whole of Meade’s army, it was ascertained that the rebels under General
Lee had effected a most skillful retreat. Under cover of the darkness,
they had withdrawn from Williamsport, and the whole force, together with
all its trains, plunder, &c., had escaped across the Potomac. On the
same day the Union troops occupied Williamsport and Falling Waters;
capturing at the latter place, a brigade of infantry, fifteen hundred
strong, two guns, two caissons, two battle flags, and a large number of
small arms. A vigorous pursuit of the rebel army was immediately
ordered; and on the 15th, Meade’s army pursued, overtook, and engaged
the rear of the rebel army; but the enemy continued to make good his
retreat, while the Unionists continued to follow closely, till on the
24th, the Union army again overtook the fugitives; and a battle on the
north side of the Rappahannock appeared to be inevitable. But again the
wily rebel general disappointed the brave Unionists, so eagerly awaiting
an opportunity to engage and defeat his troops. During the night,
General Lee again effected his escape from his pursuers, and reached
Culpepper Court-House, before his movements were detected.
Active operations were now, for a time, at an end, with the Army of the
Potomac. It occupied the same line on the Rappahannock, which it had
held two months previous, and the wearied soldiers rested from the
labors of their long and tiresome march, still wearing upon their brows
the laurels they had won in General Meade’s successful if not brilliant
campaign.
THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN.
For more than a year the possession of Vicksburg had been the ultimate
object of the military and naval operations of the principal forces of
the United States in the west, before that object was attained. After
the unsuccessful naval and military operations in July, 1862, repeated
expeditions had been set on foot, at immense expense to the Government,
accompanied with great labor and privation on the part of the patriots
engaged in the enterprises, only to be met in turn with disaster and
reverse. These operations were under the direction of Major-General
Grant, commander-in-chief of the army of West Tennessee, and may take
their date about December 1, 1862, at which time the principal forces of
General Grant were at La Grange, three miles east of Grand Junction, on
the Cairo and New Orleans railroad. General Grant was placed in command
of the Department of Tennessee, embracing all the country west of the
Tennessee river, and on both shores of the Mississippi river, from
Corinth to Louisiana. He was in command of the Thirteenth Army Corps,
and his troops fought the famous battles of Iuka and Corinth, although
General Grant did not command in person, being at Jackson, Tennessee,
his headquarters. In December, 1862, he removed his headquarters to
Holly Springs; and on the 22d of that month, his forces having greatly
increased, he divided them into four corps, viz.: the Thirteenth,
Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Corps of the United States Army.
The first expedition, under General Grant, was started in December,
1862. The plan of General Grant was—that General Sherman should take
command of the forces in Memphis in Tennessee, and Helena in Arkansas,
and descend the river on transports with the gunboat fleet, and make an
attack on Vicksburg by the 29th of December; and that General McClernand
should take the forces at Cairo and move down to Vicksburg, thus
reinforcing General Sherman soon after his attack on the town.
Meanwhile, General Grant was to advance rapidly upon the Confederate
troops in Mississippi north and east of Vicksburg, which formed the main
body of their army, and keep them fully employed, and, if they retreated
to Vicksburg, arrive there with them, ready to cooperate with General
Sherman.
The Confederate force, now under the command of General Pemberton,
retired to the river, and finally fell back beyond Granada. Meanwhile
General Grant advanced to Oxford, and on the 20th of December an attack
was suddenly made in his rear, by a Confederate force under General Van
Dorn, on the garrison under Colonel Murphy at Holly Springs, which
surrendered. The prisoners were paroled and the supplies collected there
for General Grant’s army were destroyed; also a large quantity of cotton
which had been purchased of the people in the vicinity.
The surrender of Holly Springs was a severe blow to General Grant, and
the officers in command were severely censured by him. Colonel Murphy,
the commander, allowed himself to be taken by surprise, and surrendered
all of his command, and an immense quantity of supplies, which had been
gathered there for the use of the advancing army.
While General Grant was moving his columns toward the objective point,
the enemy were by no means idle. On the same day on which Colonel Murphy
surrendered Holly Springs, an attack was made on Davis’s Mills, a post a
little farther north, which was bravely repulsed. On the next day,
Humboldt was captured, and an attack made on Trenton, while several
important stations on the railroad were, in turn, visited by the
Confederate raiders, who demolished the equipments of the roads, cut the
telegraph lines, and inflicted serious injury, by destroying the
communications of General Grant’s army, which compelled him to make a
retrograde movement, or fall back on Holly Springs. This left General
Pemberton at liberty to concentrate his forces at Vicksburgh against
General Sherman, who was then advancing on that place in accordance with
General Grant’s plan, while the cooperating forces were removed so far
from the scene of action, that there was no hope of their being able to
afford any assistance, either by participation or by the diversion of
any portion of the enemy’s forces.
Meanwhile General W. T. Sherman, who had been stationed at Memphis,
embarked with one division on the 20th of December, and dropped down to
Friar’s Point, the place of rendezvous, where he was joined by Admiral
Porter with his flagship and two consorts.
The arrangements were completed by the military and naval commanders
during the next forenoon, the 22d, and the fleet got under way, and
moved down just below the mouth of White river, where it came to, at
sunset. On the next day it descended to Gaines’s Landing, and at two P.
M. came to anchor, to await the arrival of the transports in the rear,
and also a division of troops from Memphis. Half of the town of Gaines’s
Landing was destroyed by fire while the army was there. Similar
destruction had also been made at Friar’s Point. These acts led to
stringent measures on the part of General Sherman.
On the morning of the 25th, the fleet arrived at the mouth of the Yazoo
river. The fleet consisted of more than sixty transports, with a number
of iron-clad and other gunboats, and several mortar boats. The Yazoo is
a deep, narrow, and sluggish stream, formed by the Tallahatchie and
Yallobusha rivers, which unite in Carroll county, Mississippi. It runs
through an alluvial plain of extreme fertility, about two hundred and
ninety miles, and empties into the Mississippi river twelve miles above
Vicksburg.
On the 26th, the expedition, under convoy of the gunboats, moved up the
Yazoo, and the troops were landed at various points from the junction of
Old River with the Yazoo to Johnson’s Farm, a distance of about three
miles, without opposition. The distance from Vicksburg was about eight
miles. A strong position, known as Haines’s Bluff, some distance above
on the river, was held by the Confederate forces, and in the mean while
attacked by the gunboats De Kalb, Cincinnati, Louisville, Benton and
Lexington. It was the plan of General Sherman to attack Vicksburg in the
rear. For this purpose he was engaged, on the 28th, in getting his
forces in position.
Vicksburg is situated upon a high bluff, rising nearly a hundred feet
above the water. This bluff faces very nearly to the west. The
Mississippi in front of Vicksburg runs in a southwesterly course. These
bluffs are on its eastern bank, and run off from a point five miles
below the city directly inland from the head of the bend in the
Mississippi until they strike the Yazoo river, nine miles northeast of
Vicksburg in a straight line, and twenty-three miles from the
Mississippi by the course of the Yazoo river.
The face of this bluff, throughout its length precipitous and high,
furnishes a natural defence against any force attempting to get into the
rear of the city from the north. Where the bluffs approach the Yazoo
river the rebels had constructed formidable batteries, which prevented
the passage of all manner of craft. Just above these batteries, and
defended by them, they had placed a heavy raft of timber and iron in the
stream, making a most effectual blockade.
Thus it was impossible to flank this range of bluffs. They must be
attacked, if attacked at all, full in front. Against this the enemy had
guarded themselves by fortifying the entire range, from Vicksburg to
Milldale, its upper extremity. These fortifications consisted of abatis
in front of the bluffs to a width on the average of a mile. At the foot
of the bluff they had rifle pits the entire way. Above the rifle pits,
and in the face of the bluff, they had constructed batteries mounting
one gun each, at short intervals all the way along. On the summit of the
bluffs they had earthworks thrown up, ready to cover field artillery
whenever it should be desirable to bring it into action from any of
these points. Thus these entire ranges of hills were one complete,
bristling fortification, dangerous to approach and difficult to capture.
But, notwithstanding the dangers and difficulties in the way, our brave
Western soldiers were not afraid to grapple with them, nor doubtful of
their abilities to overcome them.
General Sherman’s army consisted of four divisions, the first of which
contained three brigades, under Brigadier-General Geo. W. Morgan; the
second, three brigades under Brigadier-General A. J. Smith, and the
fourth, four brigades, commanded by Brigadier-General Frederick Steele,
whose Brigade-Generals were Frank P. Blair, John M. Thayer, C. E. Hovey,
and Colonel Hassendurbel.
The division of General Steele was the largest one on the ground.
Blair’s brigade was detached, and after making a landing, pushed forward
inland under General Morgan L. Smith.
The rest of the division, under General C. E. Hovey, was sent three
miles further up the Yazoo River, to penetrate the rear and get at the
railroad near Vicksburg. He landed above Blake’s Bayou, and within two
miles, he encountered the heavy guns of the enemy on the high bluffs, in
front of a lagoon or bayou which it was impossible to cross without
boats or bridges, and he returned to Chickasaw Bayou, where General H.
H. Morgan had already landed.
In taking position General A. J. Smith took the right, General Morgan L.
Smith the right centre, General Steele the left centre, and General G.
W. Morgan the extreme left. The Federal line was formed in this order
parallel with the bluffs, and in the edge of the timber that skirted the
abatis, bringing it about a mile from the rebel lines. To reach this
position from the point of debarkation on the Yazoo River, the forces
had to cross a series of bayous, or deep ravines, which were then filled
and unfordable. These crossings had to be made by pontoon bridges, the
building of which was stoutly resisted by the rebels, occasioning a
continual skirmishing throughout the day, though with no very serious
results. In addition to this difficulty roads had to be cut in most
instances; the old roads—where any existed—having been destroyed by the
rebels or blockaded with fallen timber, while in most directions no
roads existed at all.
The Confederate batteries opened fire on General Morgan’s position at an
early hour on the 29th, which continued for about an hour, with but
slight effect.
On Monday morning the great effort was to be made to gain the heights,
and all the forces were ordered to move at daylight. The morning dawned
with a dense fog upon the face of the country, so thick as to utterly
prevent any movement. Lying in the middle of the little narrow Yazoo, it
was impossible to distinguish the timber on either shore. Any movement
made under such circumstances was, of course, attended with great
hazard; any firing was at a venture, and as likely to hit friend as foe.
It was eight o’clock before the fog lifted. The gunboats which were to
shell the rebel batteries and encampments on the left, at Milldale,
having obtained their ranges on the previous day, did not wait for the
fog to clear away, but were at work at the appointed time, drawing a
brisk response from the enemy.
At various points along the lines, too, field batteries engaged the
rebel batteries at a venture, and as the morning advanced this firing
increased, until from eight to ten o’clock there was nothing to be heard
but one continuous roar of artillery. Upwards of one hundred and fifty
pieces, embracing all calibers, from the ordinary 6-pounder field piece
to the heavy 10-inch Columbiad on the fortifications and the 11-inch
Dahlgrens on the gunboats, united to swell the din, making a roar such
as the Valley of the Mississippi never before heard.
This artillery duel lasted half the forenoon, resulting, as such duels
usually result, in no great loss of life. The batteries in the face of
the bluff became rather too warm for occupancy, and one after another of
them was abandoned, the gunners dragging their guns with them to the top
of the hill. This apparently left the coast for the advance of the
Federal infantry. As the lines began to emerge from the woods, the broad
plain extending from the timber to the base of the hills was found to be
cut up with gulleys as well as covered with abatis, and these gulleys
were filled with the sharpshooters of the enemy, whose skill was soon
found to be of no mean order.
Beyond these, at the foot of the bluffs, was the range of rifle-pits,
filled with rebel infantry. The right centre division, commanded by
General Morgan L. Smith, made an effort to cross the bayou in their
front. The Sixth regiment of Missouri Volunteers, under command of
Lieutenant-Colonel Blood, was detailed for the advance. The enemy’s
works were very strong, there being a steep bank of thirty feet high to
ascend, fortified with breastworks and rifle-pits, with a heavy force
drawn up in line of battle behind them. The only approach was by a road
across a sand-bar in the bayou, exposed to a double cross fire from the
enemy, and the only way of ascending the bank was by cutting a road. An
order was received for two companies to be sent over in advance for the
purpose of cutting the road—one with picks and shovels, and the other
with muskets to protect the workers from the enemy’s sharpshooters in
the rifle-pits over their heads. Company F, Captain Boutell, and Company
K, Captain Buck, were the first to volunteer, the peril being so great
that Colonel Blood was reluctant to order a detail. Their services were
accepted, and the two companies of heroes went across under a most
terrific fire, which left more than a tenth of their number stretched
upon the sand. On getting across they immediately commenced operations
on the bank, and very soon made a large excavation, almost sufficient
for the purpose, when the position of the enemy’s forces and batteries
were found to be such that the further prosecution of the attempt would
be certain destruction to all concerned in it, without accomplishing any
thing. In the mean time Lieutenant-Colonel Blood, with the balance of
the regiment, had crossed over to their support, but with still greater
loss, one-sixth of his force being killed or wounded.
The greater part of the division had now been brought under fire, and
after vainly struggling to advance amid a storm of destructive missiles
from an unseen enemy, the men hesitated, and were on the point of
retreating in confusion, when General Smith, seeing the emergency,
rushed to the head to lead the column across in person. Scarcely had he
taken his position, and called out a cheering word to the men, when a
ball struck him in the thigh, tearing the flesh badly, causing a profuse
hemorrhage. He soon became weak from the loss of blood, and was carried
from the field. His division being left without a commander fell back to
its old position, and under cover of the Federal guns, and favored by
approaching darkness and a heavy shower of rain, succeeded in returning
without further loss. Private McGee of the Sixth Missouri was shot four
times, and thirteen bullets penetrated his clothing. As he lay upon the
bar, unable to proceed, the enemy’s balls still came whistling around
him, and to protect himself he scooped a hole with his hands in the sand
and crawled into it.
General Steele’s division had no bayou to cross, but had in front of it
the same broad plain, covered with abatis and cut up with gulleys, in
which were concealed the sharpshooters of the enemy. Notwithstanding
these obstacles, the column was crowded forward close up to the bluff,
securing one of the enemy’s fortifications and a field battery of six
guns. But the ground was too hot for them; and they were compelled to
retire, but not without taking their trophies with them.
Once again this gallant division was brought up to the work and made a
noble charge across the plain, this time making a considerable further
advance than on the former occasion. They drove the enemy out of their
rifle-pits and pursued them half way up the hill, fighting heroically as
they went, receiving galling volleys of musketry at every step, with
showers of grape and canister from the field artillery above.
Some regiments of this division actually gained a foothold on the summit
of the hill in this charge, but, being unsupported, were compelled to
retire. The division labored right nobly to maintain their position, but
it could not be done, and again they retired across the plain to the
cover of the timber, their lines terribly thinned and shattered by the
effort, but carrying with them three more guns captured from the enemy.
On the extreme left General Morgan made a like effort to break the rebel
lines and get into the rear of the batteries at Haines’s Bluffs. But he
too, after reaching the foot of the hill, was compelled to abandon the
attempt.
On the right, General A. J. Smith had a bayou to cross in the midst of
the plain, to reach which he had to find his way through a field of
abatis, as well as to cross the abatis after reaching the opposite side
of the bayou. But these difficulties had but little weight with him. He
ordered the Fifty-fourth Ohio to charge across the bridge, which they
did most gallantly. They were met on the opposite side by a vastly
superior force of the enemy, but were not disposed to surrender or
retreat. Most bravely they stood their ground, fighting against vastly
superior numbers, until finally they were surrounded and forced to the
alternative of surrendering or being annihilated. In this emergency, one
of the Union batteries was brought to bear from our side of the bayou,
and poured a fire of shell into the contending forces, regardless alike
of enemy or friend.
The rebels quickly abandoned the field, leaving many of their number
upon the spot. The Ohioans then gathered up their killed and wounded and
retired across the field. The Federal shell had killed seven of their
number, and wounded twenty or thirty others. But it was not a dear price
to pay for the salvation of the regiment. They had made a noble stand,
and deserved to be rescued.
After the Fifty-fourth had retired, the gallant Eighth Missouri—the
heroes of a dozen battles, and a regiment that was never known to waver
or give way—and the Thirteenth Regulars, led the way. The crossing was
effected with safety, when the little column filed off to the right to
get possession of the road leading to Vicksburg. At this moment a
brigade of rebels came charging down the road at a double quick. The
little Union column soon wheeled into line and were ready to meet their
assailants. A brisk engagement ensued, lasting nearly half an hour, when
the rebels gave way in disorder and fled.
This affair terminated the fight for the day. In the edge of the evening
the regiments that had maintained themselves across the bayou were
recalled, and the entire force rested, after the day’s fight, where they
had on the previous night.
General Sherman’s repulse at Vicksburg was complete. The entire force,
under General McClernand, who at that time was the superior officer in
command of the army, though not present during the engagement,
reembarked on the third of January, on transports, closely followed by
the rebel advance, which coming in range of the gunboats was driven back
with severe loss. The Federal loss was six hundred killed, one thousand
five hundred wounded, and one thousand missing.
A council of war was held on the 4th on board the Tigress, which vessel
had been temporarily selected by General McClernand as his headquarters.
Admiral Porter, Major-Generals Sherman and McClernand, with the Generals
of the divisions of the army in Kentucky were present. It was determined
at this council that it would be folly to attempt any thing farther
against Vicksburg with the available force. The rebels had means of
communication by which they were rapidly and heavily reinforced, while
the Unionists had no such opportunity or prospect of receiving
reinforcements. It was, therefore, deemed expedient that the campaign
should be abandoned.
The rebel Generals Pemberton and Price were now in command at Vicksburg,
and their army was reinforced to the extent of fifty thousand men. They
had an artillery force of one hundred and sixty guns in battery, besides
a large number of field-pieces.
CAPTURE OF FORT HINDMAN, ARKANSAS.
JANUARY 10–11, 1863.
Shortly after the defeat of Sherman, the whole rebel force of Tennessee
was precipitated upon General Rosecrans. On the 31st of December, the
battle of Murfreesboro’ ensued, already fully described in this work,
and resulted in the defeat of the rebels at that point, thereby securing
the western part of Tennessee, and the region between Nashville and the
Mississippi river. A few roving bands still infested the region, but as
a whole, the specified space was cleared of the rebel forces. And thus
opened the year 1863 in the West.
General McClernand, wishing to secure his rear from attack, and knowing
that a rebel force existed at Fort Hindman, on the Arkansas river, in
conjunction with Rear-Admiral Porter, planned an expedition which
resulted in a brilliant success to the Federal arms, and destroyed the
hopes of the enemy and their confident anticipations of a victorious
campaign—compelling them to assume defensive, instead of offensive
operations.
A small settlement surrounds the Fort, which for nearly two hundred
years has been known as the “Post of Arkansas.” It is the oldest
settlement in the State. Nearly two centuries ago, there was a Spanish
town in the immediate vicinity, and also a small Spanish fort. Fort
Hindman is situated on the right bank of the Arkansas river, about fifty
miles from its mouth, and one hundred and seventeen miles from Little
Rock, the capital of the State. It was settled in 1685, by the Acadian
French, and was the trading-post for furs from the surrounding country,
during the winter and spring. It had now a few stores, and at intervals
for a dozen miles along the river bank, there was an occasional house.
The fort was a regular, square-bastioned work, one hundred yards
exterior side, with a deep ditch some fifteen feet wide, and a parapet
eighteen feet high.
On the 10th of January, the land forces, under command of General
McClernand, and the flotilla, under Admiral Porter, ascended the river,
and the former disembarked with a view of surrounding the work. During
the night, the gunboats fired a few shots at the work, and in the
morning, the troops being in position, the work commenced in earnest.
The _New York Herald_ correspondent thus describes the attack:
THE BOMBARDMENT.