The logbook of the gunboat Choctaw records the names of some of the men wounded at Milliken’s Bend. Lt. Commander F. W. Ramsay reported that Lt. Jonathan W. Ayers of Company K, 9th Louisiana, was wounded and “picked up in river”.

A cutter under the command of Ensign Beaman was sent to pick up additional wounded, including: Capt. Jonathan W. Abbott, Company A, 11th Louisiana; Lt. Charles Clark, quartermaster of the 9th Louisiana; Charles A. Dewy of the 23rd Iowa; Capt. Thomas Blondin of Company B, 11th Louisiana; and Sgt. Henry Spotts of the 23rd Iowa. Because of the ranks of the men in the Louisiana regiments, and the others who were from the 23rd Iowa, the assumption can be made that all of these men were white..

A number of men with the rank of private from the regiments of the African Brigade can be presumed to be African Americans. Among these are: Decatur Long, Company K, 9th Louisiana; ____ Dillis, Company F, 9th Louisiana; Joe Scott, Company E, 11th Louisiana; Lanzo Owens, Company G, 9th Louisiana; ____ Thomas, Company E, 9th Louisiana; Jonathan Matthews, Company D, 9th Louisiana; ____ Washington, Company C, 9th Louisiana; Robert Waller, Company I, 9th Louisiana; _____n Preston, Company C, 9th Louisiana; Henry Calton, Company C, 11th Louisiana; _____ Walker, Company C, 11th Louisiana; and William Garrison, [9th?] Louisiana.

Also taken aboard the Choctaw were two “citizen prisoners,” William Zeigler, and P. I. [Pa?]tton. No further information is provided about them, nor how they came to be in the Milliken’s Bend area.

Source: Entry for June 7, 1863. Log of USS Choctaw, Record Group 24: Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, National Archives.