The Twenty-fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion

In Short

This collective volume gathers first-hand histories, personal memoirs, and official battle reports from members of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers. Raised in the autumn of 1862 for nine months of Federal service, the regiment travels by sea to New Orleans, anchors Union operations along the Mississippi River, and engages in the hard-fought campaign to reduce Port Hudson. Written and compiled fifty years later by the veterans themselves, the text preserves the day-to-day grit of military camp life, the chaos of bayou skirmishes, and the long shadow of sacrifice, offering an unvarnished window into the civilian soldier's wartime journey.

The Story

The narrative opens in the fall of 1862, when patriotic young men from Hartford and Tolland counties answer President Lincoln's call for short-term troops. Eager but inexperienced, the volunteers gather under Colonel George P. Bissell and embark on a rough sea voyage down the Atlantic coast and across the Gulf of Mexico. Cramped aboard troopships, they endure sea-sickness and unfamiliar tropical sightings before landing at Ship Island and moving up the Mississippi River to Louisiana.

Upon establishing camp near New Orleans, initial excitement gives way to the grueling realities of army routine. The men face drastic climate shifts, mud, and rampant illness that drastically reduce their numbers. As spring arrives, the regiment enters active field operations across lower Louisiana's maze of bayous, cane fields, and dense swamps. They endure exhausting forced marches, navigating difficult terrain near Thibodeaux, Opelousas, and Bayou Teche while skirmishing with Confederate forces.

The campaign reaches its violent climax at the Battle of Irish Bend. Advancing through a sugar cane field bordered by dense woods, the Twenty-fifth encounters heavy fire from well-hidden Confederate lines. Under a hail of smoothbore buck-and-ball charges, the infantry forms lines, delivers volleys, and repels flanking attempts alongside supporting regiments, suffering notable casualties in the process.

Following Irish Bend, the regiment presses forward toward the strategic Confederate stronghold of Port Hudson. There, the soldiers experience the grim brutality of trench warfare. Stationed in rifle-pits barely two hundred yards from enemy lines, they endure scorching heat, severe water shortages, artillery bombardment, and constant sharpshooter fire for days on end. Between assaults, men barter with or shout across the ravine to the enemy, surviving on hardtack and bean soup delivered under cover of darkness.

When Port Hudson finally collapses under siege and starvation, the Twenty-fifth's nine-month commitment comes to an end. In August 1863, the surviving soldiers board a steamship bound for New York. Though weakened by disease and carrying memories of fallen comrades buried in southern soil, the veterans return home to Connecticut, having fulfilled their vow to preserve the Republic.

How It Unfolds

The voyage south Recruited from Connecticut farms and workshops, the men board crowded transports and sail into the Gulf of Mexico. They pass Florida lighthouses, watch schools of flying fish, and survive cramped, sleepless quarters before stepping ashore in Louisiana.

Life in the camps At Camp Parapet and Baton Rouge, the soldiers drill, perform picket duty, and cope with rapid temperature swings that breed widespread sickness. They forage for fresh pork and sweet potatoes, fry hardtack with concentrated milk, and find solace in reading pocket Testaments.

The march through the bayous Moving across lower Louisiana's marshy cane fields and bayous, the regiment endures extreme heat, muddy roads, and blisters. They travel on foot or jammed into freight cars, driving back Confederate rear guards and seizing cotton at river landings.

Clash at Irish Bend The unit advances into an open cane field facing a green wall of dense forest, where hidden Confederate forces open fire. Deployed as skirmishers, the Connecticut men trade volleys at close range through dry sugar cane stalks in a fierce, bloody battle.

The siege of Port Hudson Reaching the enemy fortifications, the soldiers dig rifle-pits and endure days under deafening artillery exchanges and sharpshooter fire. Water is scarce, the heat is suffocating, and the men shelter behind trees as heavy shells burst around them.

Homeward bound With Port Hudson fallen, the battle-tested regiment boards the steamship Thomas Scott for the journey home. Despite filthy ship conditions, vermin, and a burial at sea, the remaining men arrive in New York Harbor to conclude their term of service.

The People

• Colonel George P. Bissell

The proud commander of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Bissell leads his men with strict discipline and deep devotion. He inspires absolute trust among his troops, drilling them thoroughly and guiding them through grueling southern campaigns.

• Samuel K. Ellis

A former farm hand and driver from Vernon Center who enlists as a private in Company G. Armed with his diary and a pocket Testament, Ellis offers a ground-level view of a soldier's life, documenting camp cooking, foot-sore marches, and the loss of close friends.

• Major Thomas McManus

A key officer who provides a detailed tactical account of the lower Louisiana geography and the Battle of Irish Bend. He records the exact movements of the battalion as they maneuver through cane fields under heavy fire.

• Dr. Alden Skinner

The regiment's dedicated first surgeon, highly respected by the men. While attending to troops in a drenching rainstorm during a night march back to Baton Rouge, he contracts fatal pneumonia, becoming an early, deeply mourned sacrifice of the unit.

• First Lieutenant Henry Hill Goodell

An officer tasked with transporting the regiment's entire payroll back to New Orleans. Dressed in ragged clothes without officer rank insignia to avoid sharpshooters, he safeguards $24,346 in a bulging haversack through crowded transports and city streets.

In Its Own Voice

"By the bravery always displayed on the field of battle, and the patience and endurance manifested on many long and arduous marches, it has won for itself a high and lasting reputation."

Adjutant-General Morse summarizes the official standing of the nine-month regiment following their Louisiana service.

"I had made up my mind to go and of course I have never been sorry, as I look back and say with just pride that I was one who went out to help save our Republic from dissolution..."

Private Samuel K. Ellis reflects on his initial motivations for enlisting despite the heavy gloom hanging over the country in 1862.

"The enemy's shot rattled through the dry stalks, crackling like hail against the windows."

Major Thomas McManus describes the terrifying sound of Confederate volleys tearing through the previous year's sugar cane crop during the Battle of Irish Bend.

What It's Really About

The book examines the human cost of civic obligation and the transformative nature of citizen-soldiering. Beyond military strategy, the accounts center on how ordinary Northern civilians adapt to the harsh physical realities of war—disease, exhaustion, and sudden violent death—far from home. The collection explores the bonds forged between men from the same towns and counties, illustrating how shared suffering creates a lasting collective memory. It also reflects on the contrast between idealist patriotic devotion and the unglamorous, day-to-day struggle for basic survival in the field.

Why Read It Today

This volume appeals to Civil War historians, genealogy researchers, and readers who appreciate authentic, unvarnished history. It feels like stepping into a time capsule, offering an intimate mosaic of official records, personal diary entries, and tactical speeches. The narrative lacks slick literary polish, but that raw simplicity gives it genuine emotional weight.

Reading the text requires navigating period prose, inconsistent formatting, and casual 19th-century racial terminology common to Northern soldiers encountering the deep South for the first time. The structure is episodic rather than a unified narrative novel, occasionally pausing for military rosters or memorial tributes. What stays with the reader, however, is the remarkable resilience of these nine-month volunteers: young men who cooked hardtack over campfires, dodged mortar shells in muddy trenches, and carried their fallen friends' memories home to Connecticut.