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I suppose our Reg't. was quartered in the Star sugar mill, where we remained three or four days, when at one hour by sun in the afternoon, we received orders to march, forthwith -- traveled until 11:00 o'clock that night, and next morning were again early on the march, which was pressed until night, when we camped, and lay down to sleep, but were aroused at 11:00 o'clock, and resumed the march, which we continued until near daylight. During the night, we passed through the towns of Washington and Opalousas [Opelousas]. After daylight, which was Nov. 3, 1863, we resumed the march, continued up till 10:00 o'clock, when we halted for a short time, drew ammunition, and ate a lunch, the last that many a poor soldier of our line ever had the pleasure of eating -- many a one, who then relished his lunch, lay still in death before the sun went down, causing the heart of a fond Mother, sister or wife to bleed.

[The following engagement is now known as the Battle of Bayou Bourbeux, Grand Coteau, Louisiana]

While here, Gen. [Thomas] Green gave Col. O. M. Roberts the order of battle in the presence of the Brigade, which were to charge the enemy, as soon as we were within one hundred yards of their line, and his words were -- "D--n them, they will retire". We knew that, unless the enemy retreated, the charge was inevitable, consequently, there were many pale faces and palpitating hearts. After getting our ammunition, we were ordered forward. Scarcely a word was spoken by the men, after we began the march, each silently thinking of the anticipated battle. We stopped a short distance from the enemy to rest. While here, the army took a panic at some noise, and scattered in all directions -- some ran through a bois d'arc hedge. Just at this time, Gen. Green came along, and said, "Men, you must not run"; and offered some cheering words, among others he said, "Show them the blood of your Mothers". We were already in hearing of the picket firing. As soon as we had passed the hedge on our left, we filed in that direction, until we reached a skirt of woods, which would protect us until we neared the enemy's camp. Before reaching the wood, however, the skirmish line shot a young man through, in our Reg't., named Bud Greer, from Sulphur Springs, Tex. After reaching the wood, we were thrown a line of battle, marching in the same direction, as before leaving the hedge. Our Reg't. occupied the center, Col. Harrison [James Edward Harrison, 15th Texas] the right and the 11th [11th Texas], commanded by Lieut. Col. [James H.] Jones, the left. The skirt of timber being too narrow to shelter the entire command, consequently they crowded towards the center, almost crushing our Reg't. Having arrived at a small branch, we were permitted to stop, rest and drink. Here several stalwart men fainted. On resuming the march, Col. King informed Col. Roberts that we were too much crowded, hoping that he would remove the difficulty, but to the astonishment of all, the old Col. replied, "Just let me give one command, forward, forward, forward, march!" On the march, the men would stoop, when the shells would pass over us, whereupon Col. Roberts would cry out "They will not hurt you, my men". Then after a moment's reflection, he would add, "Provided they don't hit you". We had sufficient evidence that they would hurt -- Jesse Steelman, of our Company, was struck on the head by a piece of shell, and knocked down -- he was just in front of me. I stepped around him, thinking he was dead, but after going a few steps, I looked around, and saw that he was only wounded. After rising the hill fully, from the branch spoken of above, the enemy poured a deadly fire into our ranks, killing and wounding many, and almost made the balance recoil. Had they

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charged just at that time, defeat for us would have been inevitable. Just at this moment, I noticed a man in Company K whose brother had fallen -- I cannot describe his appearance, he seemed perfectly desperate, yet looked as though he could not leave his brother, but he at last, tore loose, and fought like a mad man. We pressed them out of their advantageous position, and pursued them a distance of two miles, when we had to abandon the pursuit on account of reinforcements received by the enemy. We fell back near our starting point, and just at this point, three Cavalry of the enemy mistook us for their men, I suppose, and came within fifty paces, when they discovered their mistake; two of them faced right about and fled, the third one undertook to pass the end of our line, which was a right angle to his route, when fifty perhaps of our men, ran out of the line and fired on him -- his horse turned a complete summersault, after which, I don't think either ever moved. Here also Gen. Green reprimanded and abused Lieut. Col. Jones of the 11th Reg't.

From here we marched a few hundred yards, at right angles to our other line, on the way John Freeman, of our Company, picked up two U.S. Blankets, and gave one to me, which I very much appreciated. We took cover under some timber, to protect us from the enemy's shells, which were still flying thick and fast.

Here, Col. Harrison of the 15th Reg't informed Gen. Green that the ammunition was exhausted. He ordered him to send some men back to the Federal camp (which they had deserted on our approach), and bring a supply -- he, Col. Harrison, replied that his men were so exhausted, that none of them could carry a box of ammunition, but said he, "I could go, if you would order me". Whereupon, Gen. Green said, "Go". He was gone for a few minutes and returned, with two, one hundred pound boxes up before him. The boys immediately took them and slammed them against trees in order to open them. Those who had Enfield rifles, now had plenty of powder and balls. It was soon ascertained, however, that the enemy's reinforcements were close at hand, and we began the retreat, crossing the main battle ground. On the way, there was a dead Federal soldier right on our track, and from the position in which he was lying, it was perceivable that something was in his pocket. John Freeman (who was marching by me) caught him, pulled him over, raffled his pocket, which proved to be a large wooden pipe which he kept and smoked as long as I knew him. As it was a sight I took no pleasure in, I walked on, and left him alone to rob the other pocket of the dead. I afterward heard that he got a considerable amount of money and valuables. Soon after this, we passed Cavalry of Gen. [James Patrick] Majors, formed to cover our retreat. We were marching very rapidly, as the enemy was pressing us in superior numbers. We had perhaps marched two hundred yards, when they came in collision with the Cavalry. We quickened our pace, as our Reg't. ammunition was exhausted, and the troops almost worn out, and in no condition to renew the engagement; the Cavalry however, had a heavy engagement.

We went into the fight that day, with twenty-seven men in the Company; we had six wounded, to wit: A. Johnson, mortally, T. P. Ails [Aills], W. L. Montgomery, T. S. McCurdy, W. Lilly and Jesse Steelman, all slightly. We came out with only seven besides the officers, whose names, I think, should be

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recorded in this book, to wit: Joe and David Bailey, W. H. H. Cope, John Johnson, John Freeman, Jonas Ervin and myself. The officers were Lieut. T. L. Skeen and Serg't. [John] Hackler. The remainder of the Company, I am ashamed to confess, played out. The above shows that about one fourth were killed and wounded; of the number started out with, and nearly one half of the number who fought through.

Military discipline seems hard sometimes, but it is right to be strict, then one man does not have to do the fighting for two.

In regard to reprimand given to Col. Jones, of the 11th Reg't. by Gen. Green, spoken of above -- I wish to record that it was entirely unjust. Gen. Green galloped up to him, brandished his sword above the Col.'s head, and asked why he was retreating. The Col., a gallant officer, denied the charge, and said he was ready to go wherever he was ordered.

I will now resume the retreat march, which I left off, soon after passing the Cavalry, formed to cover our retreat. We pushed on at a quick pace, thinking the enemy would pursue us. One mile on the march, we passed the hospital. Here among the wounded, I saw Bennett Hogan, wounded in the face. A little way past here, I stopped at a branch to get some water. Up to this time, I had not felt tired, notwithstanding, we had marched near twenty miles, without rest, and fought three hours and ten minutes; and now had started to retrace our steps, we knew not how far, it depended entirely upon the movements of the enemy. After I had quenched my thirst, I resumed my march to overtake the Company, which was but a little way ahead, but to my astonishment, I could not gain the distance. I was completely exhausted. I soon overtook a wagon, and pressed it into service, or myself into it, and rode to camp, which was near Opalousas [Opelousas, LA], ten miles distant from the battlefield. Here I slept the sweetest night's sleep of my life; although the teams were not unharnessed, and the field officers had not slept, for fear of a renewal of the attack. Next day, although things were not very quiet, most of the boys stole time enough to write a lettrr home, descriptive of the battle. For several days we held ourselves in readiness for an attack, but as they did not pursue, we again marched to the battle field, in way of giving them a dare; and on Nov. 11, we thought they were going to accept our proffer of battle, and we remained in line all day -- their main body being not more than three miles distant, but at nightfall, we received news that they had fallen back before our Cavalry.

Here, a serious accident occurred, -- a soldier from another Reg't. picked up a bombshell, and knocked all the combustibles out, as he supposed, and struck a match to it, in way of experiment, when it exploded and blew off his arm; and a fragment of the shell flew two hundred yards, and wounded a mule in our Company wagon. I was nearby when it struck the mule, disabled him for some time.

Here, I should have stated that after the smoke of battle cleared away, and the wounded had been moved to Opalousas, it was found that the greater percent were from the 18th Reg't.