Morgan, being well forward, was expected to cross the bayou first, and carry the batteries and heights directly before him; but it was noon before he was ready; and, by this time, Frank Blair's and Thayer's brigades of Steele's division were fully abreast of him and ready to go in; Steele's remaining (Hovey's) brigade being close behind them. sand-spit crossed the bayou in front | enemy-ordered a general advance of this division; but it was so swept and assault. and enfiladed by Rebel batteries and rifle-pits, while a difficult abatis forbade egress therefrom on the enemy's side, that to attempt its passage was certain destruction. Nevertheless, Stuart made his dispositions, and was ready to tempt the desperate hazard so soon as Morgan should do likewise. Still farther to the right was A. J. Smith's division, whereof Burbridge's brigade arrived about noon on the 27th; having been dispatched" from Milliken's Bend by Sherman to break up the (uncompleted) Vicksburg and Shreveport Railroad at the Tensas river, burn several long bridges and trestles, and destroy the cotton, corn, &c., there held for the Confederacy-an order which it had thoroughly obeyed. It was now pushed forward to the bayou, with instructions to cannonade the Rebel defenses opposite, while its infantry should hastily construct rafts and cross; A. J. Smith's 2d (Landrum's) brigade holding a key position to the right and rear, having its pickets pushed forward into the abatis in front, with Vicksburg in plain view on its right. During the ensuing night, Steele's division was rëembarked and brought around to the right of the junction of the bayou with the Yazoo, so as to connect closely with Morgan's left; and, all being in readiness, Sherman -having heard nothing as yet of the Holly Springs disaster, though disappointed at the lack of cooperation, or even of tidings, from Grant, being aware that the Rebels in his front were being constantly strengthened, and that time was on the side of his "Dec. 21-22. Blair's brigade had been debarked between Morgan's and M. L. Smith's divisions; but, in advancing, it had obliqued to the left, crossing the track of Morgan's division, detaching, by order, two regiments to support his batteries; working its way to the extreme front of Morgan's left, and crossing the Chickasaw bayou in Steele's van, where both banks were covered by tangled abatis, and where the bayou presents a quicksand bed 300 feet wide, containing water 15 feet wide by 3 deep. Through this, Blair led his brigade fairly across, leaving his horse floundering in the quicksand, while he carried two lines of rifle-pits beyond, under a deluge of shot and shell from front and flanks, which struck down a third of his command; among them Col. T. C. Fletcher," 31st Missouri, who, being wounded, fell into the hands of the enemy; while his Lt.-Col., Simpson, was also wounded, and his Major, Jaensen, was killed. Lt. Col. Dister, 58th Ohio, was also killed here. Col. J. B. Wyman, 13th Illinois, had fallen the day before. De Courcy's brigade of Morgan's division charged on Blair's right; while Thayer, with the 4th Iowa (his other regiments having been 15 Since chosen Governor of Missouri. SHERMAN FAILS TO TAKE VICKSBURG. 291 misdirected), also shared in the peril | lost but 14 killed and 43 wounded. and glory of the assault. But what could valor—the valor of half-a-dozen regiments-avail against such impediments? Pemberton had been rëenforced, during the 27th, by three fresh brigades from Grenada; and more were constantly coming in. His rifle-pits were filled with sharpshooters, whose every bullet drew blood; his gunners had the range of the ford, such as it was, and poured grape and canister into our dauntless but momently decimated heroes, who could not advance, and were stung by the consciousness that they were dying in vain. They fell back, by De Courcy's order, quite as rapidly, though not so proudly, as they had advanced the 17th and 26th Louisiana, by a charge on their flank. capturing 4 flags, with 332 prisoners, and gathering up 500 small arms. Morgan, who had endeavored to throw a pontoon across, had ordered Col. Lindsey, with his own, Sheldon's, and two regiments of Thayer's brigade, to advance simultaneously with Blair and De Courcy, and ford the bayou farther to the right; but Lindsey failed to execute the order: reporting the narrow point at which the bayou was here fordable covered by a masked battery. On our right, the 6th Missouri, in A. J. Smith's advance, likewise went forward at noon, and crossed the bayou on a narrow sand-bar; but they found the bank so steep and so thoroughly swept by the enemy's rifles, that they could not force an ascent, but crouched under the bank, occasionally fired down upon by some eager sharp-shooter, till after dark; when they were withdrawn; having 16 Dec. 30. But Blair's brigade alone lost 636 men this day; Thayer's, 111; Morgan's division, 875; Stuart's brigade, 55: total (including that of the 6th Missouri), 1,734: so that this attempt on Vicksburg can not have cost us less than 2,000 men; while Pemberton reports his casualties at only 63 killed, 134 wounded, and 10 missing: total, 207. Sherman was not give it up. During the rainy night which followed, our men stood or lay without fire in the swamp bordering the execrated bayou, while their leader visited Admiral Porter on board his flag-boat and concerted new efforts. Next day," he scrutinized his own and his enemy's posi tion, and became satisfied that the Rebel lines could not be broken. But might they not be turned? He proposed to the Admiral a combined demonstration against the batteries on their extreme right, upon Drumgould's Bluff, some miles farther up the Yazoo; the Admiral to approach and bombard them, while 10,000 choice troops should attempt to carry them by assault: the residue of our army distracting the enemy's attention by menacing his front nearer Vicksburg with a fresh attack. baffled, but would vent the sending of Rebel rëenforce- | accordingly turned over the com ments to the vital point. The bat- mand. teries carried, our whole army was to John A. McClernand, of Illinois, be hurried thither and solidly estab-a "political General," according lished on the bluff; thence taking to the West Point classification—was all the remaining defenses in flank the coming man. He had been for or in reverse, and fighting its way years a Democratic Representative in on equal terms along the heights into Congress of some note, but had hithVicksburg. erto won no distinction in the field. Having been dispatched from Memphis by Gen. Grant to Vicksburg, he, on his arrival, acquiesced in Sherman's decision to return to Milliken's Bend, where he formally assumed" command, and at once addressed himself to the execution of a purpose which he had formed while on his way down the river." This was the reduction of Fort Hindman, otherwise known as The Post of Arkansas, 50 miles from the Mississippi; where a settlement had been made by the French in 1685, on the first high ground reached in ascending from the great river; eligibly situated in a fertile and productive, though swampy, region, and commanding the navigation of the important river whose name it bears. It had been fortified by the Confederates, having a parapet 18 feet across and a ditch 20 feet wide by 8 deep, with strong casemates, a banquette for infantry, and a cordon of rifle-pits. But its guns were too few and light, and their powder inferior; so that Gen. T. J. Churchill, who commanded, had never a chance to hold it, with his garrison of hardly 5,000," against the army that now advanced for its reduction Steele's division and one brigade of M. L. Smith's were accordingly embarked; and Sherman, who had left them at midnight, had, by 4 A. M., every man at his post, listening for the sound of Porter's guns; but no sound came. At daybreak, a line from Steele apprised the General that the fog on the river had been so dense that the Admiral had been unable to move; so that the enterprise must be postponed to the next night. But, when the next night came, it was bright moonlight, rendering the proposed attack quite too hazardous; while each hour's delay must inevitably increase the sad probability that the enemy would divine, or at least suspect, what was meditated, and prepare to render the purposed assault more costly than that of the 29th. The swamp wherein our men were encamped would be drowned by the next heavy rain; there were already ominous rumors afloat, which every thing tended to confirm, that Grant had fallen back, leaving the Rebels free to concentrate 40,000 men at Vicksburg; there was no use in staying: so Sherman resolved to go; and, by sunrise next morning," he had every thing on board, and was on the point of starting for Milliken's Bend; when he was apprised by Admiral Porter that an officer, his senior in rank, had arrived; to whom he -54 regiments in all-which, though doubtless sadly wasted by the bloody campaigns of 1862, must-to say nothing of the fleet-have numbered. more than 20,000 men-probably ARKANSAS POST TAKEN BY MCCLERNAND. 25,000 to 30,000. Directly after assuming command, Gen. McClernand moved up White river 15 miles, to the cut-off; thence across (8 miles) into the Arkansas," and up to Notrib's farm, three miles below the Fort; where his land forces were all debarked by noon of next day; by which time, our gunboats had shelled the enemy's sharp-shooters out of their rifle-pits along the levee, and were soon furiously bombarding the Fort. And now our soldiers, under Gens. Sherman, Morgan, Steele, D. Stuart, A. J. Smith, and Osterhaus, were pushed up to and nearly around the Fort, despite the obstacles presented by bayous and miry swamps; our men lying on their arms that night, without fires or tents, and being in position for a general assault at 10 next morning." At 1 P. M., the gunboats reopened; and, half an hour later, the brigades of Hovey, Thayer, Giles A. and T. R. Smith, had crossed at double-quick the narrow space of open ground directly in their front, gaining partial shelter in a belt of woods from the heavy Rebel fire which here brought them to a temporary halt; when, supported by Blair's brigade, they charged up to within musket-range of the enemy's defenses, where they again found partial shelter in some ravines, skirted by bushes and fallen timber. Meantime, Gen. Hovey had been wounded by a fragment of shell, and Gen. Thayer had had his horse shot under him; but our gunboats and Gen. Morgan's batteries had covered the advance by a rapid fire, silencing a part of the enemy's artillery; Lt. Webster's and Blount's Parrott guns, with Hoff * Jan. 9. 293 man's, Wood's, and Barrett's batteries, rendering efficient service; while Gen. A. J. Smith deployed nine regiments of Burbridge's and Landrum's brigades, supported by three more in reserve, and pressed back the Rebel right behind a cluster of cabins near his intrenchments, whence it was dislodged and driven in by a charge of the 23d Wisconsin, Col. Guppy. Following up his advantage, Smith pushed on his division until it was within 200 yards of the Fort, whence he sent McClernand word that he could almost shake hands with the enemy. By this time, Col. Sheldon, of Osterhaus's division, had sent up Cooley's battery on another face to within 200 yards of the enemy's lines, supported by the 118th and 120th Ohio, with the 69th Indiana in reserve; soon clearing the rifle-pits before them; when the 120th Ohio attempted to scale and carry by assault the east face of the Fort, but were stopped short of the fosse by an impassable ravine. At 3 P. M., the guns of the Fort having been silenced by the fire of our far superior artillery, and Sherman's right having been strengthened by three regiments from Smith's division, McClernand ordered a general assault: when our men dashed forward, and-further resistance being hopeless-a white flag was raised from the ramparts, just as the 120th Ohio, leading the 83d Ohio and 16th Indiana, under Gen. Burbridge, were swarming over the intrenchments on the east, barely in advance of Sherman's and Steele's leading regiments on the north and west. Churchill had received from Lt.Gen. T. H. Holmes [Little Rock], 66 wounded, and thinks ours was from 1,500 to 2,000. McClernand reports his spoils at "5,000" prisoners, 17 guns, 3,000 small arms, beside large quantities of munitions and commissary stores." He makes his losses killed, 129; wounded, 831; missing, 17: total, 977. Having dismantled the Fort, destroyed whatever was combustible that he could not take away, and forwarded his prisoners to St. Louis, he rëembarked," pursuant to orders from General Grant, and returned to Milliken's Bend; having meantime sent an expedition, under Gen. Gorman and Lt.-Com. Walker, up the White river, which captured Des Arc and Duval's Bluff, without resistance. commanding in Arkansas, a telegraphic order to "hold on till help arrived, or till all are dead"-a piece of silly gasconade, which had no warrant in the proximity of a relieving force; but which he says he would have obeyed to the letter, had not "several white flags" been raised, "to my great surprise," by the 24th Texas (dismounted) cavalry. He had no right to be surprised, nor even vexed, if it had really been his intention to subject his men to useless butchery. They had fought with signal gallantry and resolution, so long as hope remained; he admits that the "Fort had now been silenced about an hour, most of the fieldpieces being disabled;" and that his men had nothing to rely upon now save their muskets and bayonets," against an enemy whose ample artillery was still efficient, who had mastered their defenses, and whose numbers were several times their own. Yet he says he had still a "great hope" to keep our whole army "in check till night; and then, if reenforcements did not reach me, to cut my way out;" and trusts" that the traitor who raised the white flag" (he had already stated that there were "several" such)-" will yet be discovered, brought to justice, and suffer the full penalty of the law." Such swagger had for years diffused an impression that the South-Yazoo. Here was the head of the rons were less brave than they were proved by the stern ordeal of battle. Churchill reports his loss at not exceeding 60 killed, and 75 to SO 24 The Missouri Republican has a letter from an eye-witness, dated Arkansas Post, January 12, who makes them 4.500-all of them, but 1,000, from Texas-and adds: "Of the entire force garrisoning the Fort, Gen. Grant having reorganized and refitted at Memphis his more inmediate command, personally dropped down the Mississippi on a swift steamer and met " McClernand, Sherman, and Porter, near the mouth of White river, on their return from their triumphant incursion into Arkansas, accompanying them to Napoleon, where consultations were held, and a plan of action agreed on. McClernand's force moved down the Mississippi next day; somewhat impeded by a violent storm; but reached, on the 21st, Young's Point, nine miles above Vicksburg, on the opposite bank, facing the mouth of the canal projected and partly opened, months before, by Gen. Williams," intended to secure a passage up and down the Mississippi for our vessels, 1.000-mostly Texas cavalry-escaped. taking with them a great portion of the baggage These effected an exit on the night our forces were surrounding the place, and before it could be fully accomplished." 25 Jan 17. 28 Jan. 18. See page 101. |