Bayou Sunflower
March 16/ [18]63
Gunboat Cincinnati
Dear Sister [ Maggie],
What do you mean by saying in your last letter “I am glad you did not have to go to the Hospital”? Did you really suppose that I was sick? What can I say to convince you that I’m well. I am well, very well, exceedingly well, and hope that my good health will continue. Although I have never been from home before I’ve not been the least homesick since I entered the service. In fact, I am one of the happiest boys aboard the boat.
A horrible suicide was committed aboard on the 15th. One of our Quarter gunners in a fit of delirium tremors cut his throat from ear to ear with his sheath knife. He had attempted to kill himself several times. Once by drowning, but he was rescued by some of the men who were on watch. He was found down in the shot locker with his throat cut as before mentioned. There was a stab in the breast showing that he was fully determined to kill himself. He was one of the quietest men we had aboard, but he dearly loved whiskey, which was the cause of his ruin. He had got liberty ashore with the other quarter gunners one day and came aboard very drunk and I suppose he must have got liquor from the soldiers in some way for he was very drunk on the day we coaled up last, and from that time till the day of his death he was out of his mind. Drunkenness is one of the great evils of a sailor[’]s life. His only thought seems to be how he can get drunk when he gets liberty. He seems to glory in it too, for I’ve heard men say time and again, “When I get out of this (the navy) what a glorious old drunk I’ll have”. This seems very strange to me, nevertheless, it is true.
We are now trying to make our way through Bayou Sunflower, a cutoff which empties into the Yazoo at “Johnson’s Plantation” and flows from it about forty miles above “Haines Bluff”. Our object is, I believe, to get in rear of Haine’s Bluff and then to make an attack upon it. This Bayou is 120 miles in length and so narrow that in many places we have to cut of[f] large limbs of trees before we can get through. The Carondolet is ahead of us 
and is mowing down large trees like grass. We have now got to the worst part of the Bayou. The trees along this Bayou are mostly sycamore, willow and cypress which can easily be distinguished by the long moss which hangs from their branches. It is actually full of fish which can be seen jumping out of water nearly every minute. Early in the morning birds of all kind may be heard singing in the woods. Owls and bats may also be seen flitting noiselessly past. The trees are just beginning to bud. The water of the Bayou is of different colors. At first it was kind of mud[d]yish after a while it became clear and now it is of a blackish color. We left our place of anchor yesterday morning at four o’clock but we have made very slow progress in getting through. I saw for the first time in my life a 
flock of parrots fly chattering over the tree tops as we were clearing some brush that was in our way. One of our men was cut pretty badly about the head by a large limb falling across our bow.
All our Marines and several of the officers went out on a foraging expedition to a plantation near by and brought in about 150 chickens, 600 pounds of bacon, a young bull, some geese and a couple of guinea hens, bed clothes, pictures, crockery, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. The planter was plowing in the field but when he saw our Marines coming he left his plow and made tracks for parts unknown. There is a large amount of cotton at the plantation which it is said will be brought aboard these boats. If these boats get safely through this bayou they will have accomplished a great feat. I wonder what the Rebels will think when they see five gunboats come crawling out of the woods into the Yazoo. They’ll say the Yankees will make gunboats that can run on a wet sponge some of these days. Sometimes our boats are wedged so tightly between two trees that we have to pull the tree up by the roots before we can get through. I hope we’ll get through before the rebels hear of our coming for they might give us a good deal of trouble by cutting down trees and placing them across the stream. The five gunboats which are going on this expedition are the Carondolet, Cincinnati, Mound City, Pittsburgh and Louisville. It is said that the ram Gen Price (captured from the rebels) is at the mouth of the Blackwater bayou with coal barges for the fleet.
March 18th/ [18]63
Nothing took place of much interest yesterday. We made our way through the woods knocking down trees, pulling down bridges, and, in fact, everything else that came in our way. We passed some plantations, but strange to say, our Captain would not allow us to go ashore to get anything, while the crews of the other boats were supplying themselves with sheep, chicken, ducks and everything eatable they could lay their hands on. Talk about the South starving. Why they have an abundance of everything. Every plantation we passed we saw plenty of cattle, horses, sheep chicken, geese, etc. 
When we passed a plantation, a lot of Negro men, women and children would congregate on the bank and gaze at us in wonder. Some of the men took off their hats to us. On every plantation there is a planter’s house, a cotton gin, and sometimes a sawmill, and then comes a long row of Negro cottages, not huts as they are called, but cottages that many poor people in the North would be glad to live in. A large fire was seen in the direction of the plantation last night, and it is supposed that the planters were burning their cotton. As we passed one plantation, a group of Negro women stood on the bank gabbling away as fast as their tongues would let them. One of them sang out to one of our darkies, “When are you coming to take us? We hearn tell of ye, a long time but now you go along without us.” “We’ll come and get you by and by” said our darkie. “Oh! Pshaw!”, said she. “Right now Lord dats de word.” Then they all set up a “He e! he! hali! hah! yah yah”, showing their ivory teeth.
We got through the worst part of the Bayou yesterday about noon. We are now getting along quite smoothly with nothing to disturb us except occasionally we come to a bridge which has to be knocked down, or in going around a bend we may run against a tree. As we were passing a plantation this morning, one of the men threw a piece of tobacco to a little n-- standing on the bank. In a short time a whole gang of little darkies were following out and singing “Gin’ me a piece, please”. It was laughable to see the little chaps wrestle and scramble after the tobacco and hard bread that was thrown them. Some of the pieces fell in the water and some of them stripped of their clothes in a jiffy and jumped into the water and swam like ducks after them. Some of the men brought eggs aboard in exchange for tobacco.
All the plantation[s] we passed this afternoon have burned their cotton. But this is not the fault of the planters for we took aboard 6 contrabands who say that two cotton burners (supposed to be rebel officers) passed along last evening and said that they had orders from some man to burn all the cotton along this stream.
This is an immense destruction of property which might just as well be saved as not, for we would not have touched it. The n-- that we have taken aboard seem to like their new life first rate. We went ashore this afternoon and got some good well water for drinking purposes. It is now quite dark. One of our men has been badly hurt by a large bough falling on the deck and carrying away part of our smoke stack.
There are different names to this stream. We are now in a part called Deer Creek; we next come to Rolling Fork, then Indian Shoot, then Silver Creek, the Little Sunflower, then Big Sunflower, and from thence to the Yazoo, so the n-- informed me who came aboard this afternoon. Let me here remark what I’ve been on the point of doing many times[:] that one great cause of complaint throughout the army and navy is because N-- are treated so much better than white men. You may think this strange, but nevertheless, it is true. I have nothing to say against Mr. Lincoln’s proclamation, but I do know that since it took affect some of our N-- have become very saucy and impudent. Why! One of our coal heavers had the impudence to tell one of our firemen that the day would come when they (the blacks) would be masters and the white men would be their slaves. And another said that “Old Abe’s gwine to gib us all dis land (the south) when da wa’s over.“ This is a fact, Maggie. I will now mail what I’ve written and give you of what takes place as we proceed some other time.
Your affectionate Bro.
Daniel
