CAPTURE OF ARKANSAS POST.

581

At about noon on the 11th, McClernand notified Porter that the army was ready to move upon the fort.

one o'clock, and soon afterward the brigades of Hovey, Thayer, Giles A. Smith, and T. Kilby Smith, pushed forward at the doublequick, finding tempora ry shelter in woods and ravines with which the ground was diversified. In a belt of woods, three hundred yards from the Confederate rifle-pits, they were brought to a halt by a very severe fire of mus

The gun-boats opened fire at

ketry and artillery, but they soon resumed their advance with the support of Blair's brigade, and pushed up to some ravines fringed with bushes and fallen timber, within musket range of the fort. Morgan's artillery and the gun-boats had covered this advance by a rapid fire, and, with the batteries of Hoffman, Wood, and Barrett, had nearly silenced the Confederate guns. Parrott guns (10 and 20-pounders), under Lieutenants Webster and Blount, had performed excellent service in dismounting cannon that most annoyed the gunboats. In this movement Hovey had been wounded by a fragment of a shell, and the horse of Thayer had been shot under him.

General A. J. Smith now deployed nine regiments of Burbridge's and Landrum's brigades, supported by three more regiments in reserve, and drove the Confederate advance on the right, back behind a cluster of cabins, from which shelter they were dislodged by a charge of the Twenty-third Wisconsin, Colonel Guppy. Smith, meanwhile, pushed on his division until it was not more than two hundred yards from the fort, while Colonel Sheldon, of Osterhaus's division, had sent Cooley's battery, supported by the One Hundred and Eighteenth and One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio, and Sixtyninth Indiana, to within two hundred yards of another face of the fort. They cleared the rifle-pits before them, and the One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio attempted to scale and carry by assault the eastern side of the fort, but were prevented by a deep ravine in addition to the ditch.

At a little past three o'clock, the guns of the fort having been silenced, and Sherman's right strengthened by the Twenty-third Wisconsin, Nineteenth Kentucky, and Ninety-seventh Illinois, of Smith's division, McClernand ordered an assault, when the troops dashed forward under a dreadful fire, Burbridge's brigade, two regiments of Landrum's, and the One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio, bearing the brunt. The Confederates saw that all was lost, and raised a white flag just as the One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio, followed by the Eighty-third Ohio and Sixteenth Indiana, under Burbridge, were pouring over the intrenchments on the east, while the troops of Sherman and Steele, which had stormed the works farther to the north

582

POSTS ON RED RIVER CAPTURED.

and west, were also swarming over the works. General Burbridge had the honor of planting the standard of the Republic on the fort, which General Smith had placed in his hands in acknowledgment of his bravery. The garrison flag was captured by Captain Ennes, one of General Smith's aids. So ended THE BATTLE OF ARKANSAS POST, in which the army and navy won equal renown.1

a Jan. 13,

1862.

After dismantling and blowing up Fort Hindman, burning a hundred wagons and other property that he could not take away, embarking his prisoners for St. Louis, and sending an expedition in light-draft steamers, under General Gorman and Lieutenant Commanding J. G. Walker," up the White River to capture Des Arc and Duval's Bluff, McCler nand, by order of General Grant, withdrew with his troops and the fleet to Napoleon, on the Mississippi, at the mouth of the Arkansas River. Grant had come down the river from Memphis in a swift steamer, and at Napoleon he and the other military commanders, with Admiral Porter, made arrangements for the prosecution of the campaign against Vicksburg.

1 See Reports of General McClernand and his subordinates; Admiral Porter, and General Churchill. McClernand reported his loss at 977, of whom 129 were killed, 831 wounded, and 17 missing. The fleet lost three killed and twenty-six wounded. Churchill reported his loss at not exceeding 60 killed and 80 wounded, but McClernand saw evidences of a much greater number hurt. The spoils of victory were about 5,000 prisoners, 17 cannon, 8,000 small arms, and a large quantity of ordnance and commissary stores.

2 The expedition was successful. Both places were captured without much trouble. Des Arc was quite a thriving commercial town on the White River, in Prairie County, Arkansas, about fifty miles northeast of Little Rock. Duval's Bluff was the station of a Confederate camp and an earth-work, on an elevated position, a little below Duval's Bluff. With some prisoners and a few guns, this expedition joined the main forces at Napoleon on the 19th. A post at the little village of St. Charles, just above Fort Hindman, was captured at about the same time.

GRANT'S ARMY REORGANIZED.

583

CHAPTER XXII.

THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.

ICKSBURG MUST BE TAKEN," was the fiat of General Grant, in obedience to the will of the loyal people, and he made instant preparations for the great work on his return to Memphis from the conference at Napoleon. The Government was fully alive to the importance and difficulties of the undertaking, and had sent him re-enforcements for the purpose. had already adopted an important measure for the promotion of the efficiency of his army, by organizing it" into four corps, known as the Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Army Corps.' By this arrangement the Commander-in-chief was relieved of much official drudgery, and the generals under him commanding corps had a wider field in which to display their own powers.

a Dec. 22, 1862.

He

General Grant was fully sensible of the importance of the acts of Congress, and the proclamation of the President authorizing the enlistment and use of colored troops; and being a soldier and not a politician, and a manly citizen, who loved justice more than popularity, heartily approved of those measures, and, in orders, said: "It is expected that all commanders will especially exert themselves in carrying out the policy of the administration, not only in organizing colored troops, and rendering them efficient, but also in removing prejudices against them." "As the servant of a great Republic," says an accomplished writer on military affairs, "he left to the Departments of the Government their specific duties, while he performed his own." It was evident that a direct assault upon the defenses of Vicksburg by the army and navy would result in failure, and Grant determined to move upon them in reverse or rear. How to get a base for such operations was a

1 By a General Order issued on the 22d of December, 1862, in which the new organization was announced, the command of the Thirteenth Corps was assigned to Major-General John A. McClernand. It was composed of the Ninth Division, General G. W. Morgan; Tenth Division, General A. J. Smith, and "all other troops operating on the Mississippi River below Memphis, not included in the Fifteenth Army Corps." The command of the Fifteenth Corps was assigned to Major-General W. T. Sherman. It was composed of the Fifth Division, General Morgan L. Smith; the division from Helena, Arkansas, General F. Steele, and the forces in the "District of Memphis." The command of the Sixteenth Corps was assigned to Major-General S. A. Hurlbut. It was composed of the Sixth Division, General J. McArthur; the Seventh Division, General I. F. Quimby; Eighth Division, General L. F. Ross; Second Brigade of Cavalry, A. L. Lee; and the troops in the "District of Columbus," commanded by General Davies, and those in the "District of Jackson," under General Sullivan. The command of the Seventeenth Corps was assigned to Major-General J. B. McPherson. It was composed of the First Division, General J. W. Denver; Third Division, General John A. Logan; Fourth Division, General J. G. Lauman; First Brigade of Cavalry, Colonel B. H. Grierson; and the forces in the "District of Corinth," commanded by General G. M. Dodge.

Grant and his Campaigns, by Henry Coppée, page 152.

584

PROJECTED CANAL NEAR VICKSBURG.

vital question, and his attention was turned alternately to the Canal that General Williams attempted to cut,' Milliken's Bend, Lake Providence, the Yazoo Pass, and Steele's Bayou. All of these routes were tried, as we shall observe, before in another way he achieved the desired end.

It was determined first to complete Williams's canal across the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, which was traversed by the Shreveport and Vicksburg

railroad-the great highway over which large quantities of supplies for the Confederates were transported from Western Louisiana. That cutoff was five or six miles from Vicksburg. By it, when completed, that city would be isolated, and through it troops and supplies might be safely transported out of reach of the Vicksburg batteries to a new base of supplies below that town. It also seemed probable that it would make a new channel for the Mississippi, and leave Vicksburg on the borders of a bayou only.

a Jan. 9,
1863.

For the prosecution of this work McClernand, by order of Grant, moved with his army down the Mississippi on the day after the conference at Napoleon. In consequence of detention by a storm, it did not reach its destination at Young's Point, on the right bank of the river, nearly opposite the mouth of the Yazoo, until late on the 21st. On the following day the troops landed, and took post a little farther down the river, so as to protect the

PENINSULA OPPOSITE VICKSBURG.

line of the canal. There also Porter's fleet, strengthened by the addition of several armored vessels, such as the Chillicothe, Indianola, Lafayette, East

1 See page 527.

2 This is a view of the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, and the site of the canal, from a sketch by the author, taken from "Battery Castle," in the southern portion of the city, looking southwest. In making this sketch the writer stood upon the top of a mound in "Battery Castle," in which was mounted a 32-pounder rifled cannon, known as "Whistling Dick." It had belonged to the Confederates, and from the hill near the marine hospital it had been one of the most destructive enemies of the National gun-boats during the siege. The Confederates gave it the significant name. Its projectile was a short pointed solid shot, whose straight lines would form

FAILURE OF THE CANAL PROJECT.

585

port, and other gun-boats rendezvoused, and immense power was immediately brought to bear on the cutting of the canal, and other operations of a vigorous siege.

General Grant, as we have observed, hastened back to Memphis after the conference at Napoleon, and immediately commenced moving his troops, which had been gathered there after the disaster at Holly Springs, down the Mississippi, to assist in the siege of Vicksburg. These troops had been pushed to Memphis from Grand Junction as rapidly as possible, and were now reorganized and in readiness for other work. All these veterans of the Army of the Tennessee, excepting detachments left to hold posts in that State, and the divisions of Logan, were there, and with ample provisions and other supplies, they were now borne swiftly, on more than a hundred transports, upon the rapid current of the

a Feb., 1863.

rising Mississippi, and were before Vicks-
burg at the beginning of February. Grant
himself arrived at Young's Point
on the 2d," and assumed command
in person. Already the work on the canal
(which was only a mile in length) had been
vigorously prosecuted by the soldiers with
their picks and shovels, and by the powerful
dredge Samson, with its immense and never-

THE SAMSON.

tiring iron scoop. The earth was cast up on the western side of the canal, on which the troops were encamped, to form a levee for protection against overflow in that direction. Day after day the great ditch grew deeper and longer, and day after day the waters of the Mississippi arose higher and higher, until their surface was full eight feet above the bottom of the canal. The river threatened a destructive overflow, and its menaces were met by piling up a great bulkhead at the upper end of the ditch. But the river was too powerful for puny man. On the 8th of March it broke through the barrier, drove the workmen to the levee, filled the ditch, submerged thousands of implements of labor, and flooded the camps. The river refused to make this canal its main channel, or more than a bayou, nearly dry at low water, and it was evident to the Commander-in-Chief that the canal project was a failure.

In the mean time General Grant had employed others of his now redun

almost a right-angled triangle. In the picture the Mississippi is seen sweeping sharply around the peninsula, and approaching itself within a mile where the canal was cut. The canal is indicated by the broad white line beyond the trees on the peninsula. Its terminus below the city was at a point hidden by the tree near the house on the left of the picture. There was a little hamlet on the peninsula, at the terminus of the railway opposite Vicksburg, called De Soto. The river was full, and the peninsula was partially submerged when the sketch was made.

The fortification from which this view was taken was named "Battery Castle," because it was on the site of a fine castellated building, the property and residence of Armistead Burwell, a leading lawyer of Vicksburg, who, on account of his stanch patriotism in adhering to his Government, was driven from his house by the traitors of Mississippi. He remained an exile at St. Louis until after the capture of the city by the Nationals. After that event, and when Grant had a new line of fortifications constructed for the defense of the post, Mr. Burwell's house was demolished to make room for a battery. The writer met this unselfish loyalist at the headquarters of General T. J. Wood, in April, 1866, and was deeply impressed by the purity and zeal of his devotion to his country. Notwithstanding he had been ruined pecuniarily by the war, he refused to apply to the Government for compensation for the loss of his mansion taken for the public use. When the writer remarked that it would be clearly a rightful claim, he replied:-" No, it will only lead the way to a host of dishonest claims upon my Government, and I will not ask it." The Government should seek to reimburse such men for their losses, without waiting for them to submit claims.