AUGUST 29-30, 1863.- Mutiny at Camp Hubbard, Thibodeaux, La.

Proceedings of a Military Commission, and Correspondence.

PROCEEDINGS OF A MILITARY COMMISSION ASSEMBLED AT THIBODEAUX, LA., SEPTEMBER 5, 1863, BY VIRTUE OF THE FOLLOWING ORDERS:

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEFENSES OF NEW ORLEANS,

Numbers 46.
New Orleans, La., September 4, 1863.

A military commission, consisting of Colonel E. L. Molineux, One hundred and fifty-ninth New York Volunteers, Lieutenant Colonel Charles A. Burt, One hundred and fifty-ninth New York Volunteers, Lieutenant Colonel J. Tarbell, Ninety-first New York Volunteers, Major W. W. Rexford, One hundred and thirty-first News York Volunteers, and Captain George H. Wheaton, One hundred and thirty-first New York Volunteers, is appointed to meet at Camp Hubbard, to inquire into the cause of the mutiny, its course and suppression, in the First Louisiana Cavalry.

This investigation will be prompt, and sit without regard to day or hour.

By command of Colonel E. G. Geckwith, commanding Defenses of New Orleans:

W. D. SMITH,

Lieutenant-General, and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

THIBODEAUX, LA., September 5, 1863.

The court met pursuant to the above order at Thibodeaux, La., Saturday, September 5, 1863, and after being duly sworn (the members by the recorder and the recorder by the president), proceeded to the examination of witnesses.

Lieutenant Colonel HARAI ROBINSON, been duly sworn, deposes and says:

My name is Harai Robinson. I am lieutenant-colonel of the First Louisiana Cavalry. I was charged with the execution of Special Orders, 209, Paragraph VIII, Department of the Gulf (a copy of which is here un to annexed, marked A.) I was delayed in to his execution for the rider by having to send to Donaldsonville for the stragglers and Government property, and to allow the officers of the late Second Rhode Island Cavalry necessary time to make out descriptive lists of the men and inventories of public property. They informed me none wished to remain; none wished to apply for commissions in the First Louisiana Cavalry. They did not hesitate in telling me that in their opinion I should never be able to do anything with their men. They further said to me that, as they understood Special Orders, 209, Paragraph VIII, Department of the Gulf, they themselves were already discharged the service. In reply to which I intimated to them that certainly no certificates of honorable discharge would be given them if they permitted the men that they had there present to desert before they were consolidated, or failed scrupulously to turn over to the regimental quartermaster of the First Louisiana Cavalry all public property.

The officers of the Second Rhode Island Cavalry had full control of their men up to August 29, when they informed me that all their papers were ready. On this day, at 4 p. m., the First Louisiana Cavalry assembled for dress-parade. The officers of the Second Rhode Island Cavalry were instructed to form their line in front of the facing the First Louisiana Cavalry, 40 yards distant.

Special Orders, 209, Paragraph VIII, Department of the Gulf, was then for the first time read by the adjutant to the First Louisiana Cavalry, the First Louisiana Cavalry being at ordered arms. I turned with my staff to the Second Rhode Island Cavalry, the commanding officer of which had to receive a peremptory order before the men or the officers were brought to a salute. The adjutant of the First Louisiana Cavalry was then instructed by me to read to them Special Orders, 209, Paragraph VIII, Department of the Gulf. Instantaneously, and as if be accord, a tumultuous and general "No, no," was uttered from one end of the line to the other. I then assumed command of them in person, ordered sabers to be presented. After hesitating and wavering, they executed the order. Sabers were then ordered to be carried and returned. Men ordered