Civil War Louisiana (CWLA)

________________________________________
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.
____________________________________________

Sunday, August 8, 2010

DONT DRINK THE WATER!



Assassination of a Federal Soldier.
The New Orleans correspondent of the Boston Traveler sends that paper the following account of the assassination of a Federal soldier:

As we reached Vermillionville Bayou on Friday, one of our soldiers, Corporal Appleton W. Rackett, of Co. A, 159th New York Regiment, went up to a well for the purpose of filling his canteen with fresh water. He was alone and nothing was seen of him for several hours, until soldiers belonging to other Regiments went up to the well for water, and found the Corporal lying dead upon the ground, when Dr. C. A. Robertson, surgeon of the 159th New York regiment came up, and examining the wound he became convinced that the soldier had been shot from the adjoining house. He knocked at the door and was met by a French Creole, who pretended he co'd speak no English. The surgeon inquired if he knew anything of the soldier's death, and he replied he had not. The Doctor determined to search the premises, and upon examination he discovered a shot gun, bullets and powder, the gun evidently having been used within a short time. He also found a complete Rebel uniform belonging to an orderly sergeant. The window fronting the well was open, and the evidence was so strong that the man was placed under arrest. The soldiers were so enraged upon learning the particulars of the murder that they gutted the house and set it on fire. A blackened pile of smoking ruins now marks the former dwelling place of this heinous traitor.

We presume the destruction of this murderer's house will be regarded by disloyal men as another piece of "wanton vandalism" on the part of our soldiers, calculated to repress the growth of Union sentiment among our "Southern brethren."

No comments:

Post a Comment

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