Military Adventures Beyond the Mississippi

The Opelousas Expedition

The Opelousas Expedition
(click to enlarge)

West of the Mississippi River lies an exceedingly rich and fertile section of country. It is intersected by numerous bayous and large lakes, and embraces much of the richest lands in the State. It is called by the Southerners “The Paradise of the South." The rebels, not anticipating any attack from the Union soldiers in this quarter, had put in their crops as usual. A small force was stationed in the heart of this section for its protection; and its efficiency was greatly increased by the presence of a small gun boat, the Cotton, which, threading with ease the innumerable bayous and lagoons, afforded very efficient protection against any mere land-forces.
 

In the midst of this region, some seventy-five miles west of New Orleans, in a straight line, is Lake Chetimacha. It is connected with the Gulf of Mexico by the Atchafalaya River. Near the head of this river, and not far from the shore of the lake is Brashear City, connected with New Orleans by the New Orleans, Opelousas, and Great Western Railroad, of which it is the present western terminus. Plowing into this lake is the Bayou Teche, which rises in St. Landre parish, and flows thence in a southeasterly direction through the towns of Opelousas, Martinsville, and Franklin. After the capture of the capital of the State the remains of the rebel State government had retreated to Opelousas, where the rebel Legislature was in fact assembling in accordance with a proclamation of the Governor on the very day on which General Banks assumed command of the Department of the Gulf.

General Godfrey Weitzel (Click on image to enlarge)

Meanwhile General Weitzel, with a brigade of five regiments, left on transports, landed at Donaldsonville on the Mississippi River, and commenced a march across the country to join the fleet at Brashear City. About nine miles beyond Donaldsonville they met the enemy, who were drawn up in line of battle to receive them. But after a short though brilliant engagement, the rebels ignominiously fled, leaving two hundred and sixty-eight prisoners in General Weitzel's hands, with one piece of artillery. During the remainder of his march he met with little or* no resistance.

The negroes flocked in great numbers to his camps, each bringing some palatable addition to the soldiers' otherwise hard fare. The people, surprised to be kindly treated, learned to regard as friends those whom they had been taught to look upon as enemies. The retreating rebels burned their warehouses, destroyed their crops, took whatever they wanted, and made no other recompense than Confederate scrip. The patriot army provided the rural population with a valuable market in New Orleans for such articles as their professed friends had not stolen or destroyed, and paid fair prices for what they took. Meanwhile the Opelousas Railroad, destroyed by the rebels, was repaired by a force moving directly west from New Orleans, and thus communication was opened between General Weitzel and the former place.

Joining the fleet at Brashear City early in January, the combined expedition proceeded up the Teche River. Here they found formidable preparations made to resist the farther advance of the expedition. Rifle-pits and concealed batteries were planted on the shore. Torpedoes and obstructions were placed in the river. The position of the land defenses, flanked by an impenetrable swamp, was such as to prevent a successful attack by the national infantry. And after a brief but gallant engagement the fleet were compelled to fall back. One principal object of their expedition, however, was accomplished. For the rebels, fearing that another attack might prove more successful, and determined not to allow their gun-boat to fall into the hands of their antagonists, applied the torch to the steamer, and floated her down toward the national fleet, one sheet of flame.

Satisfied for the present with this measure of success, General Weitzel retired to Thibodeaux, near the Opelousas River, which he made his head-quarters.