commanding to claim for them from their country the distinction and honor they so justly deserve. J. C. PEMBERTON, (Signed) Lieutenant-General Commanding.

At the time of the arrival of Gen. McClernand, a plan had been agreed upon between Gen. Sherman and Rear-Admiral Porter to attack Arkansas Post. The reasons for making this attack were that there was time to do it while Gen. Grant was moving his army to Memphis; the blow would be entirely unexpected by the enemy; the Federal forces were amply sufficient to make a victory certain, which would be valuable in restoring the spirit of the troops disheartened by their recent failure, which was not understood in its true light. On the other hand, the Confederate force up the Arkansas river had shown considerable activity by sallies in which they had captured two steamers bearing supplies to the army below.

Gen. McClernand approving of the enterprise, the forces moved up the Mississippi to Montgomery Point, opposite the mouth of

White river.

White river, one of the principal streams in Arkansas, rises a few miles east of Fayetteville, and flows in a northeasterly direction into Missouri about one hundred miles. It then returns into Arkansas, and pursues a southeasterly course, and enters the Mississippi about fifteen miles above the mouth of the Arkansas. It is navigable by steamboats three hundred and fifty miles.

On Friday, Jan. 9th, the ironclads Louisville, De Kalb, and Cincinnati, with all the light-draft gunboats, moved up the White river, followed by the fleet of transports. After ascending the White river about fifteen miles, the fleet passed through a cut-off to the left, eight miles in length, into the Arkansas river. Thus the White river empties by one channel into the Mississippi, and by another into the Arkansas, when it has a higher stage of water than the Arkansas. When the Arkansas is higher than the White river, one of the Arkansas currents comes through the cutoff and out by the White river into the Mississippi.

It was about 11 o'clock A. M. when the fleet passed into the Arkansas. This is, next to the Missouri, the longest affluent of the Mississippi river. It rises near the Rocky mountains, and flows through nearly the centre of the State of Arkansas, exceeding two thousand miles in length, and navigable, during nine months of the year, about eight hundred miles from its mouth.

About half past four in the afternoon, the fleet moved to the shore, and preparations were made to land three miles below the fort. The artillery and wagons were brought on shore during the evening and night, and in the morning the troops were landed and marshalled in the fields bordering on the north bank. The attack, however, was begun by the gunboats.

The Arkansas river, in its descent toward the Mississippi, makes here a sharp elbow by flowing north, then turning abruptly to the east, and after a short distance turning again as abruptly to the south. On the left bank, at the point where the river turns to the east, the fort of Arkansas Post was located. Its guns commanded the river as it stretched to the east, and even after the turn to the south. The advance of the troops was along the outside bank of this curve of the river, and it was expected the attack on the fort would be made during the day, but at sundown they were not in position. The division of Gen. Stuart, by order of Gen. Sherman, had moved along the bank, passing two rows of rifle pits which had been abandoned, and reached the point for an attack, but the corps of Gen. Morgan had not then deployed on the left. Orders were then issued by Gen. McClernand for the troops to get into position during the night, so as to make an attack in the morning. The force of Gen. Sherman worked its way through the forest and marsh round to the right, so as to invest the fort, while a brigade was thrown across the river to prevent the arrival down of reënforcements to the rebels.

The fort, which was called "Fort Hindman," was a regular square bastioned work, one hundred yards each exterior side, with a deep ditch about fifteen feet wide, and a parapet eighteen feet high. It was armed with twelve guns, two of which were eight inch and one nine inch. The number of troops which it contained was about five thousand, under the command of Brig.-Gen. Churchill.

During the evening of the 10th, the fort was bombarded by the ironclads Cincinnati, Lieut.-Commander Geo. L. Bache; De Kalb, Lieut.-Com. John H. Walker, Louisville, Lieut.Com. R. L. Owen, all under the orders of Rear-Admiral Porter. The bombardment continued over a half hour, and the firing was active on both sides. The distance of the boats from the fort was about four hundred yards.

About noon on the 11th, the fleet was notified, by order of Gen. McClernand, that the army was ready, and a joint attack was made. The gunboats took a position within about three hundred yards of the fort and opened fire. The fort had opened upon them as soon as they came in sight. At the same time a battery of Gen. Sherman's began to fire, and the troops were advanced to attack. It was not long before the heavy, guns of the fort were silenced by the gunboats, but the action on the part of the military grew more severe until four o'clock, when the enemy were so far overcome as to raise the white flag. A rush was immediately made, both by the land troops and naval force, to occupy the works, and the surrender was made complete. The loss of Gen. McClernand was about six hundred, of whom one hundred and twenty were killed. The Confederate loss was less, owing to the shelter of their troops. About sixty-five were

killed and eighty-three wounded. The ironclads were struck by many balls. A shot passed through a porthole of the De Kalb and exploded, killing two and wounding fifteen. Two shells entered portholes of the Louisville and exploded, killing one and wounding ten, two mortally. The other boats which were engaged escaped without serious injury. Seven thousand prisoners, eight thousand stand of arms, twenty cannon, and a large amount of ordnance and commissary stores were captured.

On the 15th, an expedition in light-draft steamers, under the command of Gen. Gorman and Lieut.-Com. J. G. Walker, proceeded up the White river and captured the towns of Des Arc and Duval's Bluff. The former is situated in Prairie county, Arkansas, and was once a thriving commercial town. It is situated on the White river, and is about fifty miles north east of Little Rock, the capital of the State. Duval's Bluff, a little below Des Arc on the White river, was the station of a Confederate camp, and an earthwork fort. It is an elevated position. The expedition returned to Napoleon on the 19th. Some prisoners and a few guns were captured by the expedition. St. Charles, a village on the Arkansas river, a short distance above Arkansas Post, was also captured by a force sent by Gen. McClernand.

The next two days after the engagement at Fort Hindman were devoted to the care of the wounded and the burial of the dead. On Thursday, the 15th, the corps of Gen. Sherman, which had embarked during the previous night, proceeded down the Arkansas river to Napoleon, at its mouth. The rifle pits were levelled, the fort completely blown up and destroyed, and a hundred wagons which had been captured were burned. On the 18th, Gen. McClernand embarked with the remainder of the troops and arrived at Napoleon.

Meanwhile Gen. Grant, leaving Memphis in a swift steamer, met Admiral Porter at the cutoff up the White river, on the 18th, and thence proceeded to Napoleon, where future movements were arranged in consultations with Gens. McClernand, Sherman, and others. On the same day he returned to Memphis.

Orders were immediately issued by Gen. McClernand to move down the river, and at eight o'clock on the next morning, the 19th, the signal for departure was given. Shortly afterward all the transports were on the way. A severe storm prevailed, and the fleet came to at the foot of Ozark Island until it had partially subsided. It then moved to Chicot's Bend, where the principal portion were moored for the night. On the next day, the fleet moved down to Milesia, and by two o'clock of the following day, the 21st, it arrived at Young's Point, its place of destination. A small force was immediately landed, to reconnoitre the country.

Young's Point is on the western side of the

Mississippi river, about nine miles above Vicksburg, and nearly opposite the mouth of the Yazoo river.

On the 22d, the troops were landed and posted a little farther down the river, so as to defend the line of a canal which had been commenced a year previous, across the peninsula formed by a curve of the river, first to the north and then to the south. The purpose of this canal had been to afford a passage for the transports up or down the river, beyond the reach of the batteries at Vicksburg. A little below the extreme point of the peninsula, and on the opposite side of the Mississippi, is Vicksburg.

Meantime the army of Gen. Grant was moved to Memphis, thence to be transported to Young's Point. On the 20th, Gen. McArthur left Memphis, on fourteen transports, with his corps. He had been preceded by other bodies of troops, making at that time one hundred and twenty-five transports with troops and stores which had left. The forces of Gen. Grant consisted of the veteran soldiers of the West. The naval force was also greatly increased by the addition of several ironclads, as the Chillicothe, Indianola, Lafayette, Eastport, and a number of other gunboats.

On the 2d of February, Gen. Grant arrived at Young's Point and assumed the command. The divisions of the Army of Tennessee had also reached there, excepting the one commanded by Gen. Logan, and excepting the troops occupying the posts in Tennessee.

The attack on Vicksburg, from up the river, had demonstrated the strength of its defensive works on the north, and convinced Gen. Grant that they were too strong to be carried without a very heavy loss. The first step for him to accomplish, therefore, was the transporta-' tion of his army below the city, in order to make an attack from the south. The passage by the river was too hazardous to be attempted. The formidable batteries on the river front at Vicksburg were capable of destroying all the transports. Work was therefore recommenced on the canal across the peninsula, on the western side of the river, which had been located by Brig.-Gen. Williams at the first attempt to capture the city. This canal had been improperly located, its upper terminus being in an eddy, and the lower terminus being exposed to the enemy's guns; nevertheless it was thought that it would be completed sooner than a new one could be constructed. While this work was in progress, the river continued to rise rapidly, and great labor was required to keep the water out of the canal, and also out of the camps of the laborers and soldiers. In addition, the rain was incessant, and the magnitude of the work was, from these causes, grealy increased. The earth taken out of the excavation was placed on the west side, and thus formed an embankment or levee, which it was supposed would prevent the water from flooding the country on that

side, and the ground on which nearly all of the army was encamped. As the canal cut the peninsula at right angles, the troops were encamped west of it and behind this embankment. On the 8th of March, when the enterprise promised success within a short time, the dam across the mouth of the canal gave way, owing to a rapid rise of the river and the great pressure of the water. When it broke there was a difference of eight feet between the bottom of the canal and the surface of the water in the river. The violence of the torrent as it rushed through swept away all the implements of labor, and the canal was full in a few min utes. The embankment had not been completed, and the water soon began to pour over. A spectator thus describes the scene: "Some regiments that were in exposed positions had to gather up tents and camp equipage in hot haste and confusion and run for the levee. Several companies on the lower side of the peninsula were cut off and had to be ferried to the main body of the army. The embankment of the Vicksburg and Shreveport railroad, which cut the peninsula longitudinally, prevented the water from flooding the northwest quarter. But that was considered insecure; the troops were all ordered to move their quarters to the levee."

Some delay was caused by the efforts to repair the damages, but it soon became manifest that, with the existing high stage of the water, some other plan would have to be adopted to get below Vicksburg with the transports.

At the commencement of the work on the canal, Gen. Grant, having more troops than could be employed at Young's Point to advantage, caused a channel to be cut from the Mississippi into Lake Providence on the west side of the Mississippi, and another into Coldwater river by the way of the Yazoo Pass, on the east side of the Mississippi. From the former of these routes no great expectations were entertained by Gen. Grant. He thought possible, however, that a route might be opened there through which transports might pass into the Mississippi, and enable him to cooperate with Gen. Banks below. By the Yazoo Pass he expected to get into the Yazoo by way of the Coldwater and Tallahatchie rivers, with some light gunboats and a few troops, and destroy some Confederate transports in that stream and some gunboats on the stocks. With such views the work on these channels was commenced.

While these operations were pushed forward, other measures for the annoyance of the enemy were also taken. A steamer called the "City of Vicksburg" was daily noticed lying under the batteries of the city, and it was known that farther down the river there was a number of transports rendering great service to the Confederate authorities by bringing supplies to their troops at Vicksburg and at Port Hudson, another strong position below. A movement was planned to destroy these means of transportation. Orders were therefore given to

Col. Charles E. Ellet to prepare the ram steamer Queen of the West for running down below the batteries. This steamer was a wooden freight vessel, strengthened so as to carry a prow of iron. To protect her machinery from injury by the shot and shells of the batteries at Vicksburg, three hundred bales of cotton were placed about it, and her steering wheel was removed and placed behind the bulwarks of her bow. Her armament consisted of a large 30pounder rifled Parrott gun on her main deck as a bow gun, one 20-pounder, and three 12pounder brass howitzers on her gun deck. Besides these she had fifty or sixty rifles, carbines, cutlasses, pistols, &c. Her crew consisted of a first, second, and third master, two pilots, three engineers, blacksmiths, carpenters, and deck hands; also a squad of twentysix soldiers. It was planned that she should start before daybreak on the morning of the 2d of February. At the appointed time the steamer was under way, but her steering apparatus in its new position controlled her movements so poorly that it was necessary to replace it in its original position. This was important, as the destruction of the City of Vicksburg would depend in part upon the accuracy of the blow of the Queen of the West. The detention which ensued prevented her from passing round the point of the peninsula into view from the Confederate batteries until sunrise, when she was instantly greeted by a shell that passed between her smoke chimneys and struck the water about three hundred yards behind her. After the sound of the first shot broke the stillness of the morning, the Confederate artillerists sprang to their pieces, and a hundred guns were fired with a wonderful celerity. Only three or four shots had struck her before she reached the front of the city. The first object now to be accomplished was the destruction of the steamer City of Vicksburg, which was made fast to the bank about the centre of the bend of the river, where the current ran very rapidly. To strike an unerring blow it was necessary for the Queen of the West to round to amid the storm of balls and shells, and move directly across the river against her victim. As she approached the steamboat and the city, the enemy, thinking that she had been disabled, and that her commander had concluded to surrender, raised enthusiastic cheers, which ceased as the ram struck the steamer. The wide guards of the Vicksburg, overlapping the deck of the Queen, even to the barricade of cotton bales, received the force of the blow and prevented the prow of the ram from reaching her hull. At the same time the current caught the stern of the Queen and swung her round side by side with the Vicksburg. This action of the current had been anticipated by Col. Ellet, and the starboard bow gun had been loaded with incendiary shells. It was now fired into the Vicksburg. At the same time the shells from the batteries had set on fire the cotton on the