Major Hannibal H. Boone
Acting Master Thomas Lombard Peterson beheld a curious sight as he docked his gunboat, U. S. S. Diana. A squad of Confederate cavalry, under a flag of truce, had escorted two women to be ferried across Berwick Bay into Union held territory. The gunboat would be their transport. In the past, Peterson’s encounters with Confederate troops had been at a comfortable distance, especially after he shelled them along the river bank. Led by Major Hannibal H. Boone, this group of rebels appeared different - a hard-looking bunch dressed in nondescript, homespun uniforms and wide-brimmed hats adorned with single stars. Their weapons consisted of shotguns, carbines, Colt revolvers and oversized Bowie knives. They stared at him like hungry coyotes on a lame jackrabbit. Unmoved at their presence, a brash Peterson couldn’t resist a verbal exchange.
“I have been under
the impression, that when a man put on a military uniform, and donned the garb
of a soldier, he intended to fight,” he stated.
Boone replied, “I
have thought it that way myself.”
Peterson continued,”You
Confederates don’t practice that. I’ve
been over several times to try you, but at the bursting of the first shell you
all stampeded.”
Unimpressed, Boone
asserted, “You have never stampeded me or my men yet.”
“You are a new man
then, just come in?” Peterson inquired.
“Yes sir! I have just come in today,” Boone answered.
Peterson continued
badgering the major. “Well, you mean to
say that you are something better than you’ve had there before?”
“No sir, I mean to
say nothing of the sort. But I’ll tell
you what I mean, and that is that you can’t stampede my men with one shell-nor
a dozen shells-only that and nothing more,”
Boone quipped.
Peterson took the
women on board, telling one of his officers he would “return soon and see if
they fought as well as they talked.”
Overhearing him,
the Major Boone shot back, “Come ahead! We’ll try and interest you.”
The Confederates
returned to their camp, no doubt eager to face Patterson again on his
return. This time, the Union skipper
would face a tougher foe eager for redemption.
In 1862, the 13th
Texas Cavalry Battalion was organized by Colonel Edwin Waller upon his return
from the New Mexico Campaign. Still
under Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley’s inept command, Waller followed him to
the bayous of South Louisiana. The
13th’s arrival did not get off to a glorious start. At Bonnet Carre, on the Mississippi River,
near New Orleans, seven regiments of Union troops, on four steamboats, trapped
the Texans on three sides. Their only
escape was through a near impregnable swamp by foot, not horseback. Humiliation ensued when Waller’s men were
forced to abandon their horses and saddles to ecstatic Yankees or kill their
mounts outright by slashing their throats.
After slogging miles through bayou country, Waller reassembled his men,
now referred to as the “Cane Cart Cavalry” by their jeering Louisiana
comrades.
During Mid-March,
1863, Union forces, under Major General Nathaniel Banks, had firm control over
New Orleans and its surrounding suburbs.
Located in the Lafourche District, on the Atchafalaya River, Brashear
City (now present day Morgan City) was their furthest, northwest point of occupation. Union troops, under German-born Brigadier
General Godfrey Weitzel, kept a wary eye on rebel cavalry patrolling outside
his lines. In addition to his troops,
Weitzel had the help of steam-powered gunboats that patrolled Berwick Bay,
Grand Lake, and the lower portions of the Atchafalaya River. The gunboats’ large guns and menacing
appearance had a terrifying effect on Confederate troops, who often fled
instead of directly confronting them.
The Confederate Commander of Western Louisiana, Major General Richard
Taylor, was contemptuous toward the gunboats, calling their actions
“snipe-hunting with twelve-pounders.”
Anxious to launch offensive operations, with the ultimate goal of
retaking New Orleans, he was dismayed at the fear his Louisiana cavalry had
toward the gunboats. Taylor wanted them
captured and added to his small flotilla gathering on Grand Lake and Bayou
Teche. “When gunboats come up those
small rivers,” he told his troops, “instead of running off, capture them!” Writing to his cavalry officers, Taylor
further stated, “If you cannot do it, I will send men who can.” The men he sent were the 13th Texas
Cavalry.
Like many Union
gunboats, the Diana was a former Confederate merchant steamer captured
and then converted into a gunboat and transport for the Union Army. Partially armored, the side-wheeler was
useful in patrolling Louisiana’s narrow bayous and meandering rivers. Like the other half dozen gunboats patrolling
the Louisiana bayous, the Diana went beyond protecting Union troops and
taking on Confederate vessels. Using
barges towed from his stern, Peterson would also relieve plantations of their
sugar cane. Like cotton, sugar was in
big demand. Money received for
confiscated crops were divided between the Diana’s officers and
sailors.
Major Boone and
his Texans watched the comings and goings of the Diana; they decided to lay a trap. Anxious to take on the Texans, Peterson
decided to depart from his normal patrol route by steaming up the Atchafalaya
toward Pattersonville. Sixty-nine volunteer,
infantry sharpshooters were on board to provide additional firepower. They would soon wish they stayed at their
camp
Twenty-nine year
old, Tennessee native, Hannibal Honestus Boone, was a lawyer in Hempstead
before the war. He rose to the rank of
major and became Waller’s second in command.
In time, Boone became a feared cavalryman, best avoided in a direct fight. With the assistance of Texas’ famed Val Verde
Battery and the Arizona Cavalry Battalion, Boone arrayed 300 men on both sides
of the river hidden in the vegetation.
All were crack shots.
The Diana
never had a chance. Cannon, rifle, and
pistol fire riddled the gunboat, killing or wounding a quarter of the 120 men
onboard. Peterson was shot dead through
the heart. Damaged from the gunfire, the
Diana could not escape. After
striking her colors, joyous Texans swam over to claim their prize. They recoiled in horror upon seeing the blood
and gore spattered across the deck and walls.
“Every berth was cut to splinters,” wrote a Union survivor. “Chairs, tables, knives and forks, books,
broken glass and china, shattered panels, blood-wet beds, and pools of gore-and
the dead and wounded-were everywhere.”
Even six-shooters were used with great effect,” reported a Texas
captain.
The 13th had their
redemption and a gunboat for Taylor’s small flotilla. The Diana served the Confederate side
at the battles of Bisland and Irish Bend.
Running out of navigable waterways, before an advancing Union army, she
was scuttled a month after her capture.
