Civil War Louisiana (CWLA)

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Civil War Louisiana (CWLA)
CWLA seeks to provide an online resource of any and all material of the Civil War relating to Louisiana with a special interest in the war in Acadiana in southwest Louisiana.
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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

"Fuss in the Family"

When writing Louisianians in the Western Confederacy I came across two references from soldiers in the 13th and 19th Louisiana Regiments that referred to Louisiana boys taking on second wives away from home. This story relates to this topic. Judging from the time and place, it is very likely the "nice young lieutenant" could be a member of the 4th Louisiana Battalion-which served in the Savannah-Charleston area.

SAVANNAH [GA] REPUBLICAN, April 29, 1863

Marriages in the Army—A Caution.—A letter from Raleigh, North Carolina, contains the following paragraph. It needs no explanation:
Some of our soldiers who have wives and children at home, have married again among the Virginia girls. The sweet, lovely damsels of the Valley and Fredericksburg little think as they take these gay young gentlemen for "better or for worse" that they have left other devoted wives and prattling chaps behind. An instance of this sort "leaked out" a short time ago. A "nice young lieutenant" of a Louisiana regiment wrote a very long, endearing letter to his wife and children in Louisiana, and about the same time wrote a most affectionate, loving letter to his newly married bride, who was staying a few miles away from the camp, and accidentally, but unfortunately for him, he sent the wrong letter to each, so that his lovely bride got the letter intended for the wife of his "busum," and she the other. I guess that made a "fuss in the family," of not in both families.

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Coppens' Zouave Battalion

Coppens' Zouave Battalion
Lt. Colonel George Coppens (seated) and brother, Captain Marie Alfred Coppens.Image sold at auction on Cowan Auctions, for $14,375