Summary Of In Louisiana By John William De Forest

“In Louisiana” by John William De Forest is an account of battle during the Civil War. The setting is somewhere in Louisiana, as a soldier with the Union army continuously travels flatlands until a raging battle begins, only to be followed by more unbroken planes. This unwavering ground sets the scene within the first stanza, as the speaker stresses the flatness of the landscape, stating “For months we had not seen a hill” (2). The only thing breaking this view is the presence of the sugar cane (4).

The action begins shortly into the poem, the second stanza beginning the mention of a “foe” (6) nearby. The only elements causing a separation between the two factions are the “cane, bayou, and reeds” (8, 9). The end of the second stanza allows a pattern to emerge in the rhyme scheme, each set carrying a steady abba rhyme scheme, each stanza being an octosyllabic lined quatrain. This form persists throughout the entire poem, with the third stanza continuing the description of the land ahead of the speaker. To the right of the speaker is a swamp “where alligators slept and crawled,” (10)

This is when the horror of war, the shock of participating in a battle like this begins to set in. The speaker is charging alongside the color-guard of the regiment, when suddenly the speaker hears the color-sergeant let out a groan. This cry by the color-sergeant comes after the speaker hears bullet strike him and “crush the bone” of his comrade. There is shock as the speaker gives an idea of how close to the man was when he died, stating “I could have touched him as he died” (36). This death and the blood spilled from the victim’s mouth act as a religious ceremony, marking this site once wicked as sanctified (38). Another life given, another instance of martyrdom by the North and the Union army in an attempt to “redeem the South” (40). With this in mind, the speaker continues on, with the single purpose to “march with eyes aligned”