ey were borne near his person by a mounted
orderly, commonly a trusty sergeant. The flag of the Nineteenth
Army Corps was blue with a white four-pointed star in the middle,
and on the star the figures 19 in red. From this the division
flags differed only in having a red ground and the number of the
division in black. The brigade flags had blue, white, and blue
horizontal stripes of equal width, with the number of the brigade
in black in the white stripe. Thenceforward these colors were
borne through every engagement in which the corps took part. Not
one of them was ever abandoned by its bearer or taken by the enemy.

CHAPTER XI.
IRISH BEND.

Grover's instructions were to gain a landing on the shore of Grand
Lake, and then marching on Franklin, to cut off Taylor's retreat
or to attack him in the rear, as circumstances might suggest.

We have seen how, instead of being ready to move from Berwick Bay
on the morning of the 10th of April, Grover found his departure
delayed by the various causes already mentioned until the morning
of the 12th was well advanced.

The flotilla, under Lieutenant-Commander Cooke, composed of the
flag-ships _Estrella, Arizona, Clifton_, and _Calhoun_, having
completed the ferriage of Emory and Weitzel over Berwick Bay, was
now occupied in assisting the army transports to convey Grover to
his destination, besides standing ready to protect his movement
and his landing with its guns.

About noon, when off Cypress Island, the _Arizona_ ran hard and
fast aground, and four precious hours were lost in a vain attempt
to get her afloat. If, in the light of after events, this may seem
like time wasted, it should always be remembered that all four of
the gunboats were crowded with troops, while an attack from the
_Queen of the West_ and her consorts was to be looked for at any
moment. Finally, rather than to put the adventure in peril by a
longer delay, Cooke determined to leave the _Arizona_ to take care
of herself, and once more steaming ahead, at half-past seven o'clock,
the gunboats and transports came to anchor below Miller's Point,
off Madame Porter's plantation. At this place, known as Oak Lawn,
Grover in the orders under which he was acting had been told he
might expect to find a good shell road leading straight to the
Teche, and crossing the bayou about the middle of the bow called
Irish Bend. Grover at once sent Fiske with two companies of the
1st Louisiana ashore in the _Clifton