cessfully resisting any force likely to be sent against them. Between Port Hudson and Vicksburg they had perfect control of two hundred and fifty miles of the Mississippi, and it was through this territory that they were constantly receiving supplies of beef-cattle and other necessaries from Texas. The river, as at Vicksburg, makes a bend opposite the city, but not so sharp, and the batteries on the bluffs for four miles commanded the passage. The rear of the town is swampy, intersected with ravines, and very difficult of access. The place was defended by twenty thousand men, mostly from Western Texas, under the command of Van Dorn and Lovell.

On the 13th of March, simultaneously with the departure of Farragut's fleet, the army of General Banks left Baton Rouge for Port Hudson. The object of the movement at that time was only to make a diversion in favor of the fleet, and not a serious attack upon Port Hudson. A detached force, under Colonel Molineaux, diverged from the main body to keep clear the Clinton road on the right. At Cypress Bayou bridge the advance encountered the enemy's force, which retired, after a short skirmish, with the loss of eleven killed and wounded. The main army was in three divisions, under Generals Augur, Grover, and Emory. On receiving the route, Grover's Division moved at four o'clock P. M., Emory's at seven, and Augur's at three on the following morning; at two P. M. of the 14th the advance reached Springfield Cross Roads, within five miles of Port Hudson, and bivouacked for the night, during which the guns from Port Hudson, where Farragut was forcing his passage, were distinctly heard. On the morning of the 14th, the Hartford and Albatross having passed up, General Banks declared the object of his movement accomplished, and ordered a return to Baton Rouge, greatly to the disgust of the troops.

In the month of April an expedition was organized to operate in the region of the Bayou Teche. It is one of the most fertile regions of Louisiana, and numbers of salt works and founderies were there situated, which it was determined to take possession of. The supplies for Port Hudson were mostly drawn from that region, and to cut them off was a necessary preliminary to the reduction of that place. The expedition was quite successful, resulting, among other things, in the destruction of the Queen of the West, which, after being fitted up by her rebel captors, had run into the Atchafalaya. Preparations were now made to renew the attack upon Port Hudson, and on the 20th of May, the day after the investment of Vicksburg began, the troops of General Banks began a march upon Port Hudson, of which a regular investment was commenced on May 22d. As the forces of Banks successively arrived and took position, the lines were drawn closely around the rebel works. The force of the enemy was represented at thirteen thousand, under General Gardner. There were two boats, the Starlight and Red Chief, moored just above Port Hudson, in the Big Sandy Creek, that ran into the Mississippi. To destroy those boats, General Banks dispatched the Seventh Illinois Cavalry, under Colonel Price, who executed the order on the 25th. This cut off water communication, and the place was now encircled by land. Commencing at the extreme northwestern end of Port Hudson, and stretching round

in a southeasterly direction, the whole Union army was placed. General Grover, with the commands of Dwight, Paine, Dudley, and Weitzel, occupied the right, while General Augur occupied the centre, and General T. W. Sherman the left wing-the entire line extending over a space of several miles.

Preparations being thus made, at dawn on the 27th the guns along the whole line opened on the devoted place. The cannonade continued until one o'clock, when orders were given to slacken the fire, with a view to an assault on the enemy's left, in co-operation with which there was to be a simultaneous assault by General Sherman on the Union left. The line moved through the woods in their immediate front, and came upon a plain, on the farther side of which, half a mile distant, were the Confederate batteries. The field was covered with recently felled trees, through the interlaced branches of which the troops were to advance in face of shot, shell, and grape. The field officers dismounted to lead, since horses could not penetrate such obstacles. The advance commenced at three o'clock P. M., and for two hours the men braved the storm and shot while struggling through the obstacles, when, the task proving too difficult, they were then withdrawn. Among those who participated in this affair was Colonel Bartlett, of the Forty-ninth Massachusetts, who, having lost a leg, was compelled to go on horseback or not at all. The enemy was so struck with his bravery that orders were issued not to shoot him. On the left, the attack of General Sherman, somewhat later in the day, met with the same results. The column retired, after suffering heavy loss; General Sherman himself losing a leg. On the right the attacking column included the First and Third Regiments of the colored troops raised by General Banks, who for the first time were brought into action, and acquitted themselves with such credit as to win high encomiums from their commander. "In many respects,' he said, "their conduct was heroic; no troops could be more determined or daring. The whole loss of the army in this assault was about one thousand. The loss of the enemy was reported on their side at six hundred. On the 28th, General Banks sent a flag proposing a cessation of hostilities, for the purpose of burying the dead, which was acceded to.

The state of affairs now began to change very perceptibly, and the position of Banks became somewhat critical. The troops with which he had left the North in December were mostly nine-months men, onefourth of whose time had expired before they arrived in the department, and who then required instruction and drill before they could be of use in the field. The three-years men that General Banks found in the department were inured veterans, but their ranks had been greatly thinned by battle and disease. When the attacks upon Port Hudson began the time of the majority of the army was drawing to a close, and this force had now sustained a repulse before works which vied with those of Vicksburg in strength and capabilities of defence. The position of Grant's army was not much different. The two armies were exposed to the malaria of an unhealthy location, and compelled to drink peculiarly unwholesome waters, and the heat of midsummer was rapidly approaching. In the mean time the Mississippi had fallen

twenty-eight feet, a very unusual depression, interfering with the efficiency of the gunboats and the means of obtaining supplies. The Confederate armies were also organizing and moving upon the Union communications flank and rear. General Johnston, it was supposed, continued to gather force on the northeast of Vicksburg, pressing Grant's rear and forcing him to intrench, while Price and Marmaduke, with twenty-six thousand men, were at Helena, and General Walker, of General Dick Taylor's army, held Young's Point with seven thousand men, thus threatening Grant's supplies. At the same time, Buckner and Breckinridge, with a considerable force, were closing upon Banks's rear. The whole Opelousas country recently traversed by Banks had again fallen into the possession of the rebels, and the remnant of Banks's force, which had been left at Brashear City, was threatened by a cavalry force under Dick Taylor, who captured several steamers, also a number of Northern cotton merchants at Pisquemine, besides taking possession of Butte Station on the Opelousas Railroad. By this movement Brashear City was cut off, while a Confederate force of five thousand occupied Berwick City.

On the morning of June 23d, the garrison of Brashear City was surprised by a large force, which had during the night crossed Lake Palourde, and come up in the rear. Our loss on this occasion was large, including a camp of about six hundred convalescent soldiers. The enemy, also, by the capture of our force, gained possession of Fort Buchanan and Fort Schene, and another smaller earthwork farther down the bay. On these fortifications were mounted eighteen or twenty guns of heavy calibre, several of which were the finest rifled pieces we had in the department. Large quantities of commissary and ordnance stores, besides small-arms and horses, also fell into the hands of the enemy. This disaster extinguished the Union possession of Louisiana west of the Mississippi.

Meantime the enemy actively operated upon the communication between New Orleans and Port Hudson. A quantity of supplies for the besieging army was captured fifty miles above New Orleans; Banks was compelled to invigorate his operations, and efforts were made to concentrate all available troops at Port Hudson, and to recruit the black regiments. The deserters and prisoners from Port Hudson generally stated that the place was on short allowance, but the appearance of the men belied these assertions. Occasional dispatches were captured, asserting that the garrison could not hold out beyond a fixed time. These rumors and dispatches had the air of ruse, to induce Banks to waste his men in attacks. The general situation was such, however, as to induce the Union general to hasten a crisis, since the starvation process promised but little success, and his own position was becoming critical. At length, on the 13th June, a demand for the surrender of the place was made and refused, and a new attack was determined for the 14th. The plan contemplated a main attack by Grover, who was to force the works in front, while Dwight and Augur were to make feigned attacks on the extreme left. These two attacks were made with a loss of three hundred men. The column of General Grover was formed as follows: The Seventy-fifth New York

and the Twelfth Connecticut were detailed as skirmishers, forming a separate command under Lieutenant-Colonel Babcock, of the former. The Ninety-first New York, Colonel Van Zandt commanding, "each soldier carrying a five-pound hand-grenade, with his musket thrown over his shoulder, followed next in order. The skirmishers were to creep up and lie on the exterior slope of the enemy's breastworks, while the regiment carrying the grenades was to come up to the same position and throw over the grenades into the enemy's lines, with a view to rout them and drive them from behind their works. The Twenty-fourth Connecticut, Colonel Mansfield, with arms slung in like manner to the grenade regiment, followed, carrying sand-bags filled with cotton, which were to be used to fill up the ditch in front of the enemy's breastworks, to enable the assaulting party the more easily to scale them and charge upon the rebels. Following these different regiments came Weitzel's whole brigade, under command of Colonel Smith, of the One Hundred and Fourteenth New York. Next came Colonel Kimble's and Colonel Morgan's Brigades, under the general command of Colonel Birge. This force was held to support the assaulting column, which was under the immediate command of General Weitzel, who made the attack on the right. General Emory's old Division moved in conjunction with General Weitzel on the left, forming a separate column. The two divisions, Weitzel's and Paine's, were under command of Grover.

The ground to be traversed by the column was, for the first hundred yards, obstructed by an abatis of felled trees, to which succeeded a ditch forty feet wide, with six feet of water in it; and beyond that a glacis about twenty feet high, sloping gradually to the parapet, on which was a protection for the sharpshooters; behind, one hundred yards distant, was another line of works, on which field and heavy artillery was mounted. At daylight, General Grover's command were formed in the woods skirting the enemy's position, and three hundred yards dis tant from the works. The skirmishers then advanced, and deployed right and left at the point to be attacked, suffering severely from the enemy's fire. The whole command followed. The fire of the corvette Richmond in the river opened at the same time upon the place. As the troops left the shelter of the woods they encountered a sharp fire from the enemy. The skirmishers pushed on, in the hope that on reaching the ditch they should be able to keep the enemy down so that the advancing grenadiers should be able to perform their part of the work. The Seventy-fifth New York reached the ditch, but found it so enfiladed that nearly all were either killed or wounded. The grenadiers, on coming up, threw their grenades over the rebel breastworks, but the enemy actually caught them and hurled them back among us. In the mean time, while the skirmishers were nobly endeavoring to sustain themselves in their position, General Weitzel's column moved up as rapidly as possible and made a series of desperate assaults on the enemy's works. At this time, the sun having fairly risen, the fight became general. A fog, which had partially obscured the contending armies, lifted and revealed their respective positions. The enemy was fully prepared for us, and they lined every part of their

fortifications with heavy bodies of infantry. The battle had begun in earnest, and General Paine's column as well as General Weitzel's was actively engaged. Colonel Smith was killed leading the first assault of Weitzel's Brigade. Lieutenant-Colonel Von Petten, of the One Hundred and Sixteenth New York, immediately took command of the brigade, and gallantly led the charge until all further hope of forcing the position was gone. Brigade after brigade followed in rapid succession, storming the works, until compelled to fall back under the terrible fire of the enemy. They were all eventually repulsed with great slaughter.

The fighting ceased at eleven o'clock in the morning; and the soldiers, under command of their officers, laid themselves down under shelter of the gullies, trees, covered way, in fact everything that could afford them protection, and waited for the day to pass and darkness to come on. At nightfall we commenced the burial of our dead, and succeeded before the morning in carrying most of our wounded from the battle-ground. Among the Union losses were General Paine and five colonels. The loss in killed and wounded was over two thousand. On the following day, General Banks issued the following order:—

"HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,

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"NINETEENTH ARMY CORPS, "BEFORE PORT HUDSON, June 15, 1863. "The Commanding General congratulates the troops before Port Hudson upon the steady advance made upon the enemy's works, and is confident of an immediate and triumphant issue of the contest. We are at all points on the threshold of his fortifications. One more advance and they are ours. For the last duty that victory imposes the Commanding General summons the field men of the corps to the organization of a storming column of a thousand men, to vindicate the flag of the Union, and the memory of its defenders who have fallen. Let them come forward. Officers who lead the column of victory in this last assault may be assured of just recognition of their services by promotion; and every officer and soldier who shares its perils and its glory shall receive a medal fit to commemorate the first grand success of the campaign of 1863 for the freedom of the Mississippi. His name shall be placed in general orders upon the roll of honor. Division commanders will at once report the names of the offi. cers and men who may volunteer for this service, in order that the organization of the column may be completed without delay.

"By command of Major-General Banks.

"RICHARD B. IRWIN, Assistant Adjutant-General."

The call was responded to by the Fourth Wisconsin and the Sixth Michigan, by which regiments the attack was made, resulting in the repulse and capture of nearly the whole assaulting force.

The siege was now continued vigorously, batteries being erected across the river, which were well served by United States regulars. One hundred and fifty paces from the enemy's extreme right seventeen eight and ten inch columbiads were established, another battery of seven pieces was placed in the centre, and one of six guns on the left. From these a heavy fire was maintained day and night with little loss of life to the enemy, but with the effect of disabling most of his artillery. About the 20th of June the meat rations gave out, and mules were butchered for the use of the garrison, who also devoured rats. Soon after the ammunition began to fail. Amid these accumulating