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CHAPTER VII.

THE ATTEMPT ON VICKSBURG.

GENERAL GRANT directed General Sherman to proceed with the right wing of the Thirteenth Corps to the mouth of the Yazoo River, and there disembark and attempt the capture of Vicksburg from the north side, while he himself, with the left wing, should move on Jackson, against the enemy from the rear, and, uniting the two columns, proceed to invest the place, in the event of the first part of the plan proving impracticable.

Before entering upon the duty now confided to him, Sherman issued the following characteristic orders, dated Memphis, December 18, 1862:

"I. The expedition now fitting out is purely of a military character, and the interests involved are of too important a character to be mixed up with personal and private business. No citizen, male or female, will be allowed to accompany it, unless employed as part of a crew, or as servants to the transports. Female chambermaids to the boats, and nurses to the sick alone, will be allowed, unless the wives of captains and pilots actually belonging to the boats. No laundress, officer's or soldier's wife must pass below Helena.

"II. No person whatever, citizen, officer, or sutler, will, on any consideration, buy or deal in cotton, or other produce of the country. Should any cotton be brought on board of any transport, going or returning, the brigade quartermaster, of which the boat forms a part, will take possession of it, and invoice it to Captain A. R. Eddy, chief quartermaster at Memphis.

"III. Should any cotton or other produce be brought back

to Memphis by any chartered boat, Captain Eddy will take possession of the same, and sell it for the benefit of the United States. If accompanied by its actual producer, the planter or factor, the quartermaster will furnish him with a receipt for the same, to be settled for on proof of his loyalty at the close of the war.

"IV. Boats ascending the river may take cotton from the shore for bulkheads to protect their engines or crew, but on arrival at Memphis it must be turned over to the quartermaster, with a statement of the time, place, and name of its owner. The trade in cotton must await a more peaceful state of affairs.

"V. Should any citizen accompany the expedition below Helena, in violation of those orders, any colonel of a regiment, o captain of a battery, will conscript him into the service of the United States for the unexpired term of his command. If he show a refractory spirit, unfitting him for a soldier, the commanding officer present will turn him over to the captain of the boat as a deck-hand, and compel him to work in that capacity, without wages, until the boat returns to Memphis.

"VI. Any person whatever, whether in the service of the United States or transports, found making reports for publication which might reach the enemy, giving them information, aid, and comfort, will be arrested and treated as spies."

Sherman embarked at Memphis on the 20th of December, 1862, two days later than the time originally designated, having been delayed by the great want of steamboat transportation.

The three divisions of A. J. Smith, M. L. Smith, and Morgan, reported a grand aggregate of thirty thousand and sixty-eight officers and men of all arms for duty. At Helena his force was increased by the division of Brigadier-General Frederick Steele, twelve thousand three hundred and ten strong, comprising the brigades of Brigadier-Generals C. E. Hovey, John M. Thayer, Wyman, and Frank P. Blair, Jr. The place of rendezvous was at Friar's Point, on the left bank of the Mississippi, below Helena. The fleet reached Milliken's

Bend on the night of the twenty-fourth. On Christmas day Brigadier-General Burbridge landed with his brigade of A. J. Smith's division, and broke up the Vicksburg and Texas railway for a long distance near the crossing of the Tensas; and without waiting for his return, Sherman pushed on to a point opposite the mouth of the Yazoo, landed on the west bank, and sent Morgan L. Smith with his division to break up the same road at a point eight miles from Vicksburg. On the 26th, the transports, led and convoyed by the gunboat fleet, under Acting Rear Admiral D. D. Porter, ascended the old mouth of the Yazoo about twelve miles. Of the transport fleet, Morgan's division led the advance, followed in order by Steele, Morgan L. Smith, and A. J. Smith. By noon on the 27th, the entire command had disembarked on the south bank of the river, near the mouth of the Chickasaw bayou, a small stream, which, rising near the town of Vicksburg, finds its way across the bottom land about midway between the bluffs and the river. The clay bluffs, which are about three hundred feet high, and very steep, recede from the Mississippi on the north side of the town, and follow the course of the river at a distance of about four miles, the intermediate space being an alluvial swamp, full of lagoons, bayous, and quicksands, and covered with cottonwood, cypress, and a dense undergrowth of tangled vines. The Yazoo was very low, and its banks were about thirty feet above the water. On reaching the point of debarkation, De Courcey's, Stuart's, and Blair's brigade, were sent forward in the direction of Vicksburg about three miles, and as soon as the whole army had disembarked it moved out in four columns, Steele's above the mouth of Chickasaw bayou; Morgan, with Blair's brigade of Steele's division, below the same bayou; Morgan L. Smith's on the main road from Johnson's plantation to Vicksburg, with orders to bear to his left, so as to strike the bayou about a mile south of where Morgan was ordered to cross it, and A. J. Smith's division on the main road.

All the heads of columns met the enemy's pickets, and drove them towards Vicksburg. During the night of the

27th, the ground was reconnoitred as well as possible, and it was found to be as difficult as it could possibly be from nature and art. Immediately in front was a bayou, passable only at two points, on a narrow levee and on a sand-bar, which were perfectly commanded by the enemy's sharpshooters that lined the levee or parapet on its opposite bank. Behind this was an irregular strip of beach or table-land, on which were constructed a series of rifle-pits and batteries, and behind that a high abrupt range of hills, whose scarred sides were marked all the way up with rifle-trenches, and the crowns of the principal hills presented heavy batteries. The county road leading from Vicksburg to Yazoo City ran along the foot of these hills, and served the enemy as a covered way along which he moved his artillery and infantry promptly to meet the Union forces at any point at which they attempted to cross this difficult bayou. Nevertheless, that bayou, with its levee parapet backed by the lines of rifle-pits, batteries, and frowning hills, had to be passed before they could reach firm ground, and meet their enemy on any thing like fair terms.

Steele, in his progress, followed substantially an old levee back from the Yazoo to the foot of the hills north of Thompson's Lake, but found that in order to reach the hard land he would have to cross a long corduroy causeway, with a battery enfilading it, others cross-firing it, with a similar line of riflepits and trenches before described. He skirmished with the enemy on the morning of the 28th, while the other columns were similarly engaged; but on close and critical examination of the swamp and causeway in his front, with the batteries and rifle-pits well manned, he came to the conclusion that it was impossible for him to reach the county road without a fearful sacrifice of life.

On his reporting that he could not cross from his position to the one occupied by the centre, Sherman ordered him to retrace his steps and return in steamboats to the southwest side of Chickasaw bayou, and support Morgan's division. This he accomplished during the night of the 28th, arriving in time to support him, and take part in the assault of the 29th.

Morgan's division were evidently on the best of existing ways from Yazoo to firm land. He had attached to his trains the pontoons with which to make a bridge, in addition to the ford or crossing, which was known to be in his front, and by which the enemy's picket had retreated.

The pontoon bridge was placed during the night across a bayou, supposed to be the main bayou, but which turned out to be an inferior one, and it was therefore useless; but the natural crossing remained, and Morgan was ordered to cross with his division, and carry the line of works to the summit of the hill by a determined assault.

During the morning of the 28th a heavy fog enveloped the whole of the country. General Morgan advanced De Courcey's brigade and engaged the enemy: heavy firing of artillery and infantry was sustained, and his column moved on until he encountered the real bayou, which again checked his progress, and was not passed until the next day.

At the point where Morgan L. Smith's division reached the bayou was a narrow sand strip with abattis thrown down by the enemy on our side, having the same deep boggy bayou with its levee parapet and system of cross-batteries and riflepits on the other side.

To pass it in the front by the flank would have been utter destruction, for the head of the column would have been swept away as fast as it presented itself above the steep bank. While reconnoitring it on the morning of the 28th, during the heavy fog, General Morgan L. Smith was shot in the hip by a chance rifle-bullet, and disabled, so that he had to be removed to the boats, and thus at a critical moment was lost one of the best and most daring leaders, a practical soldier and enthusiastic patriot. Brigadier-General David Stuart, who succeeded to his place and to the execution of his orders, immediately studied the nature of the ground in his front, saw all its difficulties, and made the best possible disposition to pass over his division as soon as he should hear General Morgan engaged on his left.

To his right General A. J. Smith had placed General Bur

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