THE PURSUIT OF THE REBEL ARMY. 159 CHAPTER IX. THE PURSUIT.-GENERAL GRANT'S WESTERN COMMAND. The pursuit.-Colonel Elliott's Cavalry.-Sheridan Sherman takes Holly Springs. -General Halleck called to Washington.-General Grant succeeds him in the Western command. He takes care of disloyal citizens, editors, and the Gurrillas.-Guards the rights of loyal people.-The Contrabands.-Refugees. -A rebel letter to General Grant.-West Point Generals in the war.-The position of the armies.-Their advance.-Iuka.-A bloody battle.-Victory.Pursuit of the enemy.-Congratulations.-Effort to restore the former condition of things in the State.-General Bragg gets near the capital. THE Union army pursued promptly the flying foe far down the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, through a difficult country much obstructed by the enemy. On the afternoon of the 30th of May, the forces, sent out on the night of May 28th to cut off the rebel retreat, reached Boonesville, Missouri, and there destroyed the track, both north and south of the town, blew up one culvert, burned the dépôt, locomotives, and a train of twenty-six cars loaded with supplies, destroyed a quantity of arms, including artillery, clothing, and ammunition, besides taking a number of prisoners who belonged to the rear of the retreating forces. So desolated had the country become, that the pursuers had to live upon meat alone, such as they could find around them on their line of travel. Colonel Elliott, the commander of the cavalry, among whose officers was the gallant Sheridan, then just entering upon his brilliant career as a cavalry chief, not having any wagons with him, could not collect food and forage: he, however, found a few sheep, which he devoted to the use of his followers; but the flesh was very poor and tough. The prisoners he captured were mostly infantry, and finding that he would have very great difficulty in looking after them if he took them along with him, he merely disarmed them and sent them about their business. Plans were laid by the rebels to cut off Colonel Elliott's command, on its return; but he judiciously chose another road, and arrived safely at Tuscumbia, on June 1st, 1862. The route taken was by Iuka, Eastport, and Fulton, thence along the Tuscumbia and Jacinto road to Cartersville, thence to Padens and Boonesville, where the damage was principally inflicted on the rebels. The return was by the road to Tuscumbia. On the 9th of June, 1862, General Halleck reported that the rebels had fallen back fifty miles from Corinth, by the nearest railroad route, and seventy miles by the wagonroad, and that the estimated rebel loss, during the campaign near that place, was about forty thousand men. He also reported a state of demoralization existing in General Beauregard's army, and that the prisoners taken in many cases begged that they should not be exchanged, as they had purposely allowed themselves to be captured. Holly Springs, Missouri, on the railroad from Jackson, Tennessee, to New Orleans, was taken possession of by General Sherman's forces on June 20th, 1862; and, to prevent surprise by the rebels, several pieces of trestle-work on the Mississippi Central Railroad were destroyed. The enemy, before evacuating the place, had removed their machinery, for the repairing and making of arms, to Atlanta, Georgia. The campaign in this part of the country having virtually ended, General Halleck was, on July 11, 1862, ordered to Washington, to assume the position of General in-Chief; and, on the 17th, he took leave of his army in a farewell address, congratulating the officers and soldiers, for their endurance and bravery. The removal of General Halleck was followed by a reorganization of the troops in the West, and new departments were created out of the original Department of the Mississippi. General Buell's forces were formed into the Department of the Ohio, embracing the district of country north and east of the Tennessee River. Missouri was also made a distinct department. All the country from the Mississippi River to the western shores of the Tennessee, Cairo, Forts Henry and GENERAL GRANT'S ORDER AGAINST REBEL TRADE. 161 Donelson, the western shore of the Mississippi River, and the northern part of the State of Mississippi, became the "Department of West Tennessee." Of this, General Grant was made the commander, with his head-quarters at Corinth. Memphis, which had surrendered on June 6, 1862, soon after the evacuation of Corinth, was in this department, and was, by this time, a very important post, both as a base of operations and of supplies. General Grant, while commanding the district, visited the post, placing it under the jurisdiction of a provost-marshal. Among other orders, he issued the following, as it was necessary to prevent the co-operation between the latent rebels in that city with those in arms outside our lines: Passes issued for persons to pass out of the city will be understood to mean the person alone, and will not include goods, letters, or packages. Where letters are found on persons passing out, without being marked PASSED by the provost-marshal, post-commander, or general-commanding, they will be seized and delivered to the provost-marshal, and the offender arrested. Powder, lead, percussion-caps, and fire-arms of all descriptions are positively prohibited from being carried out of the city by citizens. Citizens are also prohibited from carrying them within the city limits on pain of forfeiture of such weapons, and ten days' confinement, for the first offense, and expulsion south of our lines, to be treated as spies, if ever caught within them thereafter, for the second. By command of U. S. GRANT, Major-General. The disloyal editors and speculators in conspiracy with the enemy at large took their turn, as will appear in the annexed spicy correspondence. It is paper warfare, in part, but, in General Grant's hands, made the traitors wince, and act like honest men :— HEAD-QUARTERS, DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE, Messrs. WILLS, BINGHAM & Co., Proprietors of the Memphis Avalanche: with which it is conducted is regarded as both incendiary aud treasonable, and its issue cannot longer be tolerated. This order will be strictly observed from the time of its reception. By command of MEMPHIS, July 1, 1862. WM. S. HILLYER, Provost-Marshal-General: The Avalanche can continue by the withdrawal of the author of the obnoxious article under the caption of "Mischief Makers," and the editorial allusion to the same. U. S. GRANT, Major-General. TO OUR PATRONS.-For reasons apparent from the foregoing order, I withdraw from the official management of the Avalanche. Self-respect, and the spirit of true journalism forbid any longer attempt to edit a paper. I approved and endorsed the articles in question. Prudence forbids my saying more, and duty less, to the public. JEPTHA FOWLKES. For the lawless guerrillas, who were murdering and plundering around Memphis, General Grant had also a message: HEAD-QUARTERS, DISTRICT OF WEST TENNESSEE,. } MEMPHIS, TENN., July 3, 1862. The system of guerrilla warfare now being prosecuted by some troops organized under authority of the so-called Southern Confederacy, and others without such authority, being so pernicious to the welfare of the community where it is carried on, and it being within the power of the community to suppress this system, it is ordered that, wherever loss is sustained by the Government, collections shall be made, by seizure of a sufficient amount of personal property, from persons in the immediate neighborhood sympathising with the rebellion, to remunerate the Government for all loss and expense of the same. Persons acting as guerrillas without organization, and without uniform to distinguish them from private citizens, are not entitled to the treatment of prisoners of war when caught, and will not receive such treatment. Major-General U. S. GRANT. By order of JOHN A. RAWLINS, A. A. G. Finding that the previous order had no effect upon the illicit traffic, General Grant had more positive commands issued, which greatly aided him in restoring the City of Memphis to order and loyalty : All passes heretofore issued to citizens, either by the commanding GENERAL GRANT AND REBEL SYMPATHIZERS. 163 general, the provost-marshal-general, the provost-marshal of Memphis, or any other officer, which may have been issued without the party being required to take the oath of allegiance, or give the prescribed parole of honor, are hereby revoked. No pass will be granted, in any case hereafter, except upon the taking of the oath or parole. The parole will be substituted for the oath only in special cases (at the discretion of the officer authorized to grant passes), where the party lives beyond the protection of our army. By command of Major-General GRANT. The next edict of military authority was demanded by the constant sympathy and aid extended to the rebel army by the conquered, but unsubdued, traitors at home-the great hindrance to the success of loyal arms from the beginning of the contest. The people, from the Gulf to Canada, and across the Atlantic, who, under our own and a foreign flag, have taken sides with treason against freedom, are the most responsible, and therefore guilty of all connected with the murderous work. The constant communication between the so-called Confederate army and their friends and sympathizers in the City of Memphis, despite the orders heretofore issued, and the efforts to enforce them, induced the issuing of the following order: The families now residing in the City of Memphis, of the following persons, are required to move South, beyond the lines within five days of the date hereof: First-All persons holding commissions in the so-called Confederate army, or who have voluntarily enlisted in said army, or who accompany and are connected with the same. Second-All persons holding office under or in the employ of the socalled Confederate Government. Third-All persons holding State, county, or municipal offices, who claim allegiance to said so-called Confederate Government, and who have abandoned their families, and gone South. Safe conduct will be given to the parties hereby required to leave, upon application to the provost-marshal of Memphis. By command of Major-General Grant. To guard the justly severe measure from any oppres |