty, led them to espouse. Thus, with the purest of motives, Franklin Gardner left the service of the old army and entered that of the Confederate States. He was immediately appointed lieutenant-colonel of infantry, his commission dated March 16, 1861. His services were during the first year mostly in Tennessee and Mississippi. At Shiloh he had command of a cavalry brigade. There was very little opportunity in that battle for the cavalry to take part; but they performed faithfully whatever duties were committed to them. A short while after the battle of Shiloh General Beauregard expressed his appreciation of Gen. Franklin Gardner in the following language: ‘The general commanding avails himself of this occasion to return his thanks to General Gardner for his services in the reorganization of the cavalry of this army.’ He had been commissioned a brigadier-general a few days before the battle of Shiloh. Soon after this he was appointed to the command of a brigade in Withers' division, Polk's corps. He shared in the marches and battles of the Kentucky campaign, and on December 13, 1862, he received the commission of major-general in the army of the Confederate States. Early in 1863 he was placed in command of the important post of Port Hudson. His gallant defense of that place, against greatly superior numbers, is a brilliant page of the Confederate history. The heroism of Gardner and his men is not dimmed by the fact that they were finally compelled to yield to the powerful combinations that were brought against them. After his exchange General Gardner was assigned to duty in Mississippi, at the last under the orders of Gen. Richard Taylor. After the war General Gardner lived in Louisiana the quiet life of a planter, near Vermilionville. There he died April 29, 1873.
Brigadier-General Randall Lee Gibson
Brigadier-General Randall Lee Gibson was born at Spring Hill, Ky., September 10, 1832. His paternal ancestors, natives of Scotland, first settled in Virginia, [299] where Randall Gibson, grandfather of the general, was a revolutionary soldier. Subsequently moving to Mississippi, this ancestor married Harriet McKinley, and was one of the founders of Jefferson college. On the maternal side General Gibson was descended from the Harts and Prestons of Kentucky. His youth was passed at Lexington, Ky., and at his father's plantation in Terrebonne parish. In 1853 he was graduated at Yale college, after which he studied law, was admitted to practice, and traveled in Europe. Returning to enter upon the career of a planter, the political crisis diverted his energies to war and he became an aide-de-camp to Governor Moore. He entered the Confederate service March, 1861, as captain of the First Louisiana artillery. On August 13, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the Thirteenth Louisiana infantry. He drilled and disciplined this regiment until it was one of the best in the service. In April, 1862, the effect of his good work was seen in the cheerful and ready courage with which his men encountered the dangers and hardships of the Shiloh campaign. In the battles of the 6th and 7th of April Colonel Gibson, after the wounding of General Adams, commanded a brigade whose losses showed the nature of the work done by it on that well-fought field. Colonel Gibson and his regiment participated in the Kentucky campaign of the summer and fall of 1862. Gen. D. W. Adams, in his report of the battle of Perryville, three times mentions Colonel Gibson in terms of the highest praise, and ends by saying, ‘I will recommend Colonel Gibson, for skill and valor, to be brigadier-general.’ At Murfreesboro (Stone's river) he commanded the Louisiana brigade in the latter part of December 31st and in the memorable charge of Breckinridge's division, January 2, 1863. After the fall of Vicksburg he was for a time in the army of Joe Johnston in Mississippi, but was back in the army of Tennessee in time for the battle of Chickamauga. On the first day Gen. D. W. Adams was wounded, and Colonel Gibson again took [300] command of the brigade. He commanded the brigade at Missionary Ridge, and in January, 1864, was promoted to brigadier-general. He and his brigade were in the fight at Rocky Face ridge, February, 1864, and during the long Georgia campaign they were alike distinguished in the fighting from Dalton to Jonesboro. In the command of a brigade he was perfectly at home, and did the right thing in the right place. In this campaign his record is part of that of the splendid division of A. P. Stewart, later under Major-General Clayton, than which none did better service. In the disastrous battle of Nashville it was this splendid division which, by its steady bearing, assisted so materially in allaying the panic which threatened the destruction of Hood's army when its lines had been pierced by the exultant enemy in superior force. In the spring of 1865 General Gibson was placed in command of a small division at Spanish Fort (Mobile), including his brigade. Of his service there, Gen. Richard Taylor has written, ‘Gen. R. L. Gibson, now a member of Congress from Louisiana, held Spanish Fort with 2,500 men. Fighting all day and working all night, Gibson successfully resisted the efforts of the immense force against him until the evening of April 8th, when the enemy effected a lodgment threatening his only route of evacuation. Under instructions from Maury he withdrew his garrison in the night to Mobile, excepting his pickets, necessarily left. Gibson's stubborn defense and skillful retreat make this one of the best achievements of the war.’ After this General Gibson practiced law at New Orleans until he was elected to the United States Congress. He served as representative of the First district in the Forty-third to Forty-seventh Congresses, and in 1882 was elected United States senator, an office in which he represented his State with great ability until his death at Hot Springs, Ark., December 15, 1892. He also rendered valuable service to the cause of education as administrator of the Howard memorial library; trustee of the Peabody educational [301] fund; regent of the Smithsonian institute, and president of the board of administrators of Tulane university, a noble institution indebted for its existence to his influence and the munificence of Paul Tulane.
Brigadier-General Adley H. Gladden
Brigadier-General Adley H. Gladden was born in South Carolina, and was one of the most heroic men of that gallant State. In every period of American history, when a call has been made to battle for the liberties or honor of the country, South Carolina's valiant sons have been among the foremost in the fray; and during the long and bloody war between the sections of the great republic the Carolinians were never deaf to the call of duty or honor. On every field where they fought they added new luster to their gallant State; and no matter where they made their home they never forgot that they were Carolinians, and South Carolina never forgot to love and honor them. One who takes the pains to read the records of the gallant leaders of the Southern armies will be surprised to note how many of them received their best training in the Mexican war. Though West Point furnished some of the choicest spirits of that war so memorable for the unbroken success of the American arms, yet many other gallant officers were there who, in that romantic struggle of small forces against tremendous odds, measured up in brilliant achievements to their brethren of the regular service. No regiment in all the American army that fought its way over all obstacles from Vera Cruz to the halls of the Montezumas was more famous than the Palmetto regiment of South Carolina. Gladden was the major of that regiment, whose colonel and lieutenant-colonel were killed, together with many of their brave men in the storming of the Mexican works at the fierce battle of Churubusco. In consequence of the bloody result of that day Major Gladden became colonel of the Palmetto regiment and led it in the assault upon the Belen [302] Gate, where he also was severely wounded. When the civil war came, Colonel Gladden, whose home was then in Louisiana, made haste to serve the cause of his beloved South. Going to Pensacola as colonel of the First Louisiana regiment, on September 30, 1861, he was commissioned brigadier-general and assigned to command of a brigade, including the First regiment, of which D. W. Adams then became colonel. He was in command of his brigade during the bombardment of the Confederate forts at Pensacola harbor, and General Bragg expressed thanks for the able support he rendered. Subsequently Bragg, expressing a desire to form a brigade of regiments which should set an example of discipline and official excellence, said, ‘I should desire General Gladden to command them.’ In January, 1862, Gladden was transferred to Mobile and thence to Corinth, where he was in command of a brigade composed of four Alabama regiments, the First Louisiana and Robertson's battery. At Shiloh this brave officer proved that he had lost none of the fire of his youth. General Beauregard thus describes his death: ‘In the same quarter of the field all of Withers' division, including Gladden's brigade, reinforced by Breckenridge's whole reserve, soon became engaged, and Prentiss' entire line, though fighting stoutly, was pressed back in confusion. We early lost the services of the gallant Gladden, a man of soldierly aptitudes and experience, who, after a marked influence upon the issue in his quarter of the field, fell mortally wounded.’ Struck down by a cannon-ball, he was carried from the field and soon afterward he died.
Brigadier-General Henry Gray
Brigadier-General Henry Gray.—The State of Louisiana gave many gallant defenders to the cause of the South. Whether in Virginia or in Tennessee, or on her own soil, her soldiers were among the bravest of the brave, conspicuous for daring on the field of battle and for fidelity to duty on all occasions. Among these gallant spirits none [303] deserve more the grateful remembrance of their countrymen than Henry Gray, who entering the service in 1861 as a subordinate officer had by May 17, 1862, received his commission as colonel of the Twenty-eighth Louisiana. The sphere of action assigned him by the Confederate authorities was within the limits of his own State. Through the first months of his service he had no opportunity for distinction. But when in 1863 the Federals in New Orleans began to make attempts to extend their conquests in the southwest, all those brave sons of Louisiana who had not yet had an opportunity to strike a single blow, found steady employment in watching the movements of the enemy and thwarting his plans by gallantly defending every foot of the soil of their beloved State. An enterprising commander like Dick Taylor kept his own troops, and those of the enemy as to that matter, on the tramp all the time. When they were not attacking him, he was making hostile demonstrations against them. There were many fierce encounters which tried the endurance and valor of the troops as sorely as did the great battles in other parts of the Confederacy. These movements of Taylor's troops greatly helped to secure to the Confederacy, to the very last, the possession of their great Trans-Mississippi department. Along the Teche there were many brave deeds performed. Colonel Gray, amid these stirring scenes, found ample opportunity to show the metal of which he was made. In April, 1863, at Camp Bisland occurred one of those desperate affairs in which the troops could plainly see the great disadvantage under which they labored, especially in regard to the superiority in numbers of the force arrayed against them. Gen. Richard Taylor, in his report of this battle and others that preceded and followed it, said: ‘Colonel Gray and his regiment (the Twenty-eighth Louisiana), officers and men, deserve most favorable mention. Their gallantry in action is enhanced by the excellent discipline which they have presented, and no veteran soldiers could [304] have excelled them in their conduct during the trying scenes through which they passed.’ In one of these numerous combats on the Teche, Colonel Gray received a painful wound. During the Red river campaign he commanded a brigade in Mouton's division. So well did he handle it that, after the campaign had ended in the total defeat of the Union army and fleet, the commission of a brigadier-general in the provisional army of the Confederate States was conferred upon him, dated from the battle of Mansfield, May 8, 1864. After the war General Gray resided in Louisiana until his death, December 13, 1892.
Brigadier-General Harry T. Hays
Brigadier-General Harry T. Hays.—The Seventh Louisiana, one of the ‘crack’ regiments of the State, in which many of the best families of New Orleans were represented, and its gallant colonel, Harry T. Hays, were at an early date familiar names in the army of Northern Virginia. The record of this command and its colonel began with the First Manassas. In Early's brigade on that day they shared in the march and flank attack which completed the rout of the Federal army. In Jackson's brilliant Valley campaign of 1862 the Seventh Louisiana was attached to the brigade of Gen. Richard Taylor, of Ewell's division. At Port Republic Colonel Hays was wounded. This prevented his participation in the Seven Days battles and Second Manassas. On July 25, 1862, while still absent on account of his wound, he received the commission of brigadier-general, taking the brigade formerly commanded by Gen. Richard Taylor, who had been ordered to Louisiana to take charge of operations in that quarter. At the battle of Sharpsburg the brigade, commanded by General Hays, was in the fiercest part of Jackson's battle. Of that terrible struggle Stonewall Jackson said in his report: ‘The carnage on both sides was terrific. At this early hour General Starke was killed. Colonel Douglass, commanding Lawton's brigade, was also killed. General Lawton, commanding division, [305] and General Walker, commanding brigade, were severely wounded. More than half the brigades of Lawton and Hays were either killed or wounded, and more than a third of Trimble's, and all the regimental commanders in those brigades, except two, were killed or wounded.’ Again at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg Harry Hays and his brigade exhibited their old-time endurance and valor, and in Ewell's first day's fight at Gettysburg Hays led his brigade in the victorious onset of that corps that swept the Federals under Howard and Reynolds from the field, through the town of Gettysburg and to the heights beyond. In all the battles in which he participated, from Port Republic, where Winder tells of how in the charge that won the day, ‘Hays moved his command forward in gallant style with a cheer,’ down to the desperate struggle in the Wilderness, in the spring of 1864, the name of General Hays is frequently mentioned in flattering terms in the reports of commanding officers. His gallantry in battle is frequently noted in Early's report of the fighting around Winchester while on the march to Gettysburg, and of the superb conduct of himself and brigade at Gettysburg. On the 9th of May, 1864, at Spottsylvania Court House, General Hays was severely wounded. In the fall of 1864 he had recovered sufficiently to attend to duties in Louisiana to which he had been assigned, and was kept busy trying to get together all absentees from the commands east of the Mississippi; on the 10th of May, 1865, he was notified of his appointment as major-general in the army of the Confederate States. But the Confederacy had already ceased to exist everywhere, except in the Trans-Mississippi department, where he then was. On the 26th of May the Trans-Mississippi also gave up the fight, and the war was ended. After the war General Hays resided at New Orleans until his death August 21, 1876.
Brigadier-General Louis Hebert
Brigadier-General Louis Hebert was born in Louisiana. [306] He was a cadet at West Point from 1841 to 1845, when he was graduated as brevet second-lieutenant of engineers. His only service in the United States army was as assistant engineer in the construction of Fort Livingston, Barataria Island, Louisiana, 1845-46. He then resigned his commission and became a planter in Iberville parish. He was major of the Louisiana militia from 1847 to 1850, and colonel from 1858 to 1861; a member of the State senate from 1853 to 1855, and chief engineer of the State from 1855 to 1860. At the beginning of the civil war he entered the army of the Confederate States as colonel of the Third Louisiana infantry, which was a well-drilled and well-equipped organization made up chiefly of men from the northern part of the State, and was placed in the brigade of Gen. Ben McCulloch. In the battle of Wilson's Creek it was McCulloch's command that encountered Sigel. General McCulloch in his report of the fight with Sigel says: ‘When we arrived near the enemy's battery we found that Reid's battery had opened upon it, and it was already in confusion. Advantage was taken of it and soon the Louisianians were gallantly charging among the guns, and swept the cannoneers away. Five guns were here taken.’ On the 7th of March, 1862, at the battle of Pea Ridge, while Mc-Culloch and McIntosh were leading a charge which at first promised success, they were suddenly struck in flank by an overwhelming force of the enemy. McCulloch and McIntosh were killed, and Hebert with a number of his officers and men were captured. On May 26, 1862, Colonel Hebert was commissioned as a brigadier-general, and after having been exchanged he led the second brigade in Little's division of Price's army, now in north Mississippi. At the battle of Iuka, Hebert's brigade bore the brunt of the attack by Rosecrans' two divisions. Reinforced by Martin's brigade, they drove the enemy back, capturing nine guns and bivouacking upon the ground which they had won. On account of the approach [307] of heavy reinforcements to the enemy, Price retreated near daylight of the next morning. After this Hebert was for a time in command of Little's division. In brigade command he was at the battle of Corinth, and when Price returned to the Trans-Mississippi he was left under the command of General Pemberton, whose fortunes Hebert and his men shared in the battles and siege of Vicksburg. After the fall of that heroic city, Hebert's brigade was, as soon as exchanged, assigned to the army of Tennessee, while General Hebert was sent to North Carolina and put in charge of the heavy artillery in the Cape Fear department, under the command of Major-General Whiting. He continued to act as chief engineer of the department of North Carolina until the close of the war. After the return of peace, General Hebert went back to his home in Louisiana and resumed his old occupation of a planter, living in retirement and not entering into political affairs.
Brigadier-General Paul Octave Hebert
Brigadier-General Paul Octave Hebert was born in Iberville parish, La., December 12, 1818. He was of Norman-French descent. He entered the United States military academy at West Point September 1, 1836, and was graduated on the 1st of July, 1841, as second-lieutenant of engineers. He served as acting assistant professor of engineering at West Point from August, 1841, to July, 1842, and as State engineer and surveyor general of Louisiana in 1845. Resigning in the latter year he re-entered the service of the United States in 1847 with appointment as lieutenant-colonel of the Fourteenth infantry, in the brigade commanded by Gen. Franklin Pierce. He was frequently mentioned by General Pierce in his reports as the gallant young Creole colonel. At the battle of Molino del Rey, one of the fiercest of the bloody combats of the valley of Mexico, his gallantry was so conspicuous that he was brevetted colonel. After the war Hebert returned to his home in Louisiana In 1852 [308] he was a member of the convention which met to revise the constitution of his State. In the same year he was elected governor. Soon after the expiration of his term as governor, William Tecumseh Sherman was, through his influence, elected superintendent of the Louisiana military academy. In that position he was quite popular, and Hebert and many others hoped that the future great Union general would espouse the cause of the South. But Sherman resigned his position just before Louisiana seceded, and going North entered the service of the United States. Hebert, as was to be expected, was zealous in the cause of the South and his native State. He was at once commissioned by Governor Moore as brigadiergen-eral of the State military force, and on August 11, 1861, was commissioned brigadier-general in the provisional army of the Confederate States. During this first year of the war he was put in command of the district of Louisiana and especially of the defenses of New Orleans. For a short time he had command of the Trans-Mississippi department, which was turned over to him by General Magruder when the latter was placed in command of the department of Texas. Though he performed with great fidelity all the duties of the various commands to which he was assigned, he was not actively engaged except at Milliken's Bend, where he acquitted himself in such a manner as was to be expected from a man of his reputation and courage. During 1864 he was in command of the district of Texas and the Territory of Arizona. After the surrender of the armies of Lee and Johnston, Magruder transferred to Hebert the command of the department of Texas, and by him it was surrendered. After the war had ended General Hebert resumed business in his native State. He died on the 29th of August, 1880, at New Orleans
Brigadier-General Edward Higgins
Brigadier-General Edward Higgins, of Louisiana, was from 1836 to 1844 a lieutenant in the United States [309] navy. For four years from that time, being still in the navy, he commanded an ocean steamer. Preferring that position he resigned from the regular service and continued in the merchant marine until it was evident that there would be war between the North and South. He then left the steamship service and in April, 1861, entered that of the Confederate States as captain of the First Louisiana artillery. He served as aide-de-camp to General Twiggs while that officer was commander of the post at New Orleans. In February, 1862, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, Twenty-second Louisiana. At the time of the attack upon New Orleans, 1862, he was in command of Forts Jackson and St. Philip. He made a gallant defense of these forts so long as defense was possible, and then surrendered to the fleet which had already passed up the river and captured the city of New Orleans. In December, 1862, when Sherman marched against Vicksburg and attacked the Confederates at Chickasaw bayou, Colonel Higgins had charge of the heavy batteries at Snyder's mill. He conducted his defense so skillfully and valiantly that General Pemberton called particular attention to his conduct. He had received his commission as colonel on April 11, 1862, and had the Twenty-second Louisiana (artillery) under his command. He was placed in charge of the batteries of heavy artillery on the river front at Vicksburg in the beginning of 1863. He strengthened the works along the river in every way, preparing for the tremendous ordeal which those on this part of the Vicksburg line must pass. Long before the investment of the city by land, the men in charge of the river front were subjected to furious bombardment by the fleets of the enemy. In his management of the task committed to him he gave the greatest satisfaction to his superiors, and in the official report of the operations on every part of the line of defense prepared by General Pemberton after the fall of Vicksburg, he was especially complimented for coolness, [310] gallantry and skill. After he had been exchanged he was commissioned brigadier-general October 29, 1863, and was placed in command of the posts and batteries around Mobile. Here he measured up to his reputation already won for skill and bravery. He survived the war several years and made his home in Louisiana.
Brigadier-General St. John R. Liddell
Brigadier-General St. John R. Liddell, one of the prominent leaders of the army of the Confederacy that fought so long and gallantly to maintain its hold on Tennessee, served with the rank of colonel on the staff of General Hardee at Bowling Green, and in February, 1862, carried to Richmond the reports of General Johnston. He was in command of an Arkansas brigade during the siege of Corinth in the summer of 1862, and was commissioned a brigadier-general on the 12th of July, 1862. After Beauregard had retired from Corinth and had established his army at Tupelo, he temporarily turned over the command to General Bragg, who was immediately made permanent commander by the government at Richmond. Bragg now determined on a campaign in Kentucky. General Liddell commanded a brigade in the army that bore the standard of the Confederacy back again into the heart of Kentucky and even to the Ohio river. General Leonidas Polk, in his report of the battle of Perryville, speaks of the good work done by this brigade ‘under its gallant commander’; and General Hardee in his report of this battle says:The brigade so gallantly led and directed by General Liddell captured arms, prisoners and colors, together with the papers and baggage of General McCook of the Union army. In the battle of Murfreesboro (Stone's river) his brigade was in the division of Major-General Cleburne, which bore such a conspicuous part in that grand wheel of one wing of the Confederate army, which bore back its foe to the distance of nearly four miles, routing brigade after brigade, capturing prisoners, colors and cannon. At Chickamauga he commanded a [311] division of Walker's corps, comprising his own brigade under Colonel Govan, and Walthall's brigade, taking a conspicuous part in the fighting of the 18th, 19th, and 20th of September, in five different engagements. After this battle General Liddell was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi department and assigned to the command of the sub-district of North Louisiana. Here he found as his only military force Col. Isaac F. Harrison's brigade of cavalry, small in numbers and poorly armed, but valiant men. He had also two sections of available artillery. During the Red river campaign he operated first about Campti. During the retreat of the Federal fleet from Boggy bayou to Grand Ecore, he kept the boats continually annoyed by sharpshooters and artillery, and stopped the fleet at Berdelon's Point one day with Fauntleroy's guns. On April 24th, suggesting to General Taylor a movement upon Alexandria, to which the general commanding replied that he intended to drive them in and out of Alexandria, Liddell pushed his little command into Pineville, and attacked the gunboats. Retiring he was attacked but drove the Federal detachment back to Pineville. In August, 1864, he was assigned to the command of southern Mississippi, in General Maury's department, and when Mobile was assailed he was put in charge of the eastern division, department of the Gulf. In command of the defenses, he was captured at Blakely with a large part of his forces after the fall of Spanish Fort. After the close of the war General Liddell made his home in New Orleans, where he resided until his death.
Brigadier-General Alfred Mouton—or as christened, Jean Jacques Alexandre Mouton—was born at Opelousas, La., February 18, 1829, a son of Governor Mouton. He was graduated at West Point July 1, 1850, but resigned from the army in the following September. From 1852 to 1853 he was assistant engineer of the New Orleans & Opelousas railroad. Civil engineering is one [312] of the sciences thoroughly taught at West Point, and many graduates of the United States military academy have attained distinction in that profession. General Mouton found time in the midst of all his business engagements to gratify his military inclinations; from 1850 to 1861 was brigadier-general of the State forces of Louisiana At the opening of the war he recruited a company among the farmers of Lafayette parish, where he was then residing. When the Eighteenth Louisiana was organized he was elected colonel and commissioned October 5, 1861. His service was entirely in the West. At the battle of Shiloh he was severely wounded while leading his men in the thickest of the fight. For conduct in this battle he was commissioned brigadier-general April 16, 1862. When he recovered he was assigned to brigade command in Louisiana, the nucleus of his force being the Eighteenth and Crescent infantry regiments and Clack's battalion. From that time until he fell in battle he was distinguished on the battlefields of Louisiana, everywhere gaining fame as a skillful and dashing leader, first in the Lafourche district, commanding forces east of the Atchafalaya, later about Berwick bay and on the Bayou Teche. General Taylor frequently bore testimony to his skill, fidelity and courage. His record was that of the command he led, the Louisiana brigade in Louisiana. In command of his own and Polignac's brigade, one of the two infantry divisions in General Taylor's army, he was given the distinction of opening the battle of Mansfield, his men making a magnificent charge. At the front with his soldiers he fell, with many other gallant officers and men, in the high tide of victory. Louisiana and the Confederacy lost in him a modest, unselfish and patriotic citizen and soldier. He possessed the spirit that dwelt in his father, Governor Mouton, of whom Gen. Dick Taylor says: ‘Past middle age he 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 [313] 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.’
Brigadier-General Francis T. Nicholls
Brigadier-General Francis T. Nicholls was born at Donaldsonville, Ascension parish, August 20, 1834. His father, Thomas Clark Nicholls, was a member of the general assembly of Louisiana, judge of the district court for many years, and in 1843 was appointed senior judge of the Louisiana court of errors and appeals. Francis Nicholls entered the United States military academy in 1851, was graduated in 1855 and promoted the following October to second-lieutenant. He served against the Seminoles, and afterward on frontier duty at Fort Yuma, Cal. He resigned in 1856 and became a counselor-at-law at Napoleonville, La., where the outbreak of war found him. He was prompt to answer the call of Louisiana for troops and entered the Confederate service as captain of a company in the Eighth infantry. On the 9th of June, 1861, he was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel of his regiment. He had the high honor of taking part in Stonewall Jackson's valley campaign, and was badly wounded in the elbow, near Winchester, May 25, 1862. On June 24th following he was commissioned colonel and given command of the Fifteenth Louisiana infantry, and on the 14th of October was made a brigadiergen-eral of the provisional army of the Confederate States. He was for a time in command of the district of Lynchburg, Va., but on January 16, 1863, was assigned to command of the Second Louisiana brigade of Jackson's corps. In the battle of Chancellorsville General Nicholls led his brigade into the thickest of the fight and fell seriously wounded in the foot. Amputation was necessary, which disqualified him for further active service in the field. General Nicholls was in 1864 assigned to the Transsissippi [314] department, and continued to serve the Confederacy to the best of his ability to the end of the struggle. Then returning home he began again the practice of law. In 1877 he was elected governor of Louisiana and held that office until 1881. In 1886 he was a member of the board of visitors to the United States military academy and was honored by being made president of that body. In 1888 he was again made governor. General Nicholls is still living and as chief justice of the Supreme court of the State is one of the most highly honored citizens of Louisiana.
Major-General Camille Armand Jules Marie Polignac was born in France
Major-General Camille Armand Jules Marie Polignac was born in France, February 6, 1832. He bore the title of Count de Polignac and was a descendant of the duchess of that name who was a favorite of Marie Antoinette. At the beginning of the civil war he came to America and offered his services to the Confederate government. He was made brigadier-general January 10, 1862, and attached to the army of Tennessee, but was transferred to Louisiana, where he served mostly and was highly esteemed by Gen. E. Kirby Smith, and by Gen. Richard Taylor. For his management of a spirited action which he had with the enemy's gunboats on the Ouachita river, March 1 and 2, 1864, in which the enemy's gunboats were repulsed, he received the thanks of General Taylor in a special order, which said: ‘The dispositions made by General Polignac were excellent and were nobly sustained by his command.’ At Mansfield and Pleasant Hill Polignac was greatly distinguished by the gallantry and skill which he exhibited in the performance of his duties. When General Mouton fell at Mansfield, five of his regimental commanders being also killed and another severely wounded, and seven standard-bearers of the ‘Crescent regiment’ shot down, General Taylor says that ‘the division never halted for a moment nor even fell into confusion, but under the gallant Polignac pressed stubbornly [315] on.’ On June 13, 1864, Polignac was commissioned major-general. He continued in command of Mouton's old division, which he had led in the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, in subsequent operations in Louisiana. Before the downfall of the Confederacy he returned to France, where, during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870– 71, he fought for his native land. Subsequently he was engaged in journalism and civil engineering, having charge of several surveying expeditions in Algeria.
Brigadier-General Henry Hopkins Sibley
Brigadier-General Henry Hopkins Sibley was born at Natchitoches, La., May 25, 1816. He was graduated at West Point in 1838, and assigned as second-lieutenant to the Second dragoons; took part in the Florida war, and was promoted to first-lieutenant in 1840. He served against the Indians in other parts of the country and on garrison duty; was on recruiting service at the beginning of the Mexican war; was present at the siege of Vera Cruz, and for gallant and meritorious conduct was brevetted major. He had been commissioned captain February 16, 1847. He participated in all the succeeding battles of that war, and after its close served on the frontier and among the Indians, receiving his commission as major of the First dragoons May 13, 1861. On the day on which he received that rank he resigned to enter the service of the Confederate States. On May 16th he was commissioned colonel in the Confederate army, and on June 17th was promoted to brigadier-general and placed in charge of the department of New Mexico. He went into Texas and raised a brigade of over 2,000 men, with which force he marched into New Mexico. His design was to take possession of that territory for the Confederate States. He advanced into the territory along the Rio Grande, at Valverde defeated the Union forces under Colonel (afterward General) Canby, and then moved forward and occupied Albuquerque and Santa Fe. He had expected to subsist his army on supplies found in the country, but in this [316] was disappointed, for Canby had taken care to destroy all supplies that could fall into the hands of the Confederates. He found himself in the heart of a country without supplies and with well-equipped hostile forces gathering in his front and rear. Under these circumstances he was obliged to retreat, a movement which was accomplished in the face of the most appalling difficulties. He passed on the west side of the Sierra Madelena, through the Sierra de San Mateo until he reached the dry bed of the Rio Palomas, down which he continued until he reached the Rio Grande, where supplies had been sent from Mesilla to meet him. His route had been through the wildest and most rugged country in the territory, with no guides, no roads, and not even a trail. The artillery was dragged up hill and lowered by the men with long ropes. The undergrowth was so dense that for several miles they had to cut their way with axes and bowie-knives. In May the retreating force reached Fort Bliss, and after a few days of rest continued the retreat to San Antonio, Tex. General Sibley's services after this were in the Trans-Mississippi department. After the close of the war he went abroad, and from 1869 to 1874 served as a general of artillery in the Egyptian army. After returning to America he delivered lectures on Egypt. His last years were spent in ill health and straitened circumstances. He died at Fredericksburg, Va., August 23, 1886. General Sibley was the inventor of what was called the Sibley tent. It was in great favor for a time, but its use was after a while discontinued.
Brigadier-General Thomas M. Scott
Brigadier-General Thomas M. Scott, going out as colonel of the Twelfth Louisiana volunteers, was identified during his subsequent military career with the army of the Mississippi. He and his men were on duty at Island No.10, near New Madrid, Mo., during the bombardment of March, 1862, under General McCown, and later at Fort Pillow under Colonel Villepigue. Subsequently he was [317] on duty in Mississippi, and during the latter part of 1862 and early part of 1863 in General Gardner's district, the stronghold of which was Port Hudson. When Vicksburg was threatened he and his regiment went to that region with Gen. A. Buford's brigade, and were attached to Loring's division, which after the battle of Baker's Creek was cut off from Pemberton's army, and was engaged in Gen. J. E. Johnston's operations for the relief of Vicksburg and the defense of Jackson. He remained with the army in Mississippi until it was led by General Polk to Georgia in the spring of 1864, when he participated in the campaign from Dalton to Atlanta, commanding his brigade, which included his own regiment and five Alabama regiments. Soon he was promoted to brigadier-general. At Peachtree Creek he was particularly distinguished, leading his gallant brigade to the assault, and for his intrepid conduct received special mention by General Loring. After the fall of Atlanta he marched with Hood into Tennessee, and at the fateful field of Franklin, after winning the admiration of all by his bravery, fell seriously disabled by the explosion of a shell.
Brigadier-General Leroy A. Stafford
Brigadier-General Leroy A. Stafford, whose name will be forever associated with the glory of the Second Louisiana brigade in the army of Northern Virginia, went to Virginia in 1861 as lieutenant-colonel of the Ninth Louisiana volunteers, and upon the promotion of Col. Richard Taylor became colonel. With the First Louisiana brigade he participated in the Valley campaign of Stonewall Jackson, and at Winchester General Taylor reported: ‘Colonel Stafford led his regiment into action with the most distinguished bravery.’ In the Seven Days battles, during the disability of General Taylor and after the death of Colonel Seymour, he took command at Cold Harbor and continued to lead the brigade during that campaign. When the Second Louisiana brigade was organized in the summer of 1862 he, being senior colonel, was [318] first in command. He served in this capacity with distinction at Cedar Run or Slaughter's mountain, and in the Second Manassas campaign he was again called on to command the brigade when General Starke took command of the division on the 28th of August. In the desperate fighting at the railroad cut he and his men were conspicuous. After the capture of Harper's Ferry, he went into the battle of Sharpsburg, and won new honors by his coolness and intrepidity in that great struggle. Though wounded in the foot, he was soon again in the fight. After Sharpsburg his regiment was transferred to the brigade of General Hays, with which it participated in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Winchester and Gettysburg. In the latter battle he gained the plaudits of his commanding officers by conspicuous gallantry. Early in October he was promoted to brigadier-general and assigned again to command of the Second Louisiana brigade, in the Stonewall division. He commanded this brigade in a gallant action during the Mine Run campaign, fall of 1863, and in May, 1864, led it into the battle of the Wilderness. In that tremendous conflict he received a mortal wound while ‘leading his command with conspicuous valor,’ as Gen. Robert E. Lee stated in his official report.
Brigadier-General Allen Thomas
Brigadier-General Allen Thomas was commissioned colonel of the Twenty-eighth Louisiana May 3, 1862. This regiment was one of the Louisiana commands at Vicksburg under Gen. M. L. Smith, who defended that important post on the Mississippi after the fall of New Orleans and Memphis. During the long bombardment in the summer of 1862 by the Federal fleet, he and his Louisianians were among the trusted men on guard. This Federal attempt ended in failure, but in December following a renewed assault was made with land forces by General Sherman, and the famous battle of Chickasaw bayou resulted. In that victorious defensive combat, [319] Colonel Thomas on the 27th, in command of a brigade consisting of the Second Texas, Twenty-eighth Louisiana, Fourth Mississippi, Forty-second Georgia and Thirty-first Alabama, was ordered to move to a point where the Federals were attempting to build a pontoon. This operation he checked with a part of his command and with the remainder defeated a Federal assault on the flank. On the next day commanding his regiment, still on the Federal side of the bayou, he fought for six and a half hours, now being pushed back by the superior numbers of the enemy, and now rallying and driving them back, and learning after the battle was over that he had fought Blair's brigade with his one regiment, and inflicted a loss of 400. Gen. S. D. Lee, commanding the Confederate forces, now withdrew across the bayou, and on the 29th Sherman made a desperate assault, hoping to gain the bluffs on which Lee was posted. Here again Thomas and his regiment were distinguished in repelling a flank attack made by a portion of the Federal force. No officer was commended more warmly in the report of Gen. S. D. Lee, who said: ‘Col. Allen Thomas exhibited great gallantry and with his regiment did splendid service.’ Remaining at Vicksburg he served during the siege of May and June, 1863, in command of his regiment, which was greatly distinguished. General Shoup, commanding the Louisiana brigade, said, ‘Col. Allen Thomas was constantly at his post. He was vigilant and energetic.’ He shared the fate of the prisoners of war, and was for some time under parole. On February 4, 1864, he was promoted to brigadier-general and assigned to General Taylor's department, where he had command of a brigade consisting of the Seventeenth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth and Thirty-first Louisiana infantry, and Weatherby's Louisiana battalion. His brigade had not, however, been exchanged in time to participate in the spring campaign of 1864. When assembled it was assigned to the division of Gen. Camille J. [320] Polignac. This division he was in charge of after General Polignac went to Europe, and Gen. Kirby Smith referred to him as an able division commander.
Brigadier-General Zebulon York
Brigadier-General Zebulon York accompanied the Fourteenth Louisiana to Virginia in 861 as its lieutenant-colonel. In the early spring of 1862 the Fourteenth Louisiana was on the peninsula in the division of Gen. James Longstreet. On the 5th of May, as the army of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston retired toward Richmond his rear guard had a very sharp conflict with McClellan's advance at Williamsburg, with the result both sides claimed a victory. General Longstreet in his report thus speaks: ‘Lieut.-Col. Zebulon York discharged his difficult duties with marked skill and fearlessness.’ During the Seven Days he had become colonel of the Fourteenth Louisiana and led the regiment through that fiery ordeal. After the campaigns of Second Manassas, Maryland and Fredericksburg Colonel York was ordered to report to Gen. Richard Taylor in Louisiana to organize and drill conscripts designed for the Louisiana brigades in the army of Northern Virginia. After he had completed this mission Colonel York returned to the army of Northern Virginia, and appears again upon its muster-roll at the head of his regiment during the Gettysburg campaign. On May 31, 1864, while the Overland campaign was in progress, Colonel York was commissioned brigadier-general with temporary rank, and he was assigned to the command of all the Louisiana troops in the army of Northern Virginia. These troops included the heroic remnants of the brigades of Hays and Stafford, one of whom had been killed in battle, and the other severely wounded. When Early's corps was sent to Lynchburg, York's brigade was part of his force. Early was at first very successful, driving Hunter beyond the mountains, marching triumphantly down the valley, clearing it of Federal troops, then crossing the Potomac, defeating Wallace at the Monocacy [321] and advancing to the very suburbs of Washington, giving the people of the North the greatest scare that they had experienced during the whole war. At the battle of Winchester, fought on the 19th of September, 1864, General York was severely wounded, losing an arm, and was thus incapacitated for further service in the field during the campaign of 1864.
