634

A SEVERE STRUGGLE.

incessantly, day and night, and wore them down with fatigue and watching; while their provisions were becoming scarce, their medical stores exhausted, and famine was threatened. They were completely hemmed in, and could receive nothing from the outer world but pure air, the sunlight, and the messengers of death from their foes. Banks's little army, then not exceeding twelve thousand effective men, was also closely hemmed in by a cordon of intensely hostile inhabitants; and since the raid of Grierson and his troop, Confederate cavalry had been concentrating in his rear, while General Taylor was gathering a new army in the regions of Louisiana, which the National troops had almost abandoned for the purpose of completing the task of opening the Mississippi. These might be joined by a force from Texas sufficient to capture New Orleans, while General Johnston might sweep down in the rear of Grant and fall upon Banks at any moment.

1863.

There was peril before and peril behind, and Banks felt the necessity of a speedy reduction of Port Hudson. He accordingly planned another assault, and on the 11th of June" he attempted to establish a new line within easy attacking distance of the Confederate works, so as to avoid the dangers of a movement on their front over a broad space of ground. Under a heavy fire of his artillery the troops advanced at three o'clock in the morning, and made their way through the abatis, when the movement was promptly met by the garrison, and a severe struggle ensued. At first some of the Confederates were driven within their works, and the Nationals, under General Birge, attempted to scale them, but were repulsed. The only soldier who reached the parapet was the gallant young Connecticut officer, Lieutenant Stanton Allyn, who gave his life to his country not long afterward, when his body was buried in the soil of Louisiana.' His men, accustomed to his courage and skill, followed him willingly in the desperate struggle; but the terrible fire from the works hurled them back, and the entire attacking force was driven beyond the abatis with heavy loss, a considerable number having been made prisoners.

no center.

This failure was followed three days later" by an attempt to carry the works by storm. At that time Banks's army lay mostly in June 14. two lines, forming a right angle, with a right and left, but The division of Grover, on the upper side of the post, extended nearly three miles, from near the mouth of Thompson's Creek into the interior, within supporting distance of General Auger's division, which extended from near that point about the same distance to the river below Port Hudson, and within hailing distance of the fleet. When the final disposition for assault was made, General Gardner was entreated to surrender and stop the effusion of blood, but refused, hoping, like General Pemberton

ral T. W. Sherman was very seriously wounded, but finally recovered with the loss of a leg, and General Neal Dow, of Main, was slightly wounded. Colonel Cowles, of Hudson, New York, one of the noblest men in the army, was wounded in the thickest of the fight by a bayonet thrust, and died half an hour afterward.

1 It was afterward removed to his native State.

2 Banks sent a note to General Gardner on Saturday, the 13th, demanding an unconditional surrender of the post. He complimented the commander and his garrison for their courage and fortitude, and demanded the surrender in the name of humanity. He assured him of the overwhelming force of the Nationals in men and cannon, and that Gardner's disparel to Johnston, telling of his straits and the dangers of starvation, had been intercepted, and the weakness of the post misde known.

SECOND ASSAULT ON PORT HUDSON.

635

at Vicksburg, even while shot and shell were spreading death and destruction all around him,' that Johnston would come to his rescue.

It was arranged for the main attack to be made by Grover and Weitzel on the extreme northeasterly angle of the Confederate works, while Generals Auger and Dwight should make a feint or a real attack, as circumstances might determine, on the right of the works. He was directed to press up stealthily through a ravine, and rush over the defenses simultaneously with the attack on their left.

On the National right two regiments were detailed as sharp-shooters (Seventy-fifth New York and Twelfth Connecticut), to creep up and lie on the exterior slope of the breast works, followed by another regiment (the Ninety-first New York), each man carrying his musket and a five-pound hand-grenade, to throw over the parapet. A third regiment (Twenty-fourth Connecticut) was detailed to carry sand-bags full of cotton, with which to fill the ditch in front of the breast works, and enable the storming party to pass easily. These were to be followed by the regiments of Weitzel's brigade, under Colonel Smith, of the One Hundred and Fourteenth New York, to be supported by the brigades of Colonels Kimball and Morgan, under the general command of General Birge, the whole forming the storming party on the right. In conjunction with these, and on their left, moved a separate column under General Paine, composed of the old division of General Emory. Both parties were under the command of General Grover, who planned the attack. Acting Brigadier-General Dudley's brigade, of Auger's division, was held in reserve. It was intended to have Weitzel's command' effect a lodgment inside of the Confederate works, and thus prepare the way for the operation of Paine's division."

a June 14,

1858.

This movement commenced just at dawn" (first along a covered way to within three hundred yards of the works), and was met by a most determined resistance by the Confederates, who, informed of it, were massed at the point of attack. The skirmishers, making their way over rough and vine-tangled ground, in the face of an incessant fire in the front, reached the ditch, where they were terribly smitten by an enfilading one, that drove them back; and even the hand-grenades were made to plague their bearers, for they were caught up by the besieged and

1 It appears from the diary of a captured Confederate soldier (J. A. Kennedy, of the First Alabama), that one of Banks's heavy guns had been named by the besieged, as we have observed one of the Confederate cannon at Vicksburg was-" Whistling Dick," and that it was the means of great destruction. Under date of "June 9," he wrote: "Whistling Dick is at work to-day, tearing our camps all to pieces. Our sick have been removed to the ravine. It is difficult to get something to eat. The Yankee artillery is playing upon us The Hessians burned our commissary with a shell to-day."

all round.

2 Weitzel's command was composed of his own brigade (Eighth Vermont, Twelfth Connecticut, and Seventyfifth and One Hundred and Fourteenth New York), and the Twenty-fourth Connecticut and Fifty-second Massachusetts, of Grover's division. The Seventy-fifth New York and Twelfth Connecticut, forming a separate command under Colonel Babcock, of the first-named regiment, were detailed as skirmishers.

Paine's column advanced to the assault in the following order: In the advance, as skirmishers, the Eighth New Hampshire and Fourth Wisconsin. Behind these were five companies of the Fourth Massachusetts, One Hundred and Tenth New York, and four companies of the Third Brigade. Closely upon these followed the Third Brigade, under Colonel Gooding, composed of the Thirty-first, Thirty-eighth, and Fifty-third Massachusetts, and One Hundred and Fifty-sixth and One Hundred and Seventy-fifth New York. Then a part of the Second Brigade, under Colonel Fearing, composed of the One Hundred and Thirty-third and One Hundred and Seventy third New York, the remainder of the brigade being detailed as skirmishers. After the Second Brigade followed the First, under Colonel Ferris, composed of the Twenty-eighth Connectient (his own), Fourth Messachusetts, and four companies of the One Hundred and Tenth New York. Nimm's battery and pioneers accompanied the column.

636

SIEGE OF PORT HUDSON CONTINUED.

sent back to explode among the assailants. Yet steadily the assaulting column moved up and made a series of vigorous attacks, but effected little, so heavily were the works manned at the point of the blow. Meanwhile, Dwight was fighting desperately on the left, but without effecting an entrance into the works, and Auger was as gallantly struggling, but to as little purpose. Success was with the Confederates. The Nationals were repulsed at all points, and at eleven o'clock in the morning the struggle ceased. Banks had lost in this assault about seven hundred men, and General Paine, whose division had borne the brunt of the battle, was among the wounded. Yet he had gained a decided advantage by the operation. Paine and Weitzel on the right had advanced much nearer to the Confederate works than they were before, where their men intrenched and began the erection of new batteries, while on the left General Dwight carried and held a hill which commanded the "citadel -a vital point of the intrenchments and he was thereby enabled a few days later to seize and hold another point on the same ridge with the " citadel," within ten yards of the Confederate line.

a July 7,

1863.

Now again the siege went on in the usual way. There was mining and counter-mining. The shells from the army and navy poured upon the garrison, and fearfully increased the miseries of the worn and halfstarving troops. Gun after gun on the Confederate works was disabled, until at length only fifteen effective ones remained on the landward side; only twenty rounds to each man of the ammunition for small arms was left, and the garrison were beginning to subsist on mule-meat, and even fricasseed rats. At the same time, Banks had nearly completed a mine, by which thirty barrels of gunpowder would have been exploded under the "citade!." The beleaguered garrison could have held out but a few days longer. Their gallant leader had begun to despair of aid from Johnston, and was at his wit's end, when he and his troops were suddenly startled by the thunder of cannon and loud cheering along the whole National line and upon the river squadron, followed by the shouts of pickets-" Vicksburg has surrendered!" This was the knell to Gardner's hopes. At midnight he sent a note by a flag to General Banks, inquiring if the report were true, and if so, asking for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to the consideration of terms for surrendering the position. Banks assured Gardner that he had an official dispatch from General Grant to that effect, dated on the 4th instant, but he refused his consent to a cessation of hostilities for the purpose named. Gardner then called a council of officers, composed of General Beale, Colonels Steadman, Miles, Lyle, and Shelby, and Lieutenant-Colonel M. J. Smith, when it was agreed to surrender, and the commander proposed to Banks the appointment of joint commissioners to arrange the terms. This was agreed to, and General Charles P. Stone, Colonel Henry W. Birge, and LieutenantColonel Richard B. Irwin were chosen for the purpose on the part of Banks. The terms agreed upon were the surrender of the post and its appurtenances, the officers and privates to receive the treatment due prisoners of war, and

1 The garrison's supply of meat gave out on the 30th of June, when Gardner ordered mules to be slain for food. * Many of the men, as if in mockery of famine, caught rats and ate them, declaring that they were better tnan squirrels."-Narrative of a Confederate writer, dated Mobile, July 20, 1868.

SURRENDER OF PORT HUDSON.

637

to retain their private property; the garrison to stack their arms and colors in submission on the following day. The surrender was duly completed early in the morning of the 9th," when six thousand four hundred and a July, 1863. eight men, including four hundred and fifty-five officers, became prisoners of war, and the National troops took possession of the post. The little hamlet of Port Hudson, within

the lines, composed of a few houses and a small church, was in ruins. General Banks found comfortable quarters at the farm-house of Riley's plantation, not far distant, which had survived the storm of war. Farragut, with the veteran Hartford and the Albatross, moved down to Port Hudson, and received the cordial greetings of the troops.

Banks's loss in men during the siege of forty-five days was about three thousand, and that of Gardner about eight hundred. The spoils of victory were the important post, two steamers, fifty-one pieces of artillery, five thousand small arms, and a large quantity of fixed ammunition for the latter and for cannon. Banks stated that his winnings for the campaign which then ended so gloriously for the National arms, amounted to ten thousand five hundred and eighty-four prisoners, seventy-three guns, six thousand small arms, three gun-boats, eight transports, and a large quantity of cotton, cattle, and other property of immense value.

This conquest gave the final blow in the removal of the obstructions to the free navigation of the Mississippi River by Confederate batteries, for which Fremont planned and worked so earnestly in the first year of the war, and for which the Western troops fought so gallantly and persistently. The first of these obstructions, as we have seen, was erected at Vicksburg,' and there the finishing blow was really given, for the fall of Port Hudson was but a consequence of the siege and surrender of Vicksburg. The Mississippi was now open to the passage of vessels upon its bosom, from St. Louis to New Orleans, and its waters, as the President said, unobstructed by batteries or other impediments, now "went unvexed to the sea." On the 16th of July the steamer Imperial, from St. Louis, arrived at New Orleans, making the first communication of the kind between those cities for two years. On the 28th of the same month she returned

to her wharf at St. Louis, announcing the fact that the great highway of the commerce of the Mississippi Valley was again open, and was hailed with the welcoming shouts of thousands of citizens.

The capture of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, by which powerful portions of the Confederacy were severed and weakened, was hailed with the most

1 General Banks deputed General George L. Andrews to receive the surrender. To him General Gardner offered his sword. Andrews received it, but immediately returned it to the general, complimenting him for maintaining the defense of the post so gallantly.

See page 164, volume I.

638

THE FALL OF VICKSBURG AND PORT HUDSON.

profound satisfaction by the loyal people of the Republic. Occurring at the moment when the aggressive power of the Confederates was fatally smitten at Gettysburg, it gave assurances of the final triumph of the Government over its enemies. It dismayed the conspirators, and destroyed the hopes of the ruling classes abroad, who, until that time, had believed they would speedily see an ignominious ending of the great experiment of republican government in America. It utterly confounded those prophets among the political leaders in the Free-labor States who sympathized with the conspirators, and who, at that very moment, as we shall observe hereafter, were prophesying, in apparent accordance with their own wishes, the speedy triumph of Jefferson Davis and his legions, civil and military. In the blindness of partisan zeal, they were unable to discover the great lights of eternal principles that were illuminating the pathways of those who were contending for the life of a great Nation and the Rights of Man. They and the conspirators seemed to forget that there is a God whose throne is established upon JUSTICE and MERCY, whose car is ever open to the cry of the oppressed, and whose arm is ever bared in the defense of the righteous.

The writer visited the theater of events described in this and the preceding chapter in April, 1866. He had spent a few days in New Orleans, where he had experienced the kind courtesies of Generals Sheridan and Hartsuff, and held interviews with several Confederate leaders, mostly temporary visitors there. Among these was General Frank K. Gardner, the commander at Port Hudson, who was residing in the city, and pursuing the business of a civil engineer, and from him the writer received interesting facts then, and afterward by letter, concerning the siege of Port Hudson, and also of Mobile, where Gardner was in command at a later period of the war.

The writer left New Orleans on the fine river steamer Indiana, on the afternoon of the 16th," intending to stop at Port Hudson that April, 1866. night. The weather was fine, and the Mississippi was full to the brim with the spring flood, so that from the main deck we had a perfect view of the country on both sides of the great river. Among the passengers was a short, stout man, a little past sixty years of age, who happened to be the first one whom the writer addressed. When the former found that the latter was from the North, he began to curse the "Yankees" furiously. Remembering the wisdom uttered by the sacred sage, that "a soft answer turneth away wrath," the author soon allayed the passions of his elder, and during the remainder of the voyage they journeyed pleasantly together. The wrathful man had been a major in Forrest's cavalry, and was a citizen of Vicksburg. He imparted to the author a great deal of information concerning the interior of the Confederate cavalry service, in which he was largely engaged, and of the leading men in that service. He said Forrest expressed his principles of action in that service by saying, "War means fight, and fight means kill-we want but few prisoners." This major had been an imprisoned spy in Sherman's camp at Vicksburg, under sentence of death by hanging the next morning. He was confined in a shanty. A heavy rain-storm came up in the evening, and while the guard was engaged for a moment in taking measures to keep out the water, the prisoner sprang into the black night, and, being well acquainted with the region, escaped.

We passed Baton Rouge carly in the evening, and just afterward we