blistered and bleeding feet, the scorching sun, the rainy nights passed without shelter, the sickness that wasted or convulsed the stoutest frames; the rush, the frenzy, the fascinating pomp, the terrible energy of battle; the wheeling and plunging of cavalry, the thundering of batteries, the steady and resistless charge of infantry; the thrilling shout of victory; the unutterable magnificence of midnight bombardments; the patient endurance, the triumphant faith, and the beautiful patriotism of those suffering in hospital; the slow martyrdom in rebel prisons of those brave soldiers of the Thirteenth who would not turn traitor to save their lives, but deliberately chose rather to die by inches, of cold and hunger; and then the thousand interchanges of kindly sympathies; the warm friendships; the story, the wit, the songs of love and home and country around blazing campfires; and, to crown all, the satisfaction of having done what one could for God, for Freedom, and for the Great Republic! To keep alive in the breasts of the survivors those feelings, to perpetuate those friendships, to rekindle those memories, to collect and preserve in permanent form the pictures of those scenes, and so to add one drop to the great current of liberty-loving and patriotic sentiment that is bearing our country on to her sublime destiny, this little book is respectfully dedicated to his former companions in arms, the surviving officers and soldiers of the glorious Thirteenth, by THE AUTHOR. New Britain, Conn., August 16, 1867. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Circumstances and time of the raising of the Regiment. CHAPTER II. At sea for twenty days.-Life on Ship Island.-Up the PA CHAPTER III. Camp Kearney.-The LaFourche Campaign.-Battle 1 CHAPTER IV. Pursuit up the Teche.-Simsport.-Music.-Free Fight. |