Some research on the plate shown above with me after 7 hours in 93 degree heat. Found by a forum member. I have been gone so long (16 of past 18 days) I am struggling to get current so I am sure there is more info in what he has sent, but this blew me away:
NOTES OF OPERATIONS. Our cannon embrasures were effectuallv closed by muntlets of steel plates. The enemy’s sharpshooters plastered them thick with lead, but only one of them was injured — a three-inch shot cut a clean hole through it, but did no further damage.
We expended daily from twelve thousand to thirty-six thousand rounds of rifle cartridges ; our supply was not great. The enemy poured a constant stream of lead into our lines, and Gibson gave every man who would bring in so much lead paroles of twenty-four hours to visit Mobile. A number of enterprising fellows eagerly pursued this traffic and greatly enjoyed the reward. This garrison, with those of Tracey. Hunger and Mobile were included in the general capitulation of the department.
We evacuated Mobile on the morning of April 12. The mayor of the city was sent with a white flag out to the fleet to say that Mobile was ready for their peaceable occupation without any injury to person or to property. We marched to Meridian, where the band of Gibson’s Louisiana Brigade, then the only Confederate band in the world, on the night of May 13, gave me their last sad serenade. Many officers of the regiments which had been serving with me waited on me in a body and gave me their last farewell.
Next day ‘we scattered over our own Southern country seeking our homes, and at once addressed ourselves to those peaceful duties which have regenerated the Southern States and crowned the Confederate name with honors even more noble than anyone had won in war. -Charlottesville, Va., August 6, 1894.
