[4][note 1] On Saturday morning, December 27, 1862, the recently married Morgan arrived in force at Elizabethtown, KY,[3] where the 91st was then stationed behind fortifications, under Lieut.

Morgan had captured the regiment's three detached companies guarding the railroad at Nolin Station and Bacon Creek[2] on Friday.

Soon, the inferiority of the smoothbore muskets, exhaustion of the ammunition, and Morgan's superior numbers, caused Smith to sue for surrender.

About two-thirds of the Regiment answered at roll-call at Benton Barracks on Saturday, February 28, 1863, to muster for six months pay.

[3][note 4] With its new command, the 91st Illinois suffered heavy losses in effective men due to bad drinking water.

[7] On Thursday, August 13, Banks began moving his army back to New Orleans, LA, to continue regaining U.S. control of the Gulf Coast.

[3] With the rebels driven out of the area, on Wednesday, the 91st Illinois fell back to the Mississippi,[13] and on Friday, September 10, to take possession of Morganzia, LA.

[3] The regiment remained in garrison at Morganzia a month, and on Saturday, October 10,the 91st Illinois boarded steam transports for New Orleans.

Banks would send his XIX Corps under the Antietam veteran Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin to take the Sabine Pass at the Luisianna-Texas state line.

[note 8] Meanwhile, at the other end of the Texas coast, Banks and his XIII Corps would shut the port at the Corpus Christi/Brownsville area at the mouth of the Rio Grande.

The expeditionary force and its small fleet of steamer transports and towed sailing supply vessels arrived at the mouth of the Rio Grande shortly after noon, November 1, 1863.

On November 4 after unloading all necessary arms, supplies, and equipment, the XIII Corps moved west to Clarksville at the mouth of the Rio Grande.

[25] The Confederates' destruction spread into the city while the soldiers resorted to looting prompting the local citizens into a degree of opposition.

General Cobos received permission from the civilian authorities in Brownsville to organize a force to resist the looters and subdue the fires started by the Confederate evacuation.

Shortly after helping stop the looting and the fires in Brownsville, General Cobos led a force across the river and seized Matamoros.

Banks was in communication with Secretary of State William Seward and keeping Washington informed of the political situation in Mexico.