Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 13.djvu/161

 160 Southern Historical Society Papers.

flushed with success, confidently expected to capture or destroy Bank's demoralized army, when, to his great mortification, he saw himself stripped of all his infantry but one division, and the greater part of his artillery, ordered to Arkansas, to oppose the Federal General Steele, who, as above stated, was to join General Banks at Shreveport. With his reduced forces, General Taylor had to give up operations on a large scale, and to turn his attention to an en- deavor to render a sojourn in Western Louisiana so unpleasant for Banks, as to induce him to seek comfort beyond the Mississippi.

The good behavior of Debray's regiment was acknowledged by the promotion of its Colonel to the rank of Brigadier-General; in consequence of which, Lieutenant-Colonel Myers, who had not yet rejoined, became Colonel, Major Menard, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Captain Owens, of company E, Major. Lieutenant Hearn, of com- pany E, became Captain vice Owens, promoted, and Lieutenant Woodyard, of company F, Captain vice Peck, killed. Mention may also be made here of the promotion, some months afterwards, of Lieutentant Trezevant, of company I, to be Captain vice Whitehead, dropped from the rolls for absence without leave.

The new Brigadier-General was assigned to the command of a brigade composed of his own regiment and Gould's and Wood's regiments, both fine bodies, raised, the former, on Red River, and the latter, West of the Colorado. To compose his military family, he selected from Debray's regiment the steady and intelligent Ser- geant-Major Harry Blagge, to be aid-de-camp; the chivalric young Adjutant, R. M. Franklin, to be Assistant Adjutant-General; regi- mental Quartermaster Thomas R. Franklin, the "Fighting Quar- termaster," as he was called, ever slipping to the front when "powder spoke," ever active and untiring in the discharge of his duties, to be Brigade Quartermaster; Lieutenant Fayette Black, who had performed with efficiency the duties of regimental Commissary, to be Brigade Commissary. Nor should mention be omitted of faithful William Vowinkle, of company C, who continued in the dis- charge of his duties as Orderly. Subsequently, Lieutenant W. Johnson, of company D, Debray's regiment, became Brigade Ord- nance Officer; Captain Lewis Maverick and Lieutenant G. I. Sher- wood, both of Wood's regiment, were selected, the former to be Brigade Inspector, and the latter to be Second Assistant Adjutant- General, and Surgeon Corley, of Gould's regiment, became Brigade Surgeon.

The Federal army, falling back on Grand Ecore, on Red River, at