PASSAGE OF THE VICKSBURG BATTERIES. 591 McClernand's column reached a point only two miles from Carthage, it was found that breaches in the Bayou Vidal had caused that town and its neighborhood to be made an island, by the submerging of the country around it. The army was compelled to make a circuitous march of twelve miles further, around Bayou Vidal, and so the work was accomplished after overcoming great difficulties. In the mean time measures had been in preparation for another and more daring experiment. It was no less than the passage of Porter's fleet, with transports and barges, by the heavy batteries at Vicksburg. The object was to afford means for carrying the troops across the Mississippi from Carthage, and to have gun-boats to cover the movement and the landing. Porter was ready for the attempt on the 16th of April. The gun-boats selected for the purpose were the Benton, Captain Green; Lafayette, Captain Walke; Price, Captain Woodworth; Louisville, Commander Owen; Carondelet, Lieutenant Murphy; Pittsburg, Lieutenant Hoel; Tuscumbia, Lieutenant Shirk; and Mound City, Lieutenant Wilson. All of these were iron-clad excepting the Price. They were laden with supplies for the army below, and were well fortified against missiles from the batteries by various overlayings, such as iron chains, timbers, and bales of cotton and hay. The transports chosen for the ordeal were the Forest Queen, Henry Clay, and Silver Wave. These, too, were laden with supplies for the army, with their machinery protected by baled hay and cotton. It was arranged for the iron-clads to pass down after dark in single file, a few hundred yards apart, each engaging the batteries as it passed, so that the transports might go by under cover of the smoke. At dark of the 16th every thing was ready for the perilous enterprise. Silently the armored vessels moved down the river, the Benton leading, followed by the Lafayette, with the gun-boat Price and a coal-barge in tow, and the other vessels in the prescribed order. All was silent and dark at Vicksburg, until, at nearly eleven o'clock, the ten vessels were abreast the city and its defenses, when suddenly the heights seemed all ablaze with lightning and the air fearfully resonant with thunder, as the batteries opened on the fleet. Their fire was returned with spirit, and under cover of the curtain of smoke the transports hastened down the river. The Silver Wave passed unhurt; the Forest Queen was so badly wounded that she had to be towed, and the Henry Clay was set on fire, and, being deserted by her people, went flaming and roaring down the river until she was burned to the water's edge and sunk. Of all the men who passed down with the fleet only one was killed and two were wounded. They were on the Benton. The affair was eminently successful, and Grant at once ordered six more transports,' similarly prepared, to run by the batteries. They did so on the night of the 22d of April, with the loss of only one of them (the Tigress), which was struck below water-mark, and sunk on the Louisiana shore, some distance below. The others were injured, but were soon made ready for use again. a April, 1863. Grant now prepared for vigorous operations against Vicksburg from the line of the Big Black, on its left flank and rear Awaiting this movement, let us see what was occurring in the Department of the Gulf, under the com 1 These were the Tigress, Anglo-Saxon, Cheeseman, Empire City, Horizona, and Moderator. 592 BANKS'S EXPEDITION. mand of General Banks, having reference to and bearing upon the object of opening the Mississippi and severing the Confederacy. gra General Banks, as we have observed,' assumed command of the Depart ment of the Gulf on the 16th of December. He found the disloyal inhabitants restive under the restraints imposed by General Butler, and tried the policy of conciliation. It was not received in the gentle and honorable spirit with which it was given, and arrogance, defiance, open contempt for the National power, and revived hopes of the speedy expulsion of the "Yankees " from New Orleans, were soon the visible results. His mild policy was a failure, and he was compelled to use the strong arm, as his predecessor had done.' The destination and special object of an expedition under General Banks, fitted out in the north during the autumn of 1862, was the subject of much speculation. Banks succeeded better than most others in keeping that destination a secret, and the curiosity of the public mind was about as much satisfied by inquiries, as was that of one of the General's staff officers, who, anxious to know where they were going, adroitly inquired, "Shall I take thick or thin clothing with me, General ?" Banks more adroitly answered, "You had better take both." By the time the expedition sailed it was generally believed that Texas was its destination. General Andrew J. Hamilton, the newly appointed Provisional Governor of Texas, was in New Orleans, anxiously awaiting its arrival, with that expectation; and the loyal people of Texas were stretching forth their hands toward the Government in piteous petitions for relief from one of the most terrible despotisms the world had ever experienced. When Banks arrived in New Orleans, he found there, as we have observed, seventeen thousand five hundred well-disciplined men, whom his predecessor turned over to him. These, with the troops that accompanied him, made an army at his command of about thirty thousand men, with the designation of the Nineteenth Army Corps. With these he was expected to co-operate with Grant in opening the Mississippi, and in taking possession of the Red River region, and expelling the Confederates from Louisiana, with a view to the speedy restoration of the National authority in Texas. The task before him, as we shall observe, was much greater than was anticipated, and for a long time afterward Texas remained bound in chains. Even the important positions of Sabine Pass and Galveston, which the Government had " repossessed," were wrested from it within a month after Banks's arrival. Let us see how it happened. We have observed how Galveston was surrendered to Commodore Renshaw without resistance, when the civil and military authorities retired to the main land. To make the possession of the city and island' more secure, 2 1 See page 530. These Southern people," remarked an English writer who went to New Orleans with General Banks, "with their oriental civilization and institutions, cherish something of the eastern impression, that kindness and conciliation imply weakness, originating in a fear of inflicting punishment. They hated Butler, and feared him; now the more foolish sort hope for a certain amount of impunity to the treason yet latent among them." 3 See page 538. The City of Galveston is at the northeastern end of Galveston Island, an extensive sand-spit near the entrance to Galveston Bay, into which empty the rivers San Jacinto and Trinity. The island, at the time we are considering, was connected with the main land by a wooden bridge about two miles in length. Its harbor is one of the few on that cheerless coast of the Gulf of Mexico that may fairly claim the dignity of that title. THE NATIONAL FORCES AT GALVESTON, 593 General Banks, at the request of Renshaw, sent thither from New Orleans the Forty-second Massachusetts, Colonel Burrill. Three companies (two hundred and sixty men) of that regiment arrived there at near the close of December, and were landed and encamped on the wharf. In front of the town lay the gun-boats Westfield, Clifton, Harriet Lane, Owasco, Coryphæus, and Sachem, under the command of Commodore Renshaw, whose relations with the Confederate leaders were so cordial that he enjoyed perfect quiet. a Dec. 28, 1862. General John B. McGruder had been sent to Texas from Virginia, and was then in chief command in that Department. He had so high an opinion of Renshaw's courtesy and conciliatory spirit, that he went from Houston to Virginia Point, opposite Galveston, and passed over one night with eighty men, and inspected the defenses of the city He found the long wooden bridge connecting that island with the mainland in good order and unprotected, and in view of other evidences of a feeling of perfect security, he was satisfied that he might make an easy conquest of the city with a few troops. But could he hold it? Probably not; so he took four steamboats from the adjacent rivers, put guns on them, and fortified them with cottonbales. At the same time he collected all the available Confederate troops, volunteers, and arms, in his power, and with this land and naval force, such as it was, he proceeded to attack the National land and naval force at Galveston before dawn on the morning of the first of January, 1863. The secessionists of Galveston were in such high spirits on the previous day, and there were so many enigmatical assurances of a speedy change of affairs there, that it was easy to perceive that mischief for the National forces was impending. Renshaw, who was in command of these forces on land and water, was warned that an attack was contemplated, yet no extraordinary preparations for resistance were made. Under his direction the handful of Massachusetts troops had been encamped on the wharf, their only protection from an assault from the city being an open space of water, made by taking up the wharf planks, and a barricade formed of them. At about midnight, while the moon was shining brightly, Magruder crossed the long bridge on a train of cars, with his troops and field-pieces, and, proceeding to within two squares of the camp of the Massachusetts soldiers, planted his artillery there so as to bear upon Renshaw's squadron. In the mean time the armed Confederate steamers were seen in the bay, approaching. These were tardy, and Magruder became nervous, for he was anxious to attack before daylight. The moon went down at four o'clock, and, under cover of the darkness, a storming party five hundred strong and a battalion of sharp-shooters attacked the Massachusetts troops. At the same time Magruder's cannon opened on the gun-boats. The storming party were repulsed and the assailing field-pieces were silenced, and all appeared to be going well for the Nationals, when the Confederate steamers came up, amply manned by a portion of Sibley's brigade, who, we have seen, were driven out of New Mexico.' Two of the steamers (Bayou City and Neptune) fell at once upon the Harriet Lane, Captain Wainwright, sweeping her decks with a murderous fire of small arms. She gave the Neptune a 1 See page 188. VOL. II.-76 594 CAPTURE OF GALVESTON. blow in return, which sent her to the bottom of the harbor. The only cannon on the Bayou City (a 68-pounder) had bursted, and it seemed as if she, too, must speedily succumb, when, by a quick maneuver, she ran her bow into the wheel of the Harriet Lane, held her fast, careened her so that she could not bring her guns to bear, and allowed Sibley's soldiers to swarm over on her deck. A brief resistance by an inferior force followed, and when Captain Wainwright was killed, and Lieutenant-commanding Lee was mortally wounded, she was captured. The Owasco, coming up to her assistance, was kept at bay by the sharp-shooters and the fear of the Lane's captured cannon, now in the custody of the Confederates, and she withdrew to a safe distance. Meanwhile the Westfield, Renshaw's flag-ship, which went out to meet the Confederate steamers in Bolivar Channel, had run hard aground at high tide, and signaled for assistance, when the Clifton hastened to her relief. During the absence of the latter the attack began. Observing this, Renshaw ordered her back. She opened upon Fort Point batteries, and drove the Confederates up the beach; and at about sunrise a flag of truce came to her commander, Lieutenant Law, with a demand for a surrender of the fleet. Law refused, and time was given to communicate with Renshaw, on the Westfield. He, too, rejected the proposal, ordered the National vessels and troops to escape, and, as he could not get his own ship off, he resolved to blow it up, and with officers and crew escape to two of the transports. The firing of the magazine was done prematurely by a drunkard, it was said, and Commodore Renshaw, Lieutenant Zimmerman, Engineer Green, and about a dozen of the crew, perished by the explosion. Nearly as many officers and men were killed in the Commodore's gig, lying by the side of he Westfield. In the mean time, while flags of truce were flying on the vessels and on shore, the Massachusetts troops, with artillery (which they had not) bearing upon them, were treacherously summoned to surrender by General R. Scurry.' Resistance would have been vain, and they complied, satisfied that when the Harriet Lane should be relieved from contact with the Bayou City, she would be too much for the Clifton or the Owasco. Law fled in the latter, with the remains of the fleet, to New Orleans. Before the Harriet Lane could be repaired and got out to sea as a Confederate pirate ship, Farragut sent a competent force to re-establish the blockade of Galveston, and Magruder's victory was made almost a barren one. Just as that blockade was re-established under Commodore Bell, with the Brooklyn as 3 1 Richardson Scurry was a native of Tennessee, and was a representative in, Congress from Texas from 1851 to 1858. 2 Report of Captains James S. Palmer and Melancthon Smith, and Lieutenant-commanding L. A. Kimberly (who composed a court of inquiry appointed by Admiral Farragut), dated January 12, 1863. The Confederates acknowledged the bad faith on their part. An eye-witness, in a communication in the Houston Telegraph, January 6, 1863, declared that the flag of truce was only a trick of the Confederates to gain time. It was evident, he said, that if the Harriet Lane could not be speedily disengaged, the Nationals would escape, and the flag was to make a delay. "A truce of three hours was agreed upon," said the writer. “During the truce with the vessels, the unconditional surrender of the Massachusetts troops was demanded and complied with." Magruder, in his official report, declared that Renshaw had "agreed to surrender." If that be true, the conviction is forced upon us that Renshaw was a traitor, and was acting in concert with Magruder. 3 Magruder's spoils were only the Harriet Lane and her property, the 260 officers and men of the Fortysecond Massachusetts, and about 120 on board of the Harriet Lane, made prisoners. His loss he reported at 26 killed and 117 wounded, and the steamer Neptune. INTERIOR OF LOUISIANA. 595 • Jan. 11, 1863. his flag-ship, a strange sail appeared in the distance, when the gun-boat Hatteras was sent to make her acquaintance. At first the stranger moved off slowly, and Lieutenant Blake, commanding the Hatteras, gave chase and prepared for action. He overtook the tardy and even waiting fugitive, and on hailing her was informed that she was the British ship Vixen. Blake was about to send a boat aboard, when the craft was revealed as the pirate ship Alabama. A hot fight ensued, which ended in the destruction of the Hatteras. Her heaviest guns were 32's, while the Alabama had a 150-pounder on a pivot, and a 68-pounder. There was a vast disparity in their power. The Hatteras was sunk, but her crew were saved, and the Alabama went into the friendly British port of Kingston, Jamaica, for repairs. Ten days later two National gun-boats (Morning Light and Velocity), blockading the Sabine Pass, were attacked by two Confederate steamers (John Bell and Uncle Ben) that came down the Sabine. They were driven out to sea and captured, with guns, prisoners, and a large amount of stores. And so when Grant was beginning the siege of Vicksburg in earnest, not a rood of Texas soil was "repossessed" by the National authority. General Banks began offensive operations immediately after his arrival. On the 18th of December he sent General Cuvier Grover with ten thousand men to reoccupy Baton Rouge, preparatory to an advance on Port Hudson. This was done without serious opposition, but the advance was delayed, because the Confederate force there was stronger than any Banks could then march against it. So he turned his attention to the rich sugar and cotton districts of Louisiana west of the Mississippi, for the purpose of weakening or destroying the Confederate forces there, for they might give him much trouble on his flank and rear, and seriously menace New Orleans. Already National troops had overrun a portion of the territory between the railway from New Orleans to Brashear City, and the Gulf, but between that road and the Red River National troops had not penetrated, excepting in La Fourche district,' and the inhabitants were mostly disloyal. The country in which Banks proposed to operate is a remarkable one. It is composed of large and fertile plantations, extensive forests, sluggish lagoons and bayous, passable and impassable swamps, made dark with umbrageous cypress-trees draped with Spanish moss and festooned with interlacing vines, the earth matted and miry, and the waters abounding in alligators. At that season the country was almost half submerged by the superabundant waters of the Mississippi and its tributaries, and the great bayous. A single railway (New Orleans, Opelousas, and Great Western railroad) then penetrated that region, extending from New Orleans to Brashear City, on the Atchafalaya, a distance of eighty miles, at which point the waters of the great Bayou Tèche meet those of the Atchafalaya, and others that flow through the region between there and the Red River. The latter gather in Chestimachee or Grand Lake, and find a common outlet into the Gulf of Mexico at Atchafalaya Bay. These waters formed a curious mixture of lake, bayou, canal, and river at Brashear City, and presented many difficulties for an invading army. See page 530. |