148

• July 12,

1863.

EXPEDITION UP THE YAZOO RIVER.

We have observed, that, on the fall of Vicksburg, Grant was about to send General Herron to the aid of Banks, then besieging Port Hudson,' when he heard of the surrender of that post. Herron had already embarked with his troops, when the order was countermanded, and he was sent in lighter draft vessels up the Yazoo, for the purpose of capturing a large fleet of steamboats, which had escaped Porter's fleet, and were then lying at Yazoo City. The transports were convoyed by the armored gun-boat, De Kalb, and two of lighter armor, called "tin-clad " vessels, under Captain Walker. When they approached Yazoo City, a small garrison there, of North Carolinians, fled, and the steamboats, twenty-two in number, moved rapidly up the river. The De Kalb pushed on, and, just as she was abreast the town, the explosion of a torpedo under her sunk her. Herron's cavalry were landed, and, pursuing the steamers up the shore, captured and destroyed a greater portion of them. The remainder were sunk or burned, when, soon afterward, Captain Walker went back after the guns of the De Kalb. Herron captured three hundred prisoners, six heavy guns, two hundred and fifty small-arms, eight hundred horses, and two thousand bales of Confederate cotton. After finishing his work at Yazoo July 18. City, he started' to cross the country to Benton and Canton, in aid of Sherman, when information reached him of Johnston's flight from Jackson. Then he returned to Vicksburg."

⚫ July 21.

On the day when Vicksburg was surrendered, there were stirring events at Helena, Arkansas, farther up the Mississippi, which the Confederates hoped would have a salutary bearing upon the fortunes of the garrison of the doomed city below. Helena had been held by National troops as a depot. of recruits and supplies for about a year, since Washburne's cavalry of Curtis's army took possession of it; and in the summer of 1863 the post was in command of General B. M. Prentiss, whose troops were so sorely smitten at Shiloh.3 The Confederates in Arkansas, under such leaders as Sterling Price, Marmaduke, Parsons, Fagan, McRae, and Walker, were then under the control of General Holmes, who, at the middle of June, asked and received permission of General Kirby Smith, commander of the TransMississippi Department, to attack Prentiss. He designated Clarendon, on the White River, as the rendezvous of all the available troops under his command, and left Little Rock for that point on the 26th of June. Some of his troops were promptly at the rendezvous, while others, under Price,

d June.

owing to heavy rains and floods, did not reach there until the 30th. This delay baffled his plans for surprise, for Prentiss had been apprised of his movement and was prepared for his reception.

The post of Helena was strongly fortified, and behind the earth-works and heavy guns and the abatis in front of them, was a garrison of three thousand eight hundred men. The gun-boat Tyler, Lieutenant-commanding

Mr. Willis. Battery Clark, in the eastern part of the city, between Grove and Jackson Streets. Battery Boomer, one half mile east of the city, on the Jackson road. Battery Sherman, one hundred yards in advance of Battery Wilson, between Jackson road and Win bayou. Battery Crocker, three-fourths of a mile north of Win bayou. Battery Ransom, one-fourth of a mile north of Fort Crocker. Battery Smith, one-fourth of a mile west of Ransom. Battery Hickenlooper, one mile north of the city, on the Valley road. I am indebted to Captain William J. White, aid-de-camp of General T. J. Hood. for the information contained in this note. See note 1, page 616, volume II,

1 See page 631, volume II.

2 See page 525, volume II.

3 See page 278, volume II.

Pritchett, was lying there, ready to give support. The main work, near the town, was called Fort Curtis. The exterior defenses, on bluffs a mile in rear of the town, were under the immediate command of General F. Salomons, at whose suggestion they had been constructed.'

b

1863.

Holmes's entire force-the remnants of armies decimated by the warwas less than eight thousand effective men. He was ignorant of Prentiss's real strength, and when, on the 3d of July," he and his army were within four miles of Helena, they were marching to certain defeat and humiliation. They advanced at midnight, and took position within a mile of the outer works; and at daylight moved to the assault in three columns: Price, with the brigades of Parsons and McRae, over three thousand strong, to attack a battery on Graveyard Hill; Fagan, with four regiments of infantry, to assail another on Hindman's Hill; and Marmaduke, with seventeen hundred and fifty men, to storm a work on Righton's Hill.

D July 4.

Price was accompanied by Harris Flanagan, the Confederate Governor of Arkansas, as volunteer aid-de-camp. His troops, under cover of artillery firing, moved up gallantly to the attack, in the face of a heavy storm of bullets, and grape and canister shot, captured some of the guns, and, turned them upon the Nationals. But these were useless, owing to a lack of matches, or friction tubes. Then, with a wild shout, they charged down the hill upon Fort Curtis, six hundred yards distant, exposed to a terribly galling fire from the other batteries, and especially from the Tyler. So fearfully were they smitten, that one-third of them were lost.'

Fagan, meanwhile, under the immediate direction of Holmes, had attacked the battery on Hindman's Hill with his little force. He left his artillery at the first obstructions, and with his infantry rushed up ravines and steep acclivities and over abatis, driving the National sharp-shooters from their rifle-pits, and pushing on to carry the battery by assault. The assailants fought desperately but uselessly, and suffered fearful loss. Toward noon Holmes ordered a retreat, to save this little force from utter destruction. Marmaduke, at the same time, was attempting to take the battery on Righton's Hill, but failed on account of a heavy fire from artillery and musketry from behind the levee, and a lack of co-operation on the part of some cavalry. At three o'clock in the afternoon the assailants were repulsed at all points and withdrew, with a loss, reported by Holmes, of twenty per cent. of his entire force." Holmes hastily retreated with his shattered army, and thenceforth Confederate soldiers never molested Helena. There was quiet for some time along the eastern borders of the Mississippi, likewise, for the attention and the material forces of both parties were drawn toward Chattanooga,

1 Helena lies upon flat ground, on the western bank of the Mississippi River. Back of it are high ridges, running parallel with the river, and commanding the city and approaches. Fort Curtis was erected on the low ground, and being commanded by these bluffs, it was thought proper to place strong batteries upon them. The work was done under the immediate directions of Lieutenant J. G. Patton, of the Thirty-third Missouri. There were four batteries, mounting heavy guns. On the low ground above and below the town there were rifle-pits, with flanking batteries of 10-pounder Parrott guns and 6 and 12-pounder brass pieces.

2 Price reported his loss at 1,111, of whom 106 were killed, 505 were wounded, and 500 were missing.

" He reported his entire loss at 1,636 men. Prentiss (whose loss was only 250 men) made that of Holmes appear much greater, by stating that he buried 300 Confederates left dead on the field, and took 1,100 of them prisoners.

150

CONFEDERATE CAVALRY RAIDS.

where a decisive conflict was impending. Let us return to a consideration of events there.

It was evident that the Army of the Cumberland could not long exist a prisoner in Chattanooga, its supplies depending on such precarious avenues of reception as the mountain roads, and the transportation animals so rapidly diminishing. General Thomas had nobly responded to Grant's electrograph from Louisville," "Hold Chattanooga at all hazards," saying, "I October 19, will hold the town until we starve;" yet it was not prudent to 1863. risk such disaster by inaction, for already Bragg's cavalry had

been raiding over the region north of the Tennessee River, destroying supplies, and threatening a total obstruction of all communications between Chattanooga and Middle Tennessee. On the 30th of September, a greater portion of Bragg's horsemen (the brigades of Wharton, Martin, Davidson, and Anderson), about four thousand strong, under Wheeler, his chief of cavalry, crossed the Tennessee, between Chattanooga and Bridgeport, pushed up the Sequatchie Valley, fell upon a National supply-train' of nearly Oct. 2. one thousand wagons on its way to Chattanooga, near Anderson's cross-roads, and burned it before two regiments of cavalry, under Colonel Edward M. McCook, which had been sent from, Bridgeport in pursuit, could overtake them. Wheeler's destructive work was just finished when McCook came up and attacked him. The struggle lasted until night, when Wheeler, who had been worsted in the fight, moved off in the darkness over the mountains, and fell upon another supply-train of wagons and railway cars at McMinnville. These were captured, together with six hundred men; and then a large quantity of supplies were destroyed. There, after the mischief was done, he was overtaken by General George Crook," Oct. 4. with two thousand cavalry, and his rear-guard, as he fled toward Murfreesboro', was charged with great spirit by the Second Kentucky Regiment of Crook's cavalry, under Colonel Long. Wheeler's force greatly outnumbered Long. They dismounted, and fought till dark, when they sprang upon their horses and pushed for Murfreesboro', hoping to seize and hold that important point in Rosecrans's communications. It was too strongly guarded to be quickly taken, and as Wheeler had a relentless pursuer, he pushed on southward to Warren and Shelbyville, burning bridges behind him, damaging the railway, capturing trains and destroying stores, and crossing Duck River pressed on to Farmington. There Crook struck him again, cut his force in two, captured four of his guns and a thousand smallarms, took two hundred of his men, beside his wounded, prisoners, and drove him in confusion in the direction of Pulaski, on the railway running north from Decatur. Wheeler's shattered columns reached Pulaski that night, and made their way as speedily as possible into Northern Alabama. He crossed the Tennessee near the mouth of Elk River, losing two guns and seventy men in the passage, and made his way back to Bragg's lines, after a loss of about two thousand men. He had captured nearly as many as that, and destroyed National property to the amount of, probably, three million dollars in value. When Roddy, who had crossed the Tennessee at the mouth of Gunter's Creek, and moved menacingly toward Decherd, heard of Wheeler's troubles, and his flight back to the army, he retreated, also, without doing much mischief.

HOOKER'S CORPS AT BRIDGEPORT.

151 When Grant arrived at Chattanooga," he found General Thomas alive to the importance of immediately securing a safe and speedy way to that post, for supplies for the Army of the Cumberland. It could not exist there ten days longer, unless food and forage could be more speedily and bountifully furnished. In concert with General W. F. Smith, who

had been appointed Chief Engineer of the army, he had been making preparations for the immediate concentration of Hooker's -corps at Bridgeport, with the view of opening the river and main wagon road from that point

2

"October 23,

1863.

to Brown's Ferry on the Tennessee, by which supplies might be taken to Chattanooga across the peninsula known as Moccasin Point, and thus avoid the Confederate batteries and sharp-shooters at Lookout Mountain altogether. Grant approved Thomas's plan, and ordered its execution. It was that Hooker should cross the river at Bridgeport with all the force at his command, and, pushing on to Wauhatchie, in Lookout Valley, threaten Bragg with a flank attack. General Palmer was to march his division down the north side of the Tennessee to a point opposite Whitesides, where he was to cross the river and hold the road passed over by Hooker. General Smith was to go down the river from Chattanooga, under cover of darkness, with about four thousand troops, some in batteaux, and some on foot along the north side, and make a lodgment on the south bank of the stream, at Brown's Ferry, and seize the range of hills at the mouth of Lookout Valley, which commanded the Kelly's Ferry road.

› October.

The movements of Hooker and Palmer might be made openly, but Smith's could only be performed in secret. Hooker crossed at Bridgeport on pontoon bridges on the morning of the 26th without opposition, and pushed on to Wauhatchie, which he reached on the 28th; and on the nights of the 26th and 27th, Smith successfully performed his part of the plan. Eighteen hundred of his troops, under General Hazen, were embarked at Chattanooga on batteaux, intended to be used in the construction of a pontoon bridge, and at two o'clock in the morning they floated noiselessly, without oars, close under the banks past the point of Lookout Mountain, along a line of Confederate pickets seven miles in length, without being discovered, and arrived at Brown's Ferry just at

1 This was the appearance of Grant's head-quarters on the high bank of the Tennessee, as it appeared when the writer sketched it in the spring of 1866. It was near the bridge which the Nationals constructed across the Tennessee, at the upper part of Chattanooga. The eminence in the distance is Cameron's Hill, between the town and the river, which was strongly fortified.

2 This is so called because of its shape, which resembles an Indian moccasin, as Italy does that of a boot. 3 His troops consisted of a greater portion of the Eleventh Corps, under General Howard; a part of the Second Division of the Twelfth Corps, under General Geary; one company of the Fifth Tennessee Cavalry, and a part of a company of the First Alabama Cavalry.

152

HOOKER MARCHES TOWARD LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN.

dawn. They landed quickly on the south side, captured the pickets there, and seized a low range of hills, about half a mile in length, which commanded Lookout Valley. The remainder of Smith's force, twelve hundred strong, under General Turchin, had, meanwhile, moved down the north bank of the stream, across Moccasin Point, and reached the ferry before daylight. They were ferried across, and by ten o'clock in the morning a pontoon bridge was laid there. Before the bewildered Confederates could fairly comprehend what had happened, a hundred axes had laid an abatis in front. of Hazen's troops; and the foe, after an ineffectual attempt to dislodge the intruders, withdrew up the valley toward Chattanooga. Before night the left of Hooker's line rested on Smith's at the pontoon bridge, and Palmer had crossed to Whitesides, in his rear. By these operations the railway from Bridgeport, well up toward Chattanooga, was put in possession of the Nationals, and the route for supplies for the troops at Chattanooga was reduced by land from sixty to twenty-eight miles, along a safe road, or by using the river to Kelly's Ferry, to eight miles. "This daring surprise in the Lookout Valley on the nights of the 26th and 27th," said a Confederate newspaper in Richmond, "has deprived us of the fruits of Chickamauga.”

We have observed that Hooker reached Wauhatchie on the 28th. He left a regiment at the bridge-head where he crossed, and to hold the passes.. leading to it through Raccoon Mountain, along the base of which his route lay to Running Waters. He met no opposition the first day, excepting from retiring pickets. Leaving guards for the protection of the road over which he was passing, he followed the course of Running Waters, and on the morning of the 27th his main army descended through a gorge into Lookout Valley, between the Raccoon and Lookout mountains, which has an average width of about two miles, and is divided in its center by a series of five or six steep, wooded hills, from two hundred to three hundred feet in height. Between these and Lookout Mountain flows Lookout Creek. The Confederates had possession of these hills, and also of the lofty crest of Lookout Mountain, on which they had plánted batteries. From these and the heights. of Raccoon Mountain, Bragg could look down upon his foes and almost accurately number them. In that valley, and occupying three ridges nearits mouth, toward Brown's Ferry, was a part of Longstreet's troops, and these were the ones we have just mentioned as having been encountered by Hazen.

As Hooker pushed on toward Brown's Ferry, Howard in advance, the latter was sharply assailed by musketeers on the wooded hills where the railway passes through them, near Wauhatchie. These were quickly dislodged. They fled across Lookout Creek, burning the railway bridge behind them. In this encounter Howard lost a few men, and others were killed by shells hurled upon Hooker's column from the batteries on Lookout Mountain. At six o'clock the advance halted for the night within a mile or so of Brown's Ferry, and, as we have observed, touched Smith's troops. Being

In a letter to the author, August 23, 1866, General Hazen, speaking of his movement down the river, said: "Fifty-two batteaux had been constructed, that would carry twenty-five men each. At twelve o'clock that night I marched fifty-two squads, each under the command of a tried and trusty officer, to the river landing, ant quietly embarked them. These boats were organized into three battalions, under officers who had been tried o many fields. They had been taken in the afternoon nine miles below, to Brown's Ferry, and shown where to land and what to do. Not until the boats were loaded did the leaders of squads know what was expected of them."