thirty transports, and reached Grand Ecore when the army was at
Natchitoches preparing for an immediate march. As the river was rising
slowly the advance was continued with six smaller gunboats and twenty
transports, having army stores and a part of General Smith’s division on
board. Starting on the 7th of April, Springfield landing was reached on
the third day. Here a large steamer sunk in the river obstructed further
progress; and information was received that the army had met with a
reverse. Orders also came to General Smith’s troops to return to Grand
Ecore with the transports. The fleet, therefore, turned back, but was
constantly annoyed by the enemy on the bank of the river. Two of the
fleet at Grand Ecore were found above the bar, and not likely to get
away until there was a rise of water in the river.
The continued low water in the Red river, and the difficulty of keeping
up a line of supplies, caused the army to fall back to Alexandria. The
march commenced in the afternoon of April 21st, by starting the baggage
train with a suitable guard. At 2 o’clock the next morning the army
began silently to evacuate its position, General Smith’s force forming
the rear guard. Soon after daylight, the enemy observing the movement,
began his pursuit, but with so small a force that only slight
skirmishing took place. The army reached Alexandria without serious
fighting, on the 27th of April.
* * * * *
The difficulties and dangers which the naval commander was called upon
to meet and overcome are worthy of more than a passing notice. During
the return of the vessels through the narrow and snaggy river, they were
assailed continually by rebel batteries on the shore, and were followed
and attacked at all favorable points by thousands of infantry and horse
artillery.
On the 12th of April a severe engagement occurred, owing to an attempt,
by a rebel force of two thousand men, to capture the iron-clad Osage and
the transport Black Hawk, which had grounded. Flushed with their recent
victory over Banks’s army, the rebels displayed unwonted courage, and
soon drove all the men from the transport to the safe casemates of the
monitor; but a destructive cross-fire from the Osage and Lexington
quickly put them to flight with severe loss.
Every day difficulties of this character occurred, as the vessels were
constantly grounding, until they arrived at Grand Ecore, when greater
and more serious obstacles presented themselves, which threatened the
loss of the most valuable vessels of the fleet.
The rebels were industriously employed in cutting off the supply of
water from various channels up the river, in the hope of preventing the
passage of the vessels over the bar at Grand Ecore, and the result
appeared to promise success to their plans. The heavy vessels were
constantly grounding, and, on the 26th of April, the commander of the
Eastport, after laboring night and day for a week to carry his vessel
over the sand-bars and logs by which she was clogged, was compelled to
blow her up, after removing all her stores and available equipments.
On the 4th of May the steamers Covington, Warner, and Signal were
captured by about two thousand rebels, who attacked them from the banks
of the river, killing or capturing forty of their crew.
The crowning act of heroism and of engineering skill in this unfortunate
campaign, is described in the report of Admiral Porter, in detailing the
passage of the Falls of Alexandria by the fleet:
“MISSISSIPPI SQUADRON, FLAGSHIP BLACK HAWK, }
“MOUTH RED RIVER, May 16th, 1864. }
“SIR: I have the honor to inform you that the vessels lately caught by
low water above the Falls of Alexandria, have been released from their
unpleasant position. The water had fallen so low that I had no hope or
expectation of getting the vessels out this season, and, as the army
had made arrangements to evacuate the country, I saw nothing before me
but the destruction of the best part of the Mississippi squadron.
“There seems to have been an especial Providence in providing a man
equal to the emergency. Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey, Acting Engineer of
the Nineteenth army corps, proposed a plan of building a series of
dams across the rocks at the falls, and raising the water high enough
to let the vessels pass over. This proposition looked like madness,
and the best engineers ridiculed it; but Colonel Bailey was so
sanguine of success that I requested to have it done, and he entered
heartily into the work. Provisions were short and forage was almost
out, and the dam was promised to be finished in ten days or the army
would have to leave us. I was doubtful about the time, but I had no
doubt about the ultimate success, if time would only permit. General
Banks placed at the disposal of Colonel Bailey all the forces he
required, consisting of some three thousand men and two or three
hundred wagons. All the neighboring steam-mills were torn down for
material; two or three regiments of Maine men were set at work felling
trees, and on the second day after my arrival in Alexandria, from
Grand Ecore, the work had fairly begun.
“Trees were falling with great rapidity; teams were moving in all
directions, bringing in brick and stone; quarries were opened;
flatboats were built to bring stone down from above, and every man
seemed to be working with a vigor I have seldom seen equalled, while
perhaps not one in fifty believed in the undertaking. These fails are
about a mile in length, filled with rugged rocks, over which, at the
present stage of water, it seemed to be impossible to make a channel.
“The work was commenced by running out from the left bank of the river
a tree dam, made of the bodies of very large trees, brush, brick, and
stone, cross-tied with heavy timber, and strengthened in every way
which ingenuity could devise. This was run out about three hundred
feet into the river; four large coal barges were then filled with
brick and sunk at the end of it. From the right bank of the river,
cribs filled with stone were built out to meet the barges, all of
which was successfully accomplished, notwithstanding there was a
current running of nine miles an hour, which threatened to sweep every
thing before it.
“It will take too much time to enter into the details of this truly
wonderful work; suffice it to say that the dam had nearly reached
completion in eight days’ working time, and the water had risen
sufficiently on the upper falls to allow the Fort Hindman, Osage, and
Neosho, to get down and be ready to pass the dam. In another day it
would have been high enough to enable all the other vessels to pass the
upper falls. Unfortunately, on the morning of the 9th instant, the
pressure of water became so great that it swept away two of the
stone-barges, which swung in below the dam on one side. Seeing this
unfortunate accident, I jumped on a horse and rode up to where the upper
vessels were anchored, and ordered the Lexington to pass the upper
falls, if possible, and immediately attempt to go through the dam. I
thought I might be able to save the four vessels below, not knowing
whether the persons employed on the work would ever have the heart to
renew the enterprise.
“The Lexington succeeded in getting over the upper falls just in time,
the water rapidly falling as she was passing over. She then steered
directly for the opening in the dam, through which the water was rushing
so furiously that it seemed as if nothing but destruction awaited her.
Thousands of beating hearts looked on, anxious for the result.
“The silence was so great as the Lexington approached the dam that a pin
might almost have been heard to fall. She entered the gap with a full
head of steam on, pitched down the roaring torrent, made two or three
spasmodic rolls, hung for a moment on the rocks below, was then swept
into deep water by the current, and rounded to safely into the bank.
“Thousands of voices rose in one deafening cheer, and universal joy
seemed to pervade the face of every man present. The Neosho followed
next—all her hatches battened down, and every precaution taken against
accident. She did not fare as well as the Lexington, her pilot having
become frightened as he approached the abyss, and stopped her engine
when I particularly ordered a full head of steam to be carried. The
result was that for a moment her hull disappeared from sight, under the
water. Every one thought she was lost. She rose, however, swept along
over the rocks with the current, and fortunately escaped with only one
hole in her bottom, which was stopped in the course of an hour. The
Hindman and Osage both came through beautifully without touching a
thing, and I thought if I was only fortunate enough to get my large
vessels as well over the falls, my fleet once more would do good service
on the Mississippi.
[Illustration: CONFEDERATE GENERALS. BEAUREGARD. E. KIRBY SMITH. BEN.
M’CULLOCH. LEONIDAS POLK. F. K. ZOLLICOFFER. J. E. B. STUART. STERLING
PRICE. JOHN H. MORGAN.]
“The accident to the dam, instead of disheartening Colonel Bailey, only
induced him to renew his exertions, after he had seen the success of
getting four vessels through. The noble-hearted soldiers, seeing their
labor of the last eight days swept away in a moment, cheerfully went to
work to repair damages, being confident now that all the gunboats would
be finally brought over. The men had been working for eight days and
nights, up to their necks in water, in the broiling sun, cutting trees
and wheeling bricks, and nothing but good humor prevailed among them. On
the whole, it was very fortunate the dam was carried away, as the two
barges that were swept away from the centre swung around against some
rocks on the left and made a fine cushion for the vessels, and prevented
them, as it afterward appeared, from running on certain destruction.
“The force of the water and the current being too great to construct a
continuous dam of six hundred feet across the river in so short a time,
Colonel Bailey determined to leave a gap of fifty-five feet in the dam,
and build a series of wing dams on the upper falls. This was
accomplished in three days’ time, and on the 11th instant the Mound
City, the Carondolet, and Pittsburgh came over the upper falls, a good
deal of labor having been expended in hauling them through, the channel
being very crooked, scarcely wide enough for them. Next day the Ozark,
Louisville, Chillicothe, and two tugs also succeeded in crossing the
upper falls.
“Immediately afterward, the Mound City, Carondolet, and Pittsburgh
started in succession to pass the dam, all their hatches battened down
and every precaution being taken to prevent accident.
“The passage of these vessels was a most beautiful sight, only to be
realized when seen. They passed over without an accident except the
unshipping of one or two rudders. This was witnessed by all the troops,
and the vessels were heartily cheered when they passed over. Next
morning at ten o’clock, the Louisville, Chillicothe, Ozark, and two tugs
passed over without an accident, except the loss of a man, who was swept
off the deck of one of the tugs. By three o’clock that afternoon, the
vessels were all coaled, ammunition replaced, and all steamed down the
river with the convoy of transports in company. A good deal of
difficulty was anticipated in getting over the bars in lower Red
river—the depth of water reported only five feet; gunboats were drawing
six. Providentially, we had a rise from the back-water of the
Mississippi—that river being very high at that time—the back-water
extending to Alexandria, one hundred and fifty miles distant, enabling
us to pass all the bars and obstructions with safety.
“Words are inadequate to express the admiration I feel for the abilities
of Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey. This is, without doubt, the best
engineering feat ever performed. Under the best circumstances, a private
company would not have completed this work under one year, and to an
ordinary mind the whole thing would have appeared an impossibility.
Leaving out his abilities as an engineer, and the credit he has
conferred upon the country, he has saved to the Union a valuable fleet,
worth nearly two million of dollars. More, he has deprived the enemy of
a triumph which would have emboldened them to carry on the war a year or
two longer; for the intended departure of the army was a fixed fact, and
there was nothing left for me to do, in case that event occurred, but to
destroy every part of the vessels, so that the rebels could make nothing
of them. The highest honors the Government can bestow on Colonel Bailey
can never repay him for the service he has rendered the country.
“To General Banks, personally, I am much indebted for the happy manner
in which he has forwarded this enterprise, giving it his whole
attention, night and day, scarcely sleeping while the work was going on;
tending personally to see that all the requirements of Colonel Bailey
were complied with on the instant.
“I do not believe there ever was a case where such difficulties were
overcome in such a short space of time, and without any preparation.
* * * * *
“DAVID D. PORTER, Rear-Admiral.
“HON. GIDEON WELLES, Sec’y of the Navy, Washington, D. C.”
* * * * *
The last of the gunboats passed the falls on the 12th of May, and on the
next day Alexandria was evacuated. The town was fired in several places
by some evil-disposed persons connected with the army, and most of the
inhabitants thus reduced to suffering and want.
OPERATIONS IN GEORGIA—BATTLE OF TUNNEL HILL.
FEBRUARY 22, 1864.
While Sherman’s expedition was marching on Meridian, a force of rebels
detached from the army of Johnston—who had superseded Bragg—near Dalton,
was sent out to reinforce Polk, in Alabama. This caused General Grant to
direct a forward movement upon Dalton, which commenced February 22d, and
led to severe fighting. On the day specified, a strong column of
infantry, preceded by Colonel Harrison’s cavalry, set out from
Chattanooga on the road to Tunnel Hill and Dalton. The expedition was
under the direction of General Palmer, whose able coadjutors were
Generals Johnson, Davis, Baird and Carlin. No opposition was encountered
east of the Chickamauga. Colonel Harrison, however, caught sight of some
rebel cavalry and chased them through Ringgold’s Gap and Taylor’s Ridge.
The enemy’s mounted force, consisting of Tennessee cavalry, had at first
fled in confusion, but finally took heart and skirmished with
considerable spirit.
About four o’clock, P. M., the Union troops came in sight of Tunnel
Hill, and here the enemy made a determined stand. Colonel Harrison, who,
as was his wont, had kept close upon the heels of the foe, now found
himself confronted by vastly superior numbers; but no sooner did he
perceive the infantry advancing to his support, than he dashed at the
rebels and drove them in wild dismay out of the town of Tunnel Hill. The
rebel General Wheeler, with an entire brigade of cavalry and four pieces
of artillery, now checked the career of the daring patriot Colonel.
Their cannon opened furiously and effectively upon the assailants, to
which the Union artillery replied with resonant thunder, compelling
Colonel Brown’s rebel cavalry, who were assailing Colonel Harrison’s
right, to shrink from the contest. The fight continued, however, till
night descended upon the field of battle, and parted the combatants.
The Union forces, for the purpose of procuring supplies, had retired
about four miles in the direction of Dalton. General Stanley’s command,
with the Fourth Ohio cavalry under Colonel Long, had, in the mean time,
approached from the neighborhood of Cleveland; and, on the following
morning, the advance of the whole expedition was resumed at ten o’clock.
It arrived at half-past eleven in immediate proximity to the town of
Tunnel Hill. The skirmishing became very brisk, and the cavalry were
compelled to await the support of the infantry, which they no sooner
received than they advanced in column upon the enemy’s position. The
rebels, who had hitherto remained concealed, now disclosed a battery,
planted on a hill to the right of the tunnel, from which shell were
thrown with fatal accuracy into the midst of the Union ranks. This
occasioned a precipitate but orderly withdrawal. Captain Hotchkiss now
trained two ten-pound Parrotts of the Second Minnesota battery upon this
noisy rebel eyrie, but his shells failed to explode, and Captain Harris,
of the Nineteenth Indiana battery, was obliged to send his compliments
to the rebels from two pieces on the left of the road, before they would
vacate their commanding position.
General Morgan, with equal wisdom and daring, now marched his troops
along the crest of Tunnel Hill, caught the enemy on the right flank, and
turned his works without opposition. General Wainwright was, at the same
time, advancing with the view of performing the same feat on the enemy’s
left. The rebels fled without firing a gun, and Tunnel Hill was
captured.
THE RECONNAISSANCE AND BATTLE AT ROCKY FACE RIDGE.
FEBRUARY 25, 1864.
The enemy was pursued along the road to Dalton to a gorge about three
miles from the town. The railroad runs through this gorge, formed in
Rocky Face Ridge or Buzzard’s Roost, and the position occupied here by
the rebels appeared to be almost impregnable. An advance on the 24th had
driven the enemy from all the ridge north of the creek, but on the
retirement of the Union troops at night, it was reoccupied by the
rebels, who, being now thoroughly aroused to their danger, recalled
Claiborne’s, Stevenson’s, and other divisions to aid in repelling their
assailants.
At about eleven o’clock, A. M., on the 25th, soon after all the forces
comprising the expedition had arrived, the Union troops, in long blue
lines, moved in splendid order upon the enemy’s works. The skirmishers
became at once closely engaged in the woodland. The advance was steady
and rapid, clearing the enemy from the ridge as it proceeded. The object
of the reconnoissance was accomplished; the enemy, in overwhelming
force, was found to be strongly posted in the gorge, and, accordingly
after much heavy skirmishing, the Union forces were ordered to retire.
Some rebel cavalry attempted to pursue them, but were soon driven out of
sight. The capture of Tunnel Hill, and the other important operations of
the expedition, had been accomplished with a loss of about seventy-five
killed and two hundred and fifty wounded. The rebels suffered much more
severely.
THE CAPTURE OF UNION CITY, TENN.
MARCH 25, 1864.
The Federal posts in West Tennessee and Kentucky, were, in consequence
of the withdrawal of the forces under Generals Sherman and A. J. Smith
from Vicksburg, left much exposed, and General Forrest did not hesitate
to avail himself of the opportunity thus presented of successfully
attacking them. He accordingly concentrated and reinforced his command,
and, on the 23d of March, started, with about five thousand men, from
Jackson, Tenn., and reached Union City on the twenty-fourth. Here he
found Colonel Hawkins with the Eleventh Tennessee Union cavalry,
consisting of about four hundred and fifty men. At first Colonel Hawkins
refused to surrender. His subordinate officers were confident of their
ability to hold out till succor arrived, which they believed would soon
reach them. Colonel Hawkins was, however, less sanguine, and finally
surrendered to the enemy after a slight assault, who captured beside the
garrison, two hundred horses and five hundred small arms. Hardly had the
place been surrendered, when General Brayman, from Cairo, advanced to
its relief. When within six miles from the post, he learned that its
surrender had just taken place, and marched back with the shameful
tidings to Cairo.
THE ATTACK OF PADUCAH, KY.
MARCH 26, 1864.
General Forrest, after taking possession of Hickman, moved north with
Buford’s division, marching direct from Jackson to Paducah, in fifty
hours. The veteran Colonel Hicks, who commanded at Paducah, was,
however, apprised of his approach in time to notify the inhabitants by
special order, and to provide for their safety by removing them to the
other side of the river. The pell-mell rush to the wharf of men, women,
and children, was, in itself, tumultuous, but fortunately means were at
hand to transfer them, so that few were remaining when the attack was
made on the city. Colonel Hicks, conscious of the great numerical
superiority of the enemy, estimated at from ten to fifteen thousand,
ordered his entire command into Fort Anderson, consisting of five
companies of the Sixteenth Kentucky, three companies of the One Hundred
and Forty-second Illinois, and a detachment of the First Kentucky
artillery, (colored) in all six hundred and eighty-five, exclusive of
the Union citizens of Paducah for whom arms could be found.
The fort mounted six guns, and contained ammunition and rations barely
sufficient for one day. It was a good earthwork defence, with a ditch
around it, standing about five hundred yards down the river from the
centre of the town. The enemy’s advance came in sight at one o’clock,
and shortly after the main body appeared, forming a line which was
little less than two miles long. Forrest pushed his line rapidly and
steadily forward. A detachment of several hundred rebels dashed into and
through the deserted city till they came within rifle-range of the fort,
where they took possession of the neighboring houses, from which they
could look into it and pick off the garrison. The rebel and Union
artillery had already exchanged shots, and the two gunboats in the
river, the Paw-Paw and the Piosta, began to play upon the rebel
sharpshooters ranging through the city. The enemy now prepared to make a
charge upon the fort. The assaulting force was greeted on its first
appearance with a heavy and well-directed fire, which caused a portion
of it to veer to the right and seek the cover of the uneven ground and
the suburban buildings, but still the advance was continued. When within
a good rifle-range, it was received with a fire that caused the men to
fall to the ground by scores. The gunboat Piosta at the same time poured
a steady stream of shells upon the attacking party. A number of them
gave way, and though some of them charged up to the ditch, disorder
prevailed, and presently the whole force broke and fled in confusion,
leaving two hundred killed and wounded upon the field.
The railroad depot, and the city, in several places, were on fire. The
fight, between the rebel sharpshooters and the gunboats was still
spiritedly sustained. So fatal was the Confederate fire, that the upper
guns of the boats could not be worked, and even those behind the
casemates were loaded in peril. The ill-starred city was exposed to
destruction from friend and foe. The rebels allowed the buildings they
occupied to begin to crumble and fall before they slackened their fire.
Forrest’s aid, under a flag of truce, now presented a note from the
rebel leader to Colonel Hicks, demanding the immediate and unconditional
surrender of the fort and garrison, and threatening, in case of refusal,
to take it by storm, and grant no quarter. The war-worn Colonel Hicks
promptly replied that he would not fail to do his duty in defending the
post to the last. This refusal to surrender was quickly followed by
another impetuous assault upon the fort. The daring Brigadier-General A.
P. Thompson, formerly a citizen of Paducah, led the Kentucky rebels
against the Union fort. A fire, more galling than ever, was opened by
the rebel sharpshooters upon the garrison as the main column rushed upon
the fort. Murderous discharges from the small arms and cannon of the
fort, and the raining shell of the gunboats, made fearful havoc in the
rebel ranks as they advanced. Still the rebel general persevered,
setting his men an example which would have insured the capture of the
position, had he not, when but forty feet from the fort, been instantly
killed by the explosion of a shell from the Piosta. His fall struck
dismay into the hearts of his followers, and they consequently suffered
a disastrous repulse.