A SHORT MOVE TO BETTER GROUND

On this day we are told the regiment moved their camp about three miles further down and nearer to the Mississippi River. Pvt. Robert Newt Gorsuch tells us:

Leave our old camp early and go down the river three miles and encamp on a nice grassy piece of ground. Put up our tents. Orders to be ready to march.

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This photo from the Library of Congress is of a Union Camp at Morganza, Louisiana. The specific date is unknown but it is likely to be very representative of what the camp and conditions were like while the 16th Ohio was camped here from May 21 to October 6, 1864.

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This period military map shows the approximate route taken by the 16th Ohio and other troops under Gen. Nathaniel Banks after they crossed the Atchafalaya River and moved east and south to a campsite at Morganza Bend, Louisiana. This route is highly estimated as the exact location of the camp is not currently known. Statements of mileages and other landmarks are used to approximate the locations shown.

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Modern day close view map showing the estimated route and location of the 16th Ohio as they crossed the Atchafalay River and moved east and south toward a campsite at Morganza Bend, Louisiana.

K - Location of the steamboat bridge where the 16th Ohio and all of Gen. Nathaniel Banks' troops crossed the Atchafalaya River on May 20, 1864.
L - Estimated location of the 16th Ohio at midnight on May 20, 1864, on its all night march toward the Mississippi River.
M - Estimated location of the 16th Ohio on the morning of May 21, 1864, after its all night march toward the Mississippi River.
N - Estimated location of the 16th Ohio late in the day on May 21, 1864, when it set up camp near Morganza Bend, Louisiana, on the Mississippi River.
P - Estimated location of the 16th Ohio campsite from May 22 to 28, 1864, when it moved its camp three miles further downstream near Morganza Bend, Louisiana, on the Mississippi River.
Q - Estimated location of the 16th Ohio campsite on May 29, 1864, when it moved its camp another three miles further downstream along Morganza Bend, Louisiana, on the Mississippi River.