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CH. XXVIII.]

REBEL DEFEAT AT THE BIG BLACK.

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past the brow of the hill, and, forming ing out, "all is lost!" and refused to in line of battle on the right of Hovey, fight at all. Seventeen cannon and advanced in grand style, sweeping about 2,000 prisoners fell into our everything before them. At the edge hands by their panic-stricken conduct, of the wood in front of Logan the battle and late at night the rebel troops was very hotly contested. Two bat- reached Vicksburg, in a state which teries and a large number of prisoners hardly admits of description. were captured by this division.

Between three and four o'clock, P.M., Osterhaus's and McArthur's divisions came into action on the extreme left, and by five o'clock Pemberton's troops gave way in great confusion. Loring, the rebel commander on the right, drew off his men and escaped, by taking a large circuit, to Canton, where he joined Johnston. Immediately troops were sent in pursuit of Pemberton, who retreated to the Big Black, where he purposed making one more effort before betaking himself to the entrenchments of Vicksburg.

On the morning of the 18th of May, Sherman's corps crossed the Big Black above, at Bridgeport, on a pontoon bridge, and the next day McClernand's and McPherson's corps, having repaired the bridge which had been partially destroyed, joined the forces on the other side before Vicksburg. The various roads were occupied, and important positions taken, investing the city from the direction of Warrenton on the left, to the bluffs on the Yazoo River, on the right. Sherman occupied the right of the line, McPherson the centre, and McClernand the left.*

The efficient co-operation of the fleet under Porter, deserves honorable mention in this place. Porter, having come over to the Yazoo to be ready for any

*The defeat at the Big Black caused some sharp crimination and recrimination between Johnston and Pemberton. Pollard sides with the former, of course; defences, says, "As it was, the fall of Vicksburg had become but a question of time. Gen. Johnston was force to break the investment of the city, should it be convinced of the impossibility of collecting a sufficient completed. He appreciated the difficulty of extricating the garrison. It was with this foresight that, on learning that Pemberton had been driven from the Big

and in view of Pemberton being shut up within his

At an early hour on Sunday, May 17th, McClernand's corps marched to the Big Black River bridge of the railroad, sixteen miles west of Champion's Hill battle ground, and twelve miles east of Vicksburg. The rebels were found to be strongly posted on both sides of the river, where, with the help of the excellent natural defences, and their rifle-pits and field guns, they promised apparently a vigorous resist ance. But when our batteries were brought to play on their works, and when Lawler's brigade of Carr's division charged across the open fields, the rebels set fire to the bridge before their troops were across, and ignominiously fled. Pemberton and his officers could do nothing to rouse them; they rushed from the field in a species of terror, cry- | 4th of July, 1863.

VOL. IV 40.

Black, he ordered the evacuation of Vicksburg. He wrote, 'If Haynes's Bluff be untenable, Vicksburg is of no value, and cannot be held. If, therefore, you are invested in Vicksburg, you must ultimately surrender. Under such circumstances, instead of losing both troops and place, you must, if possible, save the troops. If not too late, evacuate Vicksburg and its dependencies, and march to the north-east." This was too much for Pemberton; and so he remained

where he was until the end came on the memorable

help which he could render, heard of moment upon the rebel line. WithGrant's cannonading, on the 18th of May, and inferred his success thus far. He dispatched a number of vessels up the Yazoo to open communications with Grant and Sherman. This he succeeded in doing, and learned the gratifying news of what had been accomplished. Having destroyed the formidable works at Haines' Bluff, Porter dispatched Lieut. Walker, in the De Kalb, up the Yazoo River, with sufficient force to destroy all the enemy's property in that direction, with orders to return with all dispatch, and only to proceed as far as Yazoo City, where the rebels had a navy-yard and storehouses. Walker proceeded at once to the work before him, and promptly and effectually performed it. Three rams of the most powerful kind, two just ready for use, and one, a monster of its class, 370 ft., and 75 ft. beam, on the stocks, were burned, as were also a vast stock of materials for naval purposes, machine shops, etc. The estimated value of the property thus destroyed was fully $2,000,000. On the morning of May 22d, Lieut. Walker returned with the vessels under his command to the mouth of the Yazoo River, having lost only one man killed and seven wounded in the expedition.

In the flush of the several victories which the army had recently gained, and supposing that Pemberton's force was almost entirely demoralized, Grant ordered a general assault to be made on the enemy's works, at two o'clock, P.M., on the 19th of May. Our troops behaved with great gallantry; but they were not able to make any impression

in a few days, Grant's arrangements for
drawing supplies from Memphis and
above were completed, and under an
impression that Vicksburg could be
taken by assault, notwithstanding the
experience of the 19th, he ordered
another and determined onset to be
made.* "There were many reasons,”
as Grant stated afterwards, "to deter
mine me to adopt this course. I believed
an assault from the position by this
time could be made successfully. It
was known that Johnston was at Can-
ton with the force taken by him from
Jackson, reinforced by other troops
from the East, and that more were
daily reaching him. With the 1863.
force I had, a short time must
have enabled him to attack me in the
rear, and possibly to succeed in raising
the siege.... Accordingly, on the 21st of
May, orders were issued for a general
assault on the whole line, to commence
at ten A.M., on the 22d. Promptly, at
the hour designated, the three army
corps then in front of the enemy's
works commenced the assault. I had
taken a commanding position near
McPherson's front, and from which I
could see all the advancing columns
from his corps, and a part of each of
Sherman's and McClernand's. A por
tion of the commands of each suc-

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CH. XXVIII.]

SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.

ceeded in planting their flags on the outer slopes of the enemy's bastions, and maintained them there until night. The assault was gallant in the extreme on the part of all the troops, but the enemy's position was too strong, both naturally and artificially, to be taken in that way. At every point assaulted, and at all of them at the same time, the enemy was able to show all the force his works could cover. The assault failed, I regret to say, with much loss on our side in killed and wounded; but without weakening the confidence of the troops in their ability to ultimately succeed."

It having become evident that Vicksburg was not to be taken by assault, Grant began a regular series of siege operations. They were commenced and carried on with vigor and perseverance, it being certain that, sooner or later, this rebel Gibralter must be surrendered to our arms. Day by day, during the month of June, the works were pushed closer to the enemy's fortifications. Batteries and rifle-pits were erected along the entire front. Mines were constructed at several points, especially in McPherson's front, with great secrecy and under careful watch; while from the peninsula opposite the doomed city, mortar batteries poured in, day and night, without cessation, thousands of shots and shells.*

On the 6th of June, an attack was made by the rebels upon the garrison, under Gen. Dennis, at Milliken's Bend. After a severe contest, on the morning of the 7th, which was kept up until noon, the rebels were repulsed. A week later, they were routed out of Richmond by an expedition from Young's Point, consisting of Mowry's command and the marine brigade under Gen. R. W. Ellet. The town itself was completely destroyed.

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In addition to all this steady working, Grant had taken care to secure, at an early day, large reinforcements, so that he was in a condition not only to push forward the siege with fixed determi nation, but also to keep a watch upon Johnston, and be ready to repulse any effort he might venture to make for the relief of Vicksburg. The position of Grant's army, resting on the Yazoo and supported by the gun boats, was so strong that the rebels were soon aware of the hopelessness of attempting to raise the siege.

The state of things in Vicksburg, meanwhile, was far from cheering or encouraging. The women and chil dren, in order to escape the terrible bombardment, sheltered themselves in caves excavated in the hill sides; houses and streets were ploughed by shot and shell; provisions were becoming more and more scarce; mule and dog meat, bean meal and corn coffee, were in demand; and unburied corpses and the stench of dead animals, in the streets and elsewhere, tried the nerve and patience of the garrison to the utmost. One only hope remained, and that was the hope that Johnston might yet bring relief; but all such hope failed, and the end drew nigh. Surrender, or starving to death, was the alternative.*

In carrying forward the siege opera

* Pollard denounces this as untrue: "The statement that the garrison of Vicksburg was surrendered on ac count of an inexorable distress, in which the soldiers had to feed on mules, with the occasional luxury of rats, is either to be taken as a designing falsehood or as the crudities of that foolish newspaper romance so common in the war. In neither case does it merit re futation," etc.-" Third Year of the War," p. 68.

tions, when the first mine was all of the city, etc. Grant's reply was in readiness, Grant ordered its explo- brevity itself: "unconditional surren sion, and also certain parties of troops der." It seemed very hard to the rebel to be prepared to storm the rebel line at the right moment. At three o'clock in the afternoon of June 25th, the match was applied, and speedily a terrific explosion took place. Our troops rushed bravely to the charge; a bloody contest ensued with the half-starved garrison, and the loss was heavy on both sides; but Vicksburg was not yet taken. On the 1st of July, a second mine was sprung on the right of the Jackson road, which resulted in the entire demolition of the redan, the destroying a number of men who were countermining, and wounding others in the works, and leaving an immense chasm where the redan had stood.

commander, and though he solicited a personal interview, which was granted, yet the result was substantially the same as at first named.* Grant was willing to allow something to assuage the wounded feelings of a defeated foe; he permitted them to march out and stack their arms in front of their lines, and then returning to the city, he required them to remain as prisoners until properly paroled. This course, as Grant said, "saved us the transpor tation of the rebel prisoners North, which, at that time, would have been very difficult, owing to the limited amount of transportation on hand and the expense of subsisting them. It left our army free to operate against Johnston, who was threatening us from the direction of Jackson, and our river transportation to be used for the movement of troops to any point the exi gency of the service might require."

The case was now hopeless.* Pemberton concluded that it was better to surrender than to continue the desperate defence, especially as, in any event, he could not hold out more than a few days. On the 3d of July, carly in the morning, a flag of truce was displayed upon the works in front of Gen. A. J. Smith. Two rebel officers, Gen. Bowen and Col. Montgomery, were brought in under it blindfold, bearing with consummated. A week later, the parthem a letter from Pemberton proposing an armistice, appointment of commissioners to arrange for capitulation

*There was no hope of relief from Johnston. It was all delusion. He had advised Pemberton (see note, p. 313) not to try a siege, for he would certainly be compelled to surrender; and Johnston at no time felt himself strong enough to venture an attack upon Grant. Some 8,000 rebel troops on the west of the Mississippi were expected to be of service; but on June 27th, Johnston sent Pemberton word that these troops "had been mismanaged, and had fallen back to Delhi."

Pemberton very gladly accepted the terms finally settled upon by Grant, and at ten o'clock on the morning of the 4th of July, the surrender was fully

* For the correspondence, and the interview between Grant and Pemberton, see Coppée's " Grant and his Campaigns," pp. 186-190.

Pemberton's reasons for selecting the Fourth of July as the day of his surrender, though censured by Pollard as "a singular humiliation of the Confederacy, are nevertheless not wanting in shrewdness. "If it should be asked," he said, "why the Fourth of July was selected as the day for the surrender, the answer is obvious; I believed that, upon that day, I should obtain better terms. Well aware of the vanity of our foes, I knew they would attach vast importance to the entrance on the Fourth of July into the stronghold of the great river, and that, to gratify their national van

CH. XXVIII.]

VALUE OF THIS GREAT CAPTURE.

oled officers and men marched out of Vicksburg to the Big Black River, whence they were distributed to different parts of the South. Vicksburg itself was immediately occupied by the divisions of Logan, J. E. Smith, and Herron; and, much to the disgust of Pollard and men of his stamp, a large portion of the citizens signified their cheerful acceptance of the change in the state of affairs, which brought "the key of the Mississippi" again under the protection of the stars and stripes.

Gen. Grant, in his report sent to Washington a few days after the surrender, summed up the result of his operations as follows: "The result of this campaign has been the defeat of the enemy in five battles outside of Vicksburg, the occupation of Jackson, the capital of the state of Mississippi, and the capture of Vicksburg and its garrison and munitions of war; a loss to the enemy of 37,000 prisoners, among whom were fifteen general officers; at least 10,000 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 re-organized. Arms and munitions of war for an army of 60,000 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. "Our loss in the series of battles may be summed up as follows: "1,293 killed, 7,095 wounded, and 537

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ing; total, 8,925. Of the wounded, many were but slightly wounded, and continued on duty; many more requir ed but a few days or weeks for their recovery. Not more than one-half of the wounded were permanently disabled."*

The part taken by the navy in the capture of Vicksburg was of course less conspicuous than that of the army; yet the operations of Porter formed an essential element in reaching the desir ed end. As we have had occasion to note, he was always ready to do his share; and in the active employment of his fleet, for forty-two days, bombarding the city with their heavy guns, in mortar vessels, on scows, in guarding the river, and in a detachment of his force on shore, he reports an expenditure of ammunition from the mortars of 7,000 shells and from the gun boats 4,500.+ Truly, as Porter said in his dispatch, "history has seldom had an opportunity of recording so desperate a defence on one side, with so much courage, ability, perseverance, and endurance on the other; and if ever an army was entitled to the gratitude of a

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+ Grant's chief of artillery, Colonel Duff, gives a statement of the artillery shots fired during the siege. From the time of crossing the Mississippi River, May 1st, till the surrender, July 4th, 18,889 solid shot, 72,314

shell, 47,897 case, 2,723 canister, were expended, mak missing a total of 141,823. This would be an average of

ity, they would yield then what could not be extorted from them at any other time."

653 shots for each cannon used. If to these the musketry be added, the reader can form some idea of the vast amount of ammunition consumed.

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