RAIDS OF CARTER AND WHEELER.

283

cations, simultaneously with Forrest's his old quarters; having lost but doings in West Tennessee, passing 20 men, mainly prisoners-and killed or captured over 500. Having been ridden all but incessantly 690 miles, with very little to eat, many of his horses gave out and were left to die on the return.

the left of Rosecrans's army, rode into the heart of Kentucky; and, after | inconsiderable skirmishes at Glasgow, Upton, and Nolin," pressed on to Elizabethtown, which he took, after a brief, one-sided conflict, captur ing there and at the trestlework on the railroad, five or six miles above, several hundred prisoners, destroying 3o the railroad for miles, with a quantity of army stores. He then raided up to Bardstown, where he turned" abruptly southward, being threatened by a far superior force; retreating into Tennessee by Springfield and Campbellsville; having inflicted considerable damage and incurred very little loss.

30

Gen. Wheeler, in chief command of Bragg's cavalry, 4,500 strong, with Forrest and Wharton as Brigadiers, passing Rosecrans's army by its right, concentrated his forces at Franklin, and pushed north-westward rapidly to Dover, near the site of old Fort Donelson, which our Generals had seen no reason to repair and occupy. But he found" Dover held by Col. A. C. Harding, 83d Illinois, with some 600 men fit for duty; his battery and one or two companies being absent; but Harding proved the man for the exigency. He at once sent across to Fort Henry for assistance, and dispatched a steamboat down the Cumberland for

But his raid was fully countered by one led" about the same time by Brig.-Gen. H. Carter (formerly Col. 2d Tennessee) from Winchester, Ky., across the Cumberland, Powell's, and Clinch mountains, through a corner of Lee county, Va., to Blountsville gunboats; at the same time throwand Zollicoffer (formerly Union Sta-ing out and deploying his men so as tion), East Tennessee, where 150 of to impede to the utmost the advance the 62d North Carolina, Maj. McDowell, were surprised and captured without a shot, and the railroad bridge, 720 feet long, over the Holston, destroyed, with 700 small arms and much other material of war. Pushing on ten miles, to Clinch's Station, Carter had a little fight, captured 75 prisoners, and destroyed the railroad bridge, 400 feet long, over the Watauga, with a locomotive and several cars; returning thence by Jonesville, Lee county, Va., rëcrossing the Cumberland range at Hauk's Gap; and, after two or three smart skirmishes, returning in triumph to

of the Rebels, and opening upon them so soon as they came within range, with a 32-pounder and 4 brass guns, which were all he had. Thus fighting with equal energy and judgment, he repelled alternate charges and invitations to surrender until dark, though nearly surrounded and pressed from both sides by his assailants, who, with reason, confidently expected to capture him. In their last charge, the Rebels lost Col. McNairy, of Nashville, who fell while vainly endeavoring to rally his men. No relief arrived from Fort Henry till next morning; but the gunboat * Feb. 3, 1863.

31 Dec. 30.

32 Dec. 20.

Fair Play, Lt. Fitch, leading four | us a skillful blow at Spring Hill, 10 others, all of them convoying a fleet miles south of Franklin, and 30 from of transports up the river, had been Nashville, whither Col. John Cohailed 24 miles below by Harding's burn, 33d Indiana, had been dismessenger, and incited to make all patched from Franklin, with 2,000 speed to the rescue. Harding was infantry, 600 cavalry, and a light still holding his ground firmly, battery, simultaneously with Sherithough nearly out of ammunition- dan's advance from Murfreesboro'. having lost one of his guns and 45 Before reaching Spring Hill, his out of 60 artillery horses-when, at advance was contested; and, on the 8 P. M., the Fair Play arrived, and morning of the next day," he was considerably astonished the Rebels assailed by a far superior force, by by a raking fire along their line. which he was in the course of the The other gunboats were soon on day all but surrounded; and, after hand, and doing likewise, but to little fighting until his ammunition was purpose; since the Rebels had taken exhausted, was compelled to surto their heels at the first sound of render his remaining infantry, 1,306 guns from the water, leaving 150 in number. His cavalry and artillery, dead and an equal number of prison- having run away in excellent season, ers behind them. Harding estimates escaped with little loss. Van Dorn's their wounded at 400, and makes his force consisted of six brigades of own loss 16 killed, 60 wounded, and cavalry and mounted infantry. 50 prisoners. Wheeler, as if satisfied with this experience, returned | quietly to Franklin.

Gen. Jeff. C. Davis, with his division of infantry and two brigades of cavalry, under Col. Minty, had been sent* westward by Rosecrans, as if to intercept Wheeler on his way southward. He captured 141 of Wheeler's men, including two Colonels; but returned" to Murfreesboro' without a fight and without loss.

Gen. P. H. Sheridan next made" a similar demonstration southward, nearly to Shelbyville, then turning north-westward to Franklin; having two or three skirmishes with inferior forces, under Forrest and Van Dorn, who fled, losing in all about 100, mainly prisoners; while our loss was 10. Sheridan returned to Murfreesboro' after an absence of ten days. Meantime, Van Dorn had

dealt

A fortnight later, Col. A. S. Hall, 105th Ohio, with four regiments, numbering 1,323 men, moved nearly east from Murfreesboro', intending to surprise a Rebel camp at Gainesville; but he missed his aim, and was soon confronted by a regiment of hostile cavalry; before which, Hall slowly withdrew to the little village of Milton, 12 miles north-east of Murfreesboro', taking post on Vaught's Hill, a mile or so distant; where he was assailed" by a superior Rebel force, under Gen. Morgan. But his men were skillfully posted, supporting a section of Harris's 19th Indiana battery, which was admirably served, and doubtless contributed very essentially to Morgan's defeat, with a loss of 63 killed and some 200 or 300 wounded, including himself. Hall's entire loss was but 55.

36 March 4.

Franklin, being occupied by a

STREIGHT'S RAID INTO GEORGIA.

Gen. Gordon Granger, Van Dorn, with a superior force, assailed," with intent to capture it; but was easily beaten off, with a loss of 200 or 300, including 80 prisoners; our loss being 37 only.

A few days later, Maj.-Gen. J. J. Reynolds pushed out," with his division and two brigades of cavalry, to McMinnville; whence he drove out Morgan, taking 130 prisoners, destroying a large amount of Rebel stores, and returning " without loss.

Col. Watkins, 6th Kentucky, with 500 cavalry, surprised "a Rebel camp on the Carter's creek pike, 8 miles from Franklin; capturing 140 men, 250 horses and mules, and destroying a large amount of camp equipage.

|

285

Union force of 4,500 men, under Georgia, expecting to swoop down successively on Rome and Atlanta, destroying there large manufactories, machine-shops, and magazines. He was hardly well on his road, however, before Forrest and Roddy, with a superior force of Rebel cavalry, were after him; following sharply, and easily gaining upon him, through a running fight of over 100 miles ; when, his ammunition being exhausted and his men nearly worn out, Streight surrendered, when 15 miles from Rome. His men were treated as other captives and exchanged; while Streight and his officers were retained for a time in close prison, on a demand of Gov. Brown, of Georgia, that they be treated as felons, under a law of that State, which makes the inciting of slaves to rebellion a high crime. The specific charge was that negroes were found among their men in uniform and bearing arms; which was strenuously denied: the few negrocs with them being claimed as servants of officers; and the only one who was armed insisting that he was carrying his employer's sword, as an act of duty. After a long confinement, Streight, with 107 other of our officers, escaped" from Libby Prison, Richmond: 60 of them, including Streight, making their way to our lines. He estimates his loss in killed and wounded during this raid at 100, including Col. Hathaway, killed; and puts the Rebel loss at five times that number. He surrendered, in all, 1,365 men. "April 27. 43 April 29. 44 Feb. 9, 1864.

Col. A. D. Streight, 51st Indiana, at the head of 1,800 cavalry, was next dispatched" by Rosecrans to the rear of Bragg's army, with instructions to cut the railroads in northwestern Georgia, and destroy generally all dépôts of supplies and manufactories of arms, clothing, &c. Having been taken up the Tennessee on steamboats from Fort Henry to Eastport, Ala., where he was joined by an infantry force under Gen. Dodge, they attacked and captured Tuscumbia, inflicting considerable loss on the Rebels; and, while Gen. Dodge made a sweeping raid through North Alabama, returning ultimately to his headquarters at Corinth, Col. Streight struck for Northern April 20. April 26.

39

* April 10.

40

41

XIV.

OPERATIONS AGAINST VICKSBURG.

son, having in 1862 pronounced it indispensable to the Confederacy that the control of the Mississippi should not be surrendered to Federal power

it were early set on foot among the Union commanders above. Gen. Grant's department of West Tennessee having been so enlarged' as to include Mississippi, he at once commenced preparations for an advance; transferring, soon after, his headquarters from Jackson to Lagrange; whence he pushed out Gen. McPherson, with 10,000 infantry, and 1,500 cavalry, under Col. Lee, to Lamar, driving back the Rebel cavalry. At length, all things being ready, Grant impelled' a movement of his army down the great Southern Railroad from Grand Junction through Holly Springs to Oxford; our cavalry advance, 2,000 strong, being pushed forward to Coffeeville, where it was suddenly confronted and attacked by Van Dorn, with a superior infantry force, by whom it was beaten back three miles, with a loss of 100 men.

VICKSBURG, on the lower Missis--Jefferson Davis, in a speech at Jacksippi, about midway between Cairo and its mouth, was the natural center and chief citadel of the Slaveholders' Confederacy. Located on an almost unique ridge of high, rolling-fresh preparations to "repossess" land adjoining the great river, surrounded by the richest and best cultivated Cotton region in America, whereof the slave population considerably outnumbered the free, it had early devoted itself, heart and soul, to the Rebel cause. Its natural strength and importance, as commanding the navigation of the great artery of the South-west, were early appreciated; and it was so fortified and garrisoned as to repel-as we have seen'-the efforts of our fleets and expeditions, which, after the fall of New Orleans and that of Memphis, assailed it from below and from above respectively and conjointly. Being the chief outlet for the surplus products of the State of Mississippi, connected with Jackson, its capital, 44 miles east, by a railroad, and thus with all the railroads which traverse the State, as also with the Washita Valley, in northern Louisiana, by a railroad to Monroe, while the Yazoo brought to its doors the commerce of another rich and capacious valley, Vicksburg, with 4,591 inhabitants in 1860, was flourishing signally and growing rapidly until plunged headlong into the vortex of Rebellion and Civil War.

Both parties to the struggle having early recognized its importance

6

Grant was, with his main body, still at Oxford, preparing to move on to Jackson and Vicksburg, when Van Dorn struck' a damaging blow at his communications. The railroad having by this time been repaired and operated to Holly Springs, that village had been made our temporary dépôt of arms, provisions, and munitions, which had here been accumu

1 See pages 57 and 101. 2 Oct. 16, 1862. Nov. 4. Nov. 8. *

5 Nov. 28. Dec. 5.
•

* Dec. 20.

VAN DORN CAPTURES HOLLY SPRINGS.