Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Spring 2008 - (Page 22) O n May 13, 1864, the Union army pulled out of Alexandria, Louisiana and resumed its retreat to the safety of the Mississippi River. The entire campaign up the Red River had been a disappointment, and the men’s stay in Alexandria had been fraught with hardship and frustration. But now they were leaving their frustrations behind. “By daylight on the 13th of May,” the assistant surgeon of a New York regiment recalled, “the entire army was in motion.” The white camps disappeared; artillery was hauled away from the breastworks; sick men and stores were transferred to vessels; and at the appointed hour, troops fell into line and filed out of the streets of the town of Alexandria, where they had lived for eighteen days. Then they pursued the road that led along the levee of the Red River. Having marched a few miles, the men heard in their rear the roar of distant explosions. The Red River dam, the product of their labor and skill, was being blown to pieces. They also observed a huge column of black smoke ascending the sky, in the direction of the lately vacated town. Their surmises concerning the remarkable spectacle were soon confirmed by the news that incendiary soldiers had caused the destruction of the largest and finest portion of Alexandria. That evening a soldier in the 128th New York Infantry took the opportunity to make an entry in his diary when the regiment halted: Eight miles below Alexandria. The Jay-hawkers [Louisianans by James G. Hollandsworth, Jr. 22 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES\Spring 2008
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