Georgia Landing

On October 27, 1862, near Labadieville in Assumption Parish, Louisiana, Union troops under Brigadier General Godfrey Weitzel clashed with Confederate forces led by Brigadier General Alfred Mouton, giving rise to what became known as the Battle of Georgia Landing, also called the Battle of Labadieville. The engagement proved intense but brief, and Weitzel's men eventually pushed back Mouton's smaller command, forcing it to retreat.

This fight grew out of a broader plan by Major General Benjamin F. Butler, who had directed a three-pronged push into the Bayou Lafourche region. Weitzel's troops had come ashore at Donaldsonville along the Mississippi River before marching southward along the bayou. Once defeated, Mouton's soldiers pulled back toward Bayou Teche. In the aftermath, Weitzel's force, together with other Union units, took control of Brashear City (known today as Morgan City), Thibodaux, and the rail line linking these towns to New Orleans. As a result of the campaign, numerous African-American slaves seized the opportunity to flee toward Union lines.

Battle

Weitzel's men set out early on October 26 and tracked the east bank of Bayou Lafourche until they halted a mile short of Napoleonville, settling into camp arranged for combat. To give himself the ability to shift troops across the waterway, Weitzel arranged for two large flatboats to be hauled along by mules and freed slaves. By six the next morning the column was moving south again. The 8th New Hampshire, along with cavalry under Lieutenant Solon A. Perkins, crossed to the west bank aboard the flatboats on Weitzel's orders.

The soldiers on the west side outpaced their comrades on the east. Around 9:00 am, near the settlement of Texas, they ran into Ralston's battery and were checked briefly, though Union guns managed to damage the battery. Once its commander fell and its ammunition ran short, Ralston's guns pulled back hastily, prompting Mouton to draw his own forces further south. By 11:00 am the Federals stood roughly two miles above Labadieville. Word reached Weitzel that a sizable Confederate force, backed by six cannon, waited ahead. He arranged the 75th New York, the 13th Connecticut, and Thompson's battery for combat on the east bank and pushed them forward across a cane field, also directing four guns of Carruth's battery toward the front.

Just then came word of combat underway on the west bank, with four Confederate guns present there, and a further message that Confederate horsemen had slipped behind the Union rear. Weitzel had his pioneers lash the flatboats into a makeshift bridge and cut through the levee to make a road. Eight companies of the 12th Connecticut crossed this span to the west bank, while Weitzel kept back two companies of the same regiment, Williamson's cavalry, and two of Carruth's twelve pound howitzers as a rear guard. Confederate gunners fired on the flatboats, but their shots mostly flew high. When it became clear the Confederates on the east bank had withdrawn, Weitzel sent the 13th Connecticut and four of Carruth's guns over to the west side, leaving the 75th New York and Thompson's battery behind on the east.

Across the bayou, the 8th New Hampshire ran into fierce opposition and began giving ground in disorder. Weitzel positioned the 12th Connecticut on its right and pushed both forward, then filled the widening gap between them with the 13th Connecticut as their advances spread apart. The 8th New Hampshire kept up steady fire while the other two regiments crept ahead through ditches and thorny brush. Luck favored the Federals as the Confederate fire sailed mostly overhead. These troops, facing combat for the first time, pushed into open ground where the exchange of fire grew fiercer. They advanced firing freely and shouting wildly, while Weitzel looked on from horseback, cigar in hand. Terrebonne militiamen showed up on the western side, loosed a single volley, and then bolted. Eventually the Federals closed to within about a hundred yards of the 18th and 24th Louisiana Infantry, dug into a drainage ditch behind a fence near a plantation road at Georgia Landing, positioned to the left of Ralston's battery. The Confederate line broke suddenly, its men scrambling out of the ditch into the woods beyond, and the Union troops surged ahead with cheers.

Confederate horsemen of the 2nd Louisiana Cavalry tried to strike the Union supply train but retreated after colliding with the 8th New Hampshire, then swung back toward Thibodaux by an indirect route. Perkins' cavalry, the 13th Connecticut, and a pair of guns chased Mouton's withdrawing men for half an hour before breaking off pursuit.

Weitzel's tally of losses came to two officers and sixteen men dead, one officer and seventy three men wounded, and one officer with four men taken prisoner. Mouton's figures showed five killed, eight wounded, and a hundred eighty six missing. Among the Confederate dead was Colonel George P. McPheeters of the 24th Louisiana. According to the National Park Service, casualties totaled 86 out of 4,000 Union men and 229 out of 1,329 Confederates engaged. Weitzel maintained that his men buried five Confederate dead and that seventeen wounded men were counted among those captured, with 166 prisoners taken the day of the fight and 42 more afterward. The wounded Ralston himself was captured, along with one piece of artillery.

Former slaves

Runaway Black slaves and their families joined Weitzel's Union columns in growing numbers as his forces advanced. By November 1, the situation prompted a complaint to Butler: African Americans in his camps now outnumbered his own soldiers two to one. Food supplies proved insufficient for such a crowd, driving the former slaves to take what they needed from nearby farms and plantations. Federal troops were guilty of similar behavior, helping themselves to livestock and personal property belonging to local residents. In response, Butler suggested that Weitzel set the former slaves to labor on plantations owned by those who had sworn loyalty, paying them ten dollars monthly.

A few days later, on November 5, 1862, Weitzel sent Butler a letter declining to take charge of the Native Guard regiments, admitting he placed no trust in them. His worry was that armed Black troops might spark a slave uprising, and he noted the dread already gripping white residents in the area. Butler responded by commending the success of Weitzel's campaign while criticizing his reluctance to lead African-American units. According to Butler, the unrest had nothing to do with the two Native Guard regiments themselves. Rather, it stemmed from Federal soldiers simply showing up in a region where, in his words, "negroes outnumber whites ten to one," a fact alone sufficient to frighten the white population. Butler further insisted that blame for these circumstances rested not with Weitzel but with those who had launched war against the government of the United States.

Two years passed, and by December 3, 1864, thirty-three African-American regiments serving within the Union Army of the James had been consolidated to form the XXV Corps. In a striking turn, command of this new corps fell to none other than Weitzel himself, the very officer who had once expressed distrust toward Black soldiers back in November 1862. His tenure at the head of the XXV Corps ran from its founding until January 1, 1865, and he returned to lead it a second time from February 2, 1865, until January 8, 1866.

Aftermath

Retreating on October 28, Mouton's command pulled back into Thibodaux, setting fire to the railroad depot, bridges, sugar stores, and assorted supplies before pulling out entirely. Weitzel's men reached the town that same day, arriving after the Confederates had already gone. Word soon reached Mouton of Thomas' advancing column and the Union naval force closing in, prompting him to put his troops on a train bound for Brashear City, known today as Morgan City.

Earlier, amid the fighting on October 27, Mouton had directed Colonel T. E. Vick, stationed at Des Allemands, to give up his position and rejoin the main force, bringing along 500 Lafourche Militia troops and another 300 men pulled from the 33rd Louisiana. A breakdown in communication meant the train meant to carry these reinforcements never showed, leaving the soldiers to march on foot instead. Many of Vick's men, conscripts among them, fell behind badly along the way, and Union forces captured a considerable number. In the end, Vick managed to deliver only 82 men, who caught a train at Terrebonne Station.

As dusk settled on November 1, four Union gunboats, the Calhoun, Diana, Estrella, and Kinsman, appeared off Berwick Bay. The Confederate side managed to save the gunboat J. A. Cotton along with the steamers Hart and Launch No. 1, guiding them safely up Bayou Teche. A third vessel, the Seger, met a different fate: its master ran it aground on purpose, letting Federal forces capture it. With this, Mouton gave up Brashear City altogether and settled his men into a defensive line on the Teche near where it meets the Atchafalaya River.

In the aftermath, some plantation owners chose to swear loyalty to the Union, a step that let them stay in the Lafourche district provided they paid wages to their former slaves. Others, gripped by fear, abandoned their homes and tried to bring enslaved Black people with them as they fled, though many of those enslaved people broke away and sought refuge in areas under Union control.