THE REBELS ABANDON NEW MADRID. had3 success. Pope's siege-guns arrived 55 MAP SHOWING THE RELATIVE POSITIONS OF ISLAND A violent thunder-storm raged through most of the following night; and at daylight it was discovered that the Rebels had left, taking Brig.-Gen. Makall, who assumed it very little with them. Thirty-three in a bombastic proclamation. Meancannon, several thousand small arms, with ammunition, tents, cartridges, wagons, &c., were abandoned by the fugitives, with scarcely an attempt even to destroy them. Our loss during the siege was barely 51 killed and wounded. Com. Foote, with his gunboats, had moved down from Columbus early in March, opening on the Rebel works at No. 10 on the 15th. Two days later, a general attack was made, with five gunboats and four mortarboats; but, though maintained for nine hours, it did very little damage. Beauregard telegraphed to Richmond" that our vessels had thrown 3,000 shells, expended 50 tons of powder, and had killed but one of his men, without damaging his batteries. He soon left for Corinth," ceding the command at No. 10 to "April 1. April 5. time, Gen. Pope's engineers were quietly engaged in cutting a canal, 12 miles long, across the Missouri peninsula, opposite No. 10, through which steamboats and barges were safely transferred to the river below the Rebel stronghold; while two of our heavier gunboats succeeded in passing the island" in a heavy fog. Gen. Pope, thus relieved from all peril from the Rebel flotilla, pushed a division" across the river toward the rear of the remaining Rebel stronghold, and was preparing to follow with the rest of his army, when the Rebels under McCown, sinking their gunboat Grampus, and six transports, abandoned No. 10 to its fate, and escaped eastward, leaving Makall to be driven back upon the swamps, and forced to surrender some thousands of men, several gun The Carondelet, April 4, and the Pittsburg, 42 April 7. April 6. boats, and more than a hundred | fight, and was run upon a shoal, cannon." Com. Foote, having refitted, moved down" the river in order of battle, followed by transports conveying part of Gen. Pope's army; finding his way first impeded at Fort Pillow, or Wright, situated on the first Chickasaw Bluffs, near the Islands Nos. 33 and 34, about 70 miles above Memphis. Landing his mortars on the Arkansas bank, he commenced" a bombardment of the fort at a distance of three-fourths of a mile, and was replied to with energy and accuracy. The high stage of the river prevented cooperation by our army; so the cannonade was kept up for two weeks with spirit on both sides, but with little effect. A powerful ram having been received by the Rebels from below, they resolved to test its efficiency; and accordingly made an attack on our fleet," the ram leading, backed by three gunboats, and making a rush at the Cincinnati, whose rapid broadsides at short range made no impression on her assailant's iron mail. The boats collided with a fearful crash, instantly followed by a broadside from the Cincinnati and a volley of musketry; directly after which, Commander Stembel fired his pistol at the head of the Confederate pilot, killing him instantly. The pilot's mate thereupon shot the Commander through his shoulder and neck, disabling but not killing him. The Cincinnati, though crippled and sinking, was able to withdraw from the 43 Gen. Pope, in his official report, says: "Three Generals, 273 field and company officers, 6,700 prisoners, 123 pieces of heavy artillery-all of the very best character, and of the latest patterns-7,000 stand of small arms, several wharf-boat loads of provisions, an im where she sank; while the Mallory, which had attempted to crush her, was herself caught by the St. Louis, cut into and sunk, most of her crew going down with her. One of the Confederate gunboats had ere this been burnt; another had her boiler exploded by a shot; while the rest were so crippled as to render them nearly ineffective; so they gave up the fight and drifted down the river, under cover of the smoke, to the protection of their batteries. The Cincinnati was our only vessel that had suffered, and she had but 4 wounded. A month later," Fort Pillow was evacuated, as was Fort Randolph, twelve miles below. Some damaged guns were left in them, but nothing of much value. Com. Davis dropped down next day to within gun-shot of Memphis, where he came to anchor; and next morning, with five gunboats and four rams, slowly approached the city. Soon, a Rebel fleet of eight gunboats was seen approaching in order of battle, opening fire when within three-fourths of a mile. The Union ram, Queen of the West, soon struck the Rebel gunboat, Gen. Price, crushing in her wheel-house, and causing her to leak so badly that she was headed at once for the Arkansas shore. boat, Beauregard, now made at the Queen, which attempted to strike her; but the shock was skillfully evaded by the Beauregard's pilot, who struck the Queen aft so heavily as to disable her. The Union ram The Rebel gun MEMPHIS SURRENDERED BY THE REBELS. Monarch thereupon made at the Beauregard, and struck her heavily on the bow, causing her to fill rapidly and sink, while the Monarch took the Queen in tow and drew her out of peril. Com. Davis's flag-boat, the Benton, threw a 50-pound ball from a rifled Parrott into the Rebel gunboat Gen. Lovell, striking her aft, just above the water-line, and tearing a great hole, into which the water rushed in a torrent. In four minutes, she had sunk in 75 feet of water, carrying down a part of her crew. There remained but four of the Rebel boats; and these, which had been for some time drifting, though firing, now turned their bows toward the Arkansas shore, which the Jeff. Thompson soon reached, when her officers and crew leaped off and ran into the woods, while a shell exploding on her deck, set her on fire, and she was burned down to the water. The crew of the Gen. Bragg and the Sumter escaped in like manner; while the swifter Gen. Van Dorn fled down the river. The battle had lasted a little over an hour, and its result was most decisive. No man was killed on board our fleet. Memphis, whose population had all been interested spectators of the combat, surrendered immediately. An expedition, comprising four gunboats and a steam transport, conveying the 46th Indiana, Col. Fitch, was soon dispatched up the Arkansas and White rivers, to open communication with Gen. Curtis, known to be approaching from the West. Reaching St. Charles, the Mound City, then in advance, was fired on from two concealed batteries, 48 June 24. 57 and replied, while our troops were landed below to take those batteries in the rear. A ball, from a siegegun on the bluff, pierced the side of the Mound City, and passed through her steam-drum, filling the vessel instantly with the scalding vapor. Of the 175 persons on board, barely 23 escaped injury. Many jumped overboard, frantic with pain, and were drowned; while the boats sent from the Conestoga to their relief, were fired on by the Rebels with grape and canister, killing most of our scalded and frantic fugitives. In a few minutes, Col. Fitch had carried the works by a charge, capturing 9 guns and about 30 prisoners, including Col. Frye, the commandant. The expedition failed to effect its purpose. The triumphant Union fleet soon proceeded down the river, encountering no serious obstacle till near Vicksburg," where it communicated with Com. Farragut, whose fleet from the Gulf lay below this natural stronghold, accompanied by Gen. Williams, with four regiments of infantry. The Rebel fortifications were bombarded" for several hours, without result; but Lt.-Col. Ellet, with two rams, went that day up the Yazoo river, to capture three Rebel gunboats, which, on his approach, were set on fire and impelled down. the current, with intent to envelop our vessels in the flames. The Rebel boats were destroyed. The siege of Vicksburg was continued by our fleet, and a determined attack made on it July 1, but defeated. The Rebel ram Arkansas came down the Yazoo, ran through the astonished Union fleet, and took 49 June 26. 50 10 July 15. refuge under the batteries of Vicksburg, unharmed. Repeated attempts to destroy or sink her" were defeated by the shore batteries; and, on the 24th, the siege was raised; Com. Farragut, with Gen. Williams, returning down the river; while Com. Davis, with his fleet, steamed up to the mouth of the Yazoo, thus abandoning, for the time, the reopening of the Mississippi. Gen. Grant's victorious army, after a brief rest at Fort Donelson, recrossed, considerably strengthened, to the Tennessee, just above Fort Henry, where several gunboats and a large number of transports, passing down the Cumberland into the Ohio, and thence into the Tennessee, took up our soldiers by regiments and started with them on a new movement up the Tennessee. General Charles F. Smith had been designated by Gen. Halleck to direct this movement, but was soon disabled by the sickness of which he died not long after reaching Savannah, Tenn., and Gen. Grant was thus restored to chief command. The rendezvous of the expedition was at a little place called Danville, where the railroad from Memphis to Clarkesville and Louisville crosses the river. The gunboats Tyler and Lexington had already made a reconnoissance up the Tennessee, meeting their first resistance at PITTSBURG LANDING, an insignificant two-house nucleus of a prospective village, 8 miles above Savannah and 20 miles N.N.E. of Corinth, Miss., at the junction of the Memphis and Charleston with the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The country hence to Corinth is rolling, and generally wooded. Two or three miles southward is Shiloh Church, and some ten miles farther is the road-crossing known as Monterey, where there were half-a-dozen houses. The region is thinly and recently settled; still mainly covered by the primitive forest; gently rolling, and traversed by a number of inconsiderable creeks, making eastward and northward, to be lost in the Tennessee. At Pittsburg Landing, the Tyler found a Rebel battery of six guns, which it silenced, after a mutual cannonade of two hours; returning thence to Danville and reporting. The movement of the army southward on transports was continued— the 46th Ohio, Col. Worthington, leading, on the transport B. J. Adams-so far as Savannah, where it was landed," and proceeded to take military possession. All the transports, 69 in number, conveying nearly 40,000 men, were soon debarking the army, with its material, at and near this place, whence Gen. Lew. Wallace's division was dispatched" to Purdy, a station 16 miles W.S.W., where the railroad was destroyed. Gen. Sherman's first division was next" conveyed up the river to Tyler's Landing, just across the Mississippi State line; whence the 6th Ohio cavalry was dispatched to Burnsville, on the Memphis and Charleston road, some miles eastward of Corinth, which was likewise destroyed without resistance. The expedition then returned unmolested to Savannah. These easy successes, and the fact that no enemy came near or seemed to meditate annoyance, must have imbued our leading officers with a GRANT'S ARMY AT PITTSBURG LANDING. contempt for the power or the prowess of their enemy; since our regiments, as they arrived, were mainly debarked at Pittsburg Landing, on the side of the Tennessee nearest to and within easy striking distance of the Rebel headquarters at Corinth. One of the six divisions, under Gen. Lew. Wallace, was encamped nearly opposite Savannah; the other five were thrown out in a semicircle southward of Pittsburg Landing, with a front like a Methodist camp-meeting, straggling from Lick creek on the south or left, to Snake creek on the north or right, a distance of some three or four miles. Gen. Prentiss's division was encamped across the direct road to Corinth, with Gen. McClernand's behind his right, and Gen. Sherman's still further to the right, with Shiloh church in his front, on a road leading also, but more circuitously, to Corinth. Gen. Hurlbut's division lay in the rear of Gen. Prentiss. Gen. Smith's division, commanded, because of Smith's sickness, by Gen. W. H. L. Wallace, was on the left of and behind McClernand, with its right near Pittsburg Landing and its front somewhat protected by the ravines of two rivulets running into Snake creek. Though the vicinity of the enemy was notorious, not an intrenchment nor defense of any kind, not even an abatis, here so easily made, covered and protected our front; no reconnoitering parties were thrown forward to watch for and report an advance of the enemy; and even the Agate" [Whitelaw Reid], of the Cincinwati Gazette, in his report of the battle, says: "We had lain three weeks at Pittsburg Landing, within 20 miles of the Rebels, that were likely to attack us in superior numbers, with 59 pickets were scarcely a musket-shot from the tents of our foremost regiments; some of which, it was asserted, had not even been provided with ammunition, though it was known. that the woods, scarcely a mile away, had suddenly been found swarming with Rebel scouts and sharp-shooters in such strength as to forbid observation on our part." Low but ominous whispers and meaning glances of exultation among the Rebel civilians in our rear had already given indications that a blow was about to be struck; and alarmed Unionists had sought the tents of our Generals with monitions of danger, which were received with sneering intimations that every one should stick to his trade. Gen. Grant was at Savannah, superintending the reception of supplies. Such was the condition of our forces on Saturday evening, April 5th. Albert Sidney Johnston was probably the ablest commander at any time engaged in the Rebel service. He had braved unpopularity and reproach from the herd of chimneycorner critics who supposed it the duty of a General to run his head against every stone-wall within reach, by refusing to fight losing battles for Bowling Green and Nashville, and had thus brought off his army intact and undemoralized; retreating across the Tennessee and into a region at once undevastated and unappalled by war, full of resources, wherein devotion to the Union had been utterly suppressed, if not eradicated, and whence, by a net-work of railroads and tele out throwing up a single breastwork or preparing a single protection for a battery, and with the brigades of one division [Sherman's] stretched from extreme right to extreme left of our line, while four other divisions had been crowded in between, as they arrived." |