Indiana, Lieutenant-Colonel John M. Orr, with the Eightythird Ohio, Lieutenant-Colonel Baldwin, of Burbridge's brigade, and the One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio, Colonel D. French, of Colonel Sheldon's brigade, being the first to enter the fort. Presenting himself at the entrance of the fort, General Burbridge was halted by the guard, who denied that they had surrendered, until he called their attention to the white flag, and ordered them to ground their arms.

Colonel Lindsay, as soon as a gunboat had passed above the fort, hastened with his brigade down the opposite shore, and opened an oblique fire from Foster's two twenty, and Lieutenant Wilson's two ten pounder Parrott's, into the enemy's line of rifle-pits, carrying away his battle-flag and killing a number of his men.

The fort had surrendered. With cheers and shouts our troops poured into the works.

As soon as order could be restored, Brigadier-General A. J. Smith was assigned to the command of the fort itself, and Brigadier-General David Stuart to the charge of the prisoners and the exterior defences.

Our entire loss in killed was 129; in wounded, 831; and in missing, 17; total, 977. Sherman's corps lost 4 officers and 75 men killed, and 34 officers and 406 men wounded; making a total of 519.

General Churchill, in his official report, dated Richmond, May 6, 1863, to Lieutenant-General Holmes, commanding the Department of Arkansas, states that his loss "will not exceed killed, and 75 or 80 wounded." He estimates the Union force at 50,000, his own at 3,000, and our loss at from 1,500 to 2,000.

By the surrender there fell into our hands 5,000 men, including three entire brigades of the enemy, commanded respectively by Colonels Garland, Deshler, and Dunnington; · seventeen pieces of cannon; three thousand serviceable smallarms; forty-six thousand rounds of ammunition; and five hundred and sixty-three animals.

After sending the prisoners to St. Louis, having destroyed

the defences and all buildings used for military purposes, on the 15th of January the troops re-embarked on the transports and proceeded to Napoleon, Arkansas, whence on the 17th, in obedience to orders received from Major-General Grant, they returned to Milliken's Bend. Sherman had been in favor of taking advantage of a rise in the Arkansas to threaten Little Rock, and force all scattered bands of the enemy to seek safety south of that river; but General McClernand was unwilling to take so great a responsibility in addition to that he had already incurred, by entering upon so important an enterprise without orders.

In noticing the services of the subordinate commanders, General McClernand remarks: "General Sherman exhibited his usual activity and enterprise; General Morgan proved his tactical skill and strategic talent; while Generals Steele, Smith, Osterhaus, and Stuart, and the several brigade commanders displayed the fitting qualities of brave and successful officers."

At Napoleon, Sherman was joined by the brigade of Brigadier-General Hugh Ewing, which had been on the way to join General Rosecrans; but that officer having just defeated Bragg in the desperate and decisive action of Stone River, no longer needed reinforcements. Ewing's command was assigned to Morgan L. Smith's second division, as the third brigade of that division. The effective force of the Fifteenth Corps was now fifteen thousand nine hundred and nine men of all arms.

7

CHAPTER IX.

THE SIEGE AND FALL OF VICKSBURG.

On the 19th of January, Sherman proceeded with his corps to Young's Point, opposite Vicksburg, and reported to Grant. Here he was joined by the division of Brigadier-General J. M. Tuttle, consisting of Mower's, Buckland's, and Woods' brigades. From the moment of taking personal command of the army at Milliken's Bend, General Grant became convinced that Vicksburg could only be taken from the south. He immediately caused work to be prosecuted on the canal begun the previous summer by Brigadier-General Thomas Williams, under the orders of Major-General Butler, with the view of effecting an artificial cut-off across the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, through which transports, troops, and supplies might safely pass to the river below the enemy's batteries at that place. Somewhat later he also caused a channel to be cut through the west bank into Lake Providence, with the design of passing down through Bayou Baxter, Bayou Macon, and the Tensas, Wachita, and Red rivers; and a third canal through the Yazoo Pass into the Coldwater by means of which troops might enter the Tallahatchie, and thence descending the Yazoo, land on the high ground above Haines' Bluff. For various reasons, none of these plans succeeded.

While the gunboats and troops sent through Yazoo Pass were delayed near Greenwood at the junction of the Yallabusha and Tallahatchie, where the rebels had taken advantage of a bend in the river to construct a formidable work, Admiral Porter reconnoitred still another route. Seven miles above the mouth of the Yazoo, Steele's bayou empties into

that river; thirty miles up Steele's bayou, Black bayou enters it from Deer Creek, six miles distant; ascending Deer Creek eighteen miles, Rolling Fork connects it with the Big Sunflower River, ten miles distant; and descending the Big Sunflower forty-one miles, you again enter the Yazoo, sixty miles from its mouth. By taking this course, the troops and gunboats would reach a strong position between Haines' Bluff and Greenwood; the enemy's forces at the latter point would be placed between two strong columns of the Union army, and would be compelled to fall back on Vicksburg; one of the most important sources of supplies would be lost to the enemy, and a valuable line of operations gained for us. Satisfying himself by a personal reconnoissance, in company with Admiral Porter, that the chances of success were sufficient to warrant so important an undertaking, on the 16th of March, General Grant ordered General Sherman to take Stuart's second division of the Fifteenth Corps, open the route, in co-operation with the gunboats, and seize some tenable position on the east bank of the Yazoo, whence to operate against Vicksburg and the forts at Haines' Bluff. Sherman started immediately with the Eighth Missouri regiment, and a detachment of pioneers, to open the bayou, and the next morning was followed by the remainder of the troops, who, in order to economize transportation, ascended the Mississippi to Eagle's Bend, where Steele's bayou approaches within a mile of the river, connected with it by Mud bayou, and there disembarking, marched across by land to Steele's bayou. The 18th and the forenoon of the 19th were spent in bridging Mud bayou, which was greatly swollen by a crevasse. Marching to Steele's bayou, but one transport was found there, and the three following days were spent in transporting the troops up the bayou, in such boats as became available. At the mouth of Black bayou the troops were transferred from the steamers to coal barges and taken in tow by a tug. Admiral Porter had started on the 14th of March with the gunboats Louisville, Lieutenant-Commander Owen; Cincinnati, Lieutenant-Commanding Bache; Carondelet, Lieutenant-Commanding Murphy; Mound City, Lieuten

ant-Commanding Wilson; Pittsburgh, Lieutenant-Commanding Hoel, four mortar-boats, and four tugs. The fleet easily passed up Steele's bayou, which, though very narrow, contained thirty feet of water; but Black's bayou was found to be obstructed by fallen and overhanging trees, which had to be pulled out by the roots and pushed aside before the gunboats could pass, and the frequent bends were so abrupt that the boats had to be heaved around them, with hardly a foot of room to spare. Twenty-four hours were occupied in going four miles into Deer Creek. The gunboats entered Deer Creek safely, aud pushed their way through the overhanging branches of cypress and willow, with which it was obstructed, at the rate of about a mile an hour at first, gradually diminishing as the difficulties increased, to half a mile an hour. When within seven miles of the Rolling Fork, the Confederate agents and some of the planters forcibly compelled the negroes to cut down immense trees directly across the Creek, for the purpose of delaying the advance. Removing these artificial obstructions, in addition to the natural ones, with almost incredible labor, when within three miles of Rolling Fork, smoke was discovered in the direction of the Yazoo, and information reached Admiral Porter that the enemy was advancing with five thousand men, to dispute his progress. The Carondelet, Lieutenant-Commanding Murphy, was sent ahead to hold the entrance to Rolling Fork, and on the night of the 20th March found the gunboats within eight hundred yards of that stream, with only two or three trees and a narrow lane of willows between them and open navigation. The next morning about six hundred of the enemy, with a battery of field-pieces, made their appearance, and began to annoy the fleet by sharpshooters, and to fell trees in front and rear. Sherman had not yet arrived. The road lay along the banks of the bayous, and he had found the banks overflowed below Hill's plantation on Deer Creek, at the head of Black bayou, so that the troops had to be transported twenty-eight miles to the mouth of Black bayou, on two small steamers, there transferred to a single coal-barge, and towed by a small tug two miles, to the