Report of Brig. Gen. Alfred Mouton (1863); Rapides, Louisiana
Submitter: Mark Baggett, Florence, MS.
Date: 2000
Converted to text file by: Jo Branch
Date: 29 Jun 2004



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From: Chap. XXVIL, page 176
 

Report of Brig. Gen. Alfred Mouton, C.S. Army
At Mrs. Meade's November 4, 1862.
 
Sir: I have the honor of submitting the following report of the movements prededing and following the engagement of the 27th October, 1862, and details relative thereto.
Late on the 25th of October, 1862, I received information that the gunboats abnd transports of the enemy were moving up the river slowly and cautiously, and that in all likelihood they would soon be at Donaldsonville. They arrived there on the evening of the 25th and commenced landing troops, completing the landing on the 26th. Immediately I moved to Donaldsonville, and found that our troops at the point had fallen back, under command of Colonel [W.G.] Vincent, to the Tacconici, in the parish of Assumption, about 12 miles from Donaldsonville. Colonel Vincent informed me that from all the information he had obtained the enemy numbered from 2,500 to 3,000 infantry, 250 cavalry, and two batteries of field artillery. To oppose this force, which was mainly on the left descending bank of La Fourche, Colonel Vincent had only 600 infantry and about 250 calvalry, with Semmes' field battery. The disparity was so great that I deemed it my duty still to recede until the re-enforcements I had ordered up arived, and accordingly fell back to the plantation of Mr. Winn, 2 miles above Labadieville, where the Eighteenth and Crescent Regiments and Ralston's battery reached me at about 2 p.m., coming in from Berwick Bay and Bayou Boeuf, where they were stationed. I had also ordered the Terre Bonne Regiment militia forward, and they arrived at about 8 a.m. On the 27th Faries' battery was ordered up, but it reached me only on the morning of the 28th. The columns of the enemy were advancing on both banks in about equal force, and in consequence, to prevent being outflanked, it became necessary to hold positions on both sides of the bayou. The Eighteenth and Crescent, supported by Ralston's battery, were placed on the right descending bank, and the Terre Bonne regiment moved over to the left bank. Thus to oppose the enemy on the right bank I had, according to returns made, viz:
Eighteenth Regiment............................................240
Crescent Regiment..............................................135
Ralston's battery.........................................................64
Detachment of cavalry..........................................100
                                                                              ____539
And on the left bank, viz:
Thirty-third Regiment...........................................594
Terre Bonne regiment.............................................34
Semmes' battery..................................................75
Second Louisiana Cavalry........................................150
                                                                              ____853
______
1,392