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difficulties the time wore on to the 7th of July, when the following correspondence took place :

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"GENERAL:-Having received information from your troops that Vicksburg has been surrendered, I make this communication to ask you to give me the official assurance whether this is true or not; and if true, I ask for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to the consideration of terms for surrendering this position. "I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"FRANK GARDNER,

86 Major-General Commanding C. S. Forces.

"To Major-General BANKS, Commanding U. S. Forces, near Port Hudson."

66 GENERAL BANKS TO GENERAL GARDNER.

"HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, "BELOW PORT HUDSON, July 8, 1863.

"GENERAL:-In reply to your communication, dated the 7th instant, by flag of truce received a few moments since, I have the honor to inform you that I received yesterday morning, July 7th, at 10.45 o'clock, by the gunboat General Price, an official dispatch from Major-General Ulysses Grant, U. S. Army, whereof the following is a

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"HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE,
July 4, 1863.

Major-General N. P. BANKS, commanding the Department of the Gulf: "GENERAL:-The garrison of Vicksburg surrendered this morning. The number of prisoners, as given by the officers, is twenty-seven thousand, field artillery one hundred and twenty-eight pieces, and a large number of siege-guns, probably not less than eighty.

"Your obedient servant,

"U. S. GRANT, Mujor-General.'

"I regret to say that under present circumstances I cannot consistently with my duty consent to a cessation of hostilities for the purpose you indicate.

"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"N. P. BANKS, Major-General Commanding. “To Major-General FRANK GARDNER, Commanding C. S. Forces, Port Hudson."

The Confederate garrison having now become exhausted, even their mules, and their ammunition being no more than twenty rounds per man, there was now no longer any hope of relief. Vicksburg having surrendered, which gave the Federals the advantage of the Mississippi to transport troops from that point to Port Hudson, the reduction of the latter place, in a very few days, followed as a matter of course. The following capítulation was signed July 8th:

44 ARTICLES OF CAPITULATION.

"Article 1.-Major-General Frank Gardner surrendered to the United States forces under Major-General Banks, the place of Port Hudson and its dependencies, with its garrison, armament, munitions, public funds, material of war, in the condition, as nearly as may be, in which they were at the hour of cessation of hostilities, namely, six o'clock A. M., July 8, 1863.

"Article 2.-The surrender stipulated in Article 1 is qualified by uncondition, save that the officers and enlisted men composing the garrison shall receive the treatment due to prisoners of war, according to the usage of civilized warfare.

"Article 3-All private property of officers and enlisted men shall be inspected and left to their respective owners.

"Article 4.-The position of Port Hudson shall be occupied to-morrow, at nine o'clock A. M., by the forces of the United States, and its garrison received as prisoners of war by such general officers of the United States service as may be designated by MajorGeneral Banks, with the ordinary formalities of rendition. The Confederate troops will be drawn up in line, officers in their positions, the right of the line resting on the edge of the prairie south of the railroad dépôt, the left extending in the direction of the village of Port Hudson. The arms and colors will be piled conveniently, and will be received by the officers of the United States.

"Article 5.-The sick and wounded of the garrison will be cared for by the authorities of the United States, assisted, if desired, by either party of the medical officers of the garrison.

"CHARLES P. STONE, Brigadier-General.

"W. N. MILES, Colonel Commanding Right Wing of the Army.

"WM. DWIGHT, Brigadier-General.

"G. W. STEDMAN, Colonel Commanding the Left Wing of the Army.

"MARSHAL J. SMITH, Lieutenant-Colonel, Chief Artillery.

"HENRY W. BIRGE, Colonel Commanding Fifth Brigade, Grover's Division. N. P. BANKS, Major-General. FRANK GARDNER, Major-General."

"(Approved.)
"(Approved.)

The place was taken possession of accordingly, July 9th, at 7 A. M. As the victors entered, they found the Confederates all drawn up in line of battle, with arms stacked in front of them, and the hungry soldiers of General Gardner were soon well fed from the commissariat of the Union army, from which six thousand rations were drawn. The number of rebel soldiers drawn up in line when the surrender took place was about four thousand. In addition to this number there were about one thousand five hundred sick and wounded; the wounded numbered about five hundred. The enemy's report was two hundred killed, five hundred and seventeen wounded, and six thousand prisoners.

The number of guns taken was fifty, of which, however, all but fifteen had been dismounted by the Union fire. The capture of smallarms was nearly forty thousand, including some that had been gathered by the enemy when burying the Union dead. The following dispatch was received at Washington:

"VICKSBURG, MISS., July 11, 1863-3 P. M.

"Major-General HALLECK, General-in-Chief:
"The following dispatch has been received from General Banks:-

"BEFORE PORT HUDSON, July 8, 1863. "GENERAL:-The Mississippi is now opened. I have the honor to inform you that the garrison at Port Hudson surrendered unconditionally this afternoon. We shall take formal possession at seven o'clock in the morning.

"'U. S. GRANT, Major-General.'"

(Signed) “* N. P. BANKS, Major-General.'

The following is a chronological record of the operations against Port Hudson from the first movements of General Banks and the fleet :

April 12, 1863.-General Banks moves from Brashear City and attacks Patersonville. April 13, 1863.-Patersonville captured by General Banks.

April 20, 1863.-General Banks captures Bute La Rose and Opelousas.

April 21, 1863.-General Banks occupies Washington, La.

May 7, 1863.-General Banks's advance occupies Alexandria.

May 8, 9, and 10, 1863.-The mortar-boats bombard Port Hudson.

May 12, 1863.-Reconnoissance in the rear of Port Hudson by General Dudley.

May 19, 1863.-General Dudley makes another reconnoissance within a mile and a half of the works.

May 21, 1863.-General Augur's Brigade has an engagement at Port Hudson. May 23, 1863.-General Banks lands above Port Hudson, forms a junction with his main body, and closely invests the place.

May 27, 1863.-General Banks opens a combined assault, the gunboats participating.

June 14, 1863.-General Banks summons General Gardner to surrender, and upon being refused, commences a furious assault, which is repulsed.

June 15, 1863.-General Banks announces that he will renew the assault, and calls for a forlorn hope.

July 8, 1863.-Port Hudson surrenders unconditionally.

These two great events, the fall of Vicksburg and the surrender of Port Hudson, put an end forever to the Confederate occupation of the Mississippi River, and left that mighty stream open to the free passage of vessels from the Northwest to the ocean. Thus the promise of the great Northwest to open the river was redeemed.

CHAPTER XLI.

New Movement against Richmond.-Lee's Flank Turned.-Battle of Chancellorsville.— Retreat of Hooker.-Operations by Sedgwick.

AFTER several months of delay, caused by the state of the roads, and the necessity of thorough preparation for so arduous a campaign as the movement upon Richmond was likely to prove, General Hooker finally completed his arrangements, and with the improved state of the roads was prepared to march. This was the more necessary as a large portion of his army was composed of two-years and nine-months men, whose terms of service were about to expire, and whose places no measures had been taken to supply. He had, to use his own words, "the finest army on the planet," raised to that state of perfection by the profuse supply of all descriptions of munitions of war, and long months of camp instruction. He had the experience of McDowell's campaign, of McClellan's Peninsula campaign, of Pope's Manassas campaign, and of Burnside's Fredericksburg campaign, to guide him. He was conducting the fourth attempt upon Richmond. He knew fully the ground over which he was to travel, the enemy with whom he had to deal, and was aware that in General Lee he had a skilful

Joseph Hooker was born in Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1819, graduated at West Point in 1837, and was commissioned in the same year a second lieutenant of artillery. He was successively brevetted captain, major, and lieutenant-colonel for gallant conduct in the Mexican war, and in 1848 became full captain. He resigned his commission in 1853, and settled on a farm in California He was appointed a brigadier-general of volunteers in May, 1861, and for a number of months commanded a division in Southern Maryland. He bore a distinguished part in all the chief battles of the Peninsula campaign, and also in the second Bull Run campaign, and in September, 1862, was promoted to the command of the First Army Corps. In July, 1862, he was commissioned a major-general of volunteers. He fought with great bravery at Antietam, where he was wounded, and, after

Burnside assumed command of the Army of the Potomac, was assigned to the centre grand division. In January, 1868, he succeeded Burnside in command of the Army of the Potomac, fought the battle of Chancellorsville in the ensuing May, and was relieved by Meade, June 27th. Subsequently,in command of the Eleventh and Twelfth Army Corps, he was sent to relieve Rosecrans at Chattanooga, and distinguished himself in the operations ending with the defeat of Bragg in November. As commander of the Twentieth Corps, consolidated from the Eleventh and Twelfth, he participated in Sherman's Atlanta campaign, but was relieved at his own request, in the latter part of July, 1864. Soon after, he was appointed to the Department of the North. He is at present a brigadier-general in the regular army, and commands the Department of the East.

strategist, and in his army a powerful host of veterans, to overcome. General Hooker thus possessed all the advantages of personal training, experience, observation, and knowledge which a good leader, with his superior army, could reasonably ask, in order to insure complete success to his great enterprise. The confidence of the Government and the hopes of the country were with him.

The enemy, under Lee and Jackson, still held Fredericksburg, and the formidable works which had been so fatal to Burnside in December. Their force was, however, a matter of conjecture. It was known that numbers of troops, including Longstreet's command, had been sent to Suffolk and North Carolina to assist the operations there, and it was supposed that detachments had been sent in other direc tions. It was also known that the army at Fredericksburg was connected by railroad direct with Richmond, and southwesterly by way of Gordonsville, and that without those connections the Confederates could neither retreat nor receive supplies to maintain their position. The campaign was based on these facts. It was determined to send a sufficient cavalry force, under Stoneman, by a circuitous route, to the rear of the Confederates, and cut the bridges which cross the North Anna and South Anna Rivers on the Fredericksburg road. The former, one hundred and fifty feet long and eighty feet high, if effectually destroyed, would require a fortnight to replace, a time which, well employed, would be fatal to Lee. At the same time a portion of the army was to attack Fredericksburg in front, to turn the right of the enemy, while the main force, crossing the Rapidan some distance above its junction with the Rappahannock, should come in on his left, thus reducing the enemy to surrender in case of defeat, while Hooker would still have his retreat open in case of disaster. The army of Hooker was composed of seven corps, viz.: the First, Reynolds; Second, Couch; Third, Sickles; Fifth, Meade; Sixth, Sedgwick; Eleventh, Howard (late Sigel); and Twelfth, Slocum.

On the morning of April 27th, the Eleventh Corps, Howard, composed of the German Divisions of Schurz and Steinwehr, and of that of Devens, marched for Kelly's Ford on the Rappahannock, near the line of the Manassas and Gordonsville Railroad, and twenty-five miles west of Fredericksburg. The troops crossed on the night of the 28th, followed on the next day by the Twelfth and Fifth Corps, which crossed at the United States Ford, nearer Fredericksburg. The three corps turned then eastward, and marched down the narrow strip of land between the Rapidan and the Rappahannock for Chancellorsville, nine miles from Fredericksburg. The Germania Ford, on the Rapidan, was reached at noon by the Fifth Corps, on the left. The cavalry pushed on towards Fredericksburg, but were met by the enemy six miles from the junction of the turnpike with the plankroad, and driven back. Meantime, on May 1st and 2d, the First, Third, and two divisions of the Second Corps, had crossed by Banks, and the United States Ford, and joined the other corps. Thus the entire Army of the Potomac, with the exception of the Thirteenth Corps and one division of the Second under Gibbon, which were left behind at the former position near Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg, had crossed the Rappahannock, and, having

turned the left of the enemy, had gained his rear, and were concentrated near Chancellorsville. So promising did matters look, that Hooker, in the excess of this confidence, issued the following order :

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"It is with heartfelt satisfaction that the General Commanding announces to the army that the operations of the last three days have determined that our enemy must ingloriously fly, or come out from behind his defences, and give us battle on our own ground, where certain destruction awaits him.

"The operations of the Fifth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Corps have been a series of splendid successes.

"By command of Major-General Hooker.

"S. WILLIAMS, Adjutant-General."

The effect of this movement of the army was to turn the formidable works behind Fredericksburg, the assault of which had cost Burnside so dearly, in December, and threaten the communication of the enemy with Gordonsville, which was his only line of retreat, in case the mission of Stoneman to cut the bridges over the North and South Anna Rivers should prove successful, and compel him to fight on ground chosen by Hooker. It resulted that the enemy was compelled to leave his works to clear the route to Gordonsville. Although the movement of Hooker had been a complete surprise, the rebel commander took prompt measures to counteract it. Meanwhile, the Union troops were got as rapidly into position, around Chancellorsville, as circumstances would permit, and on the 2d of May were disposed in an irregular V, of which the longer leg, comprising four corps, had a southwesterly direction, and the shorter one turned rather to the north. Chancellorsville was the apex. In the longer line, Meade's Fifth Corps held the extreme left, near Scott's dam on the Rappahannock, with its left extending beyond Chancellorsville, which is a single house at the junction of a plankroad and a turnpike leading from Fredericksburg to Gordonsville, ten miles southwest from Fredericksburg. The Gordonsville turnpike has a general southwesterly course, and along this road, to the right of the Fifth Corps, was the Twelfth Corps, the Third being on its right, and the Eleventh on the extreme right. On the shorter line, the Second Corps held the position next to Chancellorsville, and adjoining it, on the road to the United States Ford, was the First Corps. Chancellorsville was the key of the place, and Hooker's headquarters were established there. The Eleventh Corps had its extreme right in a densely wooded land covered with the closest undergrowth, and considered unassailable. The Union troops immediately began, May 1st, to fortify the whole position, and await the development of the secondary movements-those of Stoneman and Sedgwick.

On the morning of the 2d, a force of the enemy approached by the plankroad from Fredericksburg, and attacked the Fifth Corps. The battery of Knapp opened upon them and caused them to return. the afternoon they again approached in force, when Geary's Division of Slocum's Twelfth Corps was sent into the woods to flank the advance. They encountered a sharp fire, and Kane's Brigade broke in disorder,

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