CALCASIEU INVINCIBLES -- LOUISIANA MILITIA

By Mike Jones

The Calcasieu Invincibles were part of King's Special Battalion, Louisiana Militia which were activated in April 1862 to counter a threatened invasion of their state by the northern army. The battalion was to report to New Orleans and a long the way, Captain Warren W. Johnson, commander of the Invincibles, dropped off a letter at the Opelousas Courier with a list of his muster roll. The letter, dated 9 April 1862, was published in the Courier on 12 April 1862. Added in brackets is information from the 1860 census of Calcasieu and/or from later Confederate military service from Booth's Records or "The Civil War Veterans of Old Imperial Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana" by the Southwest Louisiana Genealogical Society, Inc. :The letter reads:

Editors Opelousas Courier,
     Camp Overton, April 9, 1862.
     Sirs -- It affords me much pleasure to present you with a copy of my roll. Please insert in your valuable weekly; as the most of my men are men of families, their children, and wives will be pleased to see us advancing towards the post of our duty as good fathers and true patriots.
W.W. Johnson,
Capt. Cal. Inv.

CALCASIEU INVINCIBLES
Capt. Warren W. Johnson, [b. 1827, St. Landry Parish, La., married with 8 children,shoemaker]
1st Lieutenant John A. Spence, [b. 17 Jan. 1836, St. Landry Parish, La., married w/ 1 child, printer]
2nd     "              Sirius M. Pithon, [b. 18 April 1839, St. Landry Parish, La., single, beef trader]
2nd Jr. "             J.W. Wagnon, [b. 1819, Georgia, single, farm laborer. 1st. Lt. Co. F, 28th La. Inf., Captured Vicksburg.]
Orderly Sergeant -- R.A. Parker, [On special orders from Camp Moore, La. dated 8 May 1862, all men of King's Special Battalion honorably discharged from the service. Transportation to Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, La.]
2nd          "              E.L. Cole, [Ewell L. Cole, b. 1830, Louisiana, wife, 3 children, merchant]
3rd          "              Zephrinin Lebleu, [b. 1836. Louisiana, wife, farm laborer. Pvt., Cpl., Co. D, Miles' Legion Louisiana Infantry.On hospital rolls, Port Hudson, La. 20 June 1863, shell wound in army; left arm amputated above the elbow. POW paroled Port Hudson, July 1863]
4th          "              Jacob Seigler, [Jacob Sigler, b. 1826, Alabama, wife, 4 children, farm laborer]
5th          "              E.R. Seigler,  [Ellis Sigler, b. 1828, Alabama, wife, six children, farm laborer]
1st Corporal -- H.D. Clark,
2nd     "            Martin Lebleu [Martin C. Lebleu, 1833, Louisiana, wife, 4 children. Co. D, Miles' Louisiana Legion; Co. B, 1th Heavy Artillery; Paroled 10 May 1865, Meridian, Miss.]
3rd     "            John B. Lebleu [b. 1837, Louisiana, wife, farm laborer. Co. D, Miles' Louisiana Legion.]
4th      "           Joshua Huggins [Co. F, 27th Louisiana Infantry; died 17 June 1862 Vicksgburg, Miss.]
Privates
J.L.Alphin [Co. F, 28th Louisiana Infantry; 2 June 1862 in hospital in Vicksburg, Miss.]
Y.S.Bobo, [Pvt. Co. A, 28th Louisiana Infantry, captured and paroled Vicksburg, Miss. 4 July 1863. Paroled 12 May 1865 Meridian, Miss.]
Honor Cryer,
John Cryer, [Pvt. Co. D, Miles' Louisiana Legion, paroled Port Hudson, La. 9 July 1863]
James Coleman,
Benoit Cittie,
W.M. Davis,
T.F. Dohm (Thomas Donn) [b. abt. 1833, Tennessee, P.O. Box Sugartown, wife, one child]
Eli E. Desmarre, [Eli Demase, b. abt. 1833, Louisiana, wife, 3 children]
Alexandre Daigle Jr., [b. abt. 1835, wife, farm laborer]
J.A. Eason, [John A. Eason, b.  abt. 1825 Miss., wife, 3 children. Pvt. Co. A, Daly's (Ragsdale's) Bn. Tex. Cav. P.O.W paroled Alexandria, La. 10 July 1865.
Louis A. Ford,  [Lewis Ford, b. abt. 1846, Louisiana. Pvt. Co. F, 28th La. Inf. Appt. Cpl. 12 Feb. 1863, Captured and paroled Vicksburg, Miss. 4 July 1863.]
John L. Franklin, [John Lafayette Franklin, b. abt. 1838, Florida, wife, 1 child. Pvt. Co. K, 6th La. Cav.]
Zephirin Fontenot, (b. abt. 1842, Louisiana, farm laborer. Honorably discharged 8 May 1862 Camp Moore.]
Franklin Farris, [Franklin Pharis, b. abt. 1838, Miss. farm laborer.]
T.R. Garland,
James Goar,
Antoine Gaspar, [Co. I, 1st La. Heavy Artillery Reg. Paroled 4 July 1863, Vicksburg, Miss.]
Maurice Hebert, [b. abt. 1843, Louisiana. Co. F, 8th La. Inf. Captured Harrisburg, Va. 1864. Exchanged. Farmer. Married 1868.]
Belazair Hebert, [b. abt. 1837, Louisiana. Pvt. Co. A, Daly's (Ragsdale's) Bn. Texas Cav.Transferred to Yellow Jacket Bn. 22 Nov. 1864.]
Solomon Hargrove, [Pvt. Co. D, Miles Louisiana Legion.]
Joseph Hogan, [Pvt. Co. C, 27th La. Inf., Medical Discharge 17 Aug. 1862]
Jefferson Hogan, [Co. C, 27th La. Inf., Captured and Paroled at Vicksburg, Miss. 4 July 1863]
James M. Hanchee, [b. 24 Oct. 1837, Alabama; married in 1868. Pvt. Co. A, Crescent Regiment.]
Froizin Humphreys,
John J. Holiday,
James T. Kent, [James Thompson Kent, b. 12 Nov. 1841, Miss. Co. A, Crescent Regiment. POW paroled 10 July 1865]
Belizer Lasage, [Co. D, Miles Louisiana Legion]
Arsen Lebleu, [b. 1835, Louisiana, married w/children. Co. F, 8tth Louisiana Infantry, bit by snake 18 May 1864 disabling him. ]
John B. Lebleu Jr., [b. 1837, Louisiana. Co. D, Miles Louisiana Legion.]
Narcisse Lebleu, [b. 2  July 1840, Louisiana. Miles Louisiana Legion, POW Paroled 10 May 1865 Meridian, Miss.]
A.M. Lindsey, [Asberry Monroe Lindsey, b. 7 Nov. 1843, Sabine Co., Ark. Co. F., 28th Louisiana Infantry. POW paroled 20 April 1865 Alexandria, La.]
Edward Landry, [Pvt. Co. B, 16th Bn. La. Inf.. Wounded and captured at Bayou Teche 14 April 1863. Sent to New Orleans to be exchanged.]
James Marge,
Howell Myers, [married. Pvt. Co. F, 28th Louisiana Infantry, captured and paroled at Vicksburg, Miss. 4 July 1863. POW paroled July 1865 Alexandria, La.]
S.C. Miller, [Samuel C. Miller, Pvt. Co. F, 28th Louisiana Infantry, captured and paroled Vicksburg, Miss. 4 July 1865.]
Wm. McCollough,
Smith McCollough, [Pvt. Co. G, 18th La. Inf. Paroled July 1865, Alexandria, La.]
Lougan McConathy,
Chatau Nouh,
Edie Nastran,
John W. Payne, [Honorably discharged 8 May 1862. Transportation paid to Opelousas, St. Landry Par. La.]
Antoine Peloquin, [Pvt. Co. F, Miles Louisiana Legion. Deserted 27 May 1862 from Camp Moore.]
Octave Peloquin, [Pvt. Co. D, Miles Louisiana Legion. Deserted 27 May 1862 from Camp Moore']
John W. Pierce, [Pvt. Co. C, 1st La. Heavy Artillery.]
Cabin Salter,
A.I. Scarborough,
E.M. Springer, [Pvt., Co. A, Crescent Regiment; Detailed as a wagoneer. Died in hospital, New Iberia. Remarks, had no effects at time of death.]
E.R. Sims,
Benjamin Whitman, [b. 7 March 1841, Perry Co., Ala.. Married, children. Pvt. Co. E, Spaight's Regiment, 11th Texas Inf.. Fought in Battle of Sabine Pass, Texas. Hospitalized at Houston, Texas with typhoid fever. Paroled 1865.]
C.M. Woolem, [Sgt. Co. F, 28th La. Inf., captured and paroled Vicksburg, Miss. 4 July 1863]
J.W. Wagnon, [Jasper William Wagnon, b. 1819, Morgan Co., Ga. Married, children. 2nd Lt. Co. F, 28th Louisiana Infantry. Resigned, received by company commander, 5 Jan. 1863, Vicksburg, Miss.
Henry M. White, [Co. F, 28th La. Inf.captured, paroled Vicksburg, Miss. 4 July 1863.]
Simon Walker, [b. abt. 1845, Married, children. Co. F, 28th La. Inf. captured and paroled Vicksburg, Miss. 4 July 1863.]
W.J. Walker, [b. abt. 1839, Miss. Co. C, 27th La. Inf. captured and paroled at Vicksburg, Miss. 4 July 1863.]
W.J. Wagnon. [Jasper William Wagnon, b. 1819, Morgan Co. Ga. Married, children. Sgt. 1st Lt., Co. F, 28th La. Inf. captured and paroled Vicksburg, Miss. 4 July 1863]

      Upon the invasion of Louisiana and the fall of New Orleans, the Invincibles were disbanded and told to report to Camp Moore in Tangipahoa, about 80 miles to the north. Apparently the company did not remain intact, as some of the men were assigned to or joined other units such as Miles Louisiana Legion, the 27th and 28th Louisiana Infantry regiments, and the 8th Louisiana Infantry. However others appeared to have returned home, or at least no further records of their military service have been found.
    Captain Johnson remained in command of the Calcasieu Militia and when a northern revolutionary gunboat raided his hometown of Lake Charles in October, 1862, he again mustered the remaining militiamen to fight the raiders. However when the militia was about to fire on the ship the northerners had stolen, they discovered the raiders had taken 10 hostages from the town and tied them up around the helmsman, thus using them as human shields. Johnson's men held their fire in spite of being fired upon the the raiders' boat howitzer. The raiders completed their rampage of theft and terror and went back out to the Gulf of Mexico.

CALCASIEU MEN FOUGHT AT PORT HUDSON & VICKSBURG

    Battle of Port Hudson by Joe Umble

The late Dr. John K. Griffith Jr. of Captain James W. Bryan Camp 1390, SCV, Lake Charles, La. commissioned this painting. Capt. Byan camp has limited edition prints available for sale. For more information contact m4082jon@msn.com.

By Mike Jones
     Port Hudson, located 16 miles north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana's capital, was the scene of one of the major campaigns of the War For Southern Independence in 1863 and men from Calcasieu Parish were there participating in this famous campaign.
     Port Hudson was the southern anchor of the Confederate defense of the Mississippi River with Vicksburg, Miss. being the northern anchor. As long as the Confederacy could hold that 200 mile stretch of the river, the CSA would have access to the men and material wealth of Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas and the nation was whole. When those last Confederate bastions fell, the nation was split in two.
      An examination of a company of Calcasieu Parish militia reveals that many went on to serve in Miles Legion at Port Hudson, or with the 27th and 28th Louisiana infantry regiments at Vicksburg. However, others did serve on every battlefront of the war.
     In early 1862, when it became clear the war was going to be a long and bloody conflict, four companies of infantry were formed from Calcasieu Parish for the Confederacy.
     The companies were organized as King's Special Battalion, Louisiana Infantry, under the command of Lt. Col. John E. King. Although there is no description of their uniforms, the men of the companies gave their units colorful nicknames. Company A was known as the Calcasieu Volunteers, Company B as the Calcasieu Tigers, Company C the Calcasieu Invincibles and Company D the Calcasieu Guards. Rounding out the battalion were Company E, Taylor Guards, and possibly the Bienville Guards and Fausse River Guards.
     The leader of the battalion, John Edward King, was born in St. Landry Parish in 1820. By profession he was a lawyer, and moved to Calcasieu Parish sometime between 1850 and 1860.
     One of the company commanders, Capt. Warren W. Johnson of the Calcasieu Invincibles, while enroute to New Orleans, submitted his muster roll to the Opelousas Courrier, which was published April 9, 1862.
     The following letter accompanied the muster roll, "It affords me much pleasure to present you with a copy of my roll. Please insert in your valuable weekly; as the most of my men are of families, their children and wives will be pleased to see us advancing towards the post of duty as good fathers and true patriots."
     The list itself is valuable because it preserves the record of service of many of the men who do not show up on any other official records. Of the 74 listed on the muster roll, only 42 later show up on Confederate records.
     King's Special Battalion was mustered into state service in New Orleans in April, 1862 and seems to have been broken up when the city was evacuated and captured by the Union forces under General Benjamin "Beast" Butler.
     Some of the men received honorable discharges and returned home, but most joined other units such as Miles Legion or the 27th and 28 Louisiana Infantry. Those who ended up in Miles Legion found themselves caught up in one of the longest sieges of the war. In fact, Vicksburg — considered by many historians to have been one of the key union victories of the war — fell five days before Port Hudson.
     Both Vicksburg and Port Hudson were besieged at the same time in the spring and summer of 1863. The Calcasieu men in Miles Legion, mostly in Company D, defended the right side of the Confederate defenses.
     Most of the Lake Charles men, like John Cryer and John B. LeBleu, fought with distinction but surrendered with their commands when the garrison gave up the struggle on July 9, 1863. That was after they learned the larger Vicksburg garrison had surrendered on July 4, thus making their position untenable.
     At Vicksburg, the fighting was just as hard and just as difficult. In both places men and inhabitants of the towns were reduced to starvation rations and subjected to months of constant bombardment.
     A few of the men of the old King's Special Battalion went on the fight with General Robert E. Lee in Virginia. Two who were in Company F of the 8th Louisiana Infantry were Maurice Hebert and Arsine LeBleu. Hebert was a 19-year-old Lake Charles farmer at the time he enlisted on April 15, 1862 in that unit.
     He survived some of the bloodiest battles of the war before he was finally captured at Harrisburg, Val. on Sept. 23, 1864 and served out most of the rest of the conflict as a prisoner of war.
     LeBleu was a 27-year-old married Lake Charles farmer at the time of his enlistment. He was detailed to the b rigade hospital as a nurse and served until May 18, 1864 when he was disabled after a snake bit him.
     When the veterans returned home, there were no "G.I. Bills" for the returning boys in gray, but they managed to overcome hardship and a bitterly harsh Reconstruction Government to rebuild their lives.

PLEASANT HILL 2010

Confederate infantry at the 2010 Battle of Pleasant Hill Reenactment.

(Photo by Mike Jones)

By Mike Jones

The 2010 reenactment at Pleasant Hill, Louisiana had as close to perfect weather has it has ever had on Saturday, April 10. There was also a  good turn out of the living history reenactors, sutlers and most importantly the public. This is a reenactment of two important battles of the Red River Campaign in 1864, the Battle of Mansfield on April 8, and the Battle of Pleasant Hill  on April 9. For the reenactment, the first day's event Saturday  was commemorating Mansfield, on the Pleasant Hill battlefield, and Sunday, April 11, the Battle of Pleasant Hill on the actual battlefield. Also on Saturday at 5 p.m. a ceremonial dedication of a new monument honoring Louisiana's Confederate soldiers was held at Mansfield State Historic Site, which is about 13 miles north of Pleasant Hill.

Confederate infantry (Photo by Mike Jones)

Saturday's reenactment of the Battle of Mansfield went very smoothly. The Confederate and Union reenactors performed professionally and well. There was an excellent artillery exchange between the two sides to open the event. Then a cavalry engagement between the Blue and  the Gray. Confederate infantry then clashed with the federals in a lively exchange.

The battle lasted about an hour. The great thing about this reenactment, for me, is being able to celebrate my Confederate heritage and honor my Confederate ancestors. Confederate flags were in full display in this great commemorative event.

In the actual historic battle, Lt. Gen. Richard Taylor led his Confederate Army of Western Louisiana against the Union Army of the Gulf led by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks. The Northern invaders, numbering about 40,000, came with a massive Union fleet of gunboats and transports. The initial target was Shreveport, the Confederate capital of the Trans-Mississippi Department, and then the bluecoats planned invade Texas from there. Another important aspect of the invasion was to confiscate as much cotton as possible for the New England textile mills.

Lt.Gen. Richard Taylor

(Copy print, Mike Jones collection)

To counter this massive invasion, Taylor had about 8,000 Confederate infantry, cavalry and artillery at the Battle of Mansfield April 8, and 12,000 at the Battle of Pleasant Hill, April 9. He had a division of Louisiana and Texas infantry under Brig. Gen. Alfred Mouton, a Texas infantry division under Maj. Gen. John Walker, and a Texas cavalry corps under Brig. Gen. Tom Green. At Pleasant Hill, Taylor was reinforced by an Arkansas infantry division commanded by Brig. Gen. Thomas Churchill.

Banks made a tactical blunder by separating from the federal fleet and taking a narrow road to Shreveport. His line troops were also hampered by the Union wagon trains, which separated the various combat units.

Taylor initially faded back from the invaders until he found a good defensive position below the town of Mansfield. During the day of April 8, the federals probed the Confederate line but made no direct assault. Finally that afternoon, Taylor launched a direct assault on the federals, with Mouton hitting the front of the enemy line and Walker outflanking them. The attack was a great success, but costly to the Confederates. General Mouton and many officers and men were killed and wounded. The bluecoats retreated in confusion back to Pleasant Hill.

The next day, Taylor, reinforced by the Arkansas troops, attacked Banks' new battleline, which was also reinforced and better organized. The fighting was intense but the federals held their line at great cost to the Confederates. However, at the end of the day, Banks decided to call off the invasion and begin a long retreat back to New Orleans. Taylor lost the initiative when Confederate department commander Lt. Gen. E. Kirby Smith ordered him to send a large portion of his army up to Arkansas to counter a Union invasion from that quarter. It is estimated that the federals lost about 4,000 casualties in the Red River Campaign, and the Confederates about 1,500.

Confederate artillery after opening fire at the 2010 Battle of Pleasant Hill Reenactment.

(Photo by Mike Jones)

CONFEDERATE HISTORY MONTH

SCV HQ PRESS RELEASE FOR CONFEDERATE HISTORY MONTH


Sons Of Confederate Veterans

Columbia, Tennessee

April 7, 2010
For Immediate Release

SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS COMMENT ON CONFEDERATE HISTORY MONTH


Commander-in-Chief Chuck McMichael of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans issued the following statement in light of the recent proclamation by the governor of Virginia restoring the observance of Confederate History Month in Virginia.



"While we are pleased to see heightened media attention to Confederate History Month resulting from the proclamation we are dismayed to see political implications or political correction zeal placed on it. We applaud Governor McDonnell for his courage to do the right thing, as well as all the other officials across the country who have done likewise."



"The SCV is non-political with a primary interest in seeing to it that the accurate history of the Confederacy is observed along with proper respect shown for theConfederate Military personnel who served and died during four years of war against overwhelming odds of more than three to one."


"These observances have been going on for more than a hundred years so it should be no surprise to anyone they continue to grow in scope with each passing year. "Several states by state law observe a holiday for Confederate Memorial Day. Others have state laws establishing Confederate History and Heritage Month.Still others set forth Confederate History Month by proclamation."



"The SCV has set a goal of over one thousand instances of observance of Confederate history in states, counties, parishes, cities and towns throughout America. In some cases beyond the boundaries of the original Confederacy.These events include proclamations at all levels of government, parades, banquets, balls, re-enactments, school living histories, radio and television interviews, newspaper articles and a series of historical minutes for the media which include each day of Confederate History and Heritage Month.There are observances at cemeteries where Confederate soldiers graves are decorated. Many of our local camps participate in securing proclamations in several communities in their individual areas.
END

Contact information:
J. A. Davis, Chairman, Sons of Confederate Veterans Public Relations and Media Committee

770 297-4788

CONFEDERATE STATES RANGERS

By Mike Jones

The first contingent of Lake Charles men to leave for the War for Southern Independence made history with the two great Confederate generals, General Robert E. Lee and Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson.

Sgt. Joseph C. LeBleu was one of the

34 Lake Charles men who left for the

fighting front in 1861. (Dan Jones Photo)

When the 34 men left from the Lake area in July of 1861 for the Confederate basic training camp of Camp Moore in Tangipahoa, they would become part of the Confederate States Rangers, Company K, 10th Louisiana Infantry Regiment.

If their send-off was typical, it included patriotic speeches and a handmade battle flag from the ladies of Calcasieu Parish. At their first duty station, Camp Moore, the company was sworn in to the Confederate service on 22 July 1861. They also received uniforms, arms, and basic training.

After about a month, they boarded trains and were sent to Richmond, Virginia, where they were assigned to man defenses under Colonel John Bankhead Magruder on the Yorktown Peninsula.

They had already missed the first battle of the war, which occurred 21 July 1861, at Manassas, Virginia, so they settled in for a long winter of adapting to army life.

The first fatalities the Calcasieu Parish men experienced occurred long before their first battle. Diseases such as typhoid fever, measles, and dysentery were rampant in the unsanitary army camps.

Corporal Nathan J. Davis, 24, who had been the village blacksmith in Lake Charles before the war, became the first fatality from the Calcasieu Parish contingent. His record states that he died of sickness in Richmond, Virginia, on 8 September 1861.

Others became seriously ill and recovered, but were unable to resume their duties and received medical discharges. Corporal William L. Hutchins, 20, a farmer in civilian life, received a discharge for physical disability in October 1861, and Corporal Henry W. Newton, 36, also a farmer, was discharged for the same reason in March 1862.

By the spring of 1862, the 10th Louisiana was facing its first test in combat. They were caught up in the Peninsular Campaign in which a massive Union Army was invading Virginia through the Yorktown Peninsula.

The Calcasieu Parish men suffered no casualties in their first two" engagements, a skirmish at Dam No. 1 on the Warwick River on April 16, 1861, and the Battle of Williamsburg on May4,1861.
Other more major battles soon followed — Seven Pines and Fair Oaks and then the Seven Days battles from June 24 to July 1 — but their regiment was held in reserve until the last day.
 

It was on July 1 at Malvern Hill that the 10th Louisiana established its reputation for being one of the hardest-fighting units in the army. Led by Col. Eugene Waggaman of New Orleans, the regiment was ordered to charge a seemingly unassailable Union position. The men double-quicked up a hill and into the muzzles of 33 enemy artillery pieces. Despite a storm of shell and bullets, they overran the advanced Union position, but those who made it to the main line of entrenchments were nearly all killed, wounded or captured. The regiment was forced to fall back. In all, 127 of the 272 men who made the unsuccessful charge became casualties. The Confederate States Rangers suffered a loss of four wounded, including Calcasieu Parish residents Pvt. Patrick Coyne and Pvt. Joseph D. Farque.
 

For the next three months, marching and fighting were almost non-stop, and the casualties quickly mounted. Assigned to Stonewall Jackson's command, their next battle came at Cedar Run, Va., on Aug. 10, 1862, but the Confederate States Rangers suffered no casualties.


The story was different later that month at the Battle of Second Manassas (Bull Run), Aug. 28-30. On the second day of the battle, Capt. Henry Monier recorded in his diary, "The woods to the front blue with Federals. Capt. Perrodon's (sic) company (K-Confederate States Rangers) picketed and hold their ground until the commands, 'Fall in, fix bayonet,' are given." The following day, Monier wrote, "So desperate was this day's fight that at one time the Confederate and Yankee standards were not 20 feet apart."
 

Company K suffered heavy casualties in the battle — two killed, six wounded and two missing. Both of the dead were Calcasieu Parish men — Sgt. Pierre Vincent, from the Vincent Settlement family, and Pvt. David Hargrove. The wounded included 2nd Lt. Isaac Ryan and Pvt. Joseph Lawrence Ryan, both sons of Jacob Ryan, the "Father of Lake Charles."

But the worst was yet to come, on Sept. 17, 1862, at Sharpsburg, Md., along and near the banks of Antietam Creek. More Americans were killed and wounded on that day than any other single day in all of U.S. History. The North lost over 12,000 men and the South more than 10,000.

The 10th Louisiana was part of Stonewall Jackson's Corps, and their part of the battle occurred early, at 6:45 a.m. at West Woods and at a split rail fence bordering the Hagerstown Road. Lieutenant Isaac Ryan had recovered enough from his Second Manassas wound to lead the company. Capt. August Perrodin and 1st Lt. Eward Seton were on the sick list. When the casualty lists were tallied, Confederate States

Rangers losses amounted to three killed and at least two wounded. One of the fatalities was Cpl. Joseph Auge, 24, who bad been a Lake Charles farmer prior to the conflict. Pvt. Asa Ryan, another son of Jacob Ryan, was wounded and captured. His left leg later had to be amputated. Pvt, Dupre Marcantel was wounded in the head and foot and disabled. In the only other major battle in 1862, Fredericksburg, Va., on Dec. 9, the 10th Louisiana was not heavily engaged and suffered only light casualties.


After a winter lull in the fighting, the campaign resumed in late April with another Union invasion of Virginia, under Major General Joseph Hooker, Confederate General Robert E. Lee moved his army to check the invasion, with a major battle clash occurring on May 2,1863 at Chancellorsville.

As part of Stonewall Jackson's Corps, the 10th Louisiana took part in one of the most famous tactical maneuvers in military history. Lee detached Jackson's entire corps on May 2 and sent it in a forced march to the left to strike the federal army's flank and rear.


The maneuver was a success and the Union army was routed. But fighting was severe on both May 2 and May 3, when six color-bearers of the 10th Louisiana were killed in action. The Confederate States Rangers lost four men, including Sgt. James Reeves of Lake Charles, and 12 were wounded, including First Lt. Edward A. Seaton, Second Lt. Isaac Ryan (his second wound of the war), Sgt. James Benjamin .Kirkman (whose left leg had to be amputated), Pvt. Thomas E. Stringer, Pvt. Isaac Reeves (the brother of Sergeant Reeves), and Pvt. Jacob Ellender.


The Gettysburg campaign quickly followed. The 10th Louisiana, which was then part of Maj. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's corps, was among the first units to head for Pennsylvania. On the way, they fought a battle at Winchester, Va., on June 15, 1863, in which the Union forces were routed, then invaded the state of Pennsylvania as the vanguard for the rest of the army.


The Louisiana men were in Chambersburg, about 30 miles away, when the battle started on July 1. They marched the 30 miles to Gettysburg in the July sun, arriving late in the day and were immediately thrown into the battle line. As part of the extreme left of the Confederate line, the 10th Louisiana assaulted Culp's Hill on both July 2 and July 3, taking heavy casualties. Unable to break the northern line, the Southerners began a slow retreat back to Virginia on July 4.


Of the 50,000 casualties in the three-day battle, the Confederate States Rangers lost two men, seven were wounded and four were missing. The Calcasieu Parish men included in those losses were Cpl. Isaac Reeves, killed; Sgt. Joseph Harrington, Pvt. Joseph L. Strange, wounded, and Sgt. Joseph P. Granger, missing.


Before the end of 1863, the 10th Louisiana was in one more fight, on Nov. 27 at Payne's Farm near Moore's Run, Va. Local men wounded there included Pvt. Valain LeBleu, 23, who suffered a severe disabling wound to the left leg, and Pvt. Thomas E. Stringer, 24, who had just recovered from his wound at Chancellorsville, was wounded again, this time in the thigh.


The two armies went into winter quarters, but when they emerged in the spring of 1864, the fighting became worse than ever.


On May 5, the Battle of the Wilderness occurred in response to the latest Union drive on Richmond. Sgt. Joseph Harrington was again wounded, along with Pvt. Joseph L. Strange, who had been exchanged after being wounded and captured at Gettysburg Pvt. Thomas E. Stringer was captured and spent the rest of the war at the infamous Elmira, N.Y., prisoner-of-war camp where 25 percent of the inmates died of disease.


As bad as the Wilderness was, the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse on May 12 was practically a holocaust for the 10th Louisiana. In that battle they were holding a crucial position called the "Mule Shoe" and were overwhelmed by massive Union forces. Most of the men were killed, wounded or captured.


Most of the regiment was captured, including Calcasieu residents 1st Lt. Edward A. Seton, Second Lt. Isaac Ryan, Ordnance Sgt. Joseph Granger, Pvt. Benjamin Ellender, Pvt. Maxille Marcantel and Pvt. Walter F. Moss. Lieutenant Seton died in captivity on Feb. 11, 1865, at Fort Delaware, as did Sergeant Granger on Jan. 11, 1865 at Elmira. Lt. Ryan was exchanged and the rest of the men spent the remainder of the war in Elmira.


The fighting continued almost non-stop. On June 3, Pvt. Joseph L. Strange was again wounded at Cold Harbor, Va. Quartermaster Sgt. Oliver Ryan Moss and Sgt. Joseph Harrington were both captured on Oct. 19 at Cedar Creek, Va., and confined in Elmira for the rest of the war.


The final tragedy for the Calcasieu men occurred March 25, 1865, when their regiment was chosen to spearhead the last desperate major Confederate assault of the war on Fort Steadman, which was part of the Union siege line at Petersburg, Va.


The Confederates were trying to break through the besieging Union line. The ever-faithful soldier, Second Lt. Isaac Ryan led Company K in the attack and became the last man from the company to be killed in action — just two weeks before the war ended.


Of the 34 men in the Confederate States Rangers who left Calcasieu Parish for Virginia in 1861, only Pvt. Jacob Ellender and Pvt. William Reaves were present for the surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865. The rest of the men were dead, recuperating from wounds, discharged for physical disability, captured or transferred to other units.


Several of the returning soldiers became leading citizens in Calcasieu Parish after the war. Joseph C. LeBleu was a longtime police jury president and later served as a major of cavalry in the Spanish-American War period.


Oliver R. Moss became a postmaster in the parish. Dr. William H. Kirkman was a prominent figure in the medical field. Joseph Lawrence Ryan was prominent in agriculture, and William Hutchins became a businessman. Although their cause was lost, the veterans remained proud of their service and sacrifice and were, honored by their community until the end of their days.

REFLECTIONS ON FATHER RYAN ON EASTER SUNDAY

By Mike Jones
Christ is risen! Risen indeed!
This has been an excellent Easter Sunday for me and I thought it a good occasion for reflection on one of my favorite figures of the War for Southern Independence, Father Abram Joseph Ryan, "Poet-Priest of the Confederacy." Being a  Christian, Roman Catholic, Southerner I've been particularly drawn to Father Ryan. But you don't have to be Catholic to appreciate Father Ryan's strong Christian devotion and his unshakable Southern patriotism.

Father Abram J. Ryan
(Fr. Abram J. Ryan Archives
Belmont Abbey)

Father Ryan's was either born in Hagerstown, Maryland in 1838 or in Norfolk, Virginia in 1839, depending on the source you consult. His parents were natives of Ireland. An ordained Roman Catholic priest, he was a volunteer chaplain and seems to have been most associated with the 8th Tennessee Infantry. Father Ryan is believed to have been present for the Battle of Lookout Mountain and was possibly wounded in the hand at the Battle of Franklin. His brother David was killed in action in the Confederate Army during the war and this greatly affected Father Ryan.

His most famous poem was "The Conquered Banner" which he wrote at the end of the war, reportedly in a fit of dispair, while he was pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Catholic Encyclopedia wrote this about the poem, "In the hour of defeat he won the heart of the entire South by his 'Conquered Banner,' whose exquisite measure was taken, as he told a friend, from one of the Gregorian hymns. The Marseillaise, as a hymn of victory, never more profoundly stirred the heart of France than did this hymn of defeat the hearts of those to whom it was addressed. It was read or sung in every Southern household, and thus became the apotheosis of the 'Lost Cause'."  My favorite of his poems is "The Sword of Robert Lee"

Father Ryan Statue in Father Ryan

Park in Mobile, Alabama. (Photo

by Mike Jones)

Following the war he founded a weekly magazine, "Banner of the South." He wrote most of his poems for this magazine. He also wrote a book of poety that was very popular, and still is. Father Ryan was greatly beloved as a priest as well as a poet. He served in many church parishes throughout the South but patricularly notable was his care for the sick in a yellow fever epidemic. The Catholic Encyclopedia article characterized him, "As a pulpit orator and lecturer, he was always interesting and occasionally brilliant. As a man he had a subtle, fascinating nature, full of magnetism when he saw fit to exert it; as a priest, he was full of tenderness, gentleness, and courage. In the midst of pestilence he had no fear of death or disease. Even when he was young his feeble body gave him the appearance of age, and with all this there was the dreamy mysticism of the poet so manifest in the flesh as to impart to his personality something which marked him off from all other men."

Father Ryan Bust in
Confederate Memorial
Hall, New Orleans, La.
(Photo by Mike Jones)

Father Ryan died in Louisville, Kentucky on April 22, 1886 and he was buried in the Catholic Cemetery in Mobile, Alabama, not far from the grave of another Catholic Confederate hero, Admiral Raphael Semmes. There is a park named in his honor in Mobile. The Confederate Memorial Hall Museum in New Orleans has a stained glass window in honor of him as well as the pictured bust.

LOUISIANA FLAG, SEAL HAVE DEEP CHRISTIAN ROOTS

By Mike Jones

The Louisiana state flag and seal, the pelican feeding its young, with the motto "Union, Justice, Confidence," have long been familiar symbols of the "Pelican State." The pelican feeding her young also has ancient Christian roots. It was adopted by early Christians as a symbol of "Jesus the Redeemer." An old legend held that a pelican would wound herself to feed her young with her own blood, which reminded early Christians of Jesus' act of sacrificial love in dying for them on the cross in remission for their sins. Saint Thomas Aquinas in his hymn, Adoro te devote, wrote, "Like what tender tales tell of the pelican, bathe me, Jesus Lord, in what Thy bosom ran, blood that but one drop of has the pow'r to win all the world forgiveness of its world of sin." It is also a reminder to Catholics that Jesus feeds us still today with the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The pelican feeding its young is still seen in many Catholic churches.

In 1812 when Louisiana became the 18th state in the union, unofficial flags began appearing throughout the state with the pelican feeding its young on it. Then in  1813, Gov. W.C.C. Claiborne and the Louisiana legislature adopted the pelican feeding its young as the state's official seal. H.L.Favrot, a member of the legislature, is said to have found the pelican symbol in an old Catholic prayer book.

Gov. Henry Watkins Allen
(A.D.Lytle, LSU Special Collections)

During the War for Southern Independence the pelican flag was still a popular representation of Louisiana and some Louisiana soldiers were referred to as pelicans. The flag was briefly the Louisiana Confederate flag before a colorful striped flag was adopted as the national flag of Confederate Louisiana. Some Confederate military units adopted a pelican flag as their regimental flags. Also Louisiana Confederate governor Henry Watkins Allen changed the state motto from "Union, Justice, Confidence," to "Justice, Union, Confidence," in a symbolic sign of Louisiana's wartime fervor. The emblem also appeared on Louisiana catridge boxes and cross belts. In 1870, the carpetbag Louisiana governor, Madison Wells, changed the motto back to "Union, Justice, Confidence."