While Patrick White and the other captives were being escorted to the largest Confederate prison west of the Mississippi, the lone Junior 2^nd Lieutenant of the Chicago Mercantile Battery, Henry Roe, and the rest of the survivors remained with Banks’ army as it retreated down the Red River. The Battery’s unarmed remnant ultimately ended up back at Camp Parapet in Carrollton, Louisiana just outside of New Orleans. Although the Chicago Mercantile Battery was assured of being refitted with replacement cannons and equipment and then returned to the front lines, it was nevertheless relegated to guard duty. This was viewed as a major affront by the artillerists from Chicago who felt especially vulnerable that they were without White and their other senior officers. Consequently, all of the remaining members of the Battery but one voted to disobey the order. They refused to take up muskets and do guard duty at Camp Parapet.

After members of the Chicago Mercantile Battery realized what they had done, and before they could retrieve their written protest, they were chastised and punished. At the court martial, the noncommissioned officers were exonerated but Lt. Henry Roe, the de facto leader of the Battery, was still in trouble. Fortunately for Roe and the Battery, aggressive lobbying by friends back home in Chicago helped them to recuperate from the ill-fated mutiny. Their defense was led by the Mercantile Association, a powerful force to be politically reckoned with, which was successful in getting everyone reinstated to full artillery duty. Guns, horses, and equipage from Battery G of the Fifth US Artillery were turned over to the Chicago Mercantile Battery.  The Battery received special training to become "horse artillery" so it could accompany various cavalry maneuvers for the duration of the War.

Sources: "Report of the Illinois Adjutant General, Volume VIII," revised by Brig. Gen. J. N. Reece, 1901, and "Patriotism of Illinois," by T. M. Eddy, D. D.

• Before Vicksburg

• Vicksburg Campaign

• Red River Campaign

• Red River to New Orleans

• Camp Ford, Tyler, TX

• The Return to Chicago