h Maine.

The official reports covering this period afford several strong
hints of a Confederate plan for the recapture of New Orleans. With
this object, apparently, Richard Taylor, a prominent and wealthy
Louisianian, closely allied to Jefferson Davis by his first marriage
with the daughter of Zachary Taylor, was made a major-general in
the Confederate army, and on the 1st of August was assigned to
command the Confederate forces in Western Louisiana. It seems
likely that the troops of Van Dorn's department, as well as those
at Mobile, were expected to take part.

On the 8th of August orders were issued by the War Department
transferring the district of West Florida to the Department of the
Gulf. West Florida meant Pensacola. Fort Pickens, on the sands
of Santa Rosa, commanding the entrance to the splendid harbor, owed
to the loyalty of a few staunch officers of the army and the navy
the proud distinction of being the one spot between the Chesapeake
and the Rio Grande over which, in spite of all hostile attempts,
the ensign of the nation had never ceased to float; for the works
at Key West and the Dry Tortugas, though likewise held, were never
menaced. Though Bragg early gathered a large force for the capture
of the fort, the only serious attempt, made in the dawn of the 9th
of October, 1861, was repulsed with a loss to the Confederates of
87, to the Union troops of 61. Of these, the 6th New York had 9
killed, 7 wounded, 11 missing--in all, 27. In December the 75th
New York came down from the North to reinforce the defenders.
Finally, after learning the fate of New Orleans, Bragg evacuated
Pensacola, and burned his surplus stores, and on the 10th of May,
1862, Porter, seeing from the passes the glare of the flames, ran
over and anchored in the bay. The advantage thus gained was held
to the end.

This transfer gave Butler two strong infantry regiments, as well
as several fine batteries and companies of the regular artillery,
but at the same time correspondingly increased the territory he
had to guard, already far too extensive and too widely scattered
for the small force at his disposal.

Toward the end of September Lieutenant Godfrey Weitzel, of the
engineers, having been made a brigadier-general on Butler's
recommendation, a promotion more than usually justified by service
and talent, a brigade was formed for him called the Reserve Brigade,
and consisting of the 12th and 13th Connecticut, 75th New York,