of the divisions constituting their corps. And still, in addition to these advantages, each army corps constitutes an army in itself, properly organized of the three arms, and ready for independent movement as such. The system is French, and our brief experience in handling large bodies of men, soon prompted its employment in the late war. On the 22d of December, Grant issued the following order: GENERAL ORDERS, No. 14. HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEL, By directions of the general-in-chief of the army, the troops in this department, including those of the Department of the Missouri operating on the Mississippi River, are hereby divided into four army corps, as follows: 1. The troops composing the Ninth Division, Brigadier General G. W. Morgan commanding; the Tenth Division, Brigadier-General A. J. Smith commanding; and all other troops operating on the Mississippi River below Memphis, not included in the Fifteenth Army Corps, will constitute the Thirteenth Army Corps, under the command of Major-General John A. McClernand. 2. The Fifth Division, Brigadier-General Morgan L. Smith commanding; the division from Helena, Arkansas, commanded by Brigadier-General F. Steele; and the forces in the "District of Memphis," will constitute the Fif teenth Army Corps, and be commanded by Major-General W. T. Sherman. 3. The Sixth Division, Brigadier-General J. McArthur commanding; the Seventh Division, Brigadier-General I. F. Quimby commanding; the Eighth Division, Brigadier-General L. F. Ross commanding; the Second Brigade of cavalry, Colonel A. L. Lee commanding; and the troops in the "District of Columbus," commanded by Brigadier-General Davies, and those in the "District of Jackson," commanded by Brigadier-General Sullivan, will constitute the Sixteenth Army Corps, and be commanded by Major-General S. A. Hurlbut. 4. The First Division, Brigadier-General J. W. Denver commanding; the Third Division, Brigadier-General John A. Logan commanding; the Fourth Division, Brigadier-General J. G. Lauman commanding; the First Brigade of cavalry, Colonel B. H. Grierson commanding; and the forces in the "District of Corinth," commanded by Brigadier-General G. M. Dodge, will constitute the Seventeenth Army Corps, and be commanded by Major-General J. B. McPherson. District commanders will send consolidated returns of their forces to these headquarters, as well as to army corps headquarters, and will, for the present, receive orders from department headquarters. By order of MAJOR-GENERAL U. S. GRANT. JOHN A. RAWLINS, A. A. G. THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION, AND THE USE OF COLORED TROOPS. No history of the war, and no biography of any one of its chief actors, would be complete without reference to a State paper of greater significance than any other issued during the period of hostilities. Indeed, it may well be doubted whether any public document ever issued in America had more important bearings than this. We refer to the President's Emancipation Proclamation. On the 22d of September, 1862, he had declared, by proclamation, that on the 1st day of January, 1863, all persons held as slaves within the States, the people of which were in rebellion, should be thereafter free. On the 1st day of January he had ratified that assertion by formal proclamation, enumerating the States and portions of States in which it should take effect. This was the signal for new political controversies, and many of our high officers in the army were inclined to fight against it. We need do no more than to declare, as we have done before, that this was a logical sequence for which we should have been prepared, and against which the rebels had not the shadow of a right to complain. The recruiting of negro regiments was also a bugbear to many people, though not a single valid argument can be brought against it. Disloyal sheets fulminated the fallacious argumenta of the schools, ad populum, ad verecundiam, and the like, and the swords of certain generals relaxed in their grasp; they halted on the negro question. Grant, no politician, but a straightforward, manly soldier, was instant and earnest in his obedience. "It is expected," he wrote in orders, "that all commanders will especially exert themselves in carrying out the policy of the Administration, not only in organizing colored troops, and rendering them efficient, but also in removing prejudice against them." As the servant of a great republic, he left to the departments of Government their specific duties, while he performed his own. CHAPTER XIII. THE NEW MOVEMENT TOWARDS VICKSBURG. ROUTES PROPOSED.-WILLIAMS' CANAL.-WHY IT FAILED.-MILLIKEN'S BEND.-LAKE PROVIDENCE. THE YAZOO PASS.-STEELE'S BAYOU.-PORTER'S ENERGY.-TANGLED COUNTRY.-WHAT NEXT?-TO NEW CARTHAGE, AND BEYOND.-PASSING THE BATTERIES.-FIRST BOATS.-SHEETS OF FIRE.-SECOND LOT.-HARD TIMES.ACROSS TO BRUINSBURG.-BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON.-ENEMY ROUTED. STUNG by the failure of his plans, and spurred onward by an irrepressible spirit and unyielding will, Grant now determined to take Vicksburg at every hazard, and at any cost. In the perusal of the following history, it is curious to see his difficulties, his expedients; how, like a lime-hound on its track, he essayed many approaches, until at last he found the true one, or rather, burst through barriers of fire to reach it. His plan was to move upon Vicksburg from the interior; but how to get a base by which he might do so was the question. The principal routes proposed, and, to a certain extent, prosecuted, were the following: first, Williams' canal, or cut-off; second, the route from Milliken's Bend; third, Lake Providence; fourth, the Yazoo Pass; and fifth, Steele's Bayou. Let us consider these in their order. WILLIAMS' CANAL. This cut-off had been located across the peninsula, at right angles, about six miles below Vicksburg. It was about one mile across; and, if it could be made effective, it would isolate Vicksburg, and make a channel for transporting troops and supplies to the new base south of the city, without exposure to the batteries of the city. It has already been stated that the location was faulty, beginning in an eddy above, and debouching opposite the Big bayou and race-course, exposed to an enfilading fire from the lower batteries. Immediately after the affair of Arkansas Post, McClernand had been ordered down to Young's Point, and McArthur's division was there on the 20th of January; and that was the destination of the entire Army of the Tennessee, less the garrisons of the towns in rear and Logan's division. A very large naval force, under Admiral Porter, had also rendezvoused there. On the 2d of February, Grant came down to Young's Point in person, and superintended the work on the canal. It was prosecuted with great vigor. The camps of the army were on the west side, and the earth was thrown up on that side, to form a sort of levee for their protection. The river was rising rapidly; but, while it promised a speedy opening, it also threatened danger to the embankments. Indeed it was with difficulty that the fast gathering waters could be kept out of the canal and the camps. It was now the 8th of March, and, between hope and fear, the former predominating, they were toiling on, when suddenly the great river asserted its strength; the mouth of the cut-off gave way with a grand burst; the waters swept through and swept over, carrying away implements and dykes, and flooding the camps, to the extreme discomfort and great danger of the men. The soldiers, seizing their tents and equipments, rushed for the levee all that part of the peninsula south of the railroad was under water. The first step in the new plan was a failure, and the rebels laughed loud and long at our discomfiture. Grant was not for a moment disturbed; he had not depended solely upon this: he had other projects for untying the Gordian knot, and was ready in default of all these to cut it with his sword. His army was large, and, in spite of malignant reports, healthy and in good spirits. MILLIKEN'S BEND. The engineers had reported to him a practicable route through the bayous which run from near Milliken's Bend, on the north, and New Carthage, on the south, through Roundabout bayou into the Tensas River. This also was tried: dredge-boats were sent forward to clear a passage, and a small steamer, with a few barges, was passing through, when the sudden fall of the river, commencing about the middle of April, put an end to this scheme. LAKE PROVIDENCE. While still at work on Williams' cut-off, and as an alternative or an additional route, Lake Providence had engaged Grant's attention, and he had put a large force to work upon it. This lake, situated seventy-five miles from Vicksburg, and just south of the Arkansas State line, is only one mile west of the Mississippi: through this short strip a canal was cut. The lake is six miles long, and is connected by Bayou Baxter with Bayou Macon, a water-channel which opens into the Tensas, and by the Washita and Red rivers into the Mississippi. The route was long and difficult, and the most that could be hoped from it was a means of communication with Banks at Port Hudson. This project served to employ the troops, but it was soon abandoned. THE YAZOO PASS. This route promised more than the others, and was most vigorously attempted. Yazoo Pass, eight miles below Helena, is a narrow, tortuous channel, running eastward from the Mississippi into Moon Lake, whence it again issues eastward, with a very snake-like course, until it empties into the Coldwater River, which, at some distance below, empties into the Tallahatchie. It was known that on both the Coldwater and Tallahatchie rivers the rebels were building gunboats and |