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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Monday, July 28, 2014

How to Make a Zouave

From the West Baton Rouge Sugar Planter (printed from the Richmond Inquirer) June 8, 1861:

How to Make a Zouave.—We are responsible for the following recipe for making a Zouave.  The real Zouaves (from the South) are now in Virginia and the doubtful reader may appeal to them.  It may be that we got our information from one of the French drill sergeants himself.  Thus:  Take the recruit—keep him forty-eight hours—notting to eat; den maarch him forty-eight hours—notting to eat; den let him fight like h-ll forty-eight hours—notting to eat; by dam, he one zouave.—Richmond Enquirer.

Monday, July 14, 2014

4th Louisiana at Berwick City

A letter to the West Baton Rouge newspaper the Sugar Planter, November 20, 1861, from a member of the 4th Louisiana Infantry. 

SUGAR PLANTER [WEST BATON ROUGE, LA], November 30, 1861, p. 2, c. 5-6
                                                                        Camp Lovell, Berwick City, Nov. 20, '61.
            Dear Sugar Planter:--You have no doubt heard before this of our being encamped opposite the terminus of the New Orleans and Opelousas Railroad at Berwick City.—The position is certainly a very important one and should the war be prosecuted, and the New Orleans be threatened with an attack, our friends at home may rest assured that the Fourth Regiment will do everything that can be expected of it. . .
            We have a pleasant camp so long as it does not rain, for our tents afford little protection against the weather, and the mud I assure you is very disagreeable to us, especially having just come from the sandy Gulf coast.  Col. Barrow intends having barracks built so soon as he can make arrangements for lumber and I hope we shall be made more comfortable by it.
            I am confident it would amuse you to pay our camp a visit.  Imagine your humble correspondent's accommodations for writing:  my knapsack on an empty box for a desk and a cypress board for a seat, with the inkstand lying on the ground.  In the other half of tent lies our bed, made of rough cypress boards.  This is the most important piece of furniture in the tent and answers several purposes, viz:  bed at night, chair sofa or table as the case may be when we entertain company.  In the back part of the tent is a shelf on which are strewn combs, pipes, tobacco, brushes, a few books and a pack of cards.  Could you peep in, dear Planter on evenings when we are entertaining company, you would be amused at the tableau.  The pack of cards may be in use, and in that case the bed answers as table and chairs—one of the bed posts having been removed for the purpose answers as a candlestick; on the shelf, in the background of the tent, you might see a bottle and tin cup, which together with the tobacco and pipes, are all intended for the entertainment of the company, more especially, however the bottle and tin cup.  Our camp has been visited by a great many ladies and I have no doubt that their visit was highly interesting to them for I do not believe that many of them ever saw a soldier's camp before.  Last Sunday our Chaplain performed service in camp and quite a number of ladies were in attendance as well a number of gentlemen. . . .
                                                                                                                                                                            Yours, &c., VIC. 

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Confederate Generals in the Western Theater Volume 3



Lawrence L. Hewitt and the late Arthur W. Bergeron Jr.  collaborated and put forth three volumes on Confederate leaders in the west. I belatedly highlight Volume 3 because of an article written on Brigadier General Daniel W. Adams by Jane Johannson. The article is titled, "Daniel Weisiger Adams: Defender of the Confederacy's Heartland." This was highlighted on Johannson's blog, The Trans-Mississippian, in July of 2011...I have been busy. Johannson and I exchanged research material for several years on the brigade Adams commanded from May of 1862 - September of 1863. This brigade was the centerpiece of my book Louisianians in the Western Confederacy: The Adams-Gibson Brigade in the Civil War (2010). Her article is highlighted with several maps from my book along with one custom drawn specifically for the article on the Battle of Shiloh. I had the pleasure of reading the article and thought it was an a great piece. Another addition to chronicling the role/contribution of Louisianians in the Civil War.

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