606

BATTLE OF RAYMOND.

in front of McPherson, who, two or three miles from Raymond, the capital of Hinds County, Mississippi, encountered two Confederate brigades about six thousand strong, under Generals Gregg and Walker (commanded by the former), well posted near Farnden's Creek, with infantry on a range of hills, in timber and in ravines, and two batteries commanding the roads over which the Nationals were approaching. Logan was in the advance, and not only received the first heavy blow at about ten o'clock, but bore the brunt of the battle that ensued. Brisk skirmishing had begun sometime before with the advance cavalry, under Captain Foster It speedily developed into a severe though short struggle.

The Confederates were mostly concealed in the woods, but their fire was soon drawn by Logan's Second brigade,' which advanced toward their covering. Soon afterward De Golyer's (Eighth Michigan) battery was ordered forward to assist in dislodging the foe, when for the first time the latter opened their batteries. Finding it impossible to silence the Michigan guns, the Confederates dashed forward to capture them, when they were repulsed with heavy loss by two shells that burst among their advancing troops. They fled beyond the creek and rallied.

McPherson now ordered an advance upon the new position of the Confederates. The movement was led by General Dennis's brigade, supported by General Smith's. A very severe conflict ensued, in which the Twentieth Ohio, Twentieth Illinois, and Twenty-third Indiana, lost heavily. The Confederates were pushed back a little, yet they maintained an unbroken front, when the Eighth Illinois, Colonel Sturgis, charged furiously upon them with fixed bayonets, broke the line into fragments, and drove them from the creek in wild disorder. So ended THE BATTLE OF RAYMOND. It had lasted about three hours.

The Confederates rallied and retreated in fair order though Raymond toward Jackson, followed cautiously by Logan, who occupied the town an hour after the fight, and found there Jackson newspapers of the day before, announcing, in grandiloquent style, that the "Yankees had been whipped at Grand Gulf and Port Gibson, and were falling back to seek the protection of their gun-boats."" During the engagement McPherson and Logan were seen riding along the lines directing the battle, and exposed to death every moment. This conduct greatly inspirited their troops.

McClernand and Sherman had skirmished pretty heavily while McPherson was struggling at Raymond, and when the result of that struggle was known to Grant, he ordered the other corps to move toward Jackson. He had learned that General Joseph E. Johnston, the ablest of the Confederate leaders, was hourly expected at Jackson, to take the command of the Confederate troops in that region in person. Perhaps he was already there. "I therefore determined," Grant said in his report, "to make sure of that place, and leave no enemy in my rear."

1 Composed of the Twentieth, Sixty-eighth and Seventy-eighth Ohio, and Thirteenth Illinois.

2 The Union loss in this battle was 442, of whom 69 were killed, 841 wounded, and 82 missing. The loss of the Confederates was 823, of whom 103 were killed, and 720 were wounded and made prisoners. In this engagement the Eighth Illinois and Seventh Texas, which faced each other at Fort Donelson, now had a fierce encounter. The Eighth Missouri (Union) and Tenth Tennessee (Confederate), both Irish regiments, here met, and," the correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial said, “exchanged compliments with genuine Hibernian accent."

3 Correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, May 13, 1863.

BATTLE OF JACKSON.

607

On the morning of the 13th, McPherson pushed on to Clinton, which he entered unopposed at two o'clock in the afternoon, and began May, 1868. tearing up the railway between that town and Jackson. Sherman was marching at the same time on the direct road from Raymond to Jackson, while McClernand was moving to a point near Raymond. That night was a tempestuous one. The rain fell heavily, and made May 14. wretched roads. But the troops under Grant were never overcome by mud, and early the next morning' Sherman and McPherson pushed on toward Jackson.

McPherson moved at five o'clock, with General Crocker's division (late Quinby's) in advance. At nine these encountered and drove in the Confederate pickets, five miles from Jackson; and two and a half miles from that city they were confronted by a heavy Confederate force, consisting chiefly of Georgia and South Carolina troops, which had arrived the previous evening, under General W. H. T. Walker. These were discovered by Crocker when he gained the brow of a gentle hill, arranged in battle order along the crest of a ridge over which the road to Jackson passed, and in a shallow ravine at its foot. Their artillery was chiefly on their right, near the road, and between the two armies were broad open fields.

Crocker disposed his forces in battle order while a heavy shower of rain was falling, and at eleven o'clock they moved to the attack slowly and cau

tiously, preceded by a line of skirmishers. The First Missouri battery had been placed near a cotton-gin in the open field, and Crocker now threw out two brigades (Colonel Sanborn's and Colonel Holmes's) on the right and left of it, supported by Colonel Boomer's. His skirmishers were soon met by such volleys from the infantry in the hollow, that they were recalled. Crocker saw that the foe in that hollow as well as on the crest of the hill, must be dislodged, or the National troops must retire; so he ordered a charge by his whole line, with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets. Instantly

1 This is a view on the principal battle-ground near Jackson, as it appeared when the writer sketched it, late in April, 1866. It was taken from the open field over which Crocker's troops advanced to the charge. In the middle ground traversed by a fence is seen the ravine out of which the Confederates were driven, and on the crest of the hill, where they broke and fled, are seen the chimneys of the ruined mansion of O. P. Wright, on whose farm the battle was fought. The brow of the hill on the left, where the road passes over, is the place where the Confederate cannon were planted.

608

CAPTURE OF JACKSON.

the troops moved steadily forward with, banners flying, unchecked by heavy volleys of musketry, and pushed the Confederates out of the ravine, and up the slopes to the crest where their artillery was planted. Still onward Crocker pressed, when the astonished Confederates broke and fled toward the city, closely chased for a mile and a half to the earthworks which formed the inner defenses of Jackson. There the batteries of McMurray and Dillon poured a storm of grape and canister upon the swarming Confederates, and under its cover the Nationals were halted and re-formed, with the intention of immediately assailing the works. But there was no occasion. They were empty. The garrison had fled. Sherman had come up and shelled them out of their works at another point, and now troops and civil officers and leading secessionists had evacuated the city and fled northward, the Governor carrying away as many State papers as possible, and the State Treasurer bearing away the public funds. McPherson and Sherman entered Jackson in triumph, finding there seventeen cannon which the Confederates had abandoned; and standing around the Deaf and Dumb Institute, which was used as a hospital, were tents enough to shelter an entire division. They found the commissary and quartermaster stores in flames.

So ended THE BATTLE OF JACKSON, in the capture of the city, and the unfurling of the National flag over the State House of Mississippi by the Fifty-ninth Indiana. General Grant entered the town that night, and learned that General Johnston had arrived, taken command of the Department, and ordered Pemberton to move out immediately from Vicksburg, cross the Big Black River, and fall upon the National rear. The reason of the flight of the troops northward from Jackson now seemed plain. No doubt Johnston intended to have them form a junction with Pemberton, and crush Grant by the weight of superior numbers. Grant perceived the menacing peril, and instantly took measures for striking Pemberton before such junction should be effected. For this purpose he gave orders for a concentration of his forces in the direction of Edwards's Station, which was about two miles

1 One division of McClernand's troops was then in Clinton, another at Mississippi Springs, a third at Ray. mond, and a fourth, with Blair's division of Sherman's corps, with a wagon train between Raymond and Utica

PEMBERTON COMPELLED TO FIGHT.

609

Early on the morning of the 16th General Grant was pretty accurately informed, by two persons who had been employed on the railway, and who had come through Pemberton's lines, of the position, strength, and intentions of that commander, who had been for two or three days near Edwards's Station. They informed him that Pemberton's force was about twenty-five thousand strong, composed of eighty regiments, with ten batteries of artillery, and that he was moving forward with the intention of attacking the National rear. This was confirmatory of information already received, and Grant resolved to strike first. Blair was ordered to push forward with his division toward Edwards's Station, and McClernand and Osterhaus were directed to follow immediately, while McPherson was ordered to keep up communication with McClernand on another road. In order to prevent any miscarriage, Grant sent Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson, of his staff, to McClernand, to explain the situation, and urge him to move promptly. Then the Commander-in-Chief hastened to the front, to have a personal direction of the movements there.

a May 14, 1S03.

Pemberton, who appears to have been a rather tardy and timid leader, had advanced a few miles eastward from his fortifications near Edwards's Station. On the day of the battle at Jackson," he had received a dispatch from Johnston at that place, "suggesting, not ordering," he afterward said, a combined attack on McPherson at Clinton, when Pemberton called a council, and, pursuant to its decision, prepared to attack the next morning, quite unconscious that his chief had already been made a fugitive by the very troops he was about to fall upon. A branch of Baker's Creek was so swollen by the rains that he was delayed until the

about to follow with his troops, when he found Grant close upon him, and he feit compelled to remain and fight. IIe was posted across the main Vicksburg dirt road that led to Edwards's Station, with a high undulating hill on the left, crowned with a dense forest. General W. W. Loring commanded

VOL II.-77

610

BATTLE OF CHAMPION HILLS.

his right. General John Bowen, who had been driven from Port Gibson, led his center, and General Carter L. Stevenson commanded his left. To reach Pemberton's line from the road the Nationals had to cross two open fields, and ascend a steep slope dotted with stumps of trees, exposed to the fire of the foe in thick woods.

1863.

General Hovey's division held the advance in front of Pemberton, and when Grant arrived his skirmishers were close to the pickets of May 16, his foe, and his troops were coming rapidly into line. McPherson's corps (excepting Ransom's brigade), which soon came up, was thrown to the right of the road, and threatened Pemberton's rear. There were promises of immediate success in case of a strife, but Grant, unwilling to risk a battle without evidently sufficient numbers to gain a victory, forbade an attack until McClernand's corps should be near. That corps was advancing from Bolton's Station, and Grant sent an urgent messenger for its commander to hasten forward. Then he listened anxiously, but in vain, for McClernand's guns. He knew the belligerents were too close together to allow much delay. At length firing commenced, and at eleven o'clock a battle had fairly begun. Hovey's division, composed of Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin troops, was bearing the brunt. His first brigade, mostly Indiana troops, under General McGinnis, opened the battle gallantly. The Confederates brought two batteries of four guns each to bear upon them from a ridge. One of these was charged upon and captured by the Eleventh Indiana' and Twenty-ninth Wisconsin, and the other by the Forty-sixth Indiana. But after a severe struggle for an hour and a half, against constantly increasing numbers (for Pemberton massed his troops on his right so as to crush and turn Grant's left), Hovey's infantry were compelled to fall back half a mile, to the position of his artillery, leaving behind them the captured guns. There Hovey was re-enforced by a portion of Crocker's (late Quinby's) division, when he re-formed, and, massing his artillery, which was strengthened by the addition of Dillon's Wisconsin battery, he renewed the fight with great spirit.

In the mean time Logan's division of McPherson's corps (its second brigade, under General M. D. Legget, forming on the right of Hovey) had fallen upon Stevenson, on Pemberton's left. Seeing this, Pemberton sent two of Bowen's brigades to assist Stevenson, and ordered General Loring to join Bowen and the remainder of his division, in further attempts to crush and turn Grant's left. Loring refused obedience, and seemed like a man demented. The battle went on without him, with varied fortunes, until late in the afternoon, when Stevenson's line, which had fought most gallantly, began to bend under Logan's severe pressure, and at five o'clock broke and fell back in confusion. Meanwhile the divisions of Osterhaus and Carr, of McClernand's corps, had come up, but did not engage very severely in the battle.

With that demolition of Pemberton's left, the Confederates became so confused and disheartened that nothing better seemed left for them than flight. Loring, with his troops sharing the panic of their leader, had

This was the famous regiment of Zouaves, first organized by Colonel (afterward Major-General) Lewis Wallace. See page 517, volume L