successful, the whole army could be thrown into
La Fourche, while in case of failure Major could easily return by
the way he came.

Major left Washington on the 10th of June, marched twenty-eight
miles to Morgan's Ferry, by a road then high and dry although in
April Banks had found it under water, and crossing the Atchafalaya
on the 14th rode along the Bayou Fordoche with the intention of
striking the river at the Hermitage; but a broken bridge turned
him northward round the sweep of False River toward Waterloo. Sage
was at False Point with six companies of his 110th New York, a
squadron of the 2d Rhode Island cavalry, and a section of Carruth's
battery. As soon as he found the enemy approaching in some force
he moved down the levee to the cover of the lower fleet and thus
lost the chance of gaining and giving timely notice of Major's
operation. Major on his part rode off by the Grosstete through
Plaquemine, as already related, and so down the Mississippi to
Donaldsonville, having passed on the way three garrisons without
being seen by any one on board. Making a feint on Fort Butler,
Major, under cover of the night, took the cut-off road and struck
the Bayou La Fourche six miles below Donaldsonville; thence he rode
on to Thibodeaux, entering the town at daylight on the 21st of
June. At Thibodeaux Major picked up all the Union soldiers in the
place to the number of about 100, mostly convalescents.

Soon after taking command in New Orleans, Emory had begun to look
forward to what might happen in La Fourche, as well as to the
possible consequences to New Orleans itself. The forces in the
district were the 23d Connecticut, Colonel Charles E. L. Holmes,
and the 176th New York, Colonel Charles C. Nott, both regiments
scattered along the railroad for its protection, Company F and some
odd men and recruits of the 1st Indiana, under Captain F. W. Noblett,
occupying the field works at Brashear, and two companies of the
28th Maine at Fort Butler. About this time Holmes, who as the
senior colonel had commanded the district since Weitzel quitted it
to enter on the Teche campaign, resigned on account of ill-health.
Nott and Wordin, the lieutenant-colonel of the 23d, were on the
sick-list. Finding the country thus feebly occupied and the service
yet more feebly performed, as early as the 7th of June, Emory had
chosen a very intelligent and spirited young officer of the 47th
Massachusetts, Lieutenant-Colonel Albert Stickney,