BANCROFT 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 < 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
Af 
 
MEMOEIAL 
 
 OF 
 
 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN 
 
 BY HIS FATHER. 
 
 F 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PRINTED BY HENRY W. DUTTON AND SON, 
 
 90 & 92 WASHINGTON STEEET. 
 
 1867. 
 
EH 
 - 1 
 
E / 
 
 $o w'g/i ts grandeur to our dust, 
 
 So near is God to man 
 When Duty whispers low, THOU MUST, 
 
 The youth replies, I CAN. 
 
 RALPH WALDO EMERSON. 
 
YKAftGU T nO fi LMUii 3KT 
 
MEMORIAL. 
 
 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN was born in Salem, Massa- 
 chusetts, May twentieth, 1838. He attended some of 
 our private schools during the earliest years of his life. 
 Having suffered from scarlet fever, and a very severe 
 relapse, which confined him for many months, on his 
 partial recovery he renewed his studies under private 
 instructors, as he lost time by this illness ; and not 
 having a particular desire for a college education, he 
 continued these private lessons for many years, even 
 to the time when he commenced his travels in this 
 country, preparatory to a foreign tour. As boy and 
 young man, he exhibited decided military taste ; and 
 he was much interested in our volunteer militia and 
 held a commission in the Salem Light Infantry, which 
 he resigned to go abroad. His favorite reading was 
 that of the lives of^ military heroes, of battles and of 
 war. His memory was retentive ; and I have been 
 often surprised, in conversation with him, to hear how 
 i* 
 
6 PICKEEING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 familiar and thorough he was in these matters, unu- 
 sually so for one not especially educated and intended 
 for a military life. The thought that he ever would 
 have occasion to fight for the maintenance of the 
 honor and independence of the flag of his country 
 had never, up to this time, entered his mind. 
 
 Early in November, 1859, then being nearly 
 twenty-one years and six months of "age, he sailed 
 from New York, in the steamer Baltic, for San Fran- 
 cisco, meaning to visit that region and go thence to 
 the East Indies. What were his experiences, and 
 what places he sojourned at, will appear by extracts 
 from his letters : 
 
 LETTEES FKOM SAN FBANCISCO. 
 
 STEAMER BALTIC, AT SEA, Nov. 12, 1859. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, 
 
 We have had a very fine passage, so far, and expect 
 to arrive at the Isthmus to-night. The sail down New 
 York harbor was very pleasant. We passed the Northern- 
 Light steamer the rival boat before getting beyond the 
 islands. The second day out, we encountered a severe 
 northeast gale, which lasted thirty-six hours. I was sea- 
 sick during this time, but have not been since. T was 
 
 not seasick. Only nine of one hundre/l and fifty cabin pas- 
 sengers appeared at table the day of the storm. While it 
 lasted, we had several accidents on board : One steerage 
 
LETTERS FROM SAN FRANCISCO. I 
 
 passenger broke his leg, and another his arm ; one of the 
 horses died ; and the planks around the wheelhouse were 
 torn up by the sea. Among other things on board are 
 forty-three hives of bees, and they are very plenty on the 
 deck; they do not sting; they came very near going over- 
 board in the storm, but most of them were saved by the 
 sailors. I like the sea as well as I expected ; it is rather 
 tiresome. We have ten hundred and twenty-seven passen- 
 gers one hundred and fifty first-cabin, two hundred second, 
 and the rest steerage ; many extremely pleasant people 
 among them. A lady (with her father), going to Lima, 
 is very accomplished; she speaks six languages. Mr. War- 
 ren, of New York, is very entertaining; he has written two 
 or three books on South America. Other Boston and New 
 York gentlemen and ladies I have become acquainted with ; 
 and Mr. Hovelley, who is going to Panama, is a son of the 
 President of the Panama and Aspinwall Railroad. He 
 introduced me to the Captain, Purser, and others. The 
 Purser offered to look after my baggage, which is a great 
 relief, as the heat in the baggage room is intense. Mr. 
 Crosby of Boston, and of the^ firm of Crosby & Co. of 
 Callao, introduced me yesterday to a niece of my French 
 teacher, Mons. Jerome of Salem. She wondered that you 
 had a son so old as myself. Yesterday, we passed by Cuba 
 without stopping; the island appeared beautiful; we were 
 very near the shore for three or four hours. Flying fish are 
 plentiful, but none have come on board. The weather is 
 now extremely hot. 
 
PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 STEAMSHIP SONORA, Nov. 19, 1859. 
 
 I am now writing this to leave at Acapulco, as it will 
 reach you a steamer sooner than a letter mailed at San 
 Francisco. We arrived at Aspinwall last Saturday, at 
 midnight, a week ago to-day. The trip over the Isthmus 
 was delightful, the weather being remarkably fine and the 
 scenery grand. I was much struck with the vegetation: 
 the trees were very large and splendid ; orchids were 
 growing on nearly all of the large ones, and some of the 
 flowers were beautiful. Oranges, cocoanuts, bananas and 
 pineapples were plenty ; the latter remarkably fine, the 
 
 oranges were not. T left at Panama, and has gone to 
 
 Lima. Last night we had a heavy gale of wind in the Gulf 
 of Tehauntepec, which is noted for its gales; the Captain 
 says he never knew it blow harder on this coast; many of 
 the ladies were much frightened, the waves were tremen- 
 dous, and I was a little seasick. The blacks at Aspinwall 
 and Panama were plenty, and willing to carry baggage at 
 exorbitant rates ; we paid th,em about half they asked. One 
 of them was much delighted by a new ten cent piece I paid 
 him ; another immediately came to know if I had been to 
 the place where they made bits ; another was looking over 
 a picture book that a child had, and seemed much pleased. 
 Only one alligator made his appearance: he was about three 
 feet long, and seemed nearly all mouth. We should have 
 been at Acapulco to-night; we were detained a little by the 
 gale; expect to be there early to-morrow, when we shall 
 stop a few hours. The coast of Mexico looking finely, 
 
LETTERS FROM SAN FRANCISCO. 9 
 
 high and bold is now in sight. We have just passed 
 through an immense school of porpoises ; some of their 
 jumps were wonderful. Flying fish are very plenty and are 
 amusing, jumping in and out of the water. The steamer is 
 very crowded; there are three in our state room; I have the 
 middle berth. We have very pleasant times on the ship; 
 the party well acquainted sit together at meals ; we break- 
 fast at eight and a half, lunch at one, dine at four and a half. 
 The last of this letter has been written on my knee, and I 
 do not know that you will be able to read it; but the table 
 was wanted and I had to leave the saloon ; even there it is 
 hard writing, as the motion of the boat is great. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO, DEC. 4, 1859. 
 
 We arrived in this city last Sunday; it was a splendid 
 day. All our arrivals were on Sunday, at Aspinwall, 
 Panama, Acapulco, and at this place. Acapulco is a small 
 Mexican town, with a population of about two thousand ; 
 we arrived there at two in the morning, when several gen- 
 tlemen and myself went on shore and breakfasted on broiled 
 chickens and fried bananas; the women who waited upon 
 us at the table were all smoking. As soon as we landed a 
 great number of children surrounded us, teasing us to buy * 
 all sorts of nicknacks ; as we would not buy, they wanted to 
 make presents, which we also firmly refused to accept; some 
 who did take them were followed and had to reciprocate by 
 giving them a half dollar, a sum much in excess in value of 
 the article received. Fruit was plentiful and good; it was 
 both nicer and cheaper than at Aspinwall or Panama. As 
 
10 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 soon as it was daylight the steamer was surrounded by men, 
 swimming; they were waiting for dimes to be thrown over; 
 their diving was wonderful, they only lost one out of a large 
 number tossed them. The passage up from Acapulco was 
 very pleasant; we had only one rainy day. We had one 
 accident: a little girl of six years of age fell from the upper 
 deck down into the second cabin, a distance of thirty feet; 
 she broke her thigh, but the surgeon says she will get well. 
 I am at the Oriental Hotel, a very old looking wooden 
 building, but a very good and well kept house. The gentle- 
 men here have been very polite and attentive: Mr. Low 
 introduced me to the Merchants' Exchange, and his brother 
 George to the Mercantile Library; Dr. Bonie sent me an 
 invitation to the Pacific Club Rooms, and invited me to his 
 house; yesterday I called on George Ward, who introduced 
 me to gentlemen at the Union Club, and sent me an invita- 
 tion to it and also one to dine there to-morrow. This city 
 is a very singular place ; the buildings being mostly wooden. 
 The evening after we arrived quite a fire took place in the 
 Chinese portion of the city, and the excitement among them 
 was great; there are between five and six thousand of them 
 in the town. There are some fine buildings, and many in 
 course of construction. The view from Telegraph Hill 
 which has an elevation of six hundred feet is splendid. 
 I am to visit the forts at Fort Point with some of the 
 officers stationed here; they are not yet completed, but 
 when finished are expected to be good, and well adapted 
 for the protection of the city. I shall remain here until 
 
 M arrives, in the next steamer, when we shall go into 
 
 the country for about ten days. The grapes here are from 
 
LETTERS FROM SAN FRANCISCO. 11 
 
 Los Angelos; they are cheap, quite small and very good. 
 I write in great haste. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO, DEC. 18, 1859. 
 
 Your letter arrived safely, by the last steamer; she was 
 
 two days behind the other boat. M came, and I find 
 
 him a very pleasant companion. To-morrow we are going 
 to Sacramento; then to Grass Valley and to other mining 
 places near there. The country is now looking beautifully, 
 about the same as in the middle of May at home ; the wild 
 flowers are commencing to bloom. I have been riding on 
 horseback nearly every day the last fortnight, and have 
 seen the country around here thoroughly. Many of the 
 shops and all the theatres are open here on Sunday. 
 M and myself went to Albatross Island with Lieuten- 
 ant McPherson, in his boat; he has charge of the fort 
 building there. We have been to the Presidio, where two 
 or three hundred troops are stationed, and to Fort Point, 
 on which is a very fine fort. We went over it with Lieu- 
 tenant Elliot, who is from Billerica, in Massachusetts. The 
 city has been quite gay the last week with a Fair in Music 
 Hall, which was crowded all the time. The great attraction 
 the last few days has been the encampment of the Pitt-river 
 Indians, who were taken prisoners a few weeks ago. They 
 left here yesterday for Mendicino, the Indian Reservation. 
 They were a very mild looking set, and numbered a few 
 less, than five hundred ; when they came, many of them had 
 no clothing excepting a blanket, most of the children not 
 having even that; quantities of clothes were sent them, and 
 
12 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 before they left they looked quite respectable. Many of the 
 men had gold rings through their noses, which were highly 
 ornamental. They were not like the Indians we see at home; 
 they seemed docile and more easily managed, and were in 
 charge of a small guard. I have been out to Captain 
 Macondry's Ranch: it is twenty-one miles from town, and 
 a very pretty place ; trees are plenty there, and as they are 
 scarce in the city it was quite pleasant to see them again. 
 I have dined with Mr. Ward often, at the club ; he is a 
 very small man, and when we walk together people stare 
 tremendously; he suffers from the gout, which he says he 
 now fights off with strong coffee. The weather is remark- 
 able, only one rainy day in the three weeks I have been here; 
 white frosts nearly every morning, but no ice ; it is colder 
 up in the country. There is now only one vessel fitting for 
 China the Early Bird ; she is smaTl, and sails about the 
 fifth of January; we shall not go in her if there is any 
 prospect of any other conveyance in a reasonable time. I 
 have at last found Ellen ; she was very glad to see me ; 
 I went again to the place where she used to live, and met 
 a little girl, she knew Mrs. O'Keefe's young ones, and from 
 her I found her whereabouts ; she now lives in an entirely 
 different part of the city; she is very well, and I have sent 
 my clothes to her to-day. My love to Marion and Lizzie. 
 
 SAN FKANCISCO, JAN. 4, 1860. 
 
 On the day that I wrote you last we left here for Sacra- 
 mento, arriving there the next morning. As yet it is a 
 small place, well laid out. Early the next day we took the 
 
LETTERS FROM SAN FRANCISCO. 13 
 
 boat for Marysville, seventy-five miles up the river. It 
 was a thick day, and we saw but little to interest excepting 
 General Sutler's plantation, which is a nice farm. We took 
 the stage coach at six o'clock the next morning for Nevada, 
 arriving there at four in the afternoon; the day was pleas- 
 ant, and the drive was quite interesting; we passed through 
 Smartsville, Timbuctoo and Grass Valley, all of them mining 
 towns; as to the roads and the hills, they were dreadful, 
 nothing in New Hampshire or Vermont can compare with 
 them. We remained three days in Nevada, examining the 
 different kinds of mining. The proprietor of the hotel took 
 us to the mines and introduced us to the head workman, and 
 he took great pains to show and explain all the extensive 
 operations: these were interesting and well worth seeing; 
 large hills have been cut away to find the gold, and some 
 tunnels are three hundred feet below the surface of the 
 ground; we procured some very pretty specimens of quartz,- 
 although the gold does not show much. On our return we 
 left at half past one in the morning, in the stage coach, 
 called here a mud wagon ; it was dark and rained hard for 
 some hours; it cleared at sunrise; before, it was dull and 
 stupid and tedious, many times the wagon had to stop for 
 part of the passengers to get upon the steps and side to 
 prevent the thing from upsetting. We reached Sacramento 
 at three in the afternoon and remained until two in the 
 afternoon of the next day, arriving at San Francisco at ten 
 that night, fairly fatigued and tired out. Your letter arrived 
 last night the mail steamer being eight days behindhand. 
 The weather continues very fine, with but few storms ; 
 when it rains it pours, and floods the streets in a very short 
 2 
 
- PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 time; we do not wear or need overcoats. I hope we shall 
 be able to get away for China soon; although we are enjoy- 
 ing ourselves here very much we ought not to stay much 
 longer. The city is very gay : on Tuesday we had a large 
 party in the house, given to the guests; the next night we 
 were at a private party given by a lady; on Friday night, 
 to a ball at Virginia Block, and last night at a small party 
 at Dr. Bonie's ; and to-morrow, a lady in the house is to 
 give a very large ball over four hundred invitations have 
 been issued. I send this by the overland mail, and, since I 
 have been writing, the ship Don Quixote has arrived, and 
 if she goes to China it will be a fine vessel for us to take 
 passage there, as she is a large clipper vessel. 
 
 FRANCISCO, JAN. 16, 1860. 
 
 We are to leave here on Saturday or Sunday for Japan. 
 
 M and myself go over with Mr. Frank Knight, of 
 
 Boston, who has chartered the barque What Cheer, of four 
 or five hundred tons, with remarkably fine accommodations 
 for passengers. Mr. Knight came from there only six 
 weeks ago, and expects to establish a commercial house 
 at Kanagawa. This is only a few miles from Jeddo, which 
 place we hope to be able to visit; but this is extremely 
 doubtful. A steamer runs from Kanagawa to Shanghai, 
 
 and we expect to go to China on her. T has not yet 
 
 arrived, and we shall probably not see him ; we have been 
 here much longer than we intended. 
 
 JAN. 23. We are still in this city, but certainly sail 
 to-niorrow, at ten o'clock; we have three more passengers 
 
LETTERS FROM JAPAN. 15 
 
 on the What Cheer six in all. We expect to arrive in 
 Japan about the first of March and remain about three 
 weeks, and then go to Shanghai or Hong Kong if possible. 
 We shall not tarry long in China if an opportunity offers for 
 Manila, where I expect to stay about one month, and thence 
 go to Calcutta or Batavia. You had better direct letters 
 after the middle of March to Calcutta. I have had an 
 attack of rheumatism, but am now well again ; it lasted 
 five days. 
 
 LETTERS FROM JAPAX. 
 
 KAXAGAAVA, JAPAN, MARCH 16, AXD 
 
 YOKUHAMA, JAPAX, APRIL 10, 18GO. 
 
 DEAR FATHER AXD MOTHER, 
 
 After a pleasant passage of forty days from San Francisco 
 we arrived off the Bay of Jeddo at sunset, and had to wait 
 for daylight before entering. With daylight came a head 
 wind, which soon increased so as to be blowing a furious 
 gale, and instead of landing that day, as we had anticipated, 
 we were blown about in nearly every direction for five or 
 six days, when we finally succeeded in getting to the 
 anchorage, it snowing fast at the time. When six days 
 from San Francisco we saw two ships and spoke one the 
 Oracle, of Xew York, a fine clipper of large size; it was full 
 moon, and early in the evening, and she made a beautiful 
 appearance. When off the Sandwich Islands we met with a 
 severe gale, that lasted two days, and prevented our stopping 
 for water and provisions. We did not regret this, as our 
 stop would necessarily have been very short. The scenery 
 
16 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 of Jeddo is quite fine, the Bay full of junks, mostly small 
 fishing vessels ; and when we were sailing up the crews 
 saluted us with their Japanese cry of welcome. From the 
 anchorage the town is a very ordinary looking place, the 
 houses which one sees being occupied by fishermen and 
 boatmen. The Custom House is a large wooden, good 
 looking building, with a roof of red tiles and in a large 
 enclosure with a wall six or eight feet high around It. This 
 country has much to interest us. Kanagawa is an old town, 
 the streets very narrow; all the Consuls live here, but most 
 of the business is conducted at Yokuhama, two miles from 
 Kanagawa. It is almost impossible to get into Jeddo, ae 
 foreigners being allowed to go only ten miles inland. Our 
 Yice Consul, Mr. Hall, has been there and remained some 
 weeks. He says it is exactly like Yokuhama. only very much 
 more extended. I wish very much to go there, and shall if 
 possible ; it is fourteen miles from here. The walk between 
 Kanagawa and Yokuhama is an extremely pretty one, the 
 country beautiful and the soil rich; it must be a fine place 
 for agricultural purposes; the camalia trees are now in full 
 bloom. The people are very curious; they follow us about, 
 examining our clothes ; they were much pleased with my 
 rubber suit ; they are extremely polite and wonderfully 
 good natured ; if we go into a store and remain an hour or 
 two, giving them a great deal of trouble and without making 
 any purchases, they seem as well pleased as with a good 
 customer, and always invite you to come again. The coun- 
 try is densely populated ; the people are very much amused 
 at my height, and a great many come up and measure 
 themselves by me and seem to consider it a very good joke; 
 
LETTERS FROM JAP AX. 17 
 
 the men and unmarried women have very handsome teeth, 
 the married women blacken theirs, which makes them very 
 homely. The boatmen are wonderfully tough ; most of 
 them wear no clothes below the knee; they do not row, but 
 scull their boats, the government boats having each a dozen 
 or more scullers, each man standing up to his work; they 
 move through the water rapidly. Very few of the people 
 wear hats, and those that are worn are made of straw or 
 paper, shaped like a wash basin; their umbrellas are made of 
 oiled paper, and their stockings are made like our mittens: 
 their shoes are kept in place by a string, passing between 
 the toes. The streets are crowded with people, and the 
 coolies do all the work; they draw the wagons an ordinary 
 cart, and four of them will take a heavy load; they make a 
 tremendous noise, singing to keep time in working. Storks 
 and crows are esteemed as sacred, and they are very abun- 
 dant and tame; the latter would frequently alight upon our 
 vessel, when we were aboard of her in the harbor. The 
 Custom-house officers and petty officials wear one sword; 
 the relatives of princes wear two, one very long, the other 
 much shorter. The common people seem favorably disposed 
 towards foreigners, but the princes, who have large trains to 
 support, are much opposed, doubtless in consequence of the 
 foreign demand for goods, which has greatly increased the 
 cost of many articles, and made it very difficult for them 
 to maintain their establishments. Some of these have ten 
 thousand soldiers, clothed mostly in silk, which is, in conse- 
 quence of this foreign demand, aJread' increased in price 
 one half. All the murders have been committed by their 
 followers, and no doubt by their command, the murderer 
 
 2* 
 
18 PICKERING DODGE ALLEX. 
 
 escaping into the Provinces, and the Government, if they 
 had the will, have not the power to punish them. The lives 
 of foreigners are very insecure and we all go well armed. 
 Two Dutch captains were killed the last of February, and 
 cut to pieces in the main street of Yokuhama at five or six 
 o'clock in the afternoon, and the men escaped, although there 
 must have been hundreds near at the time. The next month 
 the followers of the Prince of Matte assassinated the Prime 
 Minister for the reason of his favoring the foreigners, and 
 had not the Governor of a Province favorable to the Gov- 
 ernment have come up at that time the assassins would have 
 escaped. They were all taken; had it been otherwise, a civil 
 war would probably have followed, as these Princes have 
 an army nearly as large as that of the Emperor. The 
 Governor of Kanagawa and Yokuhama passes through the 
 streets daily, on his way to the Custom House; he is a good 
 looking man, and has about forty attendants, several of them 
 being two-sworded officers ; a little in advance is one man 
 with a long pole with iron rings; this he shakes to announce 
 the Governor, and as he passes all the people kneel; he usu- 
 ally rides on a horse, but never moves faster than a walk, 
 as this would not be dignified. This Custom House is a 
 great annoyance to us foreigners, as we have to go there 
 twice a day to get the small sum of ten dollars changeddhto 
 Japanese itsalves; these are worth about thirty-five cents. 
 The Government have been stamping Mexican dollars at 
 three itsalves each, but the natives will not take them at any 
 better rate than before, and sell their goods for much less 
 when paid in their currency. One great difficulty in trading 
 with them is that they have no fixed price, asking two or 
 
LETTEKS FROM JAPAN. 19 
 
 three times as much for an article as they finally will sell 
 for. I shall send home some of the porcelain, bronze and 
 lacquered goods; these things are kept for sale in separate 
 shops; they are very handsome. The porcelain vases are 
 very graceful and superior to the Chinese, but having too 
 much glass in their composition gives them a bluish color ; 
 the lacquered articles are in great variety and splendid, and 
 the bronzes are fine. 
 
 Yokuhama has been built the last year, and here the 
 business of the merchants is mostly conducted. It is regu- 
 larly laid out; the main street is wide, good looking and 
 very clean. The houses are most of them two stories high, 
 the lower story being used for stores; they are built of 
 wood and part of them are painted, but they are all new 
 and fresh ; the windows are made of strong paper, oiled ; 
 they admit a good light and wear well. We saw many 
 handsome birds at a menagerie here, and two storks nearly 
 as tall as myself. Entire suits of water-proof clothing, 
 of paper, are made here, and can be had, with a cap and 
 cape, for about seventy-five cents, the collars being of silk; 
 they are glazed with oil, and are very serviceable. "We 
 found eight or ten English, Dutch and American vessels 
 here, and one Russian corvette; also one hundred and fifty 
 foreign residents, who have been here only a few weeks, the 
 most of them, the port was only opened last July. The 
 Consuls all live in Kanagawa; usually they occupy an old 
 Budhist Temple; General Dorr, the American Consul, has 
 one particularly well situated, on the top of a hill, with a 
 grove of large trees near. It is built of stone, and is very 
 large; the top of the principal room is inlaid with different 
 
20 PICKERING DODGE ALLEX. 
 
 woods, finely polished and carved. The mountain Fusiana 
 is a glorious sight at sunrise; it is nearly thirteen thousand 
 feet high, and is now covered with snow ; it seems very near, 
 but it is more than thirty miles distant. The Japanese 
 esteem this mountain as sacred, and have the belief that a 
 bad man cannot ascend to its top, that although his feet 
 may move, he can make no progress. The Custom-house 
 officers, being two-sworded men petty nobility are very 
 proud, but fond of dining with the foreign merchants and 
 always come in when they feel inclined, and, as the foreigners 
 sometimes invite the Japanese merchants, they occasionally 
 meet, when the merchant has to leave, bowing all the time 
 to the officer, who generally takes no notice of him. We 
 expect to sail from here for China in the Boston ship Judge 
 Shaw, to leave near the middle of April. I have met Mr. 
 Stearns, who was in the same house with Charles Orne for 
 several years. He says that he is in Canton, and I shall go 
 there to see him. 
 
 LETTERS FROM CHIKA. 
 
 KONG, CHINA, MAY 9, 1860. 
 
 We arrived yesterday, and on going on shore I find that 
 the mail closes this morning and I have only time to say 
 that we had a rather long passage of twenty-six days. The 
 first week out from Japan we had nothing but calms and 
 gales of wind ; one of these was a typhoon, in which the 
 ship lost all the sails set except the fore top-sail, which fortu- 
 
LETTERS FROM CHINA. 21 
 
 nately only split; after this we had very fine weather and 
 light winds. Hong Kong is crowded with strangers; the 
 French and English armies are encamped here ; they 
 number about forty thousand men. The harbor is very 
 full of vessels nearly two hundred ships sixty of them 
 men of war and transports; and the streets are entirely 
 full of soldiers, sailors and Chinamen. The soldiers are 
 reviewed three times a week, and the Sheik's cavalry attract 
 much attention. "We shall go to Canton next week, and 
 probably to Manila in a Spanish vessel of war that takes 
 passengers in about a fortnight. 
 
 MACAO, MAY 19, I860; 
 
 Since writing you last I have been in Canton, and yester- 
 day arrived here. When in Hong Kong M and myself 
 
 had our quarters at the club. The great attraction there 
 now is the army, which is encamped on the shore directly 
 opposite the city; the reviews receive much attention, and 
 the Indian Sheik's cavalry are well worth seeing ; I see by 
 the papers that more than half of them went north recently. 
 Here there is great difference of opinion as regards the 
 fighting in prospect, many thinking that the Chinese will 
 not fight, and the residue believing that it will be very severe. 
 Hong Kong has quite an American or European look; the 
 houses, many of them, are three stories in height, and built 
 of stone; the Queen's road is a handsome wide street, 
 about a mile long. The weather is cool, and we have had 
 no inconvenience from heat. 
 
22 PICKERING DODGE ALLEX. 
 
 We went to Canton in an American steamer, and were 
 only ten hours on the passage. At Canton I found Charles 
 Orne, and .he invited me to remain at his house while there. 
 He looks well and is in good health, and was very polite, 
 taking us to see all the wonders of the city: the temples, 
 with their gilded gods, life size, the pagoda is very old and 
 tall, 'but far from handsome; at the Temple of Congesity 
 were quite a number of Chinese at their worship of the 
 gilded gods (these were, some of them, ten feet high) ; we 
 went to the porcelain and ivory warehouses, and found the 
 former not so handsome as the Japanese and much more 
 expensive; the river near the city is covered with small 
 boats called san pans, the covered part of which is not 
 more than six feet square, yet the number of people living 
 in them is estimated as near one million. The merchants 
 are living in comfort; they breakfast at ten and dine at 
 seven or eight. 
 
 Friday morning we left Canton and arrived here this after- 
 noon. This is the Newport of China, and a very pleasant 
 place; we are staying with Mr. Devens of Charlestown. 
 We have visited a Chinese theatre and enjoyed it much; the 
 dresses were gorgeous, and fire crackers were extensively 
 used. 
 
 SUNDAY, MAY 20. This is my birthday and I begin to 
 feel quite old. To-morrow we go to Hong Kong, and 
 expect to sail for Manila on Thursday, in a Spanish Gov- 
 ernment vessel which carries the mail. 
 
 HONG KONG, 21sT. We have just arrived here, and 
 find the Manila vessel sails in two or three hours, three 
 days before her usual time. I have enjoyed China very 
 
LETTERS FROM MANILA. 23 
 
 much, and should have been better pleased could we have 
 had the few days more time here. 
 
 LETTERS FROM MANILA. 
 
 MANILA, JUNE 2, 1860. 
 
 On arriving here last week I was very glad to find five 
 letters from you and three from other friends; two of them 
 
 had been sent by way of China. M is with Russell & 
 
 Sturgis; I am, of course, with Mr. T . We are enjoy- 
 ing our visit here; we drive every afternoon and sometimes 
 in the morning, and so many carriages and horses are kept 
 (every gentlemen having them), and frequenting one drive 
 every day, from six to seven in the afternoon, that guards 
 are placed to prevent their passing each other, the fine for 
 doing so being ten dollars. The passage over from China 
 was very uncomfortable, the accommodations exceedingly 
 poor, the state rooms hot and unventilated ; but on shore we 
 do not find the heat uncomfortable, and, as this is called one 
 of the warmest months in the year, hope it will not be so 
 bad as we had feared. I should prefer this island for a resi- 
 dence to China, as the society is good, and the drives are a 
 great advantage and the climate fine. This city has a pop- 
 ulation of about two hundred thousand, and is quite large, 
 with many old churches and convents. The Government 
 maintains quite a large force now ten thousand soldiers 
 and the many regimental bands of music are very good, 
 playing in different parts of the city. The Spanish boy 
 Benigno, who went to Mr. Yery's school with me, in Salem, 
 
24 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 vp 
 
 is now in the country ; he is expected to be here next week, 
 when I hope to meet him. 
 
 I want you to send me, to Constantinople, a traveller's 
 letter of credit, to be used there and in Europe; also my 
 letters to the same place. We shall have to return to Hong 
 Kong from here, and shall go by the next mail two weeks 
 hence and take the regular steamer to Singapore and go 
 from there to Batavia, as every one we see recommends us 
 to go to Java and pass a few weeks ; from there we shall 
 go to Calcutta. I shall send home, -from Hong Kong, my 
 Japanese purchases, with a few Chinese articles. I have 
 bought some goods here and shall send them, with most of 
 my white clothes from Calcutta. These accumulate, and I 
 have now twenty suits of linen and cotton, and it is hard 
 to get along with these. 
 
 My love to M and L , and all the family. 
 
 MANILA, JULY 1, 1860. 
 
 Since writing you last I have been in this city, with the 
 exception of a few days at Masekeno, a mall village ten 
 miles from here with excellent bathing and walking facili- 
 ties. The country is pretty, and the view from a high hill 
 is a very fine one and very extensive. Yesterday we were 
 
 very much surprised at T 's arrival from Hong Kong. 
 
 He will go with us to Batavia. 
 
 We expected to leave here to-morrow, but owing to some 
 accident to the Manila boat we shall be detained another 
 fortnight. I am sorry for this, as I do not like to spare 
 
LETTERS FROM SINGAPORE. 25 
 
 so much time for one place. It has rained most of the time 
 for a week past, but it is fine to-day ; it is to be hoped that 
 the rainy season is not setting in yet awhile. 
 
 LETTERS FKOM SINGAPORE. 
 
 SINGAPORE, AUG. 3, 1860. 
 
 I am now on board the ship Singapore, and a few miles 
 from the port; we expect to be at anchor soon, and, as the 
 mail leaves the next day, write now. "VVe left Manila on the 
 nineteenth of July; arrived at Hong Kong in five days, after 
 a fine, pleasant passage. As fellow passenger, we had the 
 French Bishop of Cochin China, a very agreeable man, and 
 we talked in French, which was at least advantageous to me. 
 We have a French officer in this ship, so that I have been 
 able to keep up conversation as well as if Mons. Jerome had 
 been with us. I hope to be so fortunate as to meet with 
 more on the future passages at sea. Before leaving Manila, 
 we were present at the inauguration of a statue of the 
 Queen of Spain; there was a grand parade of troops, with 
 military mass by the Bishop, and a great ball given by the 
 Governor in the evening. Manila is a very pleasant place, 
 and, although my stay there was longer than I anticipated, 
 
 Mr. T , by his kindness and attention, made my visit 
 
 very pleasant, and I enjoyed myself very much. I have 
 sent home my Japanese goods by Twing's barque D. God- 
 frey, from Hong Kong, and have sent other small packages 
 by other conveyances, and by Captain "Waters, some views 
 of places in the Island of Susan, and the stem of a very 
 beautiful cactus, in tin with moist grass the case is air tight 
 
26 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 and a like package has been sent to Germany with success. 
 I have never seen so fine a flower of the cactus, except the 
 Xight-blooming Cereus, which it equals in size. 
 
 AUG. 4. "We find we may stay here ten days before we 
 sail for Batavia; the hotel is good, kept by a Frenchman. 
 Our passage here has been very fortunate, as this is the 
 stormy season and we have had only a few hours blow 
 since leaving China; the ship is large and comfortable, 
 with accommodations for forty passengers, and we had 
 only fifteen. 
 
 AUG. 13. Since the last mail, we have been to the oppo- 
 site side of the island, where the Government have two 
 bungalows, in one of which we lived. It was beautifully 
 situated on the top of a hill, the jungle very thick on one 
 side and a fine sea view on the other. The trees were very 
 tall; I should think some of them were fully two hundred 
 feet high. We had hoped for good shooting, but were dis- 
 appointed, and did not see anything but monkeys and small 
 birds; one monkey was as large as a boy twelve years old. 
 
 I write and repeat much written before about finances for 
 fear my other letters may not reach you, and as f I find it 
 more advantageous to negotiate a draft here and take sover- 
 eigns to Java. We leave in the morning, at daylight, by 
 mail packet, and expect to return here in a month to take 
 steamer direct to Calcutta. The charge for passage to 
 Batavia and back is one hundred and fifty dollars; as it only 
 takes six days, it is at least enough to secure the company 
 from loss. By the papers I see that they are making great 
 lions of the Japanese in New York; the great ball must 
 have astonished them. 
 
LETTER FROM PEXANG. 27 
 
 The merchants here live in the country, which is very 
 pretty; the roads are good, and the ride of four miles quite 
 pleasant. Chinese abound here, as they seem to everywhere 
 in the East; in this island they outnumber the Malays. A 
 few days ago, an enormous tiger was taken in a trap, three 
 miles out of the city; he was a very different animal from 
 what one sees at home. Fruit is plentiful; we drink the 
 milk of the fresh cocoanut before breakfast; the pineapples, 
 mangustines and several other kinds are very fine. 
 
 LETTER FROM PESTANG. 
 
 PENANG, OCT. 23, 1860. 
 
 We had a long passage from Singapore to this place ; 
 the wind was constantly against us, with remarkably fine 
 weather. I shall go to Calcutta in the steamer which leaves 
 in a few days. I write a short letter, as my last was very 
 long, giving an account of our visit at Java, of what places 
 visited, and interesting objects seen there. 
 
 This is one of the prettiest places I have ever seen, and a 
 pleasant residence for a short time, but must be dull after 
 the novelty of the situation has passed. Nutmegs grow 
 here in abundance, and the tree is a fine one. 
 
 The letter referred to above was never received. 
 We were sorry for the loss, as it contained the 
 account of the voyage to Java, and of his visit at 
 the island ; also, a description of a wild-boar hunt in 
 the mountains, in which the animal was shot by 
 
28 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 Pickering, but not at first killed. He had a guard 
 of natives, armed with spears, to assist in killing, and 
 for defence, should such an accident happen. When 
 they saw the beast turn to the attack, they ran, 
 leaving him to defend himself; he gave a second 
 charge into his head, without disabling him, and 
 then followed this up with blows from the but-end 
 of the gun, which the boar seized in his mouth, grasp- 
 ing with it Pickering's fingers. He was not much 
 hurt, but it was considered unsafe for him to go to 
 the heat of the seashore, and he had to remain in 
 the mountains until the hand was healed. This he 
 regretted, as his friends had to leave and go by the 
 steamer to Calcutta. 
 
 LETTER FROM CALCUTTA. 
 
 CALCUTTA, Nov. 8, 1860. 
 
 I arrived here a week ago from Penang, and, before land- 
 ing, received a note from Mr. W , inviting me to his 
 
 house. I am now with him, and having a fine time; we 
 have been living in the country, but yesterday moved in. I 
 was much disappointed in the date of my letters, expecting 
 more recent ones. I have written to London -to have my 
 letter of credit, and all my letters, sent to the care of the 
 United States Consul at Malta. I shall not go to Constan- 
 tinople, but direct to Paris, and to Italy at Carnival. I see 
 C F often, and receive much late Salem news from 
 
LETTERS FROM PARIS. 29 
 
 his letters. Calcutta is very pleasant now, and no climate 
 could be better than this at the present season, and it is now 
 very healthy; the cholera has raged, and the season just 
 passed has been one of the very worst. We ride every 
 morning at six. I expect to start for up country in two 
 days with three of the passengers by steamer from Penang, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Melbourne, residents of Batavia and former 
 acquaintances at that place, and Mr. CMferles Dickens, Jr., a 
 son of the celebrated Mr. Dickens. My friends resident 
 here advise this journey, as the Indian cities are well worth 
 seeing. We go to Rannegunge by rail it is one hundred 
 and twenty miles from here; we shall then take horse dornk 
 and go to Benares, Delhi, Cawnpore, Lucknow and Agra; 
 from thence to Bombay, where we expect to arrive the 
 ninth of December. We have written to engage our pas- 
 sages by the mail leaving there the twelfth; this should 
 bring us to Marseilles about the seventh of January. 
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 PARIS, 15TH JANUARY, 1861. 
 
 I received letters from you at Malta, sent from Con- 
 stantinople, and the -letter of credit. It is very expensive 
 travelling by the overland mail, and in fact, in all the steam 
 or packet vessels in the East Indies. Your last letter 
 received was of October 2. 
 
 The day after my last letter, our party started from Cal- 
 cutta on our up-country journey. At Rannegunge we took 
 horse dornk, as it is called, for the North. We had very 
 good ghurries ; they are so arranged that one sits up or lies 
 
30 PICKEKING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 down by changing the seats ; we always slept in them 
 except at large stations where there were hotels; it is a 
 very comfortable way of travelling, and we all enjoyed the 
 journey very much. Our first stopping place was Benares, 
 then Allahabad, Cawnpore, Lucknow, Delhi, -and Agra. 
 Lucknow is the finest city and next comes Delhi. It is 
 really wonderful how the English took the last place with 
 so small a force; ffee fortifications are very strong. The 
 palace of the King of Oude, at Lucknow, is a wonderful 
 place, and the gardens must have been perfectly splendid ; 
 it has a pond, with a very handsome bridge crossing it 
 built of white marble, and there are several pavilions, of the 
 same material, of very fine workmanship. The Taj, at 
 Agra, is the finest building in India; it is of the finest white 
 marble and very splendid; and there are two tombs of the 
 same. . When at Agra, we found that it would take longer 
 to reach Bombay than we had anticipated, and feared that 
 it would be very tiresome; so we turned and travelled as 
 fast as possible for Calcutta, arriving there in time for the 
 steamer, which sailed early the next morning. 
 
 We had only thirty-five passengers to Galle, Ceylon; here 
 we found as many more, from Australia and China. The 
 steamer was the Malta, a fine vessel of *nearly two thousand 
 tons, very fast and comfortable. We stayed at Galle two 
 days, which was long enough to see what was worth our 
 notice ; two and a half days at Aden, where I met our 
 
 townsman, Mr. J W , who invited me to his home, 
 
 where I remained while there; and in Egypt we stopped 
 two and a half days; so that I saw much without waiting 
 a mail. Mr. Dickens, with whom I had roomed on the 
 
LETTERS FROM PARIS. 31 
 
 other side, left here he waiting a mail. We now took a 
 small ship, the Valette, of only seven hundred tons, and, 
 after the first day, had rough weather and an uncomfortable 
 passage all the way to Malta. 
 
 PARIS, 29TH JANUARY. 
 
 The weather has been exceedingly disagreeable most of 
 the time since my arrival. I take a lesson in French every 
 morning and gain rapidly; I have seen many of the won- 
 ders of Paris, but have much yet to see. My friends, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Melbourne, with whom I have been so long, left 
 Paris last week for England. The news from the United 
 States looks very blue, and worse and worse every mail. 
 What do your Memphis and Pontotoc letters say? 
 
 PARIS, SD FEBRUARY, 1861. 
 
 Last night, I received a letter from you. It had been to 
 London, sent thence to Malta, returned to London, and sent 
 to me here. I think you had best direct my letters to Paris 
 for the next three months, and they can be more easily for- 
 warded to me. 
 
 So you never received my letter from Singapore, after my 
 return from Java. It was a very long one, covering six 
 pages of large letter paper. The illness, that you heard o, 
 at Singapore, was probably in Java ; I hurt my hand at a 
 hunt in Bandary, otherwise I have not been unwell since 
 leaving California. Letters from the States say that it 
 Is the opinion of the merchants of New York that our 
 domestic troubles will be amicably settled. The lost letter 
 
32 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 contained a list of all my drafts while in India; so will send 
 you the list again. I wish mother would send me a list of 
 things to purchase here, suitable for home presents. 
 
 PARIS, 20TH FEBRUARY. 
 
 Mr. A. P and myself leave to-morrow morning for 
 
 the south of France and Italy. We go first to Marseilles, and 
 probably through Nice to Genoa, Turin, and from Genoa to 
 Naples by water, as it is not now safe by land. I have read 
 Minturn's New York to Delhi, and prefer it to any book I 
 have read on India. I am surprised the cactus did not live, 
 and hope the D. Godfrey is not lost, as my things could not 
 be replaced. 
 
 I have seen most of Paris; the suburbs I have not, 
 reserving them for summer. I still hope our national 
 difficulties will be arranged without disunion. I do not 
 expect to return home before the last of September. 
 
 LETTER FROM NICE. 
 
 NICE, 2D MARCH, 1861. 
 
 "We left Paris the twenty-fifth February for Lyons and 
 Marseilles, thence to Toulon, visited the navy yard and saw 
 the celebrated iron-plated ship La Gloire, of which so much 
 has been said; she does not look like a good sea-boat, so 
 much iron making her too heavy. From Toulon we went 
 to Hyeres, ten miles; there we remained two days, and 
 were much pleased with what we saw; thence we came here. 
 The weather now is as fine as it can be ; the grass is as green 
 
LETTER FROM NAPLES. 33 
 
 as in June with us at home; the trees are in bloom, so are 
 the wild flowers and in the gardens I have seen some roses, 
 and the orange trees are full of fruit and look beautifully. 
 There are many English people spending the winter here, 
 but very few Americans. 
 
 People here who were in Naples a few weeks ago say that 
 it is perfectly safe there, and that travellers can get along 
 well, the newspapers representing things much worse than 
 the reality; we expect to be there in ten days and after a 
 short stop go to Rome. We went by railroad from Mar- 
 seilles to Toulon, and the train had a narrow escape from 
 accident; several rocks, weighing tons each, fell on the 
 track only a few minutes before our arrival at the place ; 
 we were detained four or five hours before they could be 
 removed, no one was hurt. 
 
 LETTER FROM NAPLES. 
 
 NAPLES, 20TH MARCH, 1861. 
 
 . 
 From. Nice we went to Genoa by diligence, over one of 
 
 the prettiest roads running along by the shore of the Medi- 
 terranean. We were two days going, and the weather was 
 delightful. After a short stay at Genoa we took an English 
 steamer for this city, stopping at Leghorn, which place I 
 did not recognize, notwithstanding the brig Governor Endi- 
 cott, with a painting of the port, always hung over my 
 washstand in my chamber at home. We were fortunate in 
 having two good days for our sea-passage ; it has been very 
 rough generally this spring, and the boats that left here 
 recently had to put back. 
 
84 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 We are in the fourth story of the Hotel Grand Bretagne, 
 with a fine view of the bay. The weather is windy and 
 only tolerably good. "We are very busy, as there is so much 
 to be seen of interest here; two or three days we have 
 devoted to the Museum, where are deposited the articles 
 taken from Pompeii and Herculaneum, one day we went to 
 Pompeii, and last Saturday we ascended Vesuvius. The day 
 was very fine and clear, and the view beautiful ; the ascent 
 was much easier than we expected from the description of it 
 in Hillard's and Murray's Italy. Sunday evening we went 
 to Sorento, and from there to Salerno, and Psestum, where 
 the Greek ruins are more than twenty-four hundred years 
 old ; they are in good preservation, and are considered 
 among the finest ruins in Italy. We shall leave in two days 
 for Rome, by land, as it is now perfectly safe, stopping one 
 day at Gaeta, being at Rome during the ceremonies of 
 holy week. There I hope to find an accumulation of letters, 
 as it is sometime since I have received any. 
 
 
 LETTERS FROM ROME. 
 
 ROME, APRIL 2, 1861. 
 
 I received yesterday your letters of nineteenth and twenty- 
 sixth February and March fifth; they should have been here 
 before, and in future you had best send all letters to London 
 to be forwarded to me as heretofore; this is the only safe 
 course. We came here by vettura from Naples, stopping 
 at Gaeta, and arrived a week ago ; we had trouble in finding 
 rooms, the city is so crowded; we were fortunate in the 
 
LETTERS FROM ROME. 35 
 
 weather from Kaples. I am glad to learn that the Japan- 
 ese things have arrived safely, and that you think them 
 handsome. 
 
 We have been present at all the ceremonies of holy week, 
 and have been fortunate in obtaining good positions. Last 
 evening the illumination, postponed from Sunday on account 
 of the weather, took place; it was one of the most beau- 
 tiful sights I have ever witnessed ; the night was calm, 
 and very fine for the purpose. To-night we expect the 
 display of fireworks. 
 
 I find St. Peter's surpasses all my expectations; it is most 
 wonderful. We have not done much at sight-seeing in gen- 
 eral, as the services of holy week have consumed all our 
 time ; still we have visited some of the galleries of paintings 
 and part of the Vatican, the Coliseum, and Forum. We 
 shall no doubt remain here two or three weeks longer; then 
 we shall go to Florence. 
 
 I hope our political troubles may be settled, but to me 
 they look blue enough; I like Mr. Lincoln's address, and 
 think it good and sensible, and hope he may be able to do 
 some good. Write me about the Salem Infantry, and tell 
 me who are the officers besides Captain Devereux. 
 
 ROME, OTH AND 15Tti APRIL. These letters are 
 devoted to the churches and galleries, and to the 
 uncertain and complicated condition of our political 
 affairs. 
 
36 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 LETTER FROM BOLOGKA. 
 
 BOLOGNA, APRIL 28, 1861. 
 
 We arrived yesterday, from Florence, by the diligence. 
 I leave to-morrow, for Milan; shall stay only a day, as 
 there is but little to see besides the Cathedral; and thence 
 to Venice, for a few days. I have your letters of twenty- 
 seventh March and the second of April, and have seen the 
 late Boston papers. I hope we shall not have war; but if 
 Davis has as many men under arms as the papers state, it 
 will be very difficult to keep them quiet. Their credit is 
 poor enough here, and it will not be an easy matter to 
 raise money for them. 
 
 The day before leaving Florence, we joined Mr. Appleton 
 and a party from Boston, who had special permission to 
 visit the palace of Prince Demidoif. This is the only one 
 that I have seen in Europe that equals my idea of what a 
 palace should be. It is probably the finest in Europe; 
 there are twenty-one rooms on the first floor, all of them 
 very splendid. He is a Russian ; is the owner of a mine of 
 malachite, and one of the wealthiest men in the world. 
 There are vases, fire places and tables made of it, and so 
 abundant is its use that you would suppose it to be of no 
 more value than marble. We saw also any quantity 
 of gold and silver vases, dinner services, besides lots of 
 precious stones, of all sorts. 
 
LETTERS FROM MILAN AND VIENNA. 37 
 
 LETTER FROM MILAN. 
 
 MILAN, APRIL 30. 
 
 I had a long day, yesterday, in the cars from seven In 
 the morning until eleven at night. The London papers 
 of the twenty-seventh have just been received, with the 
 news of the taking of Sumter. I cannot understand it; 
 forty hours cannonading, and no one killed on either side; 
 the firing must have been very bad. I suppose the border 
 States will now secede, and, if they do not, they will furnish 
 the South with troops and do us as much injury as if openly 
 against us. If a regular war is to take place, I think it best 
 for me to return home, as I do not wish to be away. Will 
 you write me, as soon as you receive this, and tell me what 
 you think I had best do ? If you write immediately, the 
 letter will be in London in five weeks. I am going to 
 Venice to-morrow. 
 
 LETTER FROM VIENNA. 
 
 VIENNA, MAY 10, 1861. 
 
 I have your letter of the twenty-third of April. We 
 cannot get any late American papers here, but the Londoa 
 Times is full of extracts from them; the excitement must be 
 tremendous. I hope the Southerners will not be able to 
 take Washington ; should they do so, the effect abroad 
 would be very bad for our cause. I am sorry that the 
 President had not called Congress together sooner, and 
 caused an increase of the regular army ; I would a thousand 
 4 
 
38 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 times prefer fifty thousand regulars to double that number 
 of militia; the men have not* the least idea of what they will 
 suffer. Our Commissariat department is poor enough. "We 
 must hold Baltimore, if we are to keep troops at Washington 
 well supplied. I did not realize how troops lived in time of 
 war, until seeing them before Gaeta, and this was one of 
 the best equipped armies that ever took the field, and we 
 were there too late to see the worst of it. About sixteen 
 men lived in a very small hut, made of mud, in most cases 
 without any windows; they were at times wet, hot, cold, and 
 always nasty. It is dreadful to think how this will kill off 
 our men, if they go through a winter's campaign; and a 
 summer one in Virginia would not be much better. The 
 Southerners, in all these things, would be no better off, but 
 they would have the advantage of being on familiar ground 
 and where the population are all favorable to them. They 
 have good officers, having had military schools, where many 
 young men have received tolerably good education, while 
 we at the north have looked at military men as useless and 
 lazy fellows; and they have been less respected in New 
 England, of late, than in any other part of the civilized 
 world. Still, war cannot be carried on with success without 
 money, and they certainly will find it difficult to maintain 
 an army for any great length of time ; and here we have the 
 advantage. 
 
 I shall probably sail for home in a few weeks, as I see no 
 prospect for peace at present. I feel sad enough, as we 
 have none of the excitement of arming to relieve the de- 
 pressing influences of the state of affairs. I shall not stay 
 abroad; all the pleasure of travelling has gone. How many 
 
LETTERS FROM PARIS. 39 
 
 men did the Infantry take to Washington? I see that a 
 Massachusetts regiment is at Fortress Monroe. We are 
 very anxious for later news, and expect it by to-day's mail. 
 We were thirty-two hours from Venice to Yienna, and most 
 of the way the snow was several inches deep, the route being 
 on high land. 
 
 LETTERS FROM PARIS. 
 
 PARIS, MAY 21, 1861. 
 
 We arrived here from Berlin last Saturday, and have 
 engaged passages in the Arabia for home. She is the next 
 Boston boat, and sails in a week, so you may expect to see 
 me in a few days after this reaches you. We could not get 
 any later home papers in Germany, and the letters were full 
 of war news. Yours of the thirtieth arrived this morning, 
 after several days' delay in London. We have American 
 news to the eighth, and, as Mr. Lincoln has telegraphed for 
 more troops, I expect to hear of a fight by the next mail. I 
 am very sorry so many of our Southern relatives are seces- 
 sionists : I do not see how it is possible for any right-minded 
 person to acknowledge the right of a State to secede. I do 
 not see what we can do should we conquer them. With our 
 idea of a government of the people, how are we to hold them 
 against their will? The whole matter is involved in diffi- 
 culties. One good must come from it, however, as it settles 
 for the States remaining in the Union this question, that 
 they have no right to secede. It is useless now to be look- 
 ing at the future; our present duty is to give them a good 
 thrashing, and to teach them to hold different opinions of 
 
40 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 the relative pluck of Northern and Southern men. I am 
 glad the government are so vigorously at work. Butler 
 seems to have done wonders, and this enlisting of men for 
 three and five years is just the right course. 
 
 MORNING OF 22D MAY. 
 
 Have just received your letter of the sixth. You say 
 that the Infantry number one hundred and twenty. What a 
 large company! I should think most of the army officers 
 have resigned, by the number of names one sees in the 
 papers. , 
 
 I do not feel so confident as you do as to the position of 
 the States of Kentucky, Missouri and Maryland, and hope 
 they will not be allowed to remain neutral. Should they be 
 thus situated they would supply the South with food and 
 men, and do ns more harm than if openly opposed. I do 
 not believe in any half-way at this time. You must be for 
 or against the Government. 
 
 He arrived in Salem on the twelfth day of June, 
 1861. He was very much interested in the mili- 
 tary, and was constantly with officers, and young 
 men who were proposing to become such and raise 
 troops for the army. His parents endeavored 
 to dissuade him from doing so, and used every 
 argument in their power to prevent it. He did 
 not meet with any encouragement at the State 
 House, and, as he would not enlist with the refusal 
 
PATRIOTISM STIRRED. 41 
 
 of the consent of his parents, the summer passed 
 without his doing so. He was absent in Vermont 
 part of this time, and his letters from there (none of 
 which, unfortunately, were preserved) expressed the 
 strongest desire to join the army, coupled with 
 undoubted feeling that it was his duty to do so. 
 He conversed more upon this subject with his mother 
 than to his father, perhaps for the reason that she 
 would listen more patiently to his arguments. At 
 last, he was evidently so unhappy at his position 
 and felt mortified at being unoccupied at home, 
 using this argument to obtain my consent, that he 
 was single, had no business, was in health, and had 
 some little acquaintance with the military life, If 
 such as he did not volunteer, how was the army to 
 be raised, and kept supplied with men? Finally, 
 becoming convinced that it was wrong to further 
 oppose him in his performing what he thought it 
 was his duty to do, I ceased all opposition, and. 
 although I never gave my consent by word, he knew 
 that he had my approval. 
 
 October twenty-seventh, 1861, he signed the enlist- 
 ment papers, and was authorized to recruit thirty 
 men, for cavalry, to join General Butler's New 
 England Division. This cavalry was to be under 
 the command of S. Tyler Read, and was to be called 
 
 4* 
 
42 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN, 
 
 Mounted Rifle Rangers. He opened a recruiting 
 office in Salem, and at other places, and obtained the 
 men, who went into camp at Lowell as fast as 
 engaged, he, in the meantime, being engaged in 
 duty in camp, or on recruiting service, in Salem or 
 Boston, or in travelling to look up men suitable for 
 this service, which required picked men, of full 
 stature, and competent to make good horsemen as 
 well as good soldiers. 
 
 In November, he was commissioned Second Lieu- 
 tenant in the Twentieth Regiment Massachusetts In- 
 fantry, by Governor Andrew. This was done without 
 his knowledge or his application, and respectfully 
 declined by letter, with the reason given for declin- 
 ing, that he had previously enlisted in the New 
 England Division. During the latter part of Decem- 
 ber, Lieutenant Pickman, with a detail of ten men of 
 the cavalry, left Boston in a sailing ship, with more 
 than one hundred Government horses, as a supply 
 for the troops in part. "With these Lieutenant Pick- 
 man and Pickering sent their own horses, private 
 property. The ship encountered a storm in the 
 bay, the first night out, in which all of the horses 
 but ten were killed, and these were so injured as 
 to be of little value. 
 
MOUNTED RIFLE RANGERS. 48 
 
 CAPTAIN BEAD'S MOUNTED RIFLE BANGERS. 
 
 The following is the Roster of commissioned officers 
 of Captain Read's squadron of Mounted Rifled Rangers, 
 attached to Major-General Butler's Grand Division: 
 
 Captain commanding the squadron 
 
 S. TYLER READ, Attleborough, Mass. 
 Second Captain 
 
 JAMES M. MAGEE, Carlisle Barracks, Penn. 
 Senior First Lieutenant 
 
 J. E. COWEN, Fairhaven, Mass. 
 Junior First Lieutenant 
 
 ALBERT G. BOWLES, Roxbury, Mass. 
 Senior Second Lieutenant 
 
 BENJAMIN PICKMAN, Salem, Mass. 
 Junior Second Lieutenant 
 
 PICKERING D. ALLEN, Salem, Mass. 
 
 Captain Read has been engaged actively in the present 
 war from its very incipiency. He was with the Sixth 
 Regiment in its stormy passage through Baltimore, was 
 temporarily on Ellsworth's Staff as Assistant Surgeon, and 
 was with the lamented and gallant young Colonel when he 
 fell in the Marshall House at Alexandria, subsequently in 
 the battle of Big Bethel, and afterward acted as Provost 
 Marshal on the outposts at Fortress Monroe until he came 
 North to raise in his native State the splendid body of men 
 which he now commands. 
 
 Captain Magee is an officer from the regular service, and 
 
44 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 was second in command at the burning of the arsenal at 
 Harper's Ferry. Lieutenant Cowen was attached to the 
 corps of Engineers in the New York Eighth Regiment, and 
 was in the heat of the battle at Bull Run, in which he was 
 slightly wounded. The remaining lieutenants of the corps 
 are men of experience which well adapts them to their 
 positions. The squadron has been raised by selection to a 
 high standard of excellence, enough applications having 
 been rejected since the opening of its enlistment rolls to fill 
 a regiment. They are tall, athletic, vigorous men, of reliable 
 character, and present the finest appearance of any corps 
 which has yet left for the war. 
 
 Lieutenant Pickman, in charge of a detachment of the 
 men, with the horses and equipments of the corps, left for 
 Ship Island several days since. The remainder of the 
 squadron will embark on the Constitution for the same 
 destination. They carry heavy sabres and short rifles, and 
 are to be provided with revolvers beside. 
 
 Although enlisting in October, he was not sworn 
 and mustered into the service until the twenty-seventh 
 day of December, 1861. The cause of this delay was 
 that when the United States mustering officer was at 
 camp in Lowell, for that purpose, he was absent on 
 recruiting duty, at offices in Boston or Salem, or in 
 travelling through the State in pursuit of men capa- 
 ble of performing cavalry duty. His position was 
 that of Second Lieutenant of Captain Magee's Com- 
 pany, enough men having been enlisted for two 
 
GENERAL BUTLER'S EXPEDITION. 45 
 
 companies, and a third company of cavalry had 
 also been enlieted at Lowell. 
 
 Neither Pickering, or myself for him, desired a too 
 responsible position. Both of us had seen large 
 armies engaged in war, or about to do so, had been 
 over battle fields, and had seen enough to teach us 
 how little we actually did know, and were well aware 
 of the want of military education in so large a pro- 
 portion of the officers of our volunteers. The com- 
 pany left Camp Chase in Lowell, January 2, 1862, 
 for Boston, were inspected on the Common by Major 
 General Butler, embarked the same afternoon on 
 board the steamship Constitution, with Colonel 
 Shepley's Maine Regiment and Colonel French's 
 Massachusetts. The ship went into the stream, and 
 anchored at evening. The night was exceedingly 
 cold and windy ; in consequence the men suffered 
 severely. After a few days, steam -pipes were 
 arranged around the hold of the ship and they 
 were made more comfortable. The cold weather 
 continued many days, and the ship remained in the 
 harbor. This detention was very tedious and dispir- 
 iting to both officers and men ; the more so, as, for 
 military reasons, the cause could not be made known. 
 It was supposed, then, to be a consequence of the 
 controversy between Governor Andrew and Major- 
 
46 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 General Butler ; but from a recent statement of the 
 latter, it seems that it was caused by the threatening 
 aspect of our relations with European nations, more 
 particularly with England. On the tenth of Jan- 
 uary, the troops were ordered to land, and Colonel 
 French's regiment commenced to disembark. Three 
 companies had pitched their tents in Fort Indepen- 
 dence, when orders were received to sail for Fortress 
 Monroe. This change in the aspect of things put 
 all in high spirits. 
 
 EXTKACTS FROM LETTERS AND DIARY. 
 Pickering then goes on to say in his journal : 
 
 ft 
 
 On the thirteenth, the cold still continuing extreme, we 
 sail early in the morning, with a strong northwest wind the 
 sea not rough for this coast in winter. 
 
 We arrive at Fortress Monroe January sixteenth. In the 
 forenoon I went to the Rip Raps, and then on shore to see 
 my friend Merriam; ascertained that he had gone home on 
 furlough. Passed the night with Lieutenant Cartwright, 
 of the old New England Guards, and went on board ship 
 morning of seventeenth. 
 
 On Monday, the twentieth, all the men were disembarked 
 and landed on the beach, near the Fortress, for change of 
 air and cleaning of the ship ; being in charge of the guard, 
 have had some hard work; the weather was as fine as possi- 
 ble. At dark it rained, with a thunder storm, which lasted 
 
LETTERS AND DIARY. 47 
 
 all night; the men suffered from wet, as very few of them 
 were well sheltered and many of them not at all. 
 
 22o JANUARY. The storm continues, but the tents are 
 all ready, with the sand very wet. 
 
 23D . The weather is worse ; windy, with rain and hail. 
 
 24TH. More stormy than ever, windy and rainy. In the 
 afternoon we are flooded by the tide ; strike camp and go to 
 the woods, where we pass the night in our tents, we and 
 all our things are well soaked. 
 
 25TH, MORNING. It is still raining, with much less wind 
 and a change in its direction; we begin to think it will 
 never clear. It clears at noon, and looks as if it would con- 
 tinue so. Not feeling well, I go on board the ship to consult 
 the Doctor. 
 
 A letter dated on board ship Constitution of 
 twenty-seventh January, says, 
 
 I have the measles; this, you know, is the second time; 
 we have about one hundred and fifty cases on board, but 
 very little other sickness. Quite a number have the measles 
 the second time; it is slight and does not last more than four 
 or five days, in these instances, when in the full, or fresh 
 subjects, it runs fourteen. This is my third day, and I am 
 almost well. We have only a few cases in our company and 
 I do not expect many more, as all the men are encamped on 
 the beach, below Fortress Monroe, and those having it are 
 on board ship, where they are very comfortable. I expect 
 to be all right in a day or two, and shall be careful not to 
 take cold. 
 
48 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 Last week was a tough one ; the weather was very bad 
 and we were encamped on the beach. We landed Monday 
 morning of a splendid day; but before night a severe storm 
 commenced and many of the men were all night without any 
 shelter, although most of the tents were pitched. I was 
 Lieutenant of the guard, and our company were, most of 
 them, detailed for that duty. I quartered, when not on duty, 
 on board a small steamboat. The storm lasted until Satur- 
 day noon. Friday evening the tide had become so high, 
 from the wind blowing strong in the same direction such a 
 length of time, that our camp was overflowed, and we had 
 to strike our tents and go to the woods and pitch them there 
 until morning, when the wind changed ; and since that after- 
 noon the weather has been fine. 
 
 Merriam is stationed about a mile from the Fortress, at 
 Camp Hamilton, where there are two or three regiments. 
 A New York regiment in the Fortress and. other regiments 
 near here drill remarkably well, and are under good disci- 
 pline. The news from Kentucky is cheering, and I hope 
 we shall soon hear of another battle, on a larger scale, with 
 similar result. The fortifications on the Rip Raps are to bfc 
 very powerful, but much smaller than Fortress Monroe. 
 The United States sloop Pensacola sails to-day for Ship 
 Island, and we hope to do so sometime this week. Pickman 
 must be melancholy there, but he will find plenty of work 
 if he and the ten men still have charge .of a hundred and 
 fifty horses. I have not yet received any letter from you, 
 but hope to soon. Suppose you are waiting for me to give 
 directions how to send. 
 
LETTERS AND DIARY. 49 
 
 CAMP HAMILTON, FEBRUARY 1. 
 
 Your letter, with a Salem Gazette, has just arrived. 
 I am well again, and came on shore yesterday. As it 
 was rainy, came out here and passed the night with 
 Merriam ; as the rain continues, shall stay until to-morrow 
 morning. I have just returned from our camp, where I 
 went on Merriam's horse; it is about three miles from here, 
 and the road leading there is muddy enough. Our men are 
 very comfortable; every tent has a fire in it, and plenty of 
 wood is furnished. The measles are subsiding, the number 
 of cases diminishing rapidly; but a few cases in the Massa- 
 chusetts regiments. Merriam has fine quarters, the lower 
 part of wood and the upper of canvas, and as comfortable 
 as possible. We are now waiting for a fair day to embark, 
 as Colonel Shepley arrived from Washington, on the thirtieth 
 of January, with sailing orders. We are going to Ship Island. 
 
 The first Salem papers received gave me the news of C 
 
 P 's release. We get all our news from the New York 
 
 papers, with occasional rumors here, which most always 
 prove false. Last Sunday we could see the secession flag, 
 flying over their works the other side of Sewall's Point, 
 plainly enough to distinguish the colors ; it has not been up 
 since. This camp is quite large; there are three or four 
 regiments, besides the Massachusetts Sixteenth, and one of 
 cavalry, of twelve hundred men, from Pennsylvania. A very 
 fine band, attached to the New York Twentieth, is next to 
 
 this. I saw W this morning, he is very well ; if he is 
 
 in want of anything, will see that he has a supply. Officers 
 
 5 
 
50 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 and others are continually coming in the tent and going, so 
 you must expect a remarkable letter. The Constitution has 
 changed her position, nearer the wharf, and has taken in 
 fresh provisions and a new stock of coal, and is ready for 
 sea. We received several days since, from Head-Quarters 
 of the Army at Washington, an order appointing us to act 
 as officers of the First, Second and Third Companies of 
 Cavalry of the New England Division, to be attached to 
 Colonel French's Regiment while dismounted, and stating 
 that the commissions would date from the time we were 
 mustered into the United States service. 
 
 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2. This is a fine day, and the 
 men are going on board ship. We shall probably sail 
 to-morrow. 
 
 SHIP ISLAND, 13TH FEBRUARY. 
 
 We arrived yesterday, and landed immediately. Our 
 camp is on the right; pitching our tents and other work 
 gave us a fatiguing day. We left Fortress Monroe on Tues- 
 day morning, fourth instant, and returned the next day, with 
 the United States gunboat Miami in tow in distress, a new 
 boat, built in Philadelphia. We did not sail again until next 
 day, so that we felt quite discouraged at the repeated delays. 
 We have had perfect weather since. The voyage was a 
 splendid one; the health of the men improved, and we have 
 now scarcely any sickness, with the exception of a few cases 
 of pneumonia, some of these quite serious on the measles 
 patients, from exposure after convalescence. The measles 
 have almost disappeared. I am perfectly well, so is W . 
 
LETTERS AND DIARY. 51 
 
 Lieutenant Pickman and men arrived safely; they lost all 
 the horses but five, out of one hundred and fifty odd. Our 
 own fine horses died. Will you purchase and send me half 
 a dozen pairs of blue goggles by the first opportunit3 r . To- 
 day two or three secesh gunboats made their appearance, 
 some of ours chased them. They fired at each other at the 
 longest range, without doing any damage. So many horses 
 have been lost, we may have to wait several days longer for 
 others on the way before mounting the men. At this time 
 there are not half the required number here. The island is 
 not so gloomy a place as I expected, and r as there are now 
 four infantry regiments and our cavalry and the battery 
 of artillery, it seems quite cheerful. The regiments that 
 came before us have improved much in drill and discipline, 
 and we now hope to do so rapidly. I expect to enjoy the 
 work. I am now to act as adjutant of the battalion, with one 
 of the orderly sergeants as sergeant major. Probably we 
 shall have our horses next week; we do not want them 
 before. It will be uncertain when and how we shall have 
 opportunity to write, but trust it will not be so with you. 
 To-morrow General Phelps will inspect us, and we are to 
 drill before him. 
 
 FEBRUARY 18. The Constitution has been delayed by 
 bad weather and fog. Our camp, on the right, is nearly 
 a mile from the wharf, or fort, or city, as it is called. 
 We are very well; so are most of the men. The weather 
 has been very bad for three or four days. Three of our 
 men, who had been detailed to take charge of baggage 
 on the Constitution, left here in a surf-boat the night of the 
 sixteenth instant, and have not been heard from since. One 
 
52 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 of them was recently made quarter-master sergeant by 
 Captain Read he had five letters of recommendation, was 
 a Southerner; the second was an Englishman; the third 
 was Hurter, born in Syria, son of an American Mis- 
 sionary. They may have been blown to sea; probably 
 they have deserted; and it is possible they are stowed 
 away in some ship. 
 
 MARCH 5. A steamer will leave to-night or to-morrow T 
 and I write, although there is very little news here that you 
 have not heard long before. I have seen New Orleans 
 papers of the last, of February. We seem to have gained 
 several important victories. Twelve thousand prisoners, 
 taken in Tennessee, appears to be a small estimate, or three 
 thousand at Roanoke Island. Have heard from the three 
 men who left us, or rather the Constitution; they landed at 
 Mississippi City, and are now in New Orleans. In their 
 account of the troops on the island, they omit the Connecti- 
 cut Ninth Infantry, and give our number as one hundred 
 and eighteen, when, in reality, the three companies number 
 over two hundred and sixty. We have had very cold 
 weather recently. A party have been on Horn Island the 
 last two days ; they brought back ten cattle, and a negro 
 they found there. He had drifted there in a boat, and could 
 not get back to the main land ; he was almost starved 
 when he arrived here. The men are healthy and in good 
 spirits. Recently, we had a review of the four regiments^ 
 our cavalry, and the Salem Artillery; it passed off finely, 
 although the day was hot; it was intended as a compliment 
 to the new flag-officer, who is to command the gunboat and 
 mortar flotilla proposed to be sent up the river. 
 
LETTERS AND DIARY. 53 
 
 The gunboat New London is very active and captures 
 many small craft; one morning she brought in eleven oyster 
 and fishing boats, of twenty or thirty tons; as they were 
 mainly loaded with oysters, we were well supplied for a few 
 days. The South Carolina brought in the Southern steamer 
 Magnolia, loaded with cotton ; she is valued at two or three 
 hundred thousand dollars, vessel and cargo. 
 
 I am expecting to hear from you soon ; have not yet. 
 
 W is well, and wrote home a few days ago. I expected 
 
 the mail steamer would remain until to-morrow, but now 
 hear she will sail this afternoon, so must close. We have 
 now over two hundred horses, many of them just arrived ; 
 they are to be issued to the companies to-morrow, when 
 drilling them will commence ; I have a good grey, that I 
 ride daily and expect to purchase. We have been mustered 
 for pay; the men are paid from the date of their enlistment; 
 I shall receive only about one month's pay, as I was mus- 
 tered "in only on the twenty -seventh December and do not 
 get pay for the time in camp and on recruiting service. 
 Several ships are now due, and expected to arrive, with 
 stores and troops. The ship Undaunted lost but four 
 horses of her freight; they were loaded by private parties, 
 who were to pay for all lost on the voyage. 
 
 SHIP ISLAND, MARCH 11. 
 
 I received a letter from you yesterday. I suppose you 
 will hear great stories of our troops being defeated at Mis- 
 sissippi City, through the Southern papers, before you get 
 the truth of the affair. Last Saturday, Colonel Jones, with 
 
 5* 
 
54 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 officers and one hundred men, consisting of fifty men from 
 Company I, of the Twenty-Sixth Massachusetts, and the 
 same number from Company B, went in the steamer Cal- 
 houn to reconnoitre about the place (Mississippi City), with 
 the view of sending some regiments over there ; they found 
 the wharf or bridge badly broken, but crossed, and found 
 the houses near the landing deserted ; after going a short 
 distance beyond, they saw two or three horsemen in the 
 woods, quite a distance from them; soon after, a number 
 more appeared, when Colonel Jones halted and turned in 
 the direction of the wharf; the rebels in the woods then 
 opened fire with some small field pieces, using canister shot. 
 One of our men was slightly wounded, the merest flesh 
 wound; this was the only casualty on our side. We did not 
 fire a shot until on board ship again, when the Calhoun fired 
 three shells into the woods, with what result we do not 
 know. There are now seven or eight thousand men on the 
 island, half of them drilled and disciplined. It would be 
 easy to hold Mississippi City, with few men, if it were 
 desirable. 
 
 We hear reports of a major coming out to take command 
 of the cavalry, and of other cavalry companies coming to 
 join us. Quite a number of the officers here will undoubt- 
 edly be ordered home if Governor Andrew has the control 
 of the commissions. Captain Dudley, of the regular army, 
 is to command the Massachusetts regiment, and it is now to 
 be ranked as the Thirtieth. General Butler is expected 
 to arrive soon, and we to move shortly after. The Navy 
 are preparing for the attack on New Orleans, and are confi- 
 dent of success. 
 
LETTERS AND DIARY. 55 
 
 It is not dull here, ships are arriving every day ; six of 
 the mortar fleet have arrived to-day; small prizes are often 
 brought in; a large steamship, now in sight, may be the 
 Mississippi. Some of the large ships have to lighten to get 
 over the bar. The United States ships Colorado, Mississippi, 
 Hartford, Kichmond, Pensacola and Brooklyn, with a 
 fleet of gunboats, are near here, and come in and go out 
 frequently ; they are very fine ships. I dined Sunday, on 
 board the Richmond, on green turtle and roast chicken, 
 very different food from our shore fare, which is rather poor. 
 We are having fine weather, and I quite enjoy this mili- 
 tary life. 
 
 SHIP ISLAND, MARCH 18. 
 
 I have received the letters and papers you sent by 
 Adams' Express, but nothing by the Constitution, which 
 arrived last week and sailed again day before yesterday. 
 She brought three regiments, one from Michigan, one from 
 Iowa, and one from Wisconsin; they have been stationed 
 at Baltimore and in Virginia, and are under good drill. 
 Brigadier-General Williams came also; he was on General 
 Scott's Stan , and ranks high as an officer of the regular 
 army. We drill six hours daily two-thirds of the time 
 mounted and make good progress. There are now on the 
 island, eleven regiments infantry, several batteries artillery, 
 and one battalion of three companies cavalry ; other regi- 
 ments and batteries are expected daily. I never was in 
 better health ; the measles left me rather weak for two 
 or three weeks, but I have now completely regained my 
 strength. I have an excellent servant, a contraband, and as 
 
56 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 good a man as I could wish; he washes well, and takes good 
 care of my horse, which I care much more about. I do noj; 
 know when this will go, and leave it at the express office for 
 safe keeping. General Phelps is still in command; he has a 
 New Orleans paper which boasts of advantages gained over 
 our troops, which I do not credit. We have various stories 
 about our movements, and cannot tell what to believe; 
 General Butler is expected to arrive to-morrow. 
 
 MARCH 24. A mail leaves immediately, by a gunboat 
 just arrived from the passes, so write just to say that 
 
 W and myself are well, as you seem to imagine us in a 
 
 miserable condition. We are as comfortable as possible; 
 no great variety of food for the table ; we have rice, nearly 
 all the time, with salt beef and pork, and plenty of bread 
 and butter. 
 
 General Butler has arrived, and the troops have been put 
 into brigades. The battalion of cavalry has been divided, 
 and our company has been placed with the Third Brigade, 
 which consists of the Massachusetts Thirtieth, Maine Twelfth, 
 Fourteenth and Fifteenth Kegiments Infantry, and the 
 Maine First Battery. Captain Magee commands our com- 
 pany; we are gaining rapidly in drill; I enjoy the mounted 
 exercise very much, and the men have improved in riding. 
 Your letters of fifteenth and eighteenth of last month came 
 a few days since. 
 
 SHIP ISLAND, APRIL 2. 
 
 Lieutenant Bowles has been appointed Aid-de-Camp to 
 General Shepley. Great preparations are being made for 
 the expedition to New Orleans, and we expect to move in a 
 
LETTERS AND DIART. 57 
 
 few days, but I think it will not be for a fortnight. The 
 regular mail will leave in a day or two, and I will try to 
 write; we are quite busy drilling, and have but little time 
 for letters. The Connecticut Ninth left here yesterday, in a 
 steamer, with two gunboats as convoy; we think they have 
 gone to Mississippi City and Pass Christian. The secesh 
 fired on a flag of truce, at Biloxi, the day before yesterday; 
 no one hurt. Have letters from you of twenty-eighth Feb- 
 ruary, and from A and L and T. Weather clear 
 
 and warm. 
 
 13TH APRIL. About half the troops have marching 
 orders and will soon leave ; our company does not go, 
 but Captain Read's and the other company do. The attack 
 on the forts will be made this week. We have many mortar 
 boats, several first-class gunboats, and four or five steam 
 sloops of war. The New London took a schooner, yester- 
 day, with a cargo of molasses; she had Mobile papers on 
 board, of sixth April; these mention a battle as then going 
 on, in Tennessee or Mississippi, in which their General John- 
 son had been killed. It is uncertain when we leave. 
 
 13TH, P. M. I wrote you a few lines this morning, by 
 the mail steamer; she came in last night, and we were not 
 knowing of it, and only had time to get short letters ready 
 and on board with the despatches sent by the General. The 
 night before last we had a fearful thunder storm; I have 
 never seen it lighten so steadily as it did most of the night; 
 the guard tent of the Thirtieth Massachusetts was struck, 
 and three men killed, and two so badly wounded as to be 
 considered hopelessly so, and two wounded slightly. I like 
 my horse much; he stands fire finely; does not mind it the 
 
.'S IMCKBKINO DODGK ALLKN. 
 
 least. We aw now at target practice and shoot from our 
 horses daily; they aw becoming quite well trained and gain 
 faster than I thought possible. The (Connecticut Ninth 
 went to Pass Christian and Mississippi City ; at the Pass 
 they eaptuwd a camp, equipage, eU\, but the men belong- 
 ing there, a Mississippi w^hueut of ei^ht hundrtni men, tUnl. 
 The Connecticut regiment bunuHl the cnmp and captured a 
 tVw men. We have New Orleaius papers of late date, and 
 learn by them that the colonel of the regiment was placed 
 under arrest for leaving without tlghting. The Kew London 
 has captuwd a steamer t\x>m Mobile for Kew Orloaus, witl 
 thirty-six passengers and cargo of iH>sin and t\rjH^tine. 
 
 We o.x|HH>t the attack on the forts will commence to- 
 morrow. We have a powerAil tlwt and well armed, and in 
 addition, Oommodort) PorterV mortar lUvU The wln>l8 have 
 a number of gunboats, and aw snj>jH>stHl to have about two 
 hundred heavy guns mounted, besides those on Forts Jackson 
 and Phillip; so they aw well pwpared. It must be a gwat 
 batth\ if we succeed and they detVnd the forts as we expect 
 they will Captain Head and his and the other cavalry go 
 dismounted; m> wiuaiu hew, pi\>lmWy two or thitx^ wxnvks 
 longer, Tho<roopa aw healthy aiul in gtnxi spirits, 
 
 Yesteixiay I weeived the 8alem Uaaott\ of fourteenth 
 and eighteenth Maix>h. AVeather very One, Last week we 
 had a wview of the division by General Butier, About 
 tlfleen tJiousand men. It is a long time, now, since we 
 have weeived letters from home; the UtH>rjj\> Washington, 
 with a mail, is expected soon. 
 
I I i I I 
 
 Hllif IC.I.ANII, Anm. \'.). 
 
 II,,. .>;,,"!, IK.M ,-,n..l \ , I -. \n\\ t W- .,,,,,., < UK y 
 I,:,-,, ;,. I,, II,, f.,,1: w.1.1. UK .-x,,.-.-li.li.,i, ',1 /' ;. .. .- ,i, u,;; 
 
 I),, m ;,:, II,,. I1I VOM Ml' , II. yoill IHI<T I.O 
 
 the overflow in onr camp; it won nw* to me; A high tide 
 
 I, , , M, ,'l..l ;- ..,..11 j,l I n /<-w U-nU, hut 
 
 >f cwiNwjuftmw. 
 
 2r,. W" JIM: i-,1/11 I,'.' iiixl I'-. Ml I :..- " ,1.1'ly 
 I-.OMM- I.IIIM-; w-. .-I.H-. in M ."In,' I" ..," /< ;.l iiny 
 
 received new*, yerterday, from the Pa* 
 
 ,KI I:, I 'I |. in <|,.y ,,I r,u, '!,,), ., ;,,< 
 
 M' i o Monday evening, I have convert! wild UK, captain 
 
 .,1 UK: , ... ! Imn;');,;' UK h.li.,;-, UK i, ,',,!;., !,.,;,(.-. ;,,, 
 u/'l,',."! v/y IK,, . UK i-liOMv ;ihoiil. I.WO inil I)', in I -,. I 
 
 );>' ) >/>; they are near the wo,i, rid f being covered 
 boughe and leavee of treee^ can hardly be aeen froni the 
 
 !,,,), ;,'! UK " '-I U.' ii |.'.i-.il.i,ii liorn 
 
 UK IMIII^. One "i UK m i.-i.i been unk; a hull PUMMW! 
 
 <ln" tly ll/i'Kj;'!, IK i T!K foil, I.;K! I," n I /, i" on In . , .,n<\ 
 ;,i, < xj, I', :)',;, |I;K! l;,l"i, j,|:i'- All UK- /"M, l,il. l.w, 
 
 i ;j I' < i/ t/'/Ui 1 '<; I l< ( I ' ;. < III i . ',';,,! In' / ;, 1 1 I, ;< Y<: \ >< < n 
 
 :.<.!, I. <lov/n UK- livi-r, hul. y/iU/oul don,;' UK I';.. -I |;II/;I;M- 
 Th'-M- t- ;i |;n/'- 'I, .in, M'/ -in" I!/' MV<) IK ;n UK- joi h- 
 
 -./! ill :-.UJ.|,'/.-."J 
 
60 PICKERING BODGE ALLEN. 
 
 I am yet without a commission ; do not see what difference 
 it will make, but should rather have one from Massachusetts. 
 My servant is good, could not have brought from the North 
 a better. I do not think this war will be closed very 
 soon. "We are well; go to bed early, and rise at five in 
 the morning. 
 
 MAY 4. I have received many letters, they were very 
 old dates, some early in March. This island is long and 
 sandy, not a single tree for six miles. Four regiments and 
 parts of two others leave here to-day and to-morrow for 
 New Orleans and Fort Pike; we have to remain here still 
 longer. I am now living in a small wooden house some of 
 our men built out of old boards; it has a brick floor, and is 
 very comfortable in pleasant weather, but not so good when 
 it rains; it took three men half a day to build it, so you can 
 imagine how it looks, with three large windows and a door, 
 but no glass in the windows. The Navy have taken New 
 Orleans and gone up river. 
 
 SHIP ISLAND, MAY 5. 
 
 Of the surrender of New Orleans you will have heard be- 
 fore receiving this. The naval officers and men have done 
 splendidly. The Twenty-Sixth Massachusetts Regiment is 
 garrisoning the forts and the other troops occupy the city. 
 Part of the fleet has gone up the river. The steamer Ten- 
 nessee arrived here last Friday, in command of an officer 
 of the Richmond; he gave me a very interesting account of 
 the naval operations. 
 
 We are very tired of staying here and hope to be ordered 
 somewhere soon. The Maine Thirteenth, Fourteenth and 
 
LETTERS AND DIARY. 61 
 
 Fifteenth, the Vermont Seventh, and part of the New 
 Hampshire Eighth, a battery, and our cavalry company, 
 make up the list of troops remaining here now. I think we 
 shall have to remain in this region some considerable time 
 yet, until next spring, if not longer, notwithstanding our 
 success in ]STew Orleans. I want to hear from Virginia very 
 much, and what progress McClellan is making there. We 
 have a newspaper printed here; I send you a copy contain- 
 ing the "glorious news" of the capture of the forts, and that 
 New Orleans is in our possession; it will no doubt be short 
 lired. 
 
 MAY 6. The mortar fleet has returned, and I believe a 
 number of steamers are also coming, so hope that a move 
 is in prospect for us. 
 
 MAY 10. The mail steamer has just come in, and will 
 leave in a few hours. I sent several letters by the Eliza and 
 Ella, a sailing ship, three or four days since; she put back 
 yesterday afternoon in a sinking condition. We expect to 
 go to New Orleans as soon as transports arrive ; have 
 not received our orders. 
 
 Captain Magee and forty men have been in Biloxi 
 the last two days; they returned last evening; they found 
 very few people over there, and those they did meet were 
 most of them aged. I send you a few New Orleans papers, 
 as specimens of the effect of secession upon them. This 
 steamer will carry three days later news, as she is direct 
 from there. We are anxious for the Northern mail, soon 
 due, for the news, as the rebels in New Orleans have had 
 placards up announcing the defeat of McClellan's army and 
 the occupation of Arlington Heights by their forces. We 
 
62 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 do not credit these stories, and suppose they circulate them 
 to keep up the spirits of the people. 
 
 MAY 19. Received marching orders, and expect to go 
 on board the ship Ocean Pearl. Sent thirty men on board 
 to put up stalls for the horses. 
 
 MAY 20. Received orders to embark on board the 
 steamer Sallie Robinson, a prize, which arrived here 
 yesterday. Have our horses and everything on board 
 before dark. 
 
 21ST MAY. We sail this morning for New Orleans, by 
 way of Lake Ponchartrain. Arrive at the Orleans Cotton 
 Press at midnight, and find it no easy thing to obtain food 
 for men or horses; finally procure some hay and oats. 
 
 , NEW ORLEANS, MAY 29. 
 
 We arrived here the same night that we left Ship Island, 
 our men and horses in perfect order. We marched from 
 Lake onchartrain, and have fine quarters well up town, 
 two or two and a half miles from the Custom House; we 
 have a large hall for the men and a fine stable for the horses, 
 and are in what is considered a healthy part of the city, 
 which is very quiet and appears to be well governed. The 
 Union feeling is quite strong, particularly among the for- 
 eigners and the poorer people. I found my friends in the 
 other company well. The weather is fine, though hot; we 
 feel the heat less here than on Ship Island. We are recruit- 
 ing here, and shall fill the company with excellent men in a 
 short time; quite a number have enlisted in the different 
 regiments since our troops arrived here; a majority of them 
 
LETTERS AND DIARY. 63 
 
 are foreigners. We have rumors of disasters to our forces 
 at the North, which I hope are not true. 
 
 The Constitution and another large steamer arrived yes- 
 terday. Commissions came for most of the officers of the 
 
 Massachusetts troops, but none for P and myself; a 
 
 second lieutenant came to take the place of the second 
 lieutenant of the third company. I felt sure of being com- 
 missioned, as Colonel Dudley recommended me and so did 
 Captain Magee, and I cannot understand the proceeding. 
 The Captain has not yet received his papers from the Gov- 
 ernment; they probably will throw some light upon the 
 subject. If I am not to be commissioned, I shall come 
 home, which I should be sorry to do at present, as the 
 company is well disciplined and drilled, and I should dislike 
 very much to leave it. I can think of no other reason for 
 the Governor's action in refusing me a commission than that 
 I did not accept the one given me in the Twentieth Regi- 
 ment. Colonel Dudley is now assistant military commander 
 of the city. 
 
 MAY 29. Not well. 
 
 MAY 30. I have typhoid fever; send for Dr. Blake as 
 physician. 
 
 JUNE 3. Have Dr. Hyde, a city physician. 
 
 JUNE 7. Have Dr. Black. 
 
 Letters written at Pickering's suggestion, during 
 his illness, were received by us until he had so far 
 recovered as to write himself. 
 
64 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN, 
 
 ORLEANS, JUNE 16. 
 
 I am now much better, and am up and dressed. The 
 company left here the day before yesterday for Baton 
 Rouge ; I do not think they will have any fighting in this 
 vicinity. I expect to be removed down town to the Park 
 Hotel to-day, and shall come home as soon as I get strong 
 enough. I am dreadfully thin, but gaining rapidly; was in 
 
 bed seventeen days, and for a week very ill. W went 
 
 off in fine spirits. I do not feel inclined to accept any 
 other position after having received such treatment from 
 Governor Andrew. 
 
 JUNE 18. Mustered out of service by Captain Kinsel, 
 Chief of Artillery, of General Butler's Staif, in consequence 
 of a commission from Governor Andrew being sent out to 
 Private Morton, as second lieutenant, to fill my position in 
 the second company of cavalry. I now expect to sail for 
 home to-morrow in the ship Parliament, a sailing vessel; 
 she is not fast, but is large and comfortable. The steamers 
 now going to New York are small and crowded, and they 
 charge a hundred dollars for the passage ; I am not strong 
 enough to stand a crowded steamer, and am so thin you 
 would hardly know me. I had quite a conversation with 
 General Butler this morning; he urged my staying here and 
 offered me a position ; I of course declined, as it was neces- 
 sary for me to first recover my health. The Captain of the 
 Parliament is an old acquaintance, I having dined with him 
 several times at Ship Island; and it was only just now that 
 I heard she was here; I had thought she had sailed long 
 
HOME FROM NEW ORLEANS. 65 
 
 ago; she probably goes to Boston, and should be there 
 about the tenth of July. 
 
 JUNE 19. Went on board ship to sail for home. Sent a 
 remembrance to Dr. Hyde for medical attendance. 
 
 ON BOARD SHIP PARLIAMENT, JUNE 20. 
 
 Towed by steamer down the river; had to anchor for the 
 night inside the bar. 
 
 JUNE 21. Towed over the bar at 8, A. M.; no wind, and 
 we drift to the westward. 
 
 JUNE 28. We have had very light winds all the week, 
 and are about one hundred and thirty miles from Tortugas. 
 
 JUNE 29. Very hot and calm. 
 
 JUNE 30. Get aground on a bank near the coast of Flor- 
 ida; we get afloat without damage to the ship. 
 
 JULY 1. In sight of Tortugas all day, with the wind off 
 the land. 
 
 JULY 3. Tortugas light house still in sight; we are at 
 last fairly round it, with a head wind and rough sea. 
 
 The passage to Boston after this date was pleasant, 
 with the customary changes of calm and rain and fine 
 weather. Pickering arrived home the sixteenth July, 
 with his health much improved by the sea voyage. 
 
 On his return home, he heard that a commission as 
 second lieutenant of the first company of cavalry had 
 been sent him to New Orleans, a vacancy having 
 been made in that company by promotion. This 
 
 6* 
 
66 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 commission he had passed at sea, and his health being 
 such as to make it doubtful how soon he could return 
 to duty at the South should he accept, after a short 
 stay with his family in Salem, he went to the hilly 
 region of Vermont, by invitation of friends there, to 
 regain his strength in the pure and invigorating moun- 
 tain air. The commission arrived safely at company 
 head quarters at the South. It was returned to him at 
 Salem, with urgent wishes of the commander that he 
 would accept ; when received here it was forwarded 
 to Yermont, and received by him at a time of great 
 excitement in the month of August, when orders for 
 more troops had just been issued. He soon returned 
 to Salem, and, upon consultation with military friends 
 at Boston, accepted the commission, and was mus- 
 tered into the United States service the second time 
 on the eighteenth day of August, 1862, as second 
 lieutenant of Captain Read's company of Massachu- 
 setts unattached cavalry, and immediately prepared 
 to embark again to join his company. 
 
 He left Salem on the twenty-eighth of August, for 
 New York, to sail from there as soon as possible. On 
 the twenty-ninth, he writes : 
 
 I have secured my passage by the steamer Roanoke, to 
 sail at noon, tomorow; she is considered a fine ship, is of 
 
LETTERS FROM LOUISIANA. 67 
 
 eleven hundred tons, with side wheels, and is fast. There 
 is no Government ship to sail at an early day for New 
 Orleans, and I was told it might be one or two weeks, and 
 possibly longer, before one would go, and that it depended 
 upon regulations made by the department at Washington. 
 I saw the Seventh New York Regiment when they arrived 
 from their second term of three months service; of course 
 they appeared well. Two steamers sail from here next 
 Wednesday for New Orleans, and I shall hope to hear from 
 you by them. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS, IOTH SEPTEMBER,' 1862. 
 
 I arrived yesterday, and found that Captain Magee had 
 gone North, very ill; that Lieutenants Batchelder and Mor- 
 ton were at the hospital, with typhoid fever. The city in 
 general is healthy. I will write on Saturday; have been 
 extremely busy all day. 
 
 CAMP WILLIAMS, SEPTEMBER 12. 
 
 I am now with the company. We are attached to a 
 brigade under Colonel Dudley, acting as brigadier general ; 
 it consists of the Sixth Michigan, Thirtieth Massachusetts, 
 Seventh Vermont, First Louisiana, Fourth and Sixth Massa- 
 chusetts Batteries, and the Maine First Battery and our 
 cavalry. The Louisiana regiment has about nine hundred 
 and fifty men, and appears well. The Second is nearly full, 
 and is commanded by Colonel Paine, who was major in the 
 Thirtieth Massachusetts when under Colonel French. We 
 have a pleasant camp, and the company is in good condition. 
 I saw W yesterday; he is thin, is improving, and will 
 
68 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. . 
 
 soon be as well as ever. Lieutenant B had him taken 
 
 to the Hospital Hotel Dieu, where he was well cared for; he 
 will be able to join the company in a few days; his fever, 
 like Lieutenant Batchelder's, was caused by exposure and 
 hard work at Baton Rouge. 
 
 Think of Lieutenant Batchelder's death. When I landed, 
 I was told that Captain Magee had gone home, and that 
 Lieutenants Batchelder and Morton were at St. James' 
 Hospital, both with typhoid fever. I went to the hospital 
 immediately; Batchelder appeared glad to see me, but he 
 was wandering, and I do not think he knew me. He died 
 the next morning. 
 
 The passage out was good, eight days and some . hours. 
 We had pleasant passengers in the Roanoke: Major Strong, 
 Chief of General Butler's Staff, Colonel Weiss and two 
 lieutenants, Mr. Dexter of Boston, and many others. I do 
 not think the rebel troops are very near, although we hear 
 rumors of them often. About two thousand cattle were 
 captured near here last week, and a body of Texan mounted 
 men were attacked and defeated, thirty miles north, a few 
 days since; we captured nearly two hundred horses and 
 quite a number of men without loss to our troops. 
 
 Lieutenant Weitzel, Chief of Engineers on General But- 
 ler's Staff, has just been commissioned Brigadier General, 
 and I hear is to act Major General, so will be next in com- 
 mand. He is a very able man, was one of the first in his 
 class at West Point, and is now very young, only twenty-six 
 or seven. I want very much to be on his staff and think I 
 may, as it is known that he has thought of me. I should 
 prefer this to any other position; many officers are wanting 
 
LETTERS FROM LOUISIANA. 69 
 
 the place, as he is of the regular army and very popular. 
 I am glad that I returned here, as this division is still my 
 choice; we are enjoying hot, fine weather; this place is about 
 six miles from New Orleans. 
 
 CAMP WILLIAMS, 18TH SEPTEMBER, 1862. 
 
 Since my last letter, I have received yours, one from 
 
 T , and the Salem papers. Did you hear G W 
 
 speak? I am glad he is doing well, recruiting for his com- 
 pany, and have no doubt of his success. You do not men- 
 tion C ; is he going with him? It has rained hard 
 
 here the last two days, which makes it rather disagree- 
 able in camp. The Northern news seems to be about as 
 bad as possible. General Weitzel's Staff has not yet been 
 announced; it will be when he receives his papers; my 
 chance is good, Major Strong gives me his influence. I 
 have been on quite an expedition ; Major Strong started 
 from the city with several companies, one from Connecticut, 
 three from Twelfth Maine, and one from the Twenty Sixth 
 Massachusetts; Lieutenant Morton of General Butler's Staff, 
 Lieutenant Finegross and myself went with him, as aids; 
 we took steamers at Lakeport and went to the other side of 
 Lake Ponchartrain, to the Tarigiparioa river, but could not 
 get far enough up to accomplish anything. We remained 
 Sunday at Fort Pike, went that night to the river near Pass 
 Manchae, at daylight went up with one boat and four 
 companies to Manchae Railroad bridge. The Connecti- 
 cut company were on the New London, and could not get 
 over the bar. We wanted to get to Ponchatoula, Jeff 
 
70 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 Thompson's head quarters, where we heard there were but 
 two companies of militia. One of the Maine companies was 
 sent in the -opposite direction to burn a railroad bridge and 
 the Massachusetts company left on board the boat. We had 
 one gun with us, but could not land it, as we had to march 
 nearly two miles on a bridge, stepping from sleeper to 
 sleeper. Our two companies were C and F of the Twelfth 
 Maine, and numbered about one hundred and twenty-five 
 men. There was a locomotive on the track about half way 
 to the town, which of course gave them information of 
 our coming. 
 
 On our arrival near the village, they commenced firing 
 with two or three pieces of artillery, and we ascertained 
 from letters and from the negroes that they had three 
 companies of the Tenth Arkansas Kegiment and a company 
 of artillery, besides the two small militia companies. After 
 a fight of about twenty minutes we took the town, burned a 
 freight train of twenty or more cars, seized everything in 
 the fort and telegraph offices. I took the telegraph des- 
 patches, of which there were several hundred; I enclose one 
 from Jeif Thompson, just received and not delivered, who, 
 it seems, had gone to Jackson the day before. We took his 
 head quarters, and his sword with the inscription " Presented 
 to Gen'l M. Jeff Thompson by the Patriots of Memphis." 
 Part of our wounded were sent into a house, with a surgeon; 
 the negroes now told us that the rebels were moving in an 
 effort to cut off our retreat, so we moved down the railroad 
 a short distance to await their attack (after we took the vil- 
 lage they disappeared altogether), but instead of appearing 
 there, they returned to the village again and seized our 
 
LETTERS FROM LOUISIANA. 71 
 
 wounded. They came back by some road not known to us; 
 they outnumbered us much, at least three to one, and with 
 several pieces of artillery; at this moment, a train of cars 
 arrived, bringing them more men and guns, probably they 
 were from Camp Moore, thirteen miles above the town; 
 they then commenced a fire of shell and round shot from 
 several pieces, they fired badly and we had but one man 
 wounded. 
 
 We had torn up the track, so that they could not follow 
 us with guns on the railroad. We lost three or four 
 killed, and about twenty wounded, of our small number; 
 Captain Thornton of Connecticut, wounded, was taken pris- 
 oner when they returned to the village; his second lieutenant 
 was wounded in the foot, but was not taken. When a mile 
 from the town we were joined by the Massachusetts com- 
 pany, which had been sent for, and when five miles further 
 on, by the other Maine company. The rebels followed a few 
 miles, but did not come near enough for the shot to reach us 
 after they left the town; we kept moving slowly and then 
 stopping for them, but they stopped whenever we did. In 
 the skirmish the Maine companies behaved admirably; not 
 a man faltered, and we had no idea of contending with 
 artillery. We had a march of twenty miles on the day of 
 the fight, ten from the bridge to the town, and the weather 
 was very hot. 
 
 There is no news here of importance; we expect to be 
 very quiet for some time unless we are attacked, which does 
 not seem probable, as it would require a large force to have 
 any chance of success. The defences of the city are being 
 daily strengthened. 
 
72 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 CAMP WILLIAMS, SEPTEMBER 24. 
 
 Your letters of the ninth were received yesterday. The 
 weather here now is changeable from cool to very hot, 
 and the reverse. Our New York dates are to the eleventh 
 instant. Are you getting ready to defend Salem? The 
 Salem Gazette and the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette 
 always interest me; please continue to send them regularly. 
 The Army news is discouraging from the North, but we 
 must eventually have the advantage. 
 
 This State appears to be full of rebel troops, probably 
 militia in the main. I think Breckinridge, Yan Dorn and Jeff 
 Thompson are still in this vicinity, and probably General 
 Ruggles. I trust this winter will finish the war; it is very 
 dull and stupid here with nothing doing; I think I should 
 prefer farming to this, although I am better contented than 
 a majority. General Sherman now commands at Carrollton, 
 and Generals Arnold and Weitzel of the regular army here, 
 or are to have commands here. I do not think we shall be 
 attacked, and feel confident the rebels will be badly whipped 
 if they make the assault. 
 
 Dr. Black is here as surgeon of the First Louisiana Regi- 
 ment, and I frequently see him. There is no yellow fever 
 here, and but little typhoid ; chills are very prevalent, and 
 
 this is the worst month for them. I saw "W , Sunday; he 
 
 is improving. Five men arrived two days since from our 
 Ponchatoula affair; they became exhausted on the march 
 to the boat and could not get to her in time, and managed to 
 arrive here by land after four days travel ; this reduces our 
 
LETTERS FROM LOUISIANA. 73 
 
 loss to less than thirty. This place is preferable to Ship 
 
 Island; two Maine companies are yet there. Tell M 
 
 and L to write me. If you see "W ask him to write 
 
 and tell me all about his company. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS, 29TH SEPTEMBER. 
 
 I have just heard that a mail will leave to-morrow, earty, 
 und have only time to write a few lines at the Post Office to 
 say that I have been appointed First Lieutenant and Aid- 
 de-Camp on General Weitzel's Staff, and that I am now on 
 duty in my new position. J. B. Hubbard, of the First 
 Maine Battery, is Adjutant General and Chief of Staff, with 
 rank of captain; my position is next; and Lieutenant E. E. 
 Graves, of the Thirteenth Connecticut Kegiment, is Junior 
 Aid. The brigade is composed of the First Louisiana, 
 Twelfth and Thirteenth Connecticut, Seventh Vermont and 
 Seventy-Fifth New York regiments, two batteries and four 
 companies of cavalry. We go into camp a few miles from 
 town this week; the men are healthy, excepting the fever 
 
 and ague cases. "W has joined his company and is on 
 
 duty again; he has grown stout. I am well as possible, and 
 very much pleased at my appointment on the staff. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS, OCTOBER 1. 
 
 Yesterday I received your letters of September 12; the 
 day before, one of the fifteenth ; the papers arrive regularly ; 
 
 G W 's letter has not arrived. The mail which was 
 
 to have gone early yesterday morning has been detained 
 7 
 
74 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 until this afternoon ; so you will probably receive two letters 
 at the same time. 
 
 Speculators have not been making any money by their 
 operations recently. They have paid high rates of freight; 
 $60 per ton for hay, and in this ratio for other goods by 
 steamer. Flour sells for $5 to $8 per barrel ; sugar 9 to 10 
 cents per pound; corn 70 cents per bushel, and oats 65 to 75 
 cents; hay $42 per ton. They must store their goods, and 
 they will have to wait awhile before selling, with a good 
 prospect of a heavy loss. 
 
 The weather this week is very fine; a great change from 
 that of last; we go to camp to-morrow. I hear that Captain 
 Batchelder was killed in battle at the North ; his parents will 
 have heard of the death of both their sons at the same time. 
 
 You seem to be much troubled about W ; he is all right 
 
 again, was very ill, and would have had a hard time had not 
 Lieutenant Bowles paid him special attention and procured 
 for him superior care. I will send you, by my next letter, 
 the rebel account of our skirmish at Ponchatoula ; it is 
 decidedly amusing. Our dates from the North are to the 
 twenty-first; we are delighted with the news. 
 
 CAMP KEARNEY, OCTOBER 6. 
 
 We are now in camp at Carrollton, about a mile from the 
 village, and six from New Orleans; the locality is much 
 preferable to Camp Williams. The accounts in the Northern 
 papers regarding us here are amusing. They state that we 
 are in daily expectation of an attack from the rebels. From 
 our information, they have no force in this vicinity nearly 
 
LETTERS FROM LOUISIANA. 75 
 
 equal to ours, and there is no probability of their attempting 
 any such operation at present. 
 
 We are having continued fine weather; a great change, 
 from that of ten days since. I like my new position very 
 much, even better than I expected. General Weitzel gradu- 
 ated the second in his class, and is at present the youngest 
 brigadier general in the army; he is very tall, over six feet. 
 Captain Hubbard is full six feet, and rather taller than 
 myself. Three papers were received this morning, and I 
 
 am glad to see that C S has a commission. The 
 
 Seventy-Fifth New York Regiment, in this brigade, is one 
 of the best in drill and discipline, really excellent. We have 
 fine quarters, overlooking the camp. 
 
 CAMP KEARNEY, OCTOBER 10. 
 
 I write a few lines to say that we are well, and have 
 received a number of letters; did not know of this mail in 
 time to say much. The Roanoke is below New Orleans, in 
 quarantine. 
 
 OCTOBER 16. The Roanoke was detained at quarantine 
 a week, as she landed passengers at Havana, My last dates 
 from you are of the twenty-sixth ultimo. The Eighth New 
 Hampshire Regiment is now in our brigade, instead of the 
 Seventh Yermont. The Seventy-Fifth New York Regiment 
 drill and look like regulars, and it is the best volunteer 
 regiment I have sesn. The colonel is a West Point officer. 
 The weather now is quite cool and fine. My best horse is a 
 large bay, and a very fine one ; my second belongs to the 
 cavalry company, and is a very good one. 
 
76 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 ORLEANS, OCTOBER 22. 
 
 Captains Magee and Cowan arrived yesterday. "We are 
 
 to start on an expedition to-morrow, and you may not hear 
 
 * from me again for five or six weeks.. We probably shall 
 
 have chances to write, but of this I am not certain. I saw 
 
 W this morning, and gave him some Salem papers. 
 
 Have received recently a number of letters; also the photo- 
 graph and caps, by Captain Magee. Please thank for them. 
 
 - 
 
 THIBODEAUX, LA., OCTOBER 28. 
 
 We arrived here yesterday. Had quite a fight the day 
 before, in which we were successful, having taken one hun- 
 dred and fifty prisoners, including ten officers, and one brass 
 gun, a twelve-pounder. Our loss was sixty or seventy in 
 killed and wounded. We have marched all day the last 
 week, and start again to-morrow. The prisoners we took 
 were among the first raised troops in the rebel service, 
 belonging to some of their best regiments, and had distin- 
 guished themselves at Shiloh. They were strongly posted, 
 but we outnumbered them. I am well; have no time for 
 anything more now. 
 
 NOVEMBER 10. We have not had any mail for some 
 time; but a few days since, lots of papers and several letters 
 
 came altogether. T writes me that G W will 
 
 be major of the regiment to which his company belongs. 
 His letter, If he ever has sent one, has not been received, 
 I was in the city last Monday, and saw W , he was 
 
LETTERS FROM LOUISIANA. 77 
 
 looking well. Give my love to M and L , and tell 
 
 them that if we remain here a few days I will write them. 
 Railway communication is now open with the city, and 
 nearly so to Brashear City on Berwick's Bay, in the opposite 
 direction. We have now undisputed possession of the dis- 
 trict of La Fouche, which is considered the finest part of 
 Louisiana. The rebels are now on the other side of the 
 bay, near Franklin. A majority of their men are conscripts, 
 who will not fight, as they have not been in the service 
 long enough to be well drilled or disciplined, and are very 
 much dissatisfied. Their picket deserted last night and 
 came over to us. 
 
 We have taken, since landing at Donaldsonville, five or 
 six hundred prisoners, two-thirds of them belonging to the 
 militia, which has since been disbanded. You will probably 
 see the General's report of the affair at Georgia Landing, 
 near Labadieville. The enemy had the Eighteenth Louisiana 
 and Crescent City regiments, Roylston Battery of four 
 pieces, and a company or two of cavalry, on one side of the 
 bayou. Both of these regiments distinguished themselves 
 at the battle of Shiloh, but were small, both not numbering 
 more than six hundred men. The Crescent is the best 
 Louisiana regiment in the field. Their batteries were wel) 
 served. On the other side the bayou they had Colonel 
 Vincent's Louisiana Cavalry, Semmes' Battery, (the one 
 that injured us so much at Baton Rouge) the Thirty-Third 
 Louisiana Infantry, and a few militia. The fighting was 
 nearly all on the side where the Crescent and Eighteenth 
 were posted. They had a very strong position in the woods, 
 with a large ditch in front of their line. We drove them 
 
78 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 from this position, capturing one of their brass field-pieces, 
 and nearly two hundred prisoners; rather more than one 
 hundred of them belonging to the Crescent Regiment. 
 Among the prisoners we had Captain Roylston and one 
 of the lieutenants of the battery, and eight or ten other 
 officers of the Crescent and Eighteenth Lousiana. We 
 buried Colonel McPhutus of the Crescent, and five or six of 
 their men. These were all the killed we found ; they may 
 have taken away others. Some of their badly wounded 
 have since died. We lost eighteen killed, and nearly eighty 
 wounded. Two New Hampshire captains were among the 
 killed. 
 
 On the other side the bayou the fight did not amount to 
 much. We there lost a few men. If they lost any they 
 took them away. They retired after their forces on the 
 upper bank of the bayou were defeated. They numbered, 
 in all, but fifteen hundred men. All of our force was not 
 engaged. They destroyed all the bridges. The General 
 had ordered flat-boats towed up from Donaldsonville, so 
 that we had a bridge that artillery could cross over on, in 
 ten minutes after the fight commenced. Had it not been 
 for this they would have done us much injury. We are 
 deficient in cavalry in this department; if we had had more 
 we should have taken the other three guns of Roylston 
 Battery; our infantry could not follow rapidly enough. 
 
 We have not had any rain since leaving the city, and the 
 weather has been perfect, quite cool, with a heavy frost 
 nearly every morning. I do not remember in my experience 
 such continued fine weather; the men have slept in the open 
 field every night but one since leaving Camp Kearney at 
 
LETTERS FROM LOUISIANA. 79 
 
 Carrollton. I have been as well as possible, but we have 
 always had a house for head-quarters, sleeping on the floor. 
 We live on the country, and have plenty of fresh meats. I 
 am quite busy, and find my position all that I anticipated. 
 The brigade is an excellent one, the men healthy and jolly; 
 officers and men have perfect confidence in the General; this 
 is as it should be when success is expected, We hear all 
 sorts of rumors, not very reliable, as to the rebels on the 
 other side the bay; they probably number near three thou- 
 sand, part of them first-rate troops, the rest conscripts and 
 militia; a thousand of them are the same that fought us the 
 other day; -they will not be likely to attack us. General 
 Butler and Staff came up here on Friday and returned the 
 next day. 
 
 CAMP STEVENS, LA., NOVEMBER 29. 
 
 I write this letter in the hope that it will be in time for 
 the steamer that is to sail this afternoon, and to say that no 
 military event of consequence has transpired since my last. 
 We are still in camp near Thibodeaux, fifty odd miles from 
 New Orleans. The change has come, and we are having 
 rain and otherwise disagreeable weather; the men now have 
 tents and are sheltered. My usual supply of letters were 
 received last week, the letter of credit being in one of them. 
 The shooting near here is good, and we get many snipe and 
 ducks. The weather is improving to-day. 
 
 NOVEMBER 28. Yesterday was Thanksgiving day; the 
 weather was perfect; the men had quite a time and looked 
 finely. The secesh have all left, and gone to the other side 
 of Berwick's Bay. We are sending hundreds of horses and 
 
80 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 mules to New Orleans, for the regular United States artil- 
 lery stationed there. We are on horseback half of the day; 
 I enjoy it very much, and now weigh one hundred and 
 seventy-five pounds. If this arrives before my package is 
 sent out, please send the belt to my infantry sword. 
 
 DECEMBER 8. We are still in camp near Thibodeaux, 
 with little to do. I was in the city a few days, lately, and 
 
 saw W ; he was thinking of making application for a 
 
 commission in the new Texas regiment of cavalry now being 
 
 raised ; Captain Magee will approve his papers. G. W 's 
 
 regiment will not have long to serve when they leave the 
 State; it seems poor policy to raise troops for so short 
 time. We are all anxious to hear from General Banks' 
 expedition ; the New York papers are full of the matter. 
 The Southerners have rumors of the defeat of General Burn- 
 side. The conscripts are deserting the rebels from Port 
 Hudson, and from the other side of Berwick's Bay; we 
 have a number come in every day; last Sunday Captain 
 Perkins captured two lieutenants. The enclosed photograph 
 of Major Strong please put in my book with the others, for 
 preservation; will send one of the General soon. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS, DECEMBER 17, 1862. 
 
 I have received two letters this week. General Banks 
 and expedition have arrived, or rather, part of the troops, 
 one brigade has already gone to Baton Rouge; the enemy 
 have very few men there, and there will be no necessity for 
 any fighting. We are not particularly pleased that General 
 Butler should have been superseded. General Banks has 
 
LETTERS FROM LOUISIANA. 81 
 
 men enough to take possession of this country, but the great 
 fight of the Southwest will be at Port Hudson, where there 
 is a large force strongly intrenched, and which place will 
 undoubtedly be reinforced. General Weitzel is in town, and 
 
 has reported to General Banks; he will endorse "W 's 
 
 application for a commission in the Texas regiment of cav- 
 alry. I have been urged to apply for a majority in it, but 
 shall not, much preferring my present position. The officers 
 are nearly all selected, and there is but little doubt of its 
 succeeding. We expect to be ordered North (that is, up the 
 river), as our brigade is in fine order, and, for regiments 
 that have been in service for more than a year, very full, 
 the four numbering twenty-eight hundred men for duty, 
 then we have our artillery and cavalry, besides the First 
 Louisiana, which is now at Donaldsonville. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS, DECEMBER 22. I have been in town 
 some days past. General Weitzel expects to return to Thi- 
 bodeauxville to-morrow; if he goes, I shall. The General 
 has been in consultation with General Banks. This city is 
 now the most expensive one I have ever been in, much more 
 so than Paris or London. 
 
 We are now to be in .General Augur's division, the 
 centre brigade ; we are to leave Thibodeaux this week 
 and march to Donaldsonville, and there embark for Baton 
 Rouge, where most of the new troops are going. Magee's 
 
 companies have gone, and I think W went with them; 
 
 if he did not, shall see him to-day. Lieutenant P has 
 
 resigned, and his resignation has been accepted; he goes 
 home in the ship with General Butler and Staff"; they sail 
 to-morrow. Enclosed is a photograph taken at Jacobs'. 
 
82 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 CAMP STEVENS, DECEMBER 29. 
 
 There is not much news. Have received several letters 
 
 from you, enclosing those from M and L . I will 
 
 send them some rebel stamps soon. We seem to nave been 
 badly whipped in Virginia, as usual. I hope General Butler 
 will be given a good position: he certainly has done well in 
 Louisiana. Major Strong has been appointed Brigadier, 
 but he has gone north with General Butler. General 
 Weitzel is still in New Orleans, with General Banks. We 
 move as soon as he returns. Our brigade has been broken 
 up, in order to scatter the old regiments. The Thirteenth 
 Connecticut and Eighth New Hampshire, both go out of 
 this brigade, and green ones are to come in to fill their 
 places, the One Hundred and Sixtieth New York being one 
 of the new ones. Everything moves very slowly. We 
 have now been in this camp two months. The weather has 
 been rainy, and the roads are very muddy. We cannot 
 leave here, for want of transportation, as the Thirteenth 
 Connecticut and Eighth New Hampshire took all we had, 
 and it must return here from Donaldson ville for our use, 
 unless we leave all our camp equipage. Did I tell you in 
 
 my last that I saw E P in this city. He was 
 
 looking finely, and had been acting commissary of a trans- 
 port, with a New Hampshire Regiment on board. What do 
 you think of the European powers recognizing the Confed- 
 eracy? We have heard that Secretary Seward has resigned. 
 Who will take his place? We cannot even guess. 
 JANUARY 8, 1863. We are still in camp here, and have 
 
LETTERS FROM LOUISIANA. 83 
 
 been joined by several New York regiments of three 
 years men. I have received my box of clothing, which 
 was in first-rate order; all the things were just what were 
 wanted. I do not know when we shall move from this 
 place; suppose not at present. It cannot be intended we 
 should, or the new regiments would not have been sent 
 here. The paper, with the New Orleans letter about our 
 mess, has also been received; it was not exactly true, how- 
 ever. The fifty was for nearly two months, during which 
 time we paid little or nothing for our meats, which are the 
 principal items of cost in our mess bills. I have been in 
 town with the General nearly all of the last month, and it 
 is a most expensive place, particularly for horse hire. We 
 have no news here to communicate, of any kind. Did you 
 see the poetry in Yanity Fair about Weitzel's four thou- 
 sand, or his elephant, in Frank Leslie's Budget of Fun for 
 January. 
 
 JANUARY 10, 1863. By General Banks' new order I 
 shall have to give up my horse belonging to Read's com- 
 pany. He is not the best one, but I am sorry to lose this 
 old one, as I am accustomed to him, and he is very tough 
 and reliable, and will stand between two cannon when 
 firing, without minding it. He is not worth the quarter- 
 master's price, and I can buy a suitable one for less. It 
 takes a long while to accustom them to fire. The private 
 
 secretary of General Banks is T , a Salem boy that I 
 
 used to know very well years ago, but had not seen for a 
 long time. He has been living recently in Chicago. We 
 
 have a superior man for brigade surgeon, Dr. B , of the 
 
 Seventy-Fifth New York. His age is between fifty and 
 
84 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 sixty, and he has had great experience. I now room with 
 him. The Seventy-Fifth, the One Hundred and Fourteenth, 
 and One Hundred and Sixtieth New York regiments are 
 in our brigade. We expect to move soon. The city is 
 full of rumors. Many of these relate to us. They say that 
 we have been whipped by the Confederates several times, 
 they having crossed Berwick's Bay. We have not seen 
 them, and only wish they would try the experiment. I have 
 the promise of a bull dog, to be given me in a few days. 
 How would mother like to have him sent home? 
 
 NEW ORLEANS, JANUARY 28, 1863. 
 
 I have been in town this week past, and return to camp 
 to-morrow. General Weitzel has been to Baton Rouge 
 with General Banks, and has just returned. Our brigade 
 has been on an expedition to the other side of Berwick's 
 Bay. The troops consisted of the Sixth Michigan, Twenty- 
 First Indiana, Seventy-Fifth and One Hundred and Sixtieth 
 New York, Eighth Vermont, and Twelfth Connecticut 
 infantry regiments, the Sixth Massachusetts Battery, First 
 Maine, and Company A, First Regular Artillery, with one 
 Section of Manning's Battery. We started with four days' 
 provisions, and were gone only three days from Brashear 
 City. The object of the excursion was the destruction of 
 the partially iron clad boat, I. E. Cotton.. The rebel force 
 was not more than half so large as ours. We drove them 
 several miles, when they burned the boat. We had quite a 
 heavy artillery fight all day, the enemy having two thirty- 
 two pound guns on the boat, one forty-eight, and two or 
 
LETTERS FROM LOUISIANA. 85 
 
 three twelve-pound howitzers, besides ten field pieces on 
 shore. We had four gunboats under Lieutenant-Com- 
 mander Buchanan, who was killed, and the force named 
 above, under General Weitzel. Our loss was forty or fifty, 
 most of them wounded only, and in the gunboats a dozen 
 more. They could only proceed a few miles above Patter- 
 sonville, owing to obstructions in the Teche, where we fished 
 out three large torpedoes, intended to blow up the boats. 
 Our success was complete. The enemy lost many more 
 than we did. We buried twelve of their dead, and took 
 fifty prisoners; and at one time not a man was to be seen 
 on the deck of the Cotton, our sharp-shooters driving them 
 from their guns, or shooting all that appeared; the loss on 
 her must have been very heavy. It is expected that our 
 brigade will move again directly. The Salem Infantry are 
 at Carrollton. 
 
 THIBODEAUX, JANUARY 30. 
 
 I have been two days at Brashear City, on Berwick's Bay, 
 this week. The cavalry of the enemy are seen from there 
 nearly every day. It is now more than three months since 
 we came here, expecting, at the time, to stop only one night. 
 My pay, including extra staff allowance, is less than it was 
 as lieutenant of cavalry; and as I have servant to pay and 
 furnish with clothing, and half-pay of the hostler, which 
 expense Lieutenant Graves and myself share, my funds do 
 not supply my wants. The English government pay their 
 troops east of Suez double the usual home sum, making the 
 difference in pay according to cost and station. Our troops 
 should be paid on a like plan. When on Ship Island we 
 
86 PICKERING DODGE AI<EN. 
 
 could not expend half the sum paid us; but at New Orleans 
 and in this vicinity, when we draw our extra supplies from 
 that city, the pay does not meet our expenses. As I do not 
 see any necessity, at least for the present, for any other 
 course, I shall continue to live as I have been accustomed 
 to, and economize when it becomes necessary, and shall 
 draw for what money may be required. The rebels, accord- 
 ing to their official report of our last encounter with them, 
 lost one hundred said fifty in killed and wounded. Among 
 the killed the lieutenant-colonel of their cavalry, and Lieu- 
 tenant Stevens of their navy, the officer who 'commanded 
 the celebrated ram Arkansas. He commanded the Cotton 
 after her Captain (Fuller) was wounded. Our loss was 
 less; only six killed and twenty-eight wounded; one of the 
 
 killed being Lieutenant of the Seventy-Fifth New 
 
 York, of the brigade troops. Our boats lost Lieutenant 
 Commander Buchanan and three men killed and eight 
 wounded. We all feel very badly at the loss of Lieutenant 
 Commander Buchanan ; he was one of the most able naval 
 officers here, and a very pleasant companion. In the rebels' 
 report they exaggerate our loss, and state it to exceed their 
 own. Lieutenant Commander Cooke now commands our 
 boats. The newspapers we found the other side of Ber- 
 wick's Bay were printed on wall, or house paper, and of 
 course only on one side. 
 
 THIBODEATJX, FEBRUARY 6, 1863. 
 
 When in town last week I went to Carrollton. The 
 Infantry are in camp there. I found D P in the 
 
LETTERS FROM LOUISIANA. 87 
 
 hospital. He was so much improved that he expected to 
 go to Baton Rouge, with his regiment, the next day. I saw 
 
 W and C , S and L , the evening that I 
 
 arrived in town. They went to Baton Rouge the next day. 
 
 W had not shaved since he left home, so he was looking 
 
 rough, but well. I received long letters from you yester- 
 day. The enclosed one, for Mobile, can probably be sent 
 through the lines, ere long. You say that I have been 
 commissioned as first lieutenant of Captain Read's company 
 of cavalry. I am glad to hear of this, although I may 
 never be with the company. I do not have a commission 
 on the staff, only an appointment from head-quarters. 
 The acting Adjutant General is not so situated. In case the 
 General should resign, or give up his command, by cause of 
 accident, or from any other reason, I should be discharged 
 also, unless I held a commission elsewhere. I find my posi- 
 tion, on the staff, all that I anticipated, and the General is 
 esteemed as one of the very best officers ; and thus far he 
 has succeeded admirably in everything that he has attempt- 
 ed. We expect to move somewhere very soon. My news- 
 papers did not come with my letters. They were not ready. 
 I expect to receive them to-morrow. 
 
 THIBODEAUX, FEBRUARY 18, 1863. 
 
 I received a long letter from you yesterday, and was 
 delighted to get it, as it was quite a long time since 1 had 
 heard. Half the brigade are still here, and the other half are 
 at Brashear City. The weather has been bad recently, and 
 the mud is horrible. I have been at the bay most of the 
 
88 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 time recently; went over with twenty men of the Seventy- 
 Fifth New York, and caught two rebel cavalry men, 
 with their horses and rifles. We laid nearly all one rainy 
 night in the mud to do it. It was their outer picket post of 
 three men; the third escaped, we being on foot, and they 
 mounted. I have been in one of the gunboats, all up 
 through the lakes, and several of the bayous; the object 
 being to obtain information, &c. I received a splendid 
 
 present yesterday of a pair of solid silver spurs from 
 
 of Louisiana. 
 
 BRASHEAR CITY, MARCH 6, 1863. 
 
 I have received three long letters in the last ten days, 
 during which time I have not written, having been quite 
 busy. The brigade is now called the second of the First 
 Division, and is under command of Major-General Augur. 
 Colonel Dudley commands one of the other brigades, 
 and he is at Baton Rouge. We like our camp here, as 
 we were well tired of Thibodeaux. The rebel pickets are 
 in sight every day, on the other side of the bay, it being 
 about one-third of a mile from the point where we have just 
 built a strong battery, and have already mounted several 
 heavy guns. General Sibley now commands the rebels 
 opposite us. There are two or three of his regiments at 
 Camp Bisland, about ten miles from here, and others higher 
 up. Our brigade is in splendid order, particularly four of 
 the regiments, and they are generally healthy and jolly. 
 One of the new ones, the One Hundred and Sixtieth New 
 York, has considerable sickness; a necessary experience, as 
 
- 
 
 LETTERS FROM LOUISIANA. 89 
 
 it seems, for all new men to suffer. You must congratulate 
 
 H F for me; shall write him if I find time. I have 
 
 seen General D wight, Howard, and Charles and Fletcher 
 Abbott, and two other Bostonians. General Dwight is at 
 Baton Rouge; General Andrews at Carrollton. 
 
 I only hear of W through your letters since the 
 
 company left New Orleans. Have you seen the plan 
 for making the Atchafalaya the outlet of the Mississippi, 
 as published in the New York papers. The mouth of 
 the river is directly opposite this point. I see by the 
 Boston Gazette that the First Battalion of the Second 
 Cavalry have left Massachusetts under Caspar Crownin- 
 shield. 
 
 The winter has disappeared very quickly, and we seem to 
 be as far from peace as ever, and to have accomplished but 
 little, if anything. I hope in the spring campaign we shall 
 be more successful. General Shepley and Lieutenant Bowles 
 have been here some days, and have just left for the city. 
 I do not expect any fighting before we move, as the rebels 
 will not attack us. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS, MARCH 14, 1863. 
 
 I came in with the General day before yesterday, and 
 return to camp to-morrow at Brashear. This is a pleasant 
 place, and esteemed as healthy. We are all well pleased 
 with the conscript law, and think it will work advantageously 
 for our army. Men under short enlistments are very much 
 inclined to be counting the time when they are to be dis- 
 charged, and do not make as good soldiers ; and when they 
 
 8* 
 
m 
 
 90 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 have become hardened to camp life, and learned somewhat 
 of drill and discipline, they are mustered out of service. It 
 is not so with the men enlisted for a long time, or for the 
 war. They do not give it a thought, and consequently are 
 more contented and interested. They have their jokes upon 
 the short-time men, calling them the four hundred dollar 
 men, in consequence of the high bounties that have been 
 lately paid at the north. The rebels in New Orleans are 
 full of rumors relative to our brigade, and many of them 
 believe that we have been badly beaten, and half of us taken 
 prisoners, and the rest driven away. The sole foundation 
 for this story was the firing of a few shots by some Texan 
 cavalry, early in the week. We fired one shell at them, 
 when they disappeared; there was no one hurt. We have 
 such performances every week, and they probably are 
 the origin of the stories which are so common in New 
 Orleans. I have received my commission as First Lieuten- 
 ant of the First Unattached Company of Cavalry from Mas- 
 sachusetts. It is dated the first day of January, 1863. It 
 came to hand several weeks since. The photograph sent 
 was taken in New Orleans. The group consists of General 
 Weitzel, Captain Alden of the Richmond, Captain Perkins, 
 Lieutenant Terry of the Richmond, Colonel Merritt, Seventy- 
 Fifth New York, and three of Major-General Augur's Staff 
 and others, myself included. You can tell the General by 
 his star. 
 
 .BAYOU BGEUF, LA., MARCH 24, 1863. 
 
 I received several letters and papers by the mail before 
 the last. You fear my having the rheumatism. I have 
 
LETTERS FROM LOUISIANA. 91 
 
 never been so exposed to it as the last four or five months, 
 and have never had so little; one slight touch, several weeks 
 since, one morning, is all that I have had since leaving home 
 last August, and my health could not be improved. I have 
 been up two nights of the last three. Night before last was 
 on the lakes with a gunboat, as a few secesh were there in 
 boats, probably trying to ascertain our whereabouts, as we 
 moved the night before that to this point, seven miles from 
 Berwick's Bay, and near New Orleans. We shall probably 
 return to the Bay again soon. The Confederate ram Queen 
 of the West, and gunboats Hart and Webb are supposed to 
 be in this vicinity. We still hold Brashear with a strong 
 picket, and changed to this place on account of its strength 
 of position. We had quite a lively skirmish, two or three 
 days since, with the secesh picket; they attempted to cap- 
 ture a dozen of our men, when the General sent me over 
 with seventy or eighty infantry. We drove them about 
 two miles, and fired a good many shots, without any one 
 being hurt. They numbered fifteen or twenty mounted 
 men, and kept at very long range. After we had driven 
 them beyond a point the General sent Perkins over with 
 his cavalry. He drove them seven miles, as far as Pat- 
 terson, capturing five men and six horses, and wounding 
 one other man and several horses. Perkins' horse was 
 shot through the head, and he lost four other horses, but 
 no men. He was then driven back by two or three hun- 
 dred secesh cavalry, but without losing a man or horse; so 
 this was quite a success for him. 
 
 General Banks and several of his staff were here yester- 
 day. It poured nearly all day, so they saw little of the 
 
92 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 camp. We were all wet enough, and had been for twenty- 
 four thours. They went to Brashear and dined with us, on 
 beans and hard bread and the like. We live pretty well, 
 except when moving, then we are glad to get anything. 
 What do you think of Port Hudson? The troops have all 
 returned to Baton Rouge. The Hartford and Albatross 
 are said to be near the mouth of the Red River. I send 
 you some secesh newspapers, given me near Pattersonville, 
 where I went two days since with a flag of truce. We 
 have been so busy lately, moving and doing one thing and 
 another, that I have not had any time to write. This is a 
 perfect day, and we have our tents up and everything hung 
 out to dry. We all hope to advance soon, and why every 
 thing moves so slowly we cannot tell. Our brigade is in 
 perfect order, and is much praised by all who visit us ; and 
 it is the only one that has done anything in this depart- 
 ment since its formation last September. General Arnold 
 was also here yesterday. He has just been appointed a 
 brigadier is a captain in the Regular United States artil- 
 lery. Have you seen that Major Strong has been made a 
 brigadie? Please send my watch, first having it put in 
 perfect order; my hunter is out of order, the mainspring 
 broken, and otherwise injured. Send by Adams & Co. 
 
 April fourteenth, letters were received from General 
 Weitzel and others, giving an account of the capture of 
 the gunboat Diana, with Pickering on board of her, 
 and of his having been wounded and taken prisoner. 
 These letters and newspapers sent us give all the 
 
LETTER FROM GENERAL WEITZEL. 93 
 
 circumstances and particulars of the fight, and the 
 reason for his having been on board the boat. 
 
 General Weitzel's letter was dated " Head-quarters 
 Second Brigade, First Division, April 2, 1866," and 
 reads as follows : 
 
 DEAR SIR, I regret to inform you that your son Pick- 
 ering, my aid, was wounded and taken prisoner by the 
 rebels, on last Saturday. His wound is not dangerous. 
 The ball passed under his left shoulder blade through his 
 body, and lodged under the skin of his left arm ; it has been 
 extracted by my surgeon, who went up under a flag of 
 truce. Pickering is at the house of a surgeon in Patterson- 
 ville, and is very kindly treated. He is attended by a 
 number of ladies. We are permitted to send him anything 
 we desire. I sent him up money, clothes, medicines, flour, 
 coffee, &c. He is treated better than the other officers, 
 because, as the rebels say, he behaved in a most brave 
 manner. The disaster is the result of disobedience of orders 
 on the part of the navy officer commanding the vessel. 
 Fearing that this officer was inclined to be rash, I sent 
 Pickering with him, to see that my orders were not exceed- 
 ed; but although he (Pickering) expostulated with the 
 captain four times, he persisted in disobeying my instruc- 
 tions. I hope that the rules on the non-exchange of officers 
 will soon be m cm led, so that Pickering may soon again 
 join my military family. I can assure you I miss him very, 
 very much. His energy, bravery and good judgment 
 (qualities which I thought I recognized in him, and which 
 
94 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 caused me to place him on my staff) make him invaluable 
 to me. It may solace the grief of your family to know 
 that, on this occasion,, as on a half dozen previous ones, 
 Pickering behaved in the bravest and most gallant mariner. 
 At one time he was the only soul fighting the enemy, and he 
 did all he could to prevent the boat from falling into their 
 hands. Hoping that it may never again be my duty to send 
 you such disagreeable news as the above, and with my 
 compliments to yourself and family, 
 
 I remain truly yours, 
 
 G. WEITZEL, 
 
 Brigadier-General United States Volunteers. 
 
 Extract from a letter written by an old school- 
 mate, dated " Head-quarters Department of the Gulf, 
 New Orleans, March 31, 1863" : 
 
 Your son, Lieutenant Allen, was wounded and taken 
 prisoner, while making a reconnoissance upon the gunboat 
 Diana in Grand Lake. The whole thing was the result of 
 an unaccountable disobedience of orders upon the part of 
 the captain of the gunboat, who was killed at the first fire. 
 He was ordered by General Weitzel to come back by the 
 same route he took on his way up. In fact, to prevent any 
 such thing occurring, your son was sent by General Weitzel 
 upon the reconnoissance. He however persisted in disobey- 
 ing the orders given him, and against the repeated remon- 
 strances of Lieutenant Allen. The consequence was the 
 capture of the boat, and the killing or taking prisoners of 
 
WOUNDED AND A PRISONER. 95 
 
 the officers and men. The details you will find in The Era 
 newspaper, which I enclose. 
 
 General Weitzel informs me that the ball has been 
 extracted by one of our surgeons, sent up by a flag of truce. 
 He has also communicated with your son twice by flag of 
 truce, since the affair, and has sent him everything he 
 needed. The ball, which General Weitzel gave me, I send 
 you by express. I take the liberty of writing you, as 
 Pickering was an old school-fellow and Salem boy with me. 
 Yours, respectfully, 
 
 j F. T , 
 
 Private Secretary to Major-General Banks. 
 
 Letter from Pickering, when a prisoner, dated 
 44 Patterson ville, La., April 6, 1863" : 
 
 * 
 
 You will have heard, before receiving this, of my having 
 been wounded and taken prisoner. I am getting well quite 
 rapidly; have excellent care, and have been treated with 
 the greatest kindness since my capture. I am wounded in 
 the shoulder and arm, and have a cut on the hand, from & 
 fragment of a shell. Dr. Benedict (our brigade surgeon) 
 came by flag of truce to see me, the day after our capture, 
 and extracted the ball. There is now very little, if any 
 danger from my wounds. It is impossible to tell when we 
 shall be exchanged; may be in two or three months; may 
 be in as many days, although I do not think the last chance 
 worth much. I am now at Dr. Grout's, in this village, and 
 am perfectly comfortable. This letter I expect will go 
 to-morrow by flag of truce. Should anything of interest 
 
96 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 occur in the meantime, will add to this. Give my love to 
 mother, Marion and Lizzie. It is doubtful if I have an 
 opportunity to write again. Yours, affectionately. 
 
 Additional note by Captain Cowen, dated " Camp 
 Reno, April 9, 1863 " : 
 
 I enclose a few lines in your son's letter, which I took 
 from his hand yesterday and brought over on a flag of 
 truce. He wished me to enclose this in his letter, as I had 
 seen him two days after he had written. 
 
 He is doing well, and is now able to sit up nearly half of 
 the time. He appeared in excellent spirits, and is very com- 
 fortably situated, at Doctor Grout's plantation. We have 
 sent him clothes, and such provisions as he could not pro- 
 cure there and they would allow to come inside their lines. 
 I expect they will move him further away from our lines in 
 a few days, as we shall move to attack the enemy to-morrow. 
 I could not tell him of this, for one of their officers was in 
 the room with us all the time I spent with him. Dr. White- 
 head went over with me and dressed his wounds. Our 
 troops are on the move, and I must now close. He did not 
 surrender until escape was utterely impossible, and be 
 began to be faint from his wounds. 
 
 Very respectfully, T. E. COWENS, 
 
 Captain and A id -de-Camp 
 
 Full particulars of the capture of the Federal gun- 
 boat Diana were furnished by a special correspondent 
 
THE DIAXA DISASTER. 97 
 
 of the Boston Traveller, dated " Head-quarters Weit- 
 zel's Division, Bivouac at Bayou Boeuf, Monday, March 
 30, 1863, midnight," as follows : 
 
 On Sunday evening the rotunda of the St. Charles Hotel 
 was thronged, as usual, with its heterogeneous crowd of 
 people; but early in the evening, the loyal men and our 
 officers observed considerable jubilation among the rebels 
 assembled there, who stood together in knots of half a 
 dozen or more, whispering some terrible tale. We were 
 not long in ascertaining the cause of this treasonable 
 commotion, which proved to be the report that the enemy 
 had captured the gunboat Diana, with two companies of 
 infantry, at Bayou Teche. Upon making the proper inqui- 
 ries of the conductor on the railroad running between 
 Algiers and Brashear City, we learned that the sad news 
 was indeed true. 
 
 Hurrying over to Algiers, an accident happened to the 
 ferry-boat plying between New Orleans and Algiers, which 
 caused me to miss the morning train, the only train depart- 
 ing for Brashear City. Fortunately, an extra train was 
 loading with a portion of the Twenty-First Heavy Artillery 
 Regiment, which was ordered to proceed to Bayou Bosuf, 
 the head-quarters of General Weitzel. Securing a few 
 crackers and a loaf of bread, your correspondent jumped 
 into one of the cattle cars, and in a few hours was wending 
 slowly on his way to the vicinity of the disaster. The train 
 reached here, a distance of eighty miles, in nine hours. 
 
 To Captain J. B. Hubbard, Aid-de-Camp to General 
 
 9 
 
98 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 "Weitzel, and Assistant Adjutant General of Weitzel's 
 Division, who went up on the steamer Southern Merchant, 
 on Sunday afternoon, with a flag of truce, I am deeply 
 indebted for the following interesting particulars concerning 
 this unhappy event. I am also under lasting obligations to 
 several of General WeitzeFs Staff for the hospitalities 
 extended on the trip to their head-quarters. 
 
 On Saturday afternoon, the twenty-eighth instant, Captain 
 Peterson of the gunboat Diana, having on board a detach- 
 ment of twenty-nine men from Company A, Twelfth Con- 
 necticut Regiment, and forty men from Company F, One 
 Hundred and Sixtieth New York, was ordered to steam 
 through Grand Lake to the mouth of Bayou Teche. The 
 object was to make a sort of reconnoissance in that vicinity, 
 and to discover, if possible, the correctness of a report in 
 circulation, that the rebels had a force of three hundred 
 infantry and two pieces of artillery on the small island 
 between Grand Lake and the Atchafalaya River. Lieu- 
 tenant Pickering Dodge Allen, Aid-de-Camp to General 
 Weitzel, accompanied the boat, and he likewise was ordered 
 to gather all possible information regarding the strength 
 and position of the enemy from the negroes along the banks 
 of the stream. Captain Peterson continued to push on 
 beyond the mouth of the Teche, in order to pass down the 
 Atchafalaya River, which was in direct violation of General 
 WeitzeFs orders. Lieutenant Allen then asked Captain 
 Peterson what he would do in case he was suddenly attacked 
 by a rebel battery. lie replied he was not afraid of any 
 batteries they had and that he could blow any six of their 
 batteries to pieces. Another object of this expedition was 
 
THE DIANA DISASTER. 99 
 
 to discover if the rebel steamer Dart had run out of the 
 Teche, as it was rumored by secesh. 
 
 Not more than an hour after the conversation alluded to 
 above had taken place, when being just above Pattersonville, 
 Captain Peterson saw a body of the enemy's cavalry and 
 one or two sections of light artillery on the shore. Lieuten- 
 ant Allen then advised Captain Peterson to turn back and 
 avoid, if possible, a conflict with them, but Captain Peterson 
 would not regard the protestation of Lieutenant Allen but 
 kept on up the bayou, and, when he got within range, he 
 opened upon the rebels with his thirty-pound pivot rifled 
 gun. The rebels at once replied with earnestness, getting 
 their light batteries into a raking position and sending, their 
 three hundred Texas cavalry, dismounted, to shower their 
 leaden hail upon our gunners. The fire of these Texas 
 sharp-shooters was terrific, and, as their deadly balls began 
 to whistle over the decks, it told fearfully upon our men. 
 The gunners being completely exposed to the fire of the 
 rebel sharp-shooters, it was but the work of a few minutes to 
 pick off every man who dared to show himself on deck. 
 
 The rebels imitated the strategy of General "Weitzel, as lie 
 exhibited it in his attack on the rebel gunboat " Cotton," 
 which he compelled the rebels to burn. The plan was for 
 each section of artillery to range themselves in such a 
 position as to command the whole surface of the Diana. 
 Captain Peterson continued to fight them bow on, all his 
 guns being on the bow of the Diana, and still retreating 
 slowly with his boat, when the fatal bullet completed its 
 errand of death, and Captain Peterson, who was standing 
 in the pilot-house, rushed out and shouted, "Great God, 
 
100 PICKEKING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 they have killed me," falling a lifeless corpse on the deck. 
 Lieutenant Pickering Dodge Allen then assumed command 
 of the Diana, and slowly began to retreat down the Atcha- 
 falaya Kiver towards Brashear City. The rebels seemed 
 infuriated at this attempt to escape, and they fired with fear- 
 ful rapidity, using artillery and rifles with good execution. 
 
 The grape and canister of the enemy completely cut away 
 the bulwarks of the Diana. One shot penetrated the escape 
 pipe, which enveloped the boat in scalding steam. The tiller 
 rope, and bell-wires communicating with the engineers 7 
 room, were also shot away. The escape of the steam made 
 it impossible to distinguish any object. Executive-officer 
 Hall of the Diana, having been killed in the early part of the 
 engagement, the command then devolved upon Lieutenant 
 Pickering Dodge Allen, who found it impossible to get the 
 sailors to stand by the guns, and the soldiers, seeing the 
 vastly superior force of the enemy and the dead and dying 
 laying around the deck, were in a measure disheartened. 
 
 The battery used by the rebels was an old Yalverde bat- 
 tery, formerly in the regular service of the United States. 
 In the absence of Captain Sayers, the commander of the 
 battery, it was under the command of Lieutenant Kettles. 
 The Texas sharp-shooters belonged to Wallar's Texas Bat- 
 talion, and are the same body of desperadoes who boarded 
 the Harriet Lane off Galveston. They are a disorganized 
 mob, under no military discipline whatever, paying no 
 regard to the orders of officers, but fighting and roaming at 
 their own pleasure. They were mounted on mules, with a 
 few creole ponies among them. It was the same body of 
 desperadoes who were driven into the swamps by our troops 
 
THE DIANA DISASTER. 101 
 
 sixty miles above New Orleans last August. In the above 
 engagement they lost all their horses, many of whom they 
 drove into the swamp in order to aid their escape, from 
 whence it was impossible to extricate a number of them, 
 and our men were obliged to leave them there to starve to 
 death. 
 
 It ssems that they have never received another supply of 
 horses, owing, no doubt, to the great scarcity of good ani- 
 mals in the so-called Confederacy. Some of these fellows 
 carried immense bowie knives, two and three feet long. 
 
 Mr. Dudley, the pilot of the Diana, after the tiller ropes 
 were cut away and the wires connecting with engineers' 
 rooms severed by shot, went to what is called the fighting 
 wheel- and endeavored to back down the Diana by her 
 wheels, as her rudder was shot away. While he was stand- 
 ing on the ladder, giving verbal instructions to the engineers 
 below as to which wheel should be used, a solid shot cut 
 the ladder in two and knocked him overboard. 
 
 Previous to this he was fearful that the rebs might capture 
 the Diana and he, being a Louisianian, would be hung, if 
 captured, so he threw himself overboard. "Finding himself 
 in the water, he rose to the surface and looking up he espied 
 the white flag, which told him that the boat's crew had 
 surrendered -and that he was in a very unhealthy place if 
 caught. lie swam to an island, a distance of nearly a mile, 
 with three negroes who had also jumped overboard from 
 the Diana, and after a short rest, he began his tramp of 
 eight or nine miles to our fortifications at Brashear City. 
 Mr. Dudley had a terrible time in escaping, being obliged 
 to wade through swamps where the most venomous reptiles 
 
102 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 abounded in numbers. He was compelled to use a club to 
 beat off the moccason snakes, which were remarkably numer- 
 ous. Finally, with blistered and bleeding feet, Mr. Dudley 
 and the three negroes managed to reach the edge of Grand 
 Lake, and seizing an old dilapidated boat the party escaped 
 to our pickets on Saturday night. 
 
 While Lieutenant Pickering Dodge Allen was below in 
 the engineers' room, giving some orders in regard to the 
 boat, one of the sailors hauled down the American flag. On 
 coming up he looked for the flag, but it was down. Again 
 raising it to the topmast, the lieutenant said : " There, let that 
 flag float where it is, so long as one man remains on board 
 the Diana!" After this there seemed to be a mutinous 
 spirit prevailing among the sailors, who refused to obey 
 Lieutenant Allen, as he was not a naval officer. Finding it 
 impossible to have the guns loaded, and insubordination 
 exhibited, he was reluctantly compelled to order the hoisting 
 of the white flag. 
 
 Lieutenant Allen is praised by all on board, and the best 
 evidence of his bravery is a sight of his uniform, which is 
 completely riddled and hanging in shreds. At one time 
 during the engagement the lieutenant was obliged to go 
 below, and when passing through the cabin three solid shots 
 came tearing through, scattering a perfect shower of splin- 
 ters. Three round shot passed completely through the 
 pilot house. 
 
 The moment the white flag was raised, the rebels steamed 
 down their two gunboats, the Era No. 2 whose smoke 
 stacks, singular to relate, are painted white and the Hart. 
 The Texans were not long in boarding the Diana, and they 
 
THE DIANA DISASTER. 103 
 
 were no sooner on board than they began to rob the prison- 
 ers of all their private effects. The Texans robbed Captain 
 Peterson and Executive-officer Hall, and all the dead, of 
 their boots and shoes. 
 
 Captain Peterson had four or five hundred dollars in 
 United States currency in his pocket, which the rebels took 
 charge of for their own private use. Captain Peterson was 
 killed in the pilot house, and was the first man shot. A 
 ball penetrated his heart. Executive-officer Hall was shot 
 through the chest, and lived but two hours after he was 
 wounded. Lieutenant Dolliver was killed instantly, a dis- 
 charge of canister completely disemboweling him. Captain 
 Hewitt, senior army officer on board, Company F, One 
 Hundred and Sixtieth New York Volunteers, was struck 
 on the scalp with a piece of shell. The wound of itself 
 was not dangerous, but the violent concussion has com- 
 pletely paralyzed him and he is not expected to recover. 
 The Diana was plated with thin iron around her boilers, but 
 was only protected against musketry. 
 
 The rebels have secured a valuable prize, for the Diana 
 had a fine armament, consisting of five guns, all mounted 
 on her bow, one thirty pounder rifled pivot, two thirty-two 
 pounders, smooth bore, and two twelve pounders, one rifled 
 and one smooth bore. She had on board a large supply of 
 ammunition. 
 
 The captain of the Calhoun, which lay at Brashear City, 
 hearing the firing, started to ascertain the cause, when the 
 pilot ran her aground, where she remained until two o'clock 
 on Sunday morning. Thirty tons of coal and large quantities 
 of ammunition were thrown overboard to lighten her off. 
 
104 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 Had the rebels known of the disaster, she also would have 
 been lost. 
 
 Lieutenant Dolliver, who was killed, was a native of Cape 
 Cod, Massachusetts. 
 
 BRASHEAR CITY, APRIL 16, 1863. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, I arrived here yesterday from Frank- 
 lin, which place was taken the day previous by our forces, 
 before Captain Jewett, Lieutenant Francis and myself could 
 be removed. I am almost well, but not at all strong. The 
 doctors say I have recovered very rapidly and that I must 
 have a fine constitution. I expect to be able to join the 
 brigade in two weeks, if not sooner. The Diana was burned 
 by the rebels; her guns will all be recovered; her men were 
 all captured. Her captain was Semmes, a son of the com- 
 mander of the Alabama. The Queen of the "West was 
 destroyed by our gunboats in Grand Lake. Her captain, 
 Fuller (the same who commanded the Cotton), six other 
 officers, and over one hundred men were captured; the rest, 
 from twenty to thirty, were killed or drowned. Our land 
 forces have taken about six hundred prisoners. I received 
 the best of treatment while a prisoner. Have no time to 
 write to-day, but will soon send a long letter, with an 
 account of my late experiences. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS, APRIL 21, 1863. 
 
 DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER, Your letter of April 
 tenth arrived to-day. You will have heard of my having 
 
RESCUED FROM THE REBELS. 105 
 
 been recaptured before this, as I wrote you a few lines the 
 day after arriving at Brashear City. The fight on the Diana 
 was a very hard one. We were surrounded by a force of 
 several times our own number, consisting of six companies 
 of Texan rangers (Waller's battalion), two Arizona cavalry 
 companies, one battery of field pieces, and two companies of 
 the Twenty-Eighth Louisiana Infantry. Our soldiers were 
 on the lower deck. When three of the four officers of the 
 boat were killed, many of the sailors jumped into the hold, 
 and this example was followed by many of the soldiers. 
 On the upper deck were six officers all the time, and at first 
 seven; five of these were killed or wounded; and of the 
 thirty-two men there, fifteen were killed or wounded; on the 
 lower deck a few were killed and several wounded. The 
 boat was fought nearly two hours, and when surrendered 
 was hard aground and the steam-pipe cut. I was very weak 
 when taken, and was left at Dr. Grout's, in Pattersonville, 
 until our forces landed on that side of Berwick Bay, when I 
 was moved to Camp Bisland, seven miles above, and after 
 three days was sent to Franklin, where we had excellent 
 quarters in a new hospital. I was treated with the greatest 
 kindness all the time; while at Camp Bisland it was difficult 
 to get enough to eat, but the rest of the time we had every 
 thing we could expect. 
 
 When their army retreated from Franklin we were ordered 
 to move, on the transport Cornie, for New Iberia. On get- 
 ting a few miles above Franklin it was ascertained that 
 General Grover's forces had possession of the bayou. One 
 of General Sibley's Staif then ordered the boat to return to 
 Franklin. Captain Jewett, of the One Hundred and Sixtieth 
 
106 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 "New York, was the only prisoner on board beside myself, 
 and he was unable to stand up, having been shot in the 
 head and one side paralyzed. On arriving at Franklin, on 
 the ' return, the confusion was very great, so that I left the 
 boat. She had on her seventy or eighty confederate wounded 
 soldiers and our guard of a corporal and three privates. I 
 went up into the town; soon after this three or four of 
 Perkins' cavalry passed through ; I took a revolver from 
 one of them and let them go on, they being a mile or more 
 in advance of our cavalry. I then returned to the boat, 
 where there were no arms, she being under the hospital 
 flag, and found the wounded men were being removed, so 
 demanded the surrender of the boat, which was immediately 
 done. I was the only person on board armed, so of course 
 had no trouble. I then took a wagon and went to meet the 
 General, and found our brigade two or three miles in advance 
 of the rest of the force. The confederate army was then 
 demoralized and in full retreat. 
 
 We have taken about two thousand prisoners, and de- 
 stroyed the gunboats Queen of the West, Stevens and 
 Diana. The Stevens was a very strong boat, and was for- 
 merly called the Hart. Our gunboats destroyed the Queen 
 of the West, and they have just taken the rebel fort at Bute 
 la Rose, on the Atchafalaya, with a small force of two 
 captains, four lieutenants and sixty men. Had the original 
 plan been carried out our success would have been even 
 more complete. I do not think there will be another fight 
 here, of consequence, for several weeks, if so soon. I arrived 
 in this city on Saturday. My wounds are healing rapidly, 
 and I hope to join the General in eight or ten days. The 
 
THE TECHE OPERATIONS. 107 
 
 steamer Marion, on board of which vessel my clothes and 
 money were, has been wrecked, and it is doubtful if I ever 
 receive them, although there seems to be a chance that they 
 may be saved. Was the money insured? I had a small 
 shot pass through my thumb without breaking the bone; 
 the minnie ball came from one side (we being surrounded), 
 striking me nearly in the middle of the back, passing under 
 the skin a little way into my shoulder, then under the blade, 
 then turned down my arm for about three inches, when it 
 came out near the surface of the skin and lodged. I will 
 send you some New Orleans papers by this mail, and a few 
 
 postage stamps for M and L . Will write again in 
 
 a week. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT, 24TH APRIL. I have lost the Era, with 
 the description of General Banks' expedition in Attakapas, 
 so send the Picayune, which is the secesh organ here, or as 
 much so as it thinks it prudent to be. I am improving, 
 growing stronger every day, but my arm will not be strong 
 for a long while, and probably never will be as strong as 
 before. I expect to join the General next week. This is 
 the anniversary of the surrender of the city. 
 
 Through the New Orleans Era we were put in 
 possession of important information regarding the 
 operations of General Banks in the Teche country, 
 which is here printed as copied at the time by the 
 Boston Journal : 
 
 The latest news from the front of our army on the Teche 
 is of the same encouraging character as heretofore. On 
 
108 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 Friday night General Banks reached Yermillionville, pre- 
 vious to which, however, a sanguinary and spirited fight 
 took place at the crossing of Yermillion Bayou, a short dis- 
 tance this side of the village. 
 
 At this place the rebels posted a force of over one thou- 
 sand infantry and strong batteries of artillery in ambush. 
 Fire was opened upon the advance of General Banks' army 
 from the whole force of the enemy. The fight raged furi- 
 ously for some time, but resulted finally, after considerable 
 loss on both sides, in the giving way of the rebels and the 
 crossing of our troops. 
 
 It was reported that General Banks would undoubtedly 
 be in Opelousas soon with his whole army. 
 
 Accounts from that part of the country state that the for- 
 tifications at Bute la Rose have been reduced by our fleet, 
 and that the place is in our possession. At this place, as 
 will be seen by the correspondence below, the rebels had, 
 besides their land batteries, the ram William H. Webb. 
 
 Our correspondent details the operations as they occurred 
 after the attack on the fortifications of Bethel Place. After 
 the second day's fight the intrenchments were evacuated, 
 leaving in our possession two pieces of artillery, and a large 
 quantity of ammunition, &c. 
 
 As the army advanced, they came up with a force under 
 General Grover which had been engaged in a desperate 
 fight, which is described. It was in General Grover's 
 engagement that most of the prisoners were taken. 
 
 Our forces have captured over five hundred head of 
 horses, mules and cattle, which are of incalculable value 
 to the captors at this juncture of affairs. 
 
THE TECHE OPERATIONS. 109 
 
 This expedition of General Banks, up the Teche country, 
 so far has proved to be the most important and productive 
 of satisfactory results of any that we have had to record 
 since he has assumed the command of the Department of 
 the Gulf. Our army is rolling like a ball of fire through 
 the finest portion of Louisiana. When the rebels are thor- 
 oughly driven out of the Opelousas country, the backbone of 
 the rebellion will be very much broken so far as this State 
 is concerned. 
 
 It appears from the following letter (accompanying 
 the foregoing), dated " In the field above New Iberia, 
 April 17, 1863," that a two days fight occurred at the 
 fortifications of Bethel Place previous to the events 
 narrated. Of the operations of these days the Journal 
 had received no account. The letter proceeds : 
 
 At half past eleven o'clock on the night of the thirteenth 
 instant, Colonel Kimball, of the Fifty-Third Massachusetts, 
 heard the enemy making preparations for evacuating his 
 intrenchments. The moving of the artillery and baggage 
 wagons, packing and mailing of boxes, and drivers cursing 
 their mules could be distinctly heard by the advanced 
 pickets of Colonel Gooding's brigade. Colonel Kimball 
 immediately notified Colonel Gooding of the fact, and he in 
 turn sent word to Major-General Banks. 
 
 No special movement was made in pursuit of the enemy 
 
 until early the next morning, when General Emory ordered 
 
 a portion of his command to fire into the breastworks, to 
 
 make sure that they were evacuated. But at this tima 
 
 10 
 
110 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 Colonel Kimball had entered the works on the right, and 
 immediately planted the national colors upon the parapet. 
 
 An advance of the whole column now took place, General 
 AVeitzel's division leading the van. Upon entering the 
 works, the scene on every hand gave the fullest evidence of 
 bloody work the day before. Their unburied dead were 
 lying around on all sides. Within an area of fifty feet thirty 
 horses lay dead on the field. 
 
 There were found in the rebel works one thirtj'-two- 
 pounder smooth bore cannon and a fine twelve-pounder 
 rifled brass howitzer. This latter piece, with its caisson, 
 was being drawn over a bridge across a ditch to the rear of 
 the works when a solid shot, from one of our thirty -pounder 
 Parrotts, struck the bed of the piece and threw it with the 
 caisson into the ditch where it now lies. 
 
 Large stores of all kinds of ammunition and some Enfield 
 rifles and a few small arms were found in the works, having 
 been abandoned by the enemy. The remnants of a hasty 
 meal were found scattered around near the cannon. In one 
 place the earthworks were torn up by a bursting shell, and 
 the earth in many places was very much ploughed up by 
 the iron missiles of death. The wildest enthusiasm prevailed 
 among our troops as they entered this rebel stronghold. 
 
 The army marched on the first day to a point just above 
 Pattersonville, where it was learned that the prisoners taken 
 from the Diana had been sent up to Franklin. 
 
 At Pattersonville, and for a short distance beyond there, 
 the advance was annoyed by the rear guard of the retreating 
 enemy, consisting of one hundred cavalry and three pieces 
 of artillery. Our van was frequently fired upon, but did 
 
THE TECIIE OPERATIONS. Ill 
 
 not retreat out of range until the second day's march, when, 
 at one time finding themselves out of sight of the main body, 
 the men in front fell back, or waited until the whole force 
 came up, when the march was resumed. The town of 
 Franklin was reached on Wednesday. Before the day 
 was out, over two hundred prisoners were brought in and 
 quartered in the Court House. By the next night the num- 
 ber had increased to over five hundred, including whole 
 companies who were marched in at once. By a singular 
 good fortune, three of the officers who were taken on the 
 Diana were recaptured at this place. 
 
 When Jefferson Davis first made the proposition in the 
 State of Louisiana that every man unwilling to fight for 
 the Confederacy should leave the State, a Mr. Smith of 
 Louisville had not time enough to leave with a light-draft 
 steamer in his possession, and it was confiscated on the Oua- 
 chita. Its name was Cornie. Since that time it has been 
 employed to transport rebel troops and army stores. For 
 the last two months it was constantly employed in carrying 
 salt from the mines, seven miles southwest of New Iberia, 
 to the junction of the Teche and Cahawba bayous. From 
 this point the salt has been transported to Alexandria, and 
 by way of lied River to Vicksburg, Port Hudson and other 
 places occupied by the rebels. On the twelfth instant, early 
 in the morning, the Cornie left Xew Iberia with a lot of 
 ammunition for the rebels at Camp Bisland. Upon reaching 
 that place the boat was detained to carry away the sick and 
 wounded in case of any emergency. On the next night she 
 received orders to get up steam and leave at once with the 
 wounded. Accordingly, seventy-five wounded, some fatally, 
 
112 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 and also as many sick men, were placed on board, and the 
 boat left for the hospital at New Iberia. Only one surgeon 
 was sent up with the wounded. Upon reaching Franklin 
 orders were given to burn and destroy all the boats. The 
 sick could not be removed, and so a hospital flag was raised 
 and an attempt made to pass General Grover's command. 
 After going a mile and a half above Franklin the Cornie 
 met the Diana, and was ordered to return to Franklin, land 
 the wounded, and burn the boat. On reaching that place, 
 Lieutenant Allen, of General Weitzel's Staff, a wounded 
 prisoner from the Diana, stepped up to the captain and 
 demanded its surrender. " Take charge of her, sir, and hoist 
 your flag on her," was the only and immediate reply. 
 
 Doctor Alice, of the Diana, at once secured the services 
 of other Federal surgeons, and the sick and wounded were 
 placed in a hospital under his charge. 
 
 By this fortunate capture, Lieutenant Allen, of Weitzel's 
 Staff', Captain Jewett, of the One Hundred and Sixtieth New 
 York Regiment, and Lieutenant Alice, of the Diana, were 
 retaken, and immediately commenced performing every 
 service for the unfortunate sufferers. 
 
 On the day the Cornie was captured the rebels burned 
 the Newsbo3 r , a large stern-wheeler, the Gossamer, stern- 
 wheel, larger than the Newsboy, and the Era, Number 
 Two, the largest of all; the gunboat Diana was burned at 
 the same time; all of them at Franklin. 
 
 The next day, at New Iberia, the Louisa, the Derby, the 
 Uncle Tommy (side-wheel, formerly a ferry-boat at Plaque- 
 mine), the Blue Hammock (side-wheel), and the gunboat 
 Hart were all burned. The Cricket was sunk at the 
 
THE TECHE OPERATIONS. 113 
 
 junction of the Teche and Cahawba bayous. The gun- 
 boat Hart was one of the best and fastest gunboats in 
 the rebel navy. She carried one thirty two pound rifled 
 cannon forward, and another like it aft, and two small 
 smooth-bore twenty-four pound brass pieces under her 
 casement. Her machinery and bulkheads were protected 
 by three-inch railroad iron, the heaviest kind in use. She 
 had two splendid engines aboard, of twenty-inch cylinder, 
 seven feet stroke. There were four double-flue boilers on the 
 boat. She was commenced upon the day after the burning 
 of the Cotton, but for some reason had not been finished 
 until recently. She now lies with her ruined hulk across 
 the Teche, above New Iberia. 
 
 Large stores of provisions and ammunition were destroyed 
 with these boats, including some twenty thousand pounds of 
 bacon and nearly a thousand cases of ammunition. 
 
 We are in possession of certain information with reference 
 to the long cherished designs of the enemy. They had 
 purposed sending the gunboat Hart down the Teche, 
 together with the Picayune, her transport. On the Cahawba 
 they were about sending the Marietta and the B. L. Hodge. 
 From the Red lliver, the Queen of the West, the Webb, the 
 W. Roberts, the Grand Duke and the Roebuck were to come. 
 Two rams, building at Shreveport, they were to send, if 
 finished, one of them, half solid, built purposely for but- 
 ting, was to corne round by way of the Mississippi and 
 attack the boats at New Orleans. Those on the Teche were 
 to come directly down that bayou to BrashearCity. Those 
 on the Cahawba and the Red River were to come down the 
 Atchafalaya to the same point, and, after its capture, to go 
 10* 
 
114 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 around by the Balize and another route to New Orleans, 
 They were to rally their infantry at the same time at 
 Plaquemine, and take the railroad running from Brashear 
 City. On the thirteenth it was the enemy's design to retreat 
 as far as Alexandria, about one hundred miles west of 
 Opelousas, and make a stand. Kirby Smith was to meet 
 them there with reinforcements and assume command of 
 them. 
 
 As the main body of our troops reached Franklin, the 
 news of General Grover's recent operations was brought to 
 General Banks. General Grover's division was in camp at 
 Brashear City when the remainder of the forces started from 
 Berwick City. 
 
 The division had been ordered to remain, for the purpose 
 of constituting an expedition to attack the enemy in the 
 rear at the same time the main body drove him from the 
 earthworks below. 
 
 Early on Sunday morning, the twelfth instant, the whole 
 division embarked on board the gunboats Calhoun, Clifton, 
 Estrella and Arizona, and the transports St. Mary, Laurel 
 Hill, Quinebaug, Southern Merchant and Segur. 
 
 Proceeding up the bay, through Grand Lake Pass and 
 Grand Lake, by a cross bayou, they reached Irish Bend, on 
 the Teche, a bend like that of an ox yoke about three miles 
 west of Franklin. 
 
 The First Louisiana Regiment was the first to land. It 
 had hardly stepped ashore when an attack was made upon 
 it by the rebels with two pieces of artillery and two hundred 
 infantry. Some were killed on both sides during the firing 
 which immediately followed. The enemy were compelled to 
 
THE TECHE OPEKATIONS. 115 
 
 fall back. Upon reaching the Teche several rifle shots were 
 fired by the rebels. They attempted to prevent the approach 
 of our troops. This attempt likewise failed before the sharp 
 firing of our men, and the rebels were driven still further 
 back. Our men crossed the Teche and bivouacked for the 
 night. The next morning, at an early hour, they started 
 toward Franklin. While marching along the levee road, 
 upon reaching a point two miles from Franklin, on what is 
 called Irish Bend, they again met the enemy. There was a 
 cross road meeting the main, and in this the rebel artillery 
 was planted, commanding all the country about there. 
 
 As the troops came up, to their right was a thick forest 
 of large trees, behind which the enemy was concealed, hav- 
 ing also a wooden fence between them and their opposers. 
 Preparations were made at once for a desperate attack. 
 One of their number, now a prisoner, remarked: "We know 
 that we have got to fight hard or be taken prisoners." 
 
 The Twenty-Fifth Connecticut Regiment was the first to 
 engage the enemy. It occupied the centre of the line of 
 battle, having the Twenty-Sixth Maine Regiment on the 
 right and the Thirteenth Connecticut Regiment on the left, 
 and supported by the Twelfth Maine Regiment. 
 
 It .was deployed as skirmishers on the left of the road, 
 and thus marched until abreast of the woods, and then, 
 while under a sharp fire from the enemy, the line gradually 
 swung round until it faced the woods, letting the enemy get 
 to their rear. This accomplished, an attempt was made to 
 capture our artillery, without success, although the regi- 
 ment gradually fell back until it received support from the 
 Ninety-First New York. 
 
116 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 The Twenty-Fifth Connecticut Regiment was ordered into 
 action on the left of the line, and in the advance. They met 
 the enemy awaiting their approach in a piece of woods, 
 where their artillery was supported by a strong force of 
 infantry and cavalry. When a charge was ordered, to force 
 the rebels from their position and to take their artillery, the 
 Thirteenth had to charge through a ploughed field and over 
 two fences. Notwithstanding these obstacles this regiment 
 succeeded in capturing two caissons, six horses, two swords 
 and a splendid flag from the enemy. The flag was of fine 
 silk, six feet in length, bordered with rich silver tinsel, and 
 bore upon it the inscription, " The Ladies of Franklin to the 
 St. Mary's Cannoneers." 
 
 Soon after the charge of the Thirteenth the enemy fell 
 back defeated. The force opposed to us was not large, but 
 had the advantage of position and of making a surprise. 
 The total force of the rebels, both here and at the batteries 
 below, did not exceed ten thousand men. Our loss was 
 considerable, and that of the enemy must have corresponded 
 with ours. Sibley's brigade was included in this number, 
 two regiments of Texas cavalry, Captain Sims' battery 
 and the Valverde and Pelican batteries. The whole force 
 was under the command of General Dick Taylor, son of the 
 late Zachary Taylor. At this moment the whole force is 
 retreating from our troops, demoralized and hopeless of 
 their cause. 
 
 By the time our troops had arrived at New Iberia, nearly 
 five hundred and sixty horses, mules and beef cattle had 
 been collected, and were placed in kraals along the wayside. 
 Their numbers were so rapidly augmented, by the constant 
 
THE TECHE OPERATIONS. 117 
 
 seizures from the plantations bordering the road, that it 
 became necessary to establish additional places for their 
 safe keeping. The mules were found very useful to the 
 regimental surgeons in the transportation of the sick. 
 Some fine blooded horses were made to replace the more 
 jaded animals bestrode by officers. 
 
 Seven miles west of New Iberia, and near Vermilion 
 Bay, in the middle of a mud lake, thick grown with flag 
 and cane, rises a ledge of solid rock, the surface and depth 
 of which have not been discovered. From this mine thou- 
 sands of dollars worth of the best of salt has been daily 
 sent away for the use of the rebel army. Negroes were 
 employed to blast and break it up, some being ground at 
 the mine. It is reported that the rebels paid four and a 
 half cents per pound for what they took away. When 
 our troops reached Iberia, a regiment was sent up to take 
 possession and destroy the tools and machinery there. 
 
 When our gallant men are facing death upon the field, 
 risking their lives at every moment, it is gratifying to 
 know that skilful hands are ready to bind up their wounds 
 and render every service to comfort the bed of pain. 
 During the engagements of Sunday and Monday, Dr. 
 D. L. Rogers, acting medical director of the depart- 
 ment, labored hard to provide every possible convenience 
 for the wounded, establishing hospitals, and keeping an 
 ambulance corps in constant readiness to convey the 
 wounded from the field. 
 
 For the time two hospitals were established, one at Bca- 
 shear City and one at New Iberia, whence the wounded 
 will be conveyed to New Orleans at the first opportunity. 
 
118 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 A hospital was established at Franklin, after the return of 
 the Cornie, and filled with the rebel sick and wounded. Dr. 
 Rogers left it in charge of Dr. Alice, formerly surgeon of 
 the Diana. Afterward, the very wise plan was adopted 
 of paroling the wounded and giving them into the hands of 
 their friends. 
 
 Connected with the advance of the expedition, nothing 
 more plainly indicated the demoralized condition of the 
 rebel army than the rapid capture of their disheartened 
 soldiers. During the actions of Bethel Place and Irish 
 Bend, along the route taken by the defeated, and at Frank- 
 lin, New Iberia and other places crowds of them have fallen 
 into our hands. Already nearly fifteen hundred prisoners 
 have been taken, including some characters well known in 
 New Orleans. 
 
 A short distance below New Iberia our forces discovered 
 a foundry by the wayside, an examination of which disclosed 
 the fact that it had been used for casting 1 shot and shell. It 
 had, however, been abandoned, with all its machinery, tools 
 and a quantity of shot and shell. 
 
 From letters found in Captain Fuller's possession it is 
 known that the Webb, on the thirteenth, was at Bute la 
 Rose. The Marietta was on the Red River, as also the 
 transport Grand Duke. It appears that the rebels were 
 not informed of the proposed attack on Bethel Place. This 
 letter of General Taylor to Captain Fuller was written on 
 the twelfth of April, at the very moment our forces were 
 before the enemy's works. It very properly recommends to 
 Captain Fuller that he postpone the attack upon Brashear 
 City. So it has come to light that we had delayed so long 
 
THE TECHE OPERATIONS. 119 
 
 in attacking the enemy, that he was bold enough to organize 
 an expedition against us. 
 
 Concerning these operations, the New Orleans Pic- 
 ayune referred to by Pickering said : 
 
 The severest blow to the confederates was the destruction 
 of the ram Queen of the West by the United States naval 
 force in Grand Lake, consisting of the steamers Arizona, 
 Estrella and Calhoun, the whole under command of Lieuten- 
 ant Commander A. P. Cooke, United States Navy. It was 
 the intention of the commander of the Queen of the West to 
 destroy, if possible, the Federal fleet by ramming them, and 
 in this manner prevent the army of General Banks recross- 
 ing the Atchafalaya to Brashear City, and cutting off their 
 supplies; but he was destined to be mistaken in his calcula- 
 tions, for a shell from one of the Federal gunboats burst 
 among a quantity of loose powder on board of the Queen of 
 the West, which caused a terrific explosion, whereby her 
 machinery was disabled and the boat set on fire. She was 
 abandoned by her officers and crew, and burnt until the 
 flames reached her magazine, which blew up, scattering the 
 fragments of this famous vessel in every direction. The 
 Queen of the West was commanded by Captain Fuller, well 
 known as the late commander of the Confederate gunboat 
 Cotton. He was injured by the explosion, and is now a 
 prisoner in this city. The total complement of officers and 
 men on board the Queen of the West, at the time of her 
 going into action, was about one hundred and fifty; of these 
 about ninety have been taken prisoners, the balance are 
 
120 PICKEKING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 undoubtedly killed or drowned. There is no doubt that the 
 destruction of this vessel exercised an important influence 
 upon the subsequent movements of the Confederate army. 
 She was the right arm of their defence, and her destruction 
 undoubtedly caused a retreat of the forces of General Taylor 
 much sooner than they would had she succeeded in main- 
 taining herself uninjured. 
 
 The United States gunboat Clifton, Lieutenant Crocker 
 commanding, mounting eight very heavy guns, played a 
 very important part on Bayou Teche, in throwing heavy 
 nine-inch and thirty-two-pound shells into the Confederate 
 ranks, she having removed the obstructions placed in the 
 bayou, or succeeding in passing around them, compelled the 
 destruction of the gunboat Diana (recently captured from 
 the Federal forces near Patterson ville). Captain Semmes, 
 commanding a Confederate field battery, a gentleman well 
 known in this community, was on board the Diana when 
 her destruction became a matter of necessity. He was 
 captured, and is now a prisoner in this city. The Confed- 
 erate gunboat Hart, or Stevens, as she has lately been 
 named, was destroyed, together with several steam trans- 
 ports, to prevent their falling into the hands of the United 
 States forces. 
 
 LAKE CHICOT, LA., MAY 1, 1863. 
 
 DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER, 
 
 You will probably be surprised to hear from me on this 
 lake. I am in command of this boat for a few days, and 
 have a section of artillery (two brass howitzers) and one 
 
HIS LATEST LETTERS. 121 
 
 hundred sharp-shooters from the Fourth Massachusetts. 
 We are to accompany Captain Cooke's gunboat fleet to 
 the mouth of the Red River, to communicate with Admiral 
 Farragut. This boat is the Cornie, the one that surrendered 
 to me at Franklin, and is well protected with cotton. We 
 do not expect much opposition, if any; the only point where 
 there is likely to be any is at Semniesport, near the mouth 
 of Red River. At last dates they had a light battery and 
 two or three hundred infantry there; they have probably 
 left before this. They would not be able to make much of a 
 stand against the gunboats we have, should they make the 
 attempt This boat is sent to bring back the despatches 
 and take them to General Banks. We hope to hear from 
 General Grant, above Red River. 
 
 Doctor Benedict would not allow me to join the brigade 
 for a few days, so I obtained command of this boat from 
 General Banks. I have a good room, and if the expedition 
 is, as I think it will be, successful, shall enjoy the trip. My 
 health was never better, but I am not yet as strong as usual. 
 My money, by the Marion, has arrived ; the box is lost. The 
 two hundred you sent to Lieutenant Bowles, for my use 
 when a prisoner, came also ; this I have, as the money sent 
 me came from the Quarter-Master's Department was Con- 
 federate currency and as I used but a very small part, it 
 was returned on my release. I have had to purchase cloth- 
 ing, as I lost one entire suit, it being completely torn to 
 pieces by splinters, on the Diana, and I had to cut up all 
 my shirts to get them on, while wounded. About half the 
 remainder of my underclothing was lost when I was moved 
 in such haste from Pattersonville, on the advance of our 
 11 
 
122 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 troops. I will get new ones in the city, as it will take too 
 long to replace them from home. 
 
 I shall leave this at Bute la Rose, where we have a regi- 
 ment. Was I not very fortunate in getting away from the 
 secesh? I received better treatment than their prisoners 
 ordinarily received from us, and suffered but little after 
 the first day or .two. I hope we shall be fortunate enough 
 to catch some of their transports on our way up the Atcha- 
 falaya. We are now going into the mouth of the river, so I 
 wish to be on deck. I hope to get back to Brashear in a 
 week or ten days, but may possibly be longer away and will 
 write as soon as we return. 
 
 My letters were very uninteresting, and I suppose the 
 reason was that you thought they would have to be sent 
 me' by flag of truce and read by the enemy, as of course 
 they would have been if I had remained a prisoner in their 
 hands. General Weitzel is more popular than ever; I am 
 very fortunate in being on his Staff. We left Brashear this 
 morning and now are fifty miles above there, a quarter of 
 the distance to the Red River. Good bye. 
 
 Yours, affectionately. 
 
 BRASHEAR CITY, MAY 8, 1863. 
 
 DEAR FATHER AND MOTHER, 
 
 You should have received a letter from me, written on 
 Chicot Lake about a week since. I returned here in three 
 or four days, going first to Opelousas and seeing the Gen- 
 eral. On our way up, when about forty miles from the 
 mouth of Red River, we met the Arizona returning, the 
 
HIS LATEST LETTERS. 123 
 
 having already "been to the Admiral. Captain Dunham, of 
 General Banks' Staff, came on board the Cornie, and we 
 started immediately for the General. There is small chance 
 of fighting at Alexandria; it will probably surrender on the 
 appearance of our forces. 
 
 Lieutenant Bowles showed me your letter to him. You 
 appear much troubled about me; but the tidings of my 
 escape will have reached you long before this. My 
 wounds are healed, and I expect to leave here for the 
 General the day after to-morrow. Was not Howard 
 D wight's murder a horrible affair? His younger brother, 
 Charles, goes home with the body.* You will have heard 
 of Colonel Grierson's splendid cavalry raid through Missis- 
 
 * " Captain Howard Dwight, Assistant Adjutant-General to Brigadier-General 
 George L. Andrews, was murdered to-day, under the following circumstances : 
 He had passed a point at which there is a turn in the Bayou Boeuf, when he was 
 ordered to halt, and where his previous experience authorized him to suppose 
 that he was in little or no danger. The account given by an eyewitness shows 
 that so far was he from suspecting danger, that on being ordered to halt, instead 
 of putting spurs to his horse, which would probably have insured his escape, he 
 deliberately turned, and walked his horse back to see what it meant. On reaching 
 the end of the bayou he found himself confronted by three rebel cavalrymen, who 
 were on the opposite side of the bayou, at the water's edge ; immediately their 
 three rifles were brought to bear upon him. In this position he submitted to the 
 necessity of the case, and surrendered himself a prisoner. One of the rebels then 
 said ' He's a damned Yankee ; let 's kill him.' Captain Dwight calmly replied, 
 ' You must not fire ; I am your prisoner.' Again the rebels said to each other, 
 ' Kill the damned Yankee,' and immediately one of them fired. The ball passed 
 through Captain Dwight's brain, killing him instantly. The scene was witnessed 
 by two boys, who remained by the body until the arrival of our cavalry, who were 
 but three minutes behind when the event occurred, and, hearing the report of the 
 rifle, hastened forward." (Official Account.) 
 
124 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 sippi. My mail by the last steamer was sent to the front, 
 so I shall not get it for several days. I expect to see 
 
 W next week. It is nearly five months since I have 
 
 seen him. We are having very fine weather. Yesterday 
 and to-day the temperature has been as low as at home, 
 very unusually cool for this country in May. More than 
 six hundred of the prisoners captured on the Teche have 
 taken the oath to our government. About twelve thousand 
 bales of cotton were captured in the Teche country. The 
 papers have absurd stories of its being two hundred thou- 
 sand bales. Near this quantity is said to be on the Ked 
 Kiver; part of this will unquestionably be burned. All 
 things look favorably in this department. For all military 
 movements I must refer you to the newspapers. 
 
 I received a hundred dollars by Adams's Express day 
 before yesterday. Do not send the usual supply of money 
 this month, as I have enough, but send again in June. If 
 you have already done so, before receipt of this, omit the 
 June remittance. Good bye. 
 
 Yours, affectionately. 
 
 BRASHEAR CITY, MAY 26, 1863. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, 
 
 It is a long time since I have heard from you. Our 
 brigade mails appear to have been lost, as no one has 
 had a letter for four or five mails. I left this place two 
 or three weeks since, and went to Alexandria, where I 
 joined the General, but I was taken with the malarial 
 fever, so common in this country, the day after leaving 
 
HIS LATEST LETTERS. 125 
 
 here, probably partly owing to my not having been very 
 strong. I went from Alexandria to Semmesport and Bayou 
 Sarah, just north of Port Hudson, but was compelled 
 to return from there, as I was very weak. The doctors 
 have advised my going north for a few weeks. I have sent 
 in an application for a short furlough; it is strongly endorsed 
 by General Weitzel and our medical director, Dr. Benedict. 
 The General is to take it himself to General Banks, so there 
 is scarcely a doubt of my getting it. I ought to receive it 
 in a few days ; certainly in a week. As I expect to see you 
 soon I will not write more, but will in a few days. I am 
 better; am not much sick, but quite weak, and expect to be 
 well before getting North. Good bye. 
 
 Yours, affectionately. p. D. A. 
 
 HEAD QUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION, NINETEENTH CORPS, 
 
 Semmesport, La.. May 23, 1863. 
 LIEUTENANT-COLONEL KICHARD B. IRWIN, 
 
 Assistant Adjutant-General, 
 
 SIR, I respectfully ask leave of absence from this 
 Department for sixty days, to enable me to visit the North 
 to recover my health. 
 
 I have the honor to enclose surgeon's certificate, showing 
 my present inability to discharge my duties, and the need I 
 have of a change of climate. 
 
 I am, sir, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 PICKERING D. ALLEN, 
 
 Lieutenant and Aid-de-Camp. 
 
126 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN". 
 
 HEAD-QUARTERS SECOND BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION, 
 
 In the Field, May 23, 1863. 
 
 Lieutenant P. D. Allen having applied to me for a cer- 
 tificate, upon which to ground an application for leave of 
 absence, I certify that I have 'carefully examined this officer 
 and find that he was wounded and taken prisoner on board 
 the Diana at Pattersonville, La., March 28, 1863, that he has 
 not fully recovered from the eifects of his wound, and that 
 he is now suffering from fever and debility resulting from 
 the wound and subsequent exposure; and in consequence 
 thereof he is unfit for duty. I further certify that in my 
 opinion he will not be fit for duty in a less time than sixty 
 days from this date, and that a sea voyage will conduce to 
 his recovery. M. D. BENEDICT, 
 
 Surgeon Seventy-Fifth New York Volunteers, and 
 
 Medical Director General Weitzel's Brigade. 
 
 The facts in this case are so well known that I think 
 I only need say that justice demands that this deserving 
 officer be granted the favor he asks. 
 
 G. WEITZEL, 
 
 Brigadier-General United States Volunteers. 
 
 Before Port Hudson, May 26, 1863. 
 
 Leave granted for twenty days, with permission to apply 
 for an extension of forty. 
 
 By command of MAJOR-GENERAL BANKS, 
 
 EICHARD B. IRWIN, 
 
 Assistant Adjutant-General. 
 
LIFE TERMINATED. 127 
 
 When Pickering's letter came, we did not from its 
 contents suppose that he was much ill ; nor was he at 
 that time. He was only weak, and we anticipated 
 that the sea air would restore him to his usual vigor. 
 We were expecting to hear of his arrival at New 
 York, when, on the morning of June thirteenth, a let- 
 ter from a friend who went out in the steamer to New 
 Orleans as fellow passenger with him was received. 
 The following is part of its contents : 
 
 Pickering partially recovered from his wound, and would 
 insist on going to the front in the performance of his duty, 
 before he was really strong enough, and the consequence 
 was an attack of fever, which turned to typhoid, and ter- 
 minated his young life, on Tuesday evening, June second, at 
 Brashear City. I was not with him, nor did I know of his 
 danger. He was surrounded by kind friends, and was at 
 the house of Captain Fitch, who, with his wife and Lieuten- 
 ant-Commander Cooke and Mrs. Cooke and others were 
 devoted to him, night and day. Captain Fitch brought his 
 remains to this city, and delivered them in my charge, and 
 you may rest assured that I have done all that his friends 
 could have done if present, and now send them home to those 
 who loved him best on earth, in the care of Lieutenant John 
 G. Snow of Maine, who also has with him the remains of 
 Captain J. B. Hubbard, of the same staff, who fell a few 
 days before your son left us. They were true and devoted 
 
128 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 friends in life. I cannot refrain from saying, as a tribute to 
 the memory of my young friend, that few have been here 
 who have made more sincere friends, or that have been 
 more beloved or respected as a brave, noble and high toned 
 gentleman. The body is preserved in spirit, and looks so 
 natural that I think but little change will be found to exist 
 when it arrives. May God comfort you in your great loss. 
 
 In due time, letters were received from several 
 other friends, which supply additional particulars 
 relative to the closing days of Pickering's life : 
 
 BRASHEAR CITY, LA., JUNE 3, 1863. 
 
 JOHN F. ALLEN, ESQ., 
 
 DEAR SIR, There are times in the life of all men when 
 the heart is too full of grief to unburden itself, and when the 
 pen refuses its mission. But the task, however painful, 
 must be performed. 
 
 Your noble son, Pickering D. Allen, whom we all so 
 devotedly loved, has gone to his rest. Softly and sweetly he 
 passed away, on the evening of June second, at half past 
 six, his bedside surrounded by devoted, weeping friends. 
 Nothing was left undone that fond hearts could do, and the 
 gentle hands of women who love their country and its 
 defenders smoothed his pillow and administered to his 
 wants. 
 
 We feel his loss here too deeply for utterance. He wound 
 himself about our hearts because he was brave, noble 
 generous, true. 
 
LETTERS OF FRIENDS. 129 
 
 His remains were sent to New Orleans this morning, 
 where they will be carefully embalmed and forwarded to 
 you at the earliest possible moment. 
 
 May God in His infinite goodness give to you, and the 
 loved ones who surround your "home hearth," strength 
 from on high to bear this chastisement. Remember as you 
 mourn, that yours is but one offering of the tens of thou- 
 sands to the great cause of human liberty, yours but one 
 wounded heart. 
 
 With sorrow and sadness, I remain 
 
 Respectfully your obedient servant, 
 
 EDWARD B. LANSING, 
 
 First Lieutenant and Adjutant Seventy -Fifth New York State Volunteers . 
 
 BRASHEAR CITY, JUNE 10, 1863. 
 MRS. J. F. ALLEN, 
 
 DEAR MADAM, In this hour of deep bereavement, 
 when your affliction seems greater than you can bear, I 
 know full well that words of sympathy from those you 
 have never known will fail to give you comfort. And yet, 
 as everything pertaining to the loved and lost is dear, I 
 thought you would be glad to hear some particulars of your 
 noble son's last illness from those who were intimately 
 associated with him during the last three weeks of his life. 
 To you who knew him so well, I need not say that he 
 wound himself very closely around our hearts during our 
 brief, but intimate acquaintance. His high sense of honor, 
 his gentlemanly bearing and kind heart, could not fail to 
 win for him respect and esteem. It was not my privilege to 
 form his acquaintance until he returned from Pattersonville. 
 
130 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 Since that time he has formed one of our mess -family at the 
 house of Captain Fitch, the provost marshal of this place, 
 and seemed like an old friend. I have delayed writing this 
 letter, hoping Mrs. Cooke, who knew him so much better 
 than any one here, would have recovered sufficiently from 
 her illness to write. Lieutenant-Commander Cooke was 
 one of your son's dearest friends, and his wife was untiring 
 in her devotion to your son; she scarcely left his bedside 
 during his last illness, although herself quite unwell. Mr. 
 Allen often said that but for her gentle and unremitting 
 attentions he should be blue and homesick. 
 
 When Mr. Allen returned from Pattersonville he was 
 very feeble, but after a few days gained rapidly during the 
 three weeks he remained here. His anxiety to be with the 
 General, and assist him, led him to go to the front before he 
 had sufficiently recovered his strength. He took cold on the 
 boat, going from Brashear to Alexandria, and as the army 
 were without tents the General sent him on board Commo- 
 dore Cooke's gunboat, and the Commodore gave him his 
 state-room and procured good medical advice ; he had some 
 fever, but was able to keep around. At the expiration of 
 two weeks he returned with us to Brashear, and at that 
 time, although he had some fever every day, he was able to 
 walk about the house and sit with us at table. He was only 
 confined to his bed six days ; he sank very rapidly from that 
 time, and breathed out his life as quietly and peacefully as 
 if sinking tc sleep, no sighj no groan. Dr. Wilson, the 
 medical director, resides with us, and saw him almost 
 hourly; he had also the counsel of several other skilful 
 physicians. None of them thought him dangerously ill 
 
LETTERS OF FRIENDS. 131 
 
 until three days before his death. During that time he was 
 delirious and did not realize his situation. His disease 
 was not violent, but he was so prostrated from his wound 
 that he had not sufficient vitality to combat even a slight 
 fever. ... I am, very truly, 
 
 MRS. J. B. VAN PETTED. 
 
 ORLEANS, JUNE 19, 1863. 
 
 MRS. ALLEN, 
 
 MY DEAR MADAM, Although you have heard through 
 others of the death of your noble son, I feel that I too must 
 write you, not only to give you more fully the particulars 
 of his sickness and death, but to fulfil a promise I made him 
 the day before he died; it was during a few moments of 
 quiet, after having tossed about with pain and delirium, 
 that he said to me, " Will you some day write my mother? " 
 Knowing him to be too weak and exhausted to talk, and 
 that he required rest, without questioning him what, I 
 promised to do so. He expressed no other wish, and left 
 no messages for you, though he often, very often, spoke of 
 you, and was anxious to join you all at home. 
 
 Mrs. Allen, I am a stranger to you, yet I knew your son 
 quite intimately, and was with him constantly the last two 
 weeks of his life. I nursed and cared for him as tenderly as 
 I could have done had he been my brother, or my own 
 darling boy. It was a pleasure to me to bathe his fevered 
 brow, cool his parched lips, or in any way add to his 
 comfort; and deprived, as lie was, of your kind care, it was a 
 consolation to him that we could be with him to soothe and 
 
132 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 ease his pain. He suffered nothing from want of care, every- 
 thing was done for him that could have been done, every 
 wish was gratified, and every luxury a sick one could enjoy, 
 was procured for him. We all loved him, and would have 
 done anything for him. As I watched beside him, I prayed 
 God to spare him to you, to us, but that could not be, and 
 with all our watching, all our care and love for him, we 
 could not stay the hand of death; his work was finished, and 
 God took him home. 
 
 For the last five months I saw him almost daily, except 
 during the time he was a prisoner; being an intimate friend 
 of my husband, and often with him aboard ship, I met him 
 there frequently, and situated as we were away from our 
 homes, in an enemy's country, during such trying times 
 there was a tie that drew us together and made our little 
 circle seem one family, and as such we regarded each other. 
 Many were the pleasant gatherings we had at the different 
 officers' tents and many were the delightful rides we took, 
 and our little parties were always happy ones. Lieutenant 
 Allen's noble traits of character and kind pleasant manner 
 won for him the respect and esteem of all who knew him, 
 and now that he is gone we feel his loss deeply, and mourn 
 for and miss him much. He spent some time with us after 
 his return from Pattersonville, and before having entirely 
 recovered the use of his arm. Being anxious to take a part 
 in the active campaign, he applied for and was given the 
 command of the " Cornie," the little boat he captured. He 
 was to join my husband's fleet and communicate with 
 Admiral Farragut. Before he reached the gunboats the 
 communication had been established, and as there was 
 
LETTERS OF FRIENDS. 133 
 
 nothing more he cared to do, he returned to us at Brashear, 
 where he spent another week, and left us the eleventh of 
 May to join the General, who was then at Alexandria. 
 Tuesday he met him, and as they were on the march, and 
 he not feeling well, the General advised him to remain with 
 my husband until he should have recovered. His sickness 
 continued, though it seemed nothing serious or alarming. 
 The first few days he suffered from headache, with slight 
 fever; was weak, and could sit up but a short time. The 
 severe loss of blood from his wound prostrated him more 
 than he, or any one realized. He was with my husband a 
 week, and had medical attendance, and was as comfortable 
 as could be under the circumstances. At the expiration of 
 that time he went on board one of the transports to return 
 again to Brashear, where he hoped to regain his health 
 sufficiently to enable him to return home. It fortunately 
 happened that we ladies were qn the boat. We went out 
 on a little excursion, expecting to be gone only two days; 
 the boat was taken to transport troops, and we were de- 
 tained a week. As soon as we saw your son we advised 
 him to return with us, but he was so anxious to be with the 
 General in the attack on Port Hudson, he insisted upon 
 joining him, in an ambulance, and it was not until the 
 doctor recommended it, that he consented to go ; and it was 
 then he applied for leave of absence. 
 
 On the boat he had a comfortable state-room, which he 
 kept most of the time, though he took his meals with us at 
 table. Wednesday he had high fever, with severe pain in 
 his head. I bathed it for him, and he slept some, and 
 rested quietly during the night. Thursday he was better, 
 
 12 
 
134 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 and sat with us in the cabin an hour or more. Friday he 
 was about the same, and in the evening sat with us, and 
 watched the bombarding of Port Hudson. The excitement 
 and exertion was too much for him, and he did not rest as 
 well that night. Saturday we returned from Bayou Sara to 
 Semmesport, and were obliged to leave the boat and go 
 ashore; there we met the General, and he took us to head- 
 quarters, and made us as comfortable as possible for the 
 night, and Mr. Allen rested well. Sunday we started for 
 Brashear; he was comfortable during the day, and rested 
 much of the time, he seemed to require so much sleep. We 
 arrived home about midnight and returned to the house, but 
 he remained on the boat until morning, when he joined us; 
 he appeared no worse, and we hoped he would soon be 
 entirely recovered. His fever used to come on about nine 
 in the morning, and seldom left him before five in the after- 
 noon. During that time he sat up but little, and suffered 
 with pain in his head more or less; but bathing with ice 
 water or cologne relieved him, and he would quietly sleep. 
 Tuesday he was about the same, and wrote a short letter 
 home in the afternoon, and it quite fatigued him. "Wednes- 
 day he was not as well, and, for the first time, laid down on 
 the bed, and kept his room nearly the whole day. He had 
 no more fever, but greater pain, and his strength seemed 
 failing. I sat beside him during the day, and fanned him 
 while he slept, but his rest was not quiet, and did not seem 
 to refresh him. In the evening, after Joe (his servant) had 
 carefully bathed and rubbed him, he felt better, and slept 
 well during the night. Thursday, he was too sick and weak 
 tbo be dressed, and kept his bed all day. I was with him 
 
LETTERS OF FRIENDS. 135 
 
 much of the time, and he slept quietly, and his fever was not 
 as high, but at night he did not rest well. Friday, he was 
 no worse, but he had lost all relish for any food we could 
 prepare for him, and he took but little nourishment. During 
 the day he rested, and in the evening sent for one of the 
 Colonels to come see him. All through his sickness his 
 mind was with the army, and he was so interested in every 
 movement. There was one point, near Brashear, that he 
 did not think properly guarded, and he wished to commu- 
 nicate it to the Colonel. He talked with him but a short 
 time, yet it excited him so much he did not rest as well 
 that night. Saturday, we saw no change in him, and he 
 appeared no worse, but in the afternoon became delirious, 
 and continued so during the night, and was restless and 
 could not sleep. Sunday morning, when I went in his 
 room, he said to me, being conscious, "I have had such a 
 terrible night," he begged me to sit down beside him and 
 soothe him to sleep. I did so, and in a few moments he 
 was sleeping as sweetly and quietly as possible. I remained 
 with him all day, and he rested much of the time, but was 
 delirious. At night he slept well. Monday, his delirium 
 continued, yet his symptoms were more favorable, but 
 during the night he grew worse, and Tuesday morning 
 there was a great change in him; it shocked and pained 
 me to see him so sicfe, but I had no thought of death. All 
 the morning he was unconscious, seemed stupid, and did not 
 speak with us at all. At noon he appeared to be failing, 
 and it was then, for the first time, I felt he could not live. 
 It was a sad, SAD thought to me, and it seemed it must not 
 be. From that time he failed as rapidly as possible. I did 
 
136 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 not for a moment leave him, but sat beside him, with his 
 hand in mine, until the last throbbing of the pulse told me 
 all was over. He died so quietly, so peacefully, it seemed 
 to me he must be sleeping. He did not, nor did w?e, realize 
 that he was so ill. He ever complained or murmured, 
 but was hopeful and patient, gentle and kind, and during 
 his sickness never once forgot his "Thank you" for any 
 attention paid him. . . . Yours, respectfully, 
 
 R. COOKE. 
 
 DONALDSONVILLE, LA., JULY 14, 1863. 
 
 J. F. ALLEN, ESQ., SALEM, MASS., 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I little dreamt that I would be com- 
 pelled, in my second written interview with you, to treat on 
 such a sad and painful subject as is now before you. It was 
 my duty to announce to you his death; I could not do it. 
 Pickering was sick when I left him at Semmesport. He 
 was so sick that I insisted upon it that he should apply for 
 a furlough. I procured it for him immediately after arriving 
 at head-quarters near Port Hudson, but it did not reach him 
 at Brashear City until within two days of his death. I, 
 engaged in the stirring events around Port Hudson, fancied 
 Pickering on his way home, and pictured to myself the great 
 pleasures he would enjoy after regaining his health, and 
 felicitated him mentally upon them, because I knew he 
 deserved a respite. 
 
 A few mornings after his death, I received the news, 
 whilst at my breakfast in the woods. I could not believe it 
 at first, and even now cannot realize it, for he was as a 
 
LETTERS OF FRIENDS. 137 
 
 brother. He and I were of the same age. I could not be 
 associated with him long, and every day see his excellent 
 virtues developed, without falling in love with them. So 
 perfectly innocent and childlike in his manner, so brave, 
 energetic, high toned and intelligent. He was the pet and 
 pride of the brigade. Often he has sat on my bed, after I 
 had retired, asked me for information and instruction in 
 military affairs, begging me to let him perform some haz- 
 ardous deed, and both of us confiding to each other our 
 secrets, our history and experiences. I never went any- 
 where on any duty, or for pastime and pleasure, that 
 Pickering was not by my side. 
 
 He was admired by all the people, whether secessionists 
 or not, wherever we went. It was so fitting, since fate had 
 ordained their death, that his body and that of John B. 
 Hubbard, our mutual brother, went North together on the 
 same vessel. In these two young men the country has- 
 suffered a great loss; I have suffered an irreparable one. 
 If my life is spared I will verbally say more to you and 
 yours. For the present, let us all console ourselves with 
 the knowledge that although he is gone in body, his virtues 
 will forever live among us. 
 
 Your associate in grief, G. WEITZEL, 
 
 Brigadier-General United States Volunteers. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS, LA., NOVEMBER 26, 1863. 
 
 MY DEAR MADAM, 
 
 ... I became acquainted with your son in September,. 
 1862, as soon as General Weitzel received his brigade, and 
 12* 
 
138 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 on the Lafourche campaign it chanced that we spent nearly 
 one whole night together in the saddle. He was generally 
 sent by General Weitzel on reconnoissances, and my regi- 
 ment being a favorite one with the General and Staff, 
 Allen and I often found ^ourselves on duty together. He 
 was always cool and brave on dangerous duty, and was a 
 very attractive companion. During the manoeuvring which 
 preceded General Banks' summer campaign, he was almost 
 constantly in presence of the enemy in the Teche country, 
 engaged on scouting and reconnoitring duty, and many 
 were the plans he and I laid together for surprising or 
 attacking the enemy's outposts. Other plans and older 
 heads prevented our attempting some of them, tut some 
 were successful. During the month of February, especially, 
 we were daily sailing up the lakes and bayous from Ber- 
 wick's Bay, or galloping about the island on which Brashear 
 City stands, with the ladies of our little circle. 
 
 On Sunday, February twenty^^we went up the Atcha- 
 falaya, over the spot where he afterwards was wounded 
 and captured. It was then considered very hazardous, but 
 we understood our orders to require us to go through. 
 The next attempt to pass this place was not required by the 
 orders of General Weitzel, was made against Allen's earnest 
 remonstrance, and resulted in the sad disaster of the capture 
 of the Diana, and the shortening of the life of our friend. 
 I next saw him at Franklin, where he had just raised the 
 good old flag on the steamer Cornie, and my men gave him 
 three warm cheers as he rode along the line. May third we 
 went down from Opelousas to Brashear together, and met 
 quite often until the twenty-fourth May, when I bade him 
 
LETTERS OF FRIENDS. 139 
 
 good-by for the last time as he started for home, and I for 
 the assault of Port Hudson. His application for leave of 
 absence was in my handwriting, but was a matter of com- 
 mon interest to us all, and we hoped in a few days to hear 
 of him well out of the worry of war, and on his way to the 
 bracing air of the North. You know the rest from those 
 who have told it to me, and who do not weary of talking of 
 our friend. Respectfully, your friend, 
 
 W. BABCOCK, 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel United States Volunteers. 
 
 NEW ORLEANS, DECEMBER 2, 1863. 
 
 MY DEAR MRS. ALLEN, 
 
 ... I have often wished to write you and tell you how 
 much I admired and respected your son, and with what deep 
 grief I watched the closing of his dear life. I have seldom 
 known one who, on an intimate and continued acquaintance, 
 disclosed such fine and rare qualities of character. 
 
 On his return to us, after having been a prisoner, he struck 
 us all as being greatly changed. We thought it and it 
 probably was attributable to the terrible trial he passed 
 through on the Diana. He appeared to us unusually serious, 
 thoughtful and earnest from that time till his death. 
 
 Often in talking, though he had no thought of the near 
 approach of death to himself, he said, " I am almost a fatal- 
 ist; I believe when a man's time comes to die, he will die, 
 whether it be on the battle field or elsewhere." 
 
 To us it was an inscrutable Providence that saved his 
 life on the Diana, at last, to take it, later, after suffering 
 
140 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 wounds and sickness. This change in him, as I think of 
 him now, seemed like a maturing for Eternity. 
 
 But he considered poor Hubbard and Wrosnowski fortu- 
 nate in having so quick and painless a death. He loved 
 Captain Hubbard very deeply, and his death fell heavily 
 upon him. It never once occurred to us or to him that he 
 would so quickly, and in a less fortunate way, follow his dear 
 friend. I thought God would spare him ; he was so useful, 
 so true, so brave, it did not seem his work could be done. 
 
 But he sank rapidly and unconsciously into his long rest; 
 gentle, kind, grateful, affectionate, to the last. We loved 
 him; we love his memory! God alone knows the loss to us 
 of our friends who have fallen in this war. 
 
 Mrs. Van Petteii sends her regards to you, and hopes 
 some day to meet you. My regards to your husband and 
 your daughters. I know what the loss of such a brother is 
 and will be to them. Yours, very sincerely, 
 
 H. E. M. BABCOCK. 
 
 The paragraphs which follow appeared in the 
 journals of the day : 
 
 I regret to announce the death of Lieutenant Allen, of 
 General Weitzel's Staff. He died at Brashear City, a few 
 days since, of typhoid fever, after a few days illness only. 
 His body has been brought to this city, and will be sent 
 North in a day or two on board the steamer Fulton. The 
 body of Captain Hubbard will also go North by the same 
 conveyance. Lieutenant Allen was from Salem, Massachu- 
 
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE PRESS. 141 
 
 setts, and has been in this department for a long time. 
 He was wounded and taken prisoner when the steamer 
 Diana was captured on Bayou Teche, and retaken when 
 Franklin was occupied by our forces. At that time he 
 alone compelled the surrender of the steamer Cornie with 
 over eighty rebels on board. Lieutenant Allen was well 
 known and highly esteemed, and his loss will be deeply 
 regretted by all who were acquainted with him. To Gen- 
 eral Weitzel his loss will be a great blow, for he was one of 
 the most efficient officers on his staif. He has lost three 
 of his staff officers within the last ten days, and has, I under- 
 stand, but one left. 
 
 [New York Herald's Correspondent, New Orleans, June 5. 
 
 FUNERAL OF CAPTAIN HUBBARD AND LIEUTENANT 
 ALLEN. Funeral services over the remains of Captain 
 J. B. Hubbard, Assistant Adjutant-General, and Lieuten- 
 ant P. D. Allen, Aid-de-Camp, of General Weitzel's Staif, 
 will be held at No. 220 Camp Street, on Sunday morning, at 
 ten o'clock, by Eev. Mr. Chubbuck, Post Chaplain. 
 
 Lieutenant Allen will be recollected in connection with the 
 capture of the steamer Diana by the rebels. He afterwards, 
 by his presence of mind, secured to the Union Army the 
 capture of the steamer Cornie, during a time when the offi- 
 cers of that boat were under the influence of a panic. He 
 fell a victim to disease brought on by unwearied attention 
 to official duties. 
 
 Officers of the Army and Navy are respectfully invited 
 to attend and to join in the escort; as also are the friends of 
 
 the deceased in Civil life. [New Orleans Era, June 6, 1863. 
 
142 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 [From the Essex Register, Salem, June 15 Editorial ] 
 
 DEATH or LIEUTENANT ALLEN. The sad news was 
 received on Saturday of the death in Louisiana of Lieutenant 
 Pickering Dodge Allen, son of John Fisk Allen, Esq., of 
 this city. 
 
 This adds one more to the list of Northern young men 
 of promise who have offered themselves up as patriotic 
 sacrifices on the altar of their country, and whose memories 
 should be ever tenderly cherished. Being possessed of a 
 fortune which rendered him independent, young Allen had 
 visited nearly every part of the world, and was engaged in 
 an extended European tour when the news of the war 
 reached him in a foreign country. He immediately cut 
 short his proposed excursion, returned home, and with 
 his patriotic ardor, unrestrained by considerations of for- 
 tune, home comforts, or social relations, enlisted in the 
 service. 
 
 He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the First Unat- 
 tached Company of Cavalry in Captain Read's Squadron of 
 Mounted Rifle Rangers, and served with that Corps in 
 Louisiana. He was subsequently appointed Senior Aid-de- 
 Camp on Brigadier-General Weitzel's Staff. * His gallantry 
 on several occasions has been duly noted, and his bravery 
 on board the gunboat Diana, and in the capture of the rebel 
 steamer Cornie, will be well remembered. In the former of 
 these encounters he was severely wounded, and probably 
 had not entirely recovered from the effects of the wound 
 when he was seized with the malarial fever, of which he died 
 at Brashear City. He was about twenty-five years old. 
 
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE PRESS. 143 
 
 [From the Salem Qaztte, June 16 Editorial.] 
 
 The afflictive intelligence of the death of Lieutenant 
 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN, of this city, which was 
 received on Saturday last, not only cast a gloom over a 
 very large circle of personal and family friends, but was felt 
 by the public as a loss to the country of a brave soldier and 
 gallant leader. Here, in the place of his birth, and where 
 all his home life had been passed, his kind disposition and 
 amiable deportment had won the general regard, while the 
 manly and heroic qualities developed by active service, in 
 the camp and on the field of battle, had given him a place 
 in the public respect which many years of peaceful life and 
 successful money-getting would have failed to secure. 
 
 The breaking out of the rebellion found him abroad, 
 engaged in completing a very extensive course of travel, 
 including the great East India marts, to which he had been 
 impelled perhaps by his commercial descent. But the spirit 
 of patriotism was too strong in him to permit his contin- 
 uance in any pursuits in which the safety and welfare of the 
 country and the institutions which he loved were subordi- 
 nate to mere personal pleasure, improvement or profit. He 
 hastened home, and at orice began to look around for the 
 best way to make himself useful in the public service. It 
 was not long before the commission of lieutenant of cavalry 
 was offered him by General Butler, and he at once pro- 
 ceeded with energy and perseverance to fill up his company 
 by enlistments, and to fit himself for the novel duties with 
 which lie was charged. How well he succeeded has been 
 since proved on more than one occasion by the strain of 
 
144 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 extremest trial. The unfortunate conflict of authority 
 between Governor Andrew and General Butler, in which 
 the War Department seems to have been most in fault, led 
 to his virtual supersedure while in active service at New 
 Orleans, and he came home for a brief period, not, how- 
 ever, to retire in disgust from a service in which he felt he 
 had been ill used, but to put himself in a position in which 
 he might honorably return to the service. This was speedily 
 effected, and he returned to JSTew Orleans, where he was 
 welcomed by the gallant General Weitzel, and received from 
 him the appointment of Aid-de-Camp, and in this responsible 
 position he continued, a member of the General's military 
 family, until the end of his life. 
 
 We have not the means at hand to go with particularity 
 into the details of Lieutenant Allen's military services. 
 Very early in his career he had the honor of a special official 
 mention in the report of General Strong to General But- 
 ler of the attempt to surprise and capture Ponchatoula for 
 "having rendered important service and gallantry during 
 action." The wound which probably led to his death was 
 received in the defence of the gunboat Diana, on the twenty- 
 eighth of March last, in which he displayed extraordinary 
 gallantry and daring courage. He had of right no command 
 in the boat, being a passenger, sent by General Weitzel for 
 the purpose of gaining important military information. The 
 commander of the Diana, disregarding the advice of Lieu- 
 tenant Allen, got her into a disadvantageous position, where 
 he was surprised and attacked by a superior force of the 
 rebels. After the captain and all the executive officers of 
 the boat had been killed or wounded, Lieutenant Allen took 
 
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE PRESS. 145 
 
 command, but found it impossible to get the sailors any 
 longer to stand to the guns, and himself raised the Union 
 flag again after they had hauled it down. At last, however, 
 finding the insubordination such that it was impossible to 
 have the guns loaded, and being severely wounded, he was 
 reluctantly compelled to surrender. 
 
 He was treated with great kindness and attention by the 
 rebels of the neighborhood in which he was captured in 
 consideration, as they said, of the kindness and forbearance 
 with which he had treated them in some flag-of-truce busi- 
 ness which he had previously had with them and his 
 wounds were healing rapidly, when he had a new expe- 
 rience, described in the New Orleans Picayune of April 
 twenty-first, as follows: 
 
 " When the Confederate forces commenced their retreat, 
 several steamers started from Franklin to New Iberia, 
 among them the Cornie, having on board her crew and 
 about seventy wounded confederates. Lieutenant Allen, of 
 General WeitzeFs Staff, who was wounded and captured at 
 the time the Diana was taken, was also on board with a 
 guard, being conveyed to New Iberia as a prisoner. The 
 captain of the Cornie appears to have been panic stricken, 
 for he returned with his boat to Franklin, when Lieutenant 
 -Allen walked up into the town. At this time the Federal 
 advance of cavalry occupied the place, and Lieutenant Allen, 
 procuring a six-shooter from one of them, walked back on 
 board the boat, and going up to the captain presented the 
 pistol and demanded the surrender of the boat, which was at 
 once complied with. Thus a good steamer, with nearly one 
 hundred prisoners, fell into the hands of the Federal forces, 
 
 13 
 
146 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 through the coolness and determination of one man. The con- 
 federates neglected to parole Lieutenant Allen; they merely 
 put him upon the limits of the town, and he was consequently 
 recaptured. He is now in New Orleans, and his wound is 
 healing rapidly, so much so that he will be able to resume his 
 duties on the staff in about ten days or two weeks. He speaks 
 in high terms of the kindness and consideration with which 
 he was treated while in the hands of the confederates." 
 The next we hear of Lieutenant Allen is the following: 
 "A letter dated at Chicot Lake, Louisiana, May first, 
 states that Lieutenant Pickering Dodge Allen of Salem was 
 in command of steamer Cornie, with a section of artillery, 
 two orass howitzers, and one hundred sharp-shooters from 
 the Massachusetts Fourth Kegiment, bound up the Atcha- 
 falaya River to the mouth of Red River to communicate with 
 Admiral Farragut. The Cornie, it will be remembered, was 
 a rebel steamer on which Lieutenant Allen was a prisoner, 
 and was surrendered to him upon his demand when Gen- 
 eral Banks' expedition proved successful at Brashear City. 
 Lieutenant Allen, who is a cavalry officer, was forbidden by 
 the surgeon to rejoin his staff at present, as his wounds, 
 although doing well, were not sufficiently healed to allow of 
 saddle exercise, and so he obtained command of the Cornie, 
 one of the vessels in Commodore Cooke's little fleet, which 
 passed through the Atchafalaya to the mouth of Red River 
 and brought down Admiral Farragut, who was at New 
 Orleans at last advices. It is not often that a dragoon 
 would find himself at home on shipboard, but Lieutenant 
 Allen has had considerable experience at sea, having visited 
 the East Indies, Japan, the California Coast, and nearly all 
 
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE PRESS. 147 
 
 parts of the world. His gallantry has been proved on 
 several memorable occasions." 
 
 Subsequently, about a fortnight ago, a letter was received 
 by his father, stating that the state of his health was such, 
 that the physicians directed his return home, for recovery, 
 and that he should accordingly return immediately. The 
 next intelligence was the afflictive and unexpected news of 
 his death. 
 
 It is probable that Lieutenant Allen was in the incipient 
 stages of the malarial fever at the time of his writing. This 
 terminated in typhoid, of which he died, at Brashear City, 
 where he was surrounded by kind friends, and had every 
 attention and aid which his situation required. His body 
 will be brought to Salem for interment. His last letter was 
 dated May twenty-sixth. His death occurred on the second 
 of June. 
 
 [From the Essex Statesman, Salem, June 17 Editorial.] 
 
 We announce with pain the death of Lieutenant PICKER- 
 ING DODGE ALLEN of Salem. 
 
 Lieutenant Allen went out with General Butler in the 
 autumn of 1861, as lieutenant of a cavalry company, which 
 he, with much labor and expense, helped to raise. When 
 Governor Andrew issued commissions to the officers of 
 General Butler's troops, the claims of Lieutenant Allen 
 were overlooked; a private was appointed in his place; he 
 was mustered out and returned to his home last summer. 
 He was appointed a lieutenant in another company, and 
 though the place was not the one he desired, and unequal to 
 his deserts, still his heart was in the service and the cause, 
 
148 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 and after a short visit with his family, he returned to ]STew 
 Orleans in August last. He was soon detached from his 
 command, and appointed on the staif of General Weitzel, 
 and there continued till his death. He served with great 
 distinction in several engagements, was captured in the 
 steamer Diana and severely wounded. He had nearly 
 recovered from his wounds, but a fever followed, and by 
 the last letters from him, May twenty-sixth, he was to leave 
 for home on a furlough. His family was daily expecting his 
 return, when on Saturday last the sad and appalling news of 
 his death reached them. A relapse of his fever was too 
 much for his weakened powers, and he died. 
 
 We have sent from this city many of our best young men; 
 we have lost many by battle and disease ; but we can truly 
 say that we have sent none whose future was more full of 
 promise; we could have lost none whose death will be more 
 sincerely mourned by all who knew him, not only as a 
 personal and private affliction, but as a public loss. 
 
 We all remember with what zeal and spirit he entered 
 upon his career. 
 
 Fond of adventure, addicted to out-door and manly exer- 
 cises, filled with an earnest wish to do something for his 
 country, and to respond to the call that the public peril 
 made upon her young men, he was fitted by nature, by 
 habit, and by moral purpose, for a soldier's life in this great 
 struggle. 
 
 He was gentle, yet firm and manly; he was quiet, modest 
 and unobtrusive, yet in the hour of danger he had enough 
 of decision and self-assertion; he was well-principled and 
 high-toned, and amid the fierce excesses of a soldier's life 
 
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE PRESS. 149 
 
 he kept the faith and honor of a gentleman, and has left a 
 record without stain or reproach. 
 
 His circumstances were such that a less decided nature 
 would have been prevented from adopting the career to 
 which he devoted himself, and to which he gave his life. 
 Born to wealth, surrounded by tender ties of friends, kindred 
 and home, he turned from a life of comfort, opulence and 
 inglorious ease, to the rough dangers of camp and battle- 
 field; his manhood and his adventurous spirit there found 
 the arena and the prize he coveted. 
 
 There is much in his character and his brief career to 
 admire, and as we reflect upon them we find much to console 
 and reconcile. We feel that his heroic qualities were not 
 sapped by fortune, but were strong and ready for use in 
 trial ; we feel though he reached only the threshold of life, 
 and fell exhausted at the open door, and saw honor and 
 usefulness within, still it was not all in vain he lived 
 and died. 
 
 He achieved much in life; he has left as much in death, 
 the memory of a brave, manly and true heart, which 
 we shall tenderly cherish; the example of a gallant and 
 generous sacrifice, which the young men of the Kepublic 
 should now and henceforth emulate and copy. 
 
 The thunders of artillery and the roar of distant battle 
 again rock the land and sea; other heroic spirits are hasten- 
 ing to join our cherished and beloved dead. God grant that 
 the lives they give and the sharp grief that those who love 
 them feel, may at last find recompense and consolation, in 
 the restoration of our dear country to order, unity and 
 peace. 
 
 n 
 
150 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 [From the Salem Gazette, June 23 ] 
 
 No city in our Commonwealth has more largely shared 
 in the hopes and fears of the terrible war, now devastating 
 the once fair portions of the land and burdening the loyal 
 hearts of the nation, than Salem; and to the sacred cause 
 she has freely given of her bravest and best. From those 
 gallent pioneers, the Salem Zouaves, in whose hearts the 
 first call to arms awoke an echo ever rolling on with each 
 succeeding conflict to the present hour, when "our boys" 
 have stretched forth a ready hand to aid a sister State, there 
 has been no check to the devotion of our young heroes, no 
 lull in the song of Freedom surging up from patriotic 
 hearts; to the "music of the Union" they have marched 
 to glory, and they have found it often in the grave. The 
 debt of gratitude which all good citizens owe their country 
 has been paid in honorable wounds, shattered health and 
 gift of precious life; and still, as occasion demands, they go, 
 taking with them our farewells laden with blessings, claim- 
 ing hearty welcome on their return, or earning a hallowed 
 place in our memories. 
 
 And now another soldier has fought his last fight, not 
 this time on the battle field, but as one might yield at home 
 to the universal conqueror Death. Kind hands ministered 
 to his last needs, and we rejoice that this great consolation 
 was granted to his friends. 
 
 All who have followed the footsteps of PICKERING 
 DODGE ALLEN, through his modest, conscientious and 
 gallant career, know that he has done his country good 
 service, and feel that a life ended in such a cause, although 
 
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE PRESS. 151 
 
 cut short, is not lost. He gave it, and when we have so often 
 said " God bless him " for his promptness in action, for his 
 steadfast perseverance, for his dauntless courage, we did 
 not know that God would so soon bless him in his own 
 best way. 
 
 Life's warfare for him is over, and while we conse- 
 crate to his name a wreath of undying laurels, let us not 
 repine because his youthful brow was deemed worthy of the 
 amaranth crown in the realms of everlasting peace. 
 
 The first %larm of war found young Allen in the full 
 enjoyment of an European tour, but true to himself and 
 his country, he obeyed her call, and sought and obtained 
 opportunity for service which he has ever made honorable 
 by his conduct. 
 
 He survived a severe wound received in action which 
 gained him high and merited praise, and sunk under a 
 fever induced by too speedy return to the duties he was 
 so eager to fulfil. 
 
 Yet not only as a soldier was our young townsman worthy 
 of esteem; a kind friend, affectionate brother, devoted son, 
 modest, simple, honest, straightforward, developing many 
 sturdy traits of the good old puritan families from which he 
 was descended, we find a warrant in saying that few young 
 men were richer in well-wishers and friends. His cordial 
 greeting will be listened for in vain by those to whom he 
 was eveliwelcome, and over the circle of immediate friends 
 a shadow has fallen that will not soon be dispelled. To the 
 stricken household, to the parents who have guided him 
 from a fragile infancy to a manhood full of promise, the 
 bereavement is almost heart-breaking. That God may 
 
152 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 comfort them in this great sorrow is the prayer of many a 
 sympathizing heart. s. 
 
 At a special meeting of the City Council on Thursday 
 evening, Thomas Nichols, Jr., Esq., presiding, in absence of 
 Mr. Choate, Mayor Wheatland sent in a message concerning 
 Lieutenant Allen's death, which was referred to a joint 
 special committee, consisting of Aldermen Pickman and 
 Webster, and Councilmen Perry, White and Clark, who 
 reported resolutions which we print below. *Fhe Mayor's 
 letter was as follows: 
 
 "CITY OF SALEM. 
 
 "Mayor's Office, June 18, 1863. 
 "GENTLEMEN or THE CITY COUNCIL, 
 
 "The remains of our late fellow citizen, Lieutenant 
 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN, have been received by his 
 friends, and the last tribute of respect will be paid to them 
 on Friday afternoon. 
 
 "His family are very decided that the funeral shall be 
 private, but at the same time are willing that all who feel an 
 interest in him should be present. 
 
 "Lieutenant Allen was a personal friend, one whom I 
 have known for many years, and I hardly dare to trust 
 myself to speak of him; but I feel that his heroism and 
 devotion to his country are known to all of us, and that we 
 can cordially unite in saying that this terrible struggle has 
 taken very few who will be more sincerely mourned, or who 
 have left a brighter example to his country. 
 
 " No one has left his home from purer and more patriotic 
 motives, and no one has borne himself, among the temp- 
 
PARAGEAPHS FROM THE PRESS. 153 
 
 tations and trials of the camp, more like a true gentleman 
 and soldier. 7 ' 
 
 The following resolutions were unanimously adopted, 
 having been previously spoken to by Mr. Perry, who alluded 
 very handsomely to the high character of Lieutenant Allen, 
 as a representative of the intelligence and patriotism of our 
 city: 
 
 " Whereas, The painful intelligence of the death of Lieu- 
 tenant PICKERING DODGE ALLEN, on the second day of 
 June, 1863, at? Brashear City, in the State of Louisiana, in 
 the twenty-fifth year of his age, while serving upon the staff' 
 of General Weitzel, has been officially communicated to us 
 by his Honor the Mayor, therefore 
 
 "Resolved, That in all our losses in this calamitous war, 
 the city has suffered no greater loss. We remember with 
 patriotic pride the zeal with which he entered upon the 
 service of his country in the day of its peril. We recall his 
 gentle, modest and unobtrusive, yet firm and manly bearing. 
 We know that his singular purity of character preserved to 
 him, amid the trying scenes of camp and field, the faith and 
 honor of a gentleman and a soldier. We mourn his early 
 death, not only as a private affliction, but as a public calam- 
 ity. The city will cherish his memory as that of a brave 
 and true man, and his example will remain for emulation 
 and praise. 
 
 " Resolved, That the City Council will attend his funeral 
 in a body. 
 
 "Resolved, That the communication of his Honor the 
 Mayor, together with these resolutions, be entered at length 
 upon the records of the city, and copies of them be sent to 
 
154 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 the parents of Lieutenant Allen, with the deepest sympathy 
 of the city in this hour of their bereavement." 
 
 The funeral services, at the house of J. Fisk Allen, Esq., 
 father of the deceased, were of a private character, but were 
 attended by a great number of people. The City Govern- 
 ment were present, and the members of the Salem Light 
 Infantry, and numerous private and personal friends of the 
 deceased. The services were conducted by Rev. Dr. Briggs. 
 The flags of the city were displayed at half mast, and the 
 bells tolled, as a token of respect for the deceased. 
 
 At a meeting of the Salem Light Infantry, held at their 
 armory on Friday, General George H. Devereux in the 
 chair, the following resolutions were passed: 
 
 " It has pleased Providence to take from our old corps yet 
 another victim of this destructive war. Lieutenant Picker- 
 ing Dodge Allen has died from disease resulting from 
 wounds received in the gallant discharge of his duties 
 to his country. Like many another generous and brave 
 spirit nurtured in our military organization, he staked 
 his life upon the perils of these troubled times in support 
 of the free institutions and endangered interests of his 
 native land. 
 
 " Hastening home from abroad at the first anticipation of 
 this momentous stru*ggle, he sought eagerly the opportunity 
 to uphold the cause of the violated Constitution and the 
 insulted Flag of the United States, and voluntarily left a 
 position of ease and independence, blest with every social 
 advantage, to undergo the hardships and face the dangers of 
 warfare. 
 
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE PRESS. 155 
 
 "Circumstances offered him the opportunity to prove, 
 amid trying difficulty and pressing danger, the earnestness 
 of his patriotism and the unyielding energy of his spirit; 
 and in the hour of emergency, he displayed the high quali- 
 ties and the enduring courage that can redeem misfortune 
 and turn failure into victory. But the wounds received in 
 battle, and too much neglected in his eagerness to resume 
 his duties, induced the fatal disease that has terminated his 
 young and honorable life. The shouts of well won triumph 
 and the tears of grieving comrades mingled around his 
 distant death bed, and his lifeless form has been transmitted 
 to his home all that is now left to his friends of the young 
 and chivalrous patriot soldier. 
 
 " Therefore Resolved, That we tender to his parents and 
 family our deep commiseration for the early loss of one, 
 in whom so much of hope and earthly expectation was 
 treasured up; and we pray that the cheering memory of 
 duty nobly done, and the purest consolations of Divine 
 wisdom may support and comfort their affliction. 
 
 "JResoZverZ, That with a sad and proud satisfaction, we 
 place his name upon that already long and honorable roll of 
 our comrades who have sealed with their lives their manly 
 devotion to duty ; and given to our corps a distinction and 
 preeminence in the annals of this bloody war, which will be 
 cherished by all who have ever worn, or shall wear, in after 
 times, the uniform of the Salem Light Infantry. Peaceful 
 be his rest in his early, but glorious tomb. And may the 
 God of battles shield from harm the gallant band of our 
 surviving brothers still clustered round the banners of the 
 republic. 
 
156 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 4|| 
 "Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be entered 
 
 upon the record of the corps, and that a copy be transmitted 
 to the family of the deceased." 
 
 [From the Salem Gazette, June 30.] 
 
 The subjoined tribute to the memory of the lamented 
 Lieutenant ALLEN has been forwarded to us for publica- 
 tion by Captain S. Tyler Bead: 
 
 "HEAD-QUARTERS MOUNTED RIFLE RANGERS, 
 " HUMPHREY'S STATION, 
 
 "Parish St. James, La., June 10, 1863. 
 
 "GENERAL ORDERS No. 15. 
 
 The Captain Commanding announces with profound sad- 
 ness the death of First Lieutenant Pickering Dodge Allen 
 of this Company, and Senior Aid-de-Camp to Brigadier- 
 General Weitzel. 
 
 " This event, which we, and all who knew our good and 
 brave Lieutenant, must so deeply mourn, occurred at Bra- 
 shear City, Louisiana, on the second instant. He had fought 
 with such defiant bravery in the very breath of the enemy's 
 guns at Pattersonville, on the twenty-eighth of March, that 
 at last when captured, severely wounded in several places, 
 his shot-honored garments hanging about him in shreds and 
 the men he had urged to desperate fight strewn around him, 
 even his enemies, in admiration of his bravery, heaped upon 
 him extravagant praises and unaccustomed courtesies. 
 
 "Afterwards, while yet in the hands of the enemy and 
 suffering from his wounds, the enthusiasm with which he 
 saw the glorious flag he had loved and honored advancing 
 at the head of our forces nerved him with strength to rise 
 
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE PRESS. 157 
 
 from his couch, demand the unconditional surrender of the 
 hospital steamboat on which he was confined, and bring it, 
 loaded with rebels, a trophy to the Federal forces. Too 
 fatally x fond of his country's fame and cause, before he had 
 wholly recovered from the effects of his wounds or was 
 again fit for the hardships of the field, he heard the sounds 
 of approaching battle and could not be restrained from 
 resuming his duties upon his General's Staff; sickness and 
 that sad event which we deplore followed. 
 
 " We may not here allude to his previous and valuable 
 services in his country's cause ; he sleeps proudly now 
 beneath the national emblem he has given his life to redeem 
 from insult. 
 
 "We who knew him mourn the true and noble-hearted 
 gentleman, the faithful and affectionate friend, the pure and 
 devoted patriot, the gallant and heroic soldier! And it is 
 ordered that the Company's colors and the officers' quarters 
 shall be trimmed in mourning, that the members of the 
 Company shall wear the usual badge for thirty days, and 
 that a copy of this order shall be forwarded to the parents 
 of the deceased as a testimonial of our respect and love for 
 the memory of their lamented son. 
 
 u By order, S. TYLER HEAD, 
 
 "Captain Commanding Mounted Rifle Rangers, 
 
 "Independent Massachusetts Volunteers." 
 14 
 
EXPERIENCE OPENS THE BOOK OF LIFE. 
 
 SERMON 
 
 DELIVERED IN SALEM, JUNE 21, 18fK3, 
 
 BY REV. G. W. BRIGGS, D. D. 
 
SERMON. 
 
 REVELATIONS XX., 12. 
 
 "AND ANOTHER BOOK WAS OPENED, WHICH is THE BOOK OF LIFE." 
 
 I think of no sentence which can more fitly intro- 
 duce our meditations to-day. I think of none which, 
 at the same time, touches such profound spiritual 
 truths and finds such vivid illustrations in the events 
 of the hour. The writer is speaking of the future, 
 and not of the present world. He is attempting to 
 picture the grand and awful scenes which presented 
 themselves to his imagination in his visions of a spir- 
 itual state. But the change of worlds can neither 
 suspend nor break the laws of the soul. For what 
 is the " Book of Life "? What idea is that conse- 
 crated phrase intended to convey? Does not the 
 "book of life'' mean, the principle of man's inward 
 being, that which he truly is in his interior character 
 before the sight of God? And is not that book 
 opened whenever that principle is brought out into 
 
 view ? Though the text was written concerning the 
 u 
 
162 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 future, it belongs to the present also. It describes 
 the work both of Time and of Eternity. The book 
 of life is not kept closed and sealed until the dawn of 
 a judgment day. Though it may not be fully opened 
 here, seal after seal is unloosed in the events which 
 produce genuine revelations of character. Some- 
 times it seems as if few seals remained to be broken 
 when the spirit passes on into that higher world to 
 whose- glories the text directly refers. Let us follow 
 this line of thought, first, in the general reflections 
 which it suggests, and then into such particular appli- 
 cations as the time may permit. 
 
 " And another book was opened, which is the book 
 of life." It is the grand office of experience to reveal 
 the moral secrets of the heart, to open the book of life. 
 Everything that stirs the soul, indeed, reveals a glimpse 
 of the inner life, even if none of its features are fully 
 unveiled. Its pride, its passion, its selfishness, or, its 
 humility, its heroism, its love, are constantly flashing 
 into sight amidst the provocations and the tasks of life. 
 The true tones of feeling break from the heart when 
 the different events of life touch its various strings, I 
 had almost said as surely, and oftentimes as uncon- 
 sciously, as the different notes of the organ when you 
 touch its various stops and keys. The book of life 
 is partially opened every day. I am entering into no 
 
SERMON OF REV. DR. BRIGGS. 163 
 
 mere speculations now. I am writing what you and I 
 have felt ofttimes in humiliation, and perhaps in tears, 
 and sometimes, I trust, in joy. What secrets of 
 weakness, and what secrets of strength, experience 
 opens ! What secrets of weakness, certainly ! Who 
 has never found that a new or varied temptation, a 
 provocation unmet before, has shaken, if not over- 
 whelmed his fancied heroism of purpose ? The 
 serenity in which you trusted yielded at the first 
 assault, and the passion which you thought you had 
 tamed, or could hold in check, breaks out again in 
 all its wonted strength. Somehow the old demon 
 comes back again when you believed that the cham- 
 bers of the heart had been swept and garnished, or 
 else some new weakness appears, which was undis- 
 covered before, to keep you still humble when you 
 began to feel the pride of spiritual strength and 
 victory. When you think you can walk upon the 
 stormy waves, like the too confident Apostle you 
 begin to sink, and are compelled to cry for the help 
 of the Master's hand. I know not how any man 
 can be a Pharisee. He could not be if he read the 
 opening book of life. Fall upon your knees, and 
 smite your breast, sooner than breathe one word, or 
 thought of spiritual pride, as these secrets of frailty 
 come into view to shame and humble you. 
 
164 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 But thanks be given, there is another side to the 
 picture. Life opens secrets of strength as well as of 
 weakness. Resolution does not always bend beneath 
 assaults. Sometimes it has an invincible and ada- 
 mantine firmness that no experience in life is able 
 to shake. Sometimes serenity is undisturbed, and 
 loving souls retain their sweetness, while the excite- 
 ments of passion are heaving and tossing round them 
 in perpetual agitation. If any angel has found a 
 home in the spirit, either implanted there by the 
 love that watched over and guided its opening life, 
 or developed by the soul's earnest struggles to keep its 
 faith and honor, under difficulties and temptations it will 
 unfold its previously secret and unsuspected strength. 
 Have you never found such an inward strength in the 
 conviction instilled, perhaps, by a mother's lips, the sen- 
 timent awakened by her counsel or her presence, a 
 strength that you never claimed as your own but 
 always gratefully attributed to her, but which kept 
 you as clean from the sins against which she specially 
 warned you, long after she was laid in the grave, as 
 if her loving arms were folded round you still ? Have 
 you not seen such an inward strength winning its moral 
 victories in other souls ? Experience probes the heart's 
 hidden places and opens the books of the spirit's life to 
 tell its secrets of shame or glory. 
 
SERMON OF REV. DR. BRIGG8. 165 
 
 "And another book was opened, which is the book 
 of life." When I follow out this line of thought 
 the intensest experiences of life involve no mystery. 
 Their explanation is seen at a glance. They open 
 the books of life more fully. Thev sound the depths 
 of character. They expose the latent frailty which 
 nothing less would reveal, or they call out the latent 
 strength which no lighter summons would arouse. 
 Man does not need the merely superficial experiences 
 which bring no disappointment, and can demand no 
 trust; which ask for no self-sacrifice, and can sum- 
 mon up no heroism. He needs those which are as 
 deep as the heart's capacities of love ; deep as the 
 possibilities of spiritual frailty, or of spiritual power. 
 They have their compensations. They surprise us 
 by the displays of character to which they lead. 
 Sometimes, " too often, human nature sinks beneath 
 its grandest tests. But now and then it rises to a 
 moral power that is equal to the demand upon its 
 strength, and ascends to a true spiritual victory. 
 What are these manifestations of trust, and of power ? 
 They are partial openings of the book of life. We 
 begin to read some of the pages of that wondrous 
 book in these grander revelations of character. Some 
 souls pass through the years of present life, unknown 
 to others, unknown even to themselves. Nothing 
 
166 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 comes to arouse the grander elements of their spiritual 
 nature, and it gives no sign of its diviner possibili- 
 ties. Not even once, perhaps, in all their earthly 
 history do they have a single hour of transfiguration, 
 in which the soul breaks through the features to 
 cover them with light and the inner man comes 
 out in a heroism, or a self-sacrifice that fills us with 
 admiration, and almost with reverence. How many 
 talents sleep till the angel of the resurrection shall 
 call them forth into glorious activity ? I often think 
 of the infinite surprises that will come to myriads of 
 souls, in the intenser life of the future, when these 
 powers which scarcely budded here shall burst into 
 bloom, when those who were chained below by 
 man's injustice, or the unfavorable circumstances of 
 their present lot, shall see their prison walls falling 
 round them and pass into the liberty of the heavens, 
 when those who grovelled here on earth as if they 
 were only made of the dust, quickly to return to dust 
 again, shall find the spirit putting forth its wings to 
 soar up towards the life of God. " Neither eye hath 
 seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived" what those 
 surprises may be. Still, occasionally, when life is 
 deepest, we get glimpses of that unrevealed, uncom- 
 prehended splendor. Occasionally we see revelations 
 of glorious manhood which illuminate the dark pages 
 
SERMON OF KEY. DR. BRIGGS. 167 
 
 of human history, and shine down through the cen- 
 turies to cheer and inspire. Occasionally the heavens 
 seem to open and a still more spiritual baptism rests 
 upon some saintly head. It is the deep experiences 
 that open the book of life. I do not wonder that 
 they come. I cannot wonder at the agony which 
 finally leads to the cry, " Thy will be done." I 
 wonder not at the heavy cross which may make 
 the soul its conqueror at last. The dark cloud of 
 sorrow is already fringed with light. I see the 
 meaning of the words, " Whom he loveth, he chas- 
 teneth." The still darker problem of moral evil is 
 not wholly mystery. Though itself unsolved, some 
 light is cast upon it now. Life is a battle ; truth 
 brings not peace, but a sword ; every step towards 
 the world's progress and redemption is purchased by 
 sacrifices of blood, because in these tremendous moral 
 struggles the book of life may be opened, and all that 
 is great in heroism, all that is sublime in love and 
 trust, all that is glorious in self-sacrifice may be writ- 
 ten upon its pages. 
 
 And shall I turn from this abstract and general 
 statement to its illustrations in the life of to-day ? 
 How nobly character has been developed amidst 
 these terrible convulsions ! I do not forget for an 
 instant the manifestations of moral weakness, the 
 
168 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 disastrous failures which sadden us, the selfishness 
 which never rises above its own base and personal 
 ends when all that is sacred and dear in the thought 
 of country, and law, and liberty is pleading with its 
 heart of stone, and which is as unmoved by any true 
 enthusiasm for interests so divine as was the heart of 
 Judas by love for his Lord. Like the traitor himself 
 it must go to its own place, and I put it out of sight 
 to-day. Thanks for the true and brave, those whose 
 bravery and truth can almost make us forget these 
 shameful lives. How many youths whose moral 
 power we could not have realized, and perhaps did 
 not suspect, have suddenly developed into the noblest 
 manhood, with a loyalty to liberty exalted into a soul 
 of self-sacrifice, and the love of country kindled into 
 a quenchless flame ? When has the book of life been 
 more truly opened to reveal the deeps of character ? 
 When have nobler things been written upon its 
 pages ? We almost imagine amidst such abundant 
 manifestations of heroism and devotion that they are 
 the positive creations of the hour, as if some new 
 inspiration had been poured upon humanity to-day. 
 A new inspiration has indeed come ; but it has created 
 nothing. It has simply opened the book of its inte- 
 rior life, to show us what it was made to be when it 
 yields itself without reserve to a sacred truth or a 
 
SERMON OF REV. DR. BRIGGS. 169 
 
 noble sentiment. Heroism, fidelity, devotion, are as 
 natural to such self-sacrificing natures as cowardice 
 and moral treason to self-seeking souls. These 
 grander things are the natural expression of this 
 nobler, inward life. It is sometimes said that these 
 beautiful developments of character are the only com- 
 pensations in this terrific war. Other issues are not 
 yet unveiled. I leave those in faith to the guidance 
 of the overruling Hand. But here are compensations 
 which come while other, and grander ones if that be 
 possible, are still unseen, compensations which out- 
 weigh suffering, yes, almost outweigh grief itself. 
 We should not have known these heroes except 
 through the perils amidst which they nobly battled, 
 and bravely fell. I gather up these bright revela- 
 tions out of the book of their life. I count the 
 names that have become sacred now. Who that 
 felt rightly would deem any peril or cross a burden 
 to himself if it should imbue him with the true soul 
 of sacrifice? In our better moments we say with 
 Paul, we would know the fellowship of the Lord's 
 sufferings, and taste the bitterness of his death, if 
 thus, by any means, we might attain to a resurrection 
 from the dead. Shall we put our personal griefs, 
 however sacred and deep, into the balance, when we 
 remember these examples of moral beauty ? We will 
 
 15 
 
170 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 open our clinging arms to let our beloved ones go. 
 Tearfully, yet bravely, we will bear a suffering, a 
 sacrifice, like that from which they did not shrink, 
 and which made them what they were, and what 
 they must be in our memory forever. 
 
 And here another thought presses upon the mind. 
 We have said-^that the deep things of character, its 
 diviner forces, are called forth amidst these tremen- 
 dous experiences. If life open the book of character, 
 death cannot close it. It seems to open it still more 
 widely. It is an unfailing and beautiful office of 
 death to bring character up anew to the mind and 
 heart. Well did Jesus say to the disciples that the 
 Spirit would bring all things to their remembrance 
 when he should have gone away. It was in accord- 
 ance with the irresistible working of human nature. 
 Then the mind goes back to the past, and the heart 
 gathers up and embalms its cherished and beautiful 
 memories. And how those memories throng upon 
 it ; recollections of every generous and characteristic 
 deed, recollections to which we seldom turned, and 
 which had almost faded, but which now come up, 
 fresh and vivid, to bear their testimony. When the 
 life is really lovely and true we are compassed about 
 as by a cloud of these loving witnesses. The heart 
 calls all things to its remembrance, and groups them 
 
SEKMON OF REV. DR. BRIGGS. 171 
 
 together to make the portrait complete, as the loving 
 painter touches each feature again and yet again 
 with his magic pencil, until the picture assumes the 
 exact expression and hues of life. Death cannot 
 close the book of life. The features of the spirit are 
 never so distinct as when the veil of flesh is laid 
 aside. It sometimes seems as if the truest minis- 
 try of the loved begins when their earthly presence 
 ceases. Then superficial foibles are forever blotted 
 out, and the nobler qualities appear without a cloud. 
 Then the traits which formerly seemed so beautiful 
 assume a sacredness unknown before, and the once 
 human life fulfils the office of an angel. Perhaps 
 the lips never speak so eloquently as when they are 
 closed forever. Perhaps no life is ever truly known, 
 certainly none exerts its highest spiritual power till it 
 is ended. How true it is in every application of the 
 words that those who live can never die ! When 
 character is true death is indeed abolished, and the 
 mortal life becomes an immortal presence, to touch 
 the soul with a tenderer reverence and sway it with 
 a diviner power. When the book of life is truly 
 opened, life and death alike conspire to illuminate its 
 pages, and make them radiant forever. 
 
 I do not forget the anguish and agony of the hour 
 in words like these. Certainly I cannot forget them 
 
172 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 when I hear so often the sadly tolling bells. I see 
 the loved forms of the dead coming back so silently 
 to be laid by the side of parents and of kindred. It 
 is because the sacrifices are so priceless that I strive 
 to gather every gleam of consolation and of hope. 
 How oft it seems as if our most single-hearted and 
 truest fell ! When the devotion is most nobly 
 proved ; when the young man to whom life opened 
 with fairest promise, offering every charm to hold 
 him back, hears the call of country across the sea and 
 hastens to her defence ; when character retains its 
 simplicity, its integrity, its honor undefiled amidst 
 the corruptions of the camp, to command a confidence 
 and love from former strangers almost as tender and 
 deep as the affections of home ; when the hopes of 
 kindred and of associates begin to cluster round it 
 as if reserve^ for marked and nobler service to the 
 sacred cause ; when the sacrifice seems greatest, then 
 the call comes to withhold it not. " Withhold not 
 thy son, thine only son." It is the law of the eter- 
 nal Providence. It was the offering without spot or 
 blemish that was to be placed upon the altars. It is 
 the fairest and most priceless lives that seem oftenest 
 laid down for right and for humanity. Sacrifices 
 like these have the highest moral power, and do 
 most to touch and quicken sluggish and selfish souls. 
 
SERMON OF REV. DR. BRIGGS. 173 
 
 When their work seems so sadly and mysteriously 
 ended, it is that they may begin their nobler work 
 in the deep places of human hearts. We gain some 
 partial solution of their early fall. Those who have 
 the moral power of character pass on to exert an 
 inspiration, which, though unseen, nerves a hundred 
 hearts anew, and is mightier, a thousand fold, than 
 any mortal strength. 
 
 " And another book was opened, which is the book 
 of life." Our text might suggest a higher and more 
 spiritual doctrine, at which we cannot even glance 
 to-day. Let us fill our minds with these thoughts of 
 hope. When the book of life is truly opened, and 
 character shines forth in its moral beauty, we have 
 a power that cannot die. It neither dies in human 
 memory, nor in its influence upon the world. Shall 
 this grand heroism that is covering the land with 
 patriot graves fail to do its work? Should it fail 
 to-day, it would only make them shrines to which 
 men would turn in some future time for inspiration ; 
 and the sacrifice which is unavailing now will pur- 
 chase a redemption in the coming centuries. Not 
 one loyal man can live or die in vain. The truths 
 which such men serve, at the cost of sacrifice and 
 life, seem more real and precious for every new offer- 
 ing in their defence. The words "Country" and 
 
174 PICKERING DODGE ALLEN. 
 
 " Liberty " have new sacredness and power when 
 we see what inspirations they shed down upon these 
 brave and generous souls. We catch the inspiration 
 too, and feel that there is nothing better than to enter 
 into heroic life of faith and sacrifice. And then, 
 once more, this opening of the books of life is the 
 opening of the heavens. Whenever we see life, we 
 instantly believe' in immortality. We do not merely 
 believe, we feel, we know, that love, truth, purity, 
 can never die. The memories of human virtue are 
 the assurances of heaven. We instinctively look 
 beyond the grave when we are called to look down 
 with deepest sadness into its silence. Thanks for the 
 light of immortality that shines through the gates 
 of the tomb as the best beloved are passing on. Let 
 it brighten upon our faith till it break upon our sight 
 forevermore.