Page images
PDF
EPUB

172

THE SURRENDER.

large force, to watch the rebel leader. In the meantime, he pressed the siege with all the energy which distinguished him. Day by day, he dug his way towards the place, and at length reached positions where his shells could be dropped into the center of the city. These, crashing through the buildings, and bursting along the streets, forced the inhabitants to seek shelter in caves, dug in the earth. For six weeks, while the army was digging slowly onward, the batteries kept playing on the devoted citadel. Provisions. became scarce, and the inhabitants grew wan and thin in their narrow dens. At length, the ammunition gave out, and Pemberton, whose only hope of deliverance lay in Johnston's ability to raise the siege, began to despair, and, seeing Grant about to carry the place by assault, he, on the 3rd of July, sent two officers with a flag of truce to the Federal lines, to arrange the terms of capitulation. Grant would listen to none but unconditional surrender. A personal interview then took place between the two Generals, who met midway between the lines, under a gigantic oak, while the two armies left their places of concealment and swarmed upon the ramparts, to witness this extraordinary scene. Pemberton was the first to speak, and asked Grant what terms he proposed. "Unconditional surrender," was the prompt reply. "Never," rejoined the haughty rebel, "so long as I have a man left me.' "Then," said Grant, "you can continue the defense; my army was never in a better condition to continue the siege." After some further conversation, the interview terminated without coming to a definite result, Grant saying that he would confer with his officers. He did so, and sent a note saying that the entire surrender of the place and garrison would be required, but that the troops would be paroled, and allowed to march out of the lines-the officers taking with them their regimental clothing, and the staff and field and cavalry

[ocr errors]

SURRENDER OF PORT HUDSON.

173

officers a horse each. the morning of the 4th of July-our National Jubilee-daythe hostile flag came down, and the Stars and Stripes went up, over the rebel works, amid the enthusiastic shouts of the

The proposal was accepted, and on

whole army.

When Johnston heard of the fall of the place, he immediately retraced his steps across the Big Black River, and Jackson once more fell into our hands.

"The result of the campaign," said Grant, "has been the defeat of the enemy in five battles outside of Vicksburg; the occupation of Jackson the Capital of Mississippi, and the capture of Vicksburg and its garrison and munitions of war-a loss to the enemy of thirty-seven thousand prisoners, among whom were fifteen general officers; at least ten thousand killed and wounded, and among the killed, Generals Tracy, Tilghman and Green, and hundreds and perhaps thousands of stragglers who can never be collected and reorganized. Arms and munitions of war for an army of sixty thousand men have fallen into our hands, besides a large amount of other public property, consisting of railroads, locomotives, cars, steamboats, cotton, etc., and much was destroyed to prevent our capturing it." His own total loss, in killed, wounded and missing, from the time he crossed the Mississippi, he estimated at eight thousand, five hundred and seventy-five.

Four days after the surrender of Vicksburg, Gardner, the Commander of Port Hudson, sent a flag of truce to Banks, asking a cessation of hostilities, for the purpose of settling the terms of capitulation. The latter would allow of no cessation, and commissioners were at once appointed, whose consultations ended in the surrender of the garrison as prisoners of war. To the stirring strains of "The Star-Spangled Banner," and "Yankee Doodle," the army entered the place in triumph, and marched proudly along the sullen, silent rebel line. The Union flag was run up on one of the highest

174

THE MISSISSIPPI OPENED.

bluffs, and, as its starry folds swung lazily out to the breeze, the artillery thundered forth a salute. About six thousand prisoners, fifty-one pieces of artillery, two steamers, besides a large quantity of small arms, ammunition, &c., fell into our hands.

It was a great victory, but the pleasure it was calculated to impart was marred by the reflection that but for the negligence of the Government such a fortified work would never, in the first place, have been in possession of the rebels; and, in the second place, the loss of life in securing it was wholly unnecessary, for the fall of Vicksburg, which was only a matter of time, involved the fall of this place also, without firing a gun.

But the number of guns, prisoners and materials of war captured were not the chief results obtained by these two campaigns. They opened the Mississippi in its entire length -an object which had been of paramount importance to the great North-west. It also bisected the Southern Confederacy, and cut off its large supplies of men and animals, which it had constantly received from the country west of the Mississippi. The nation was jubilant over it, for the people thought they now saw the end of the rebellion near. Grant advanced at once to the first place in general estimation, as a military leader, and deservedly so. He had, throughout this arduous, long campaign, exhibited a tenacity of purpose and a fertility of resource that few men possess, while the daring resolution to cut himself loose from supplies and reinforcements, and march boldly into the interior, depending solely on his celerity of movement to prevent a concentration of the enemy's forces, was the inspiration of true genius. The rapidity and power with which he dealt his blows, reminds one of Napoleon the Great.

As a part of this great campaign, Colonel B. H. Grierson's cavalry raid through Mississippi should be mentioned. It

GRIERSON'S RAIP.

175

was planned to create a diversion in favor of the army operating against Vicksburg, as well as to destroy railroads and other public property. It was dispatched from La Grange, Tennessee, by General Hurlburt, on the 17th of April, and on the 2nd of May arrived at Baton Rouge, having traversed the whole State of Mississippi. Nothing like this raid, in boldness and extent, had as yet been attempted, and its success covered the young Commander with laurels. These great cavalry raids became for a time quite the rage with the people, but their effect on the war was greatly overestimated, and it is questionable whether the wear and tear, on horses and men, did not damage us quite as much as the destruction of property hurt the enemy.

The other operations in the West, during the Spring and early Summer, were of a minor character. Attacks were made by the rebels on Fort Donelson and Ship Island, and quite a heavy one by Van Dorn on Franklin, Tennessee all of which were repulsed. In the latter part of March, Morgan and Wheeler were defeated by Colonel Hall, near Milton, Tennessee, and Pegram by General Gillmore, near Somerset, Kentucky; and in various parts of Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky, conflicts were of frequent occurrence, between detached bodies of the Union and rebel troops, in most of which the former were successful. alry raids, scouting expeditions, and guerrilla fights, kept these States in constant commotion, for independent parties and regiments, and bands of irregular forces, were constantly operating, outside of the main armies. These had but little bearing, however, on the great struggle, except to lay waste the country, exasperate the inhabitants, and cause great personal suffering among the people.

Cav

But no vent caused greater excitement thar the arrest of Clement L. Vallandigham, of Ohio, by order o Burnside, on the charge of contempt of his orders, and resistance to

[blocks in formation]

7

the Government in its measures to put down the rebellion. Seized at midnight in his own house, and dragged away to be tried by court-martial, his treatment was boldly denounced by the Democratic press. Indignant at these denunciations, Burnside caused the chief offender, in his Department, The Chicago Times, to be suppressed. This increased the excitement, and there was great danger, for a while, of an open outbreak in the West. The excitement was somewhat allayed by the President annulling the order of Burnside suppressing the Times. Still, the violent arrest of Vallandigham, and the refusal to grant him a trial by the civil courts, was denounced as an act of tyranny, by the opposition press East and West, and but little more was needed, at this time, to bring on a collision between the citizens and soldiers. His final trial, and sentence of banishment to the rebel lines, deepened the indignation. Congress had passed an Act the Winter before, covering just such cases as this, under which he could have been tried and punished in a manner becoming our republican notions, and without an apparent attempt to override the civil courts by the strong arm of military power.

« PreviousContinue »