I noticed you had the 25th LA Infantry listed on your blog as being at Vicksburg (see the excerpt below). Was this a typo or did the newpaper article actually have the 25th listed incorrectly as it seems it did? I do not know why this would add to mistakes by both Allen and the War Dept. Maybe the President, of whom Allen is writing about to the War Dept. read an earlier listing of the LA Vicksburg units that the paper also used and Allen felt he could not correct him, who knows. Incidentally, you will notice the date of the article you copied and the date that Allen wrote the letter are the same date. Knowing that information did not travel as fast as it does today, I wonder how the mix-up started. I know Thomas raised a battalion for state service that was partially used to form the 28th (29th) but I know it wasn't designated the 25th. Mysteries abound it seems. Also, the 2nd LA Zouave Battalion was attached to Waul's TX Legion at Vicksburg but no one ever seems to recognize them as a LA unit having served there in the lists that are compiled.

Copied from the LA Civil War Blog -

"The Vicksburg Captives"
The Richmond Daily Dispatch printed, August 19, 1863, an article based off a piece it read out of the Chicago Tribune. The Tribune piece was titled "The Vicksburg Captives" and listed all the units captured and it also included numbers of included in those regiments. I edited the piece to simply show the Louisiana units:

Commands and commanding officers.

22d Louisiana, infantry, S Jones, captain.
23d Louisiana, John T Plattiner, colonel, 153 men.
3d Louisiana, David Pierson, major, 230 men.
31st Louisiana, James W Draughon, col., 523 men.
27th Louisiana, Joseph T Hatch, captain, 595 men.
17th Louisiana, Robert Richardson, col., 382 men.
25th Louisiana, AllenThomas, colonel, 339 men.
26th Louisiana, W. C. Crow, Lieut colonel, 494 men.