vengeance, the President was actuated by the customary moderation and equity of his character. Thirty-eight of the Indians thus marked out were executed by hanging on a single scaffold at Mankato, Minnesota, on the 26th day of December. At the end of December, active operations were resumed against Vicksburg. While General Grant with his army remained in Northern Mississippi with his headquarters at Holly Springs, General W. T. Sherman, in command of the army corps on the Mississippi, having collected a fleet of transports at Memphis, there and at Helena, embarked his forces, numbering, it is said, about forty thousand men, with whom on the 26th he entered the Yazoo. A landing was effected a few miles above the mouth on the left bank, at a point in a direct line distant from Vicksburg about six miles. Across the country, above and below the city, from Haine's Bluff on the Yazoo to Warrenton on the Mississippi extended a line of hills, which with the swamps and lagoons in front afforded an excellent means of defence. On sending out his reconnoitering parties, it was soon ascertained by General Sherman that, what with the natural advantages of the situation and the improvement of it by the enemy, the attempt to take Vicksburg from this direction was one of no ordinary difficulty. At the very outset the fleet was checked in its endeavors to ascend the Yazoo by a formidable battery at Haine's Bluff, which it was an object to silence by a flank attack from the river preparatory to an advance of the army in front. The gunboat Benton was severely injured in a bombardment of this work, and her gallant commander, Captain Gwin, mortally wounded. This occurred on the morning of the 27th. 'The whole army," in the absence of official reports we follow the narrative of a correspondent" was drawn up in line of battle and prepared to make assaults on the enemy's works at several different points. General Steele's division was on the left; General A. J. Smith's on the right; General G. W. Morgan's on the left centre, and General M. L. Smith's on the right centre. After the line of battle was formed, General Morgan L. Smith's division took the advance, and moved rapidly on the enemy, encountering them about three-quarters of a mile from Chickasaw Bayou. Skirmishing immediately began, and was kept up throughout the day, the enemy contesting every inch of the road, but being gradually pushed back toward the bayou. The evening before, a portion of General Steele's division had been reëmbarked on the transports, and landed above Chickasaw Bayou, for the purpose of attempting to take a battery in the rear, which commanded the only point where a crossing could be made on the extreme right. This was at a place known as Mrs. Lake's plantation, and the rebels had a force there in possession of field and house. Owing to the mud and other difficulties, the landing of this portion of General Steele's division occupied the whole of the day of the 26th, and it did not reach the scene of operations until the morning of the 27th. While General M. L. Smith's division was skirmishing with the enemy on the right centre, General Blair's brigade and General Morgan's division had advanced on the left by different routes, and came into position nearly side by side, close by Mrs. Lake's plantation. Skirmishing took place with the enemy's infantry, and at the same time a masked battery opened on General Blair's brigade. He ordered Hoffman's battery to return the fire with shell, and in a few minutes the rebel battery was silenced, and their infantry retreated from the plantation to the cover of a thicket not far off. By nightfali the enemy had been driven a quarter of a mile from where they were first encountered, and the contest then ceased, both forces resting on their arms, ready to renew the conflict in the morning. GENERAL SHERMAN'S MOVEMENT ON THE YAZOO. 53 During the night silence and darkness that the surgeons could not remove it. prevailed in both camps. Not a fire was The wound is not supposed to be mortal, lighted, or a sound made, by which either but it disables him from further service would betray its position to the other. at present. He evinced great coolness In the night a light wind sprung up, on the occasion, merely turning to his blowing toward the river from the en- Chief of Staff, and remarking: Charley, emy's position, and the night became I've got one of them.' He then rode on clear and frosty. Amid the prevailing for half a mile as if nothing had hapsilence, and aided by the wind, the sound | pened, hoping to get to the rear without of cars constantly running could be heard his men knowing that he was wounded, on the Jackson and Vicksburg Railroad, fearing its demoralizing effect on them. no doubt bearing reinforcements to the He was unable to proceed further, as he enemy. During the night, the enemy rapidly became faint from loss of blood, was no doubt busily engaged in erecting and had to be taken in an ambulance to rifle-pits and breastworks, as, on the fol- his headquarters on one of the transports. lowing morning, long lines of them could The ball has since been extracted, while be seen where none were visible the he was under the influence of chloroform, night before. Several new battèries were and his prospect of recovery is now good. also seen on the heights beyond. He was wounded at a very inopportune moment, and the result was the loss of the advantage he had gained over the enemy, who now retreated successfully across the bayou and took refuge behind their intrenchments. The command then devolved temporarily upon General Stuart, who kept up during the day a constant skirmishing with his forces, but without accomplishing anything of importance. The opportunity-of successfully storming the enemy's batteries in that position was lost by the delay necessarily occasioned by the change of commanders, and it could not be regained. In the mean time General Blair's brigade was busily engaged in building a bridge across the bayou by Mrs. Lake's house, which it succeeded in doing under a very heavy fire, and the brigade passed over in safety, with the loss of but few men. Among these was Colonel John B. Wyman, 13th Illinois infantry, who was killed by a ball passing through his right breast, and emerging below the right shoulder-blade. He was an efficient officer and accomplished gentleman, and greatly beloved by all who knew him. . . The day passed without any considerable results. The rattling of musketry and booming of cannon had been incessant throughout the day, but when "At daylight on Sunday morning, the 28th, the enemy commenced the battle by a heavy cannonade on General Blair's brigade and General Morgan's division from the battery across the bayou, which the detachment from General Steele's division had been sent out to flank, and at the same time the conflict was renewed by General M. L. Smith's division, and the enemy in his front, General Smith leading in person. After an hour's hard fighting, he drove the enemy from their position, and seeing that he could drive them across the bayou, started out to the front with his Chief of Staff, Charles McDonald, Acting Adjutant - General, and two orderlies, to look for a place where he could cross his army in the pursuit, designing to keep the enemy between him and their batteries until he was ready to make a charge on the latter. He discovered a point where a sandbar had formed in the bayou, and which could be passed without difficulty, and as he was in the act of turning his horse to return to his command, a volley was fired at him from a force concealed in an adjacent canebrake. One of the shots took effect in his hip, the ball passing in an oblique direction, and lodging in his spine, where it was wedged so tightly evening came all the firing ceased, except an occasional gun fired at night by our batteries, and which met with no response. It afterward appeared that the enemy spent the night in constructing a second line of rifle-pits, about two hundred yards in rear of the first. No accurate estimate could be made of our loss during the day, but from the best accounts attainable it appeared to be small, not exceeding fifty killed and two hundred wounded. The army was still bivouacking, but tents werè sent out for the wounded, into which they were conveyed, and received all the attention possible. At sundown, when the firing ceased, General Blair's brigade returned from across the bayou and took a position on General Morgan's right, and to the left of General M. L. Smith's division. At the extreme right was General A. J. Smith's division, where it had remained all day; and General Steele was in the rear on the left, as a reservc. "On Monday morning the enemy still remained intrenched in force on the opposite bank of the bayou, and their line of defences could be seen extending for at least two miles up the bluffs. Batteries were seen planted at every assailable point, and it was evident that the rebels had exerted a most commendable industry during the night and had prepared to make the most determined resistance to our anticipated assault. The position was naturally strong, and all the appliances of military art and skill had been brought into requisition to make it a second Gibraltar. Far back on the highest peak of the hill they had erected a signal station, overlooking all the battleground, and far removed from the reach of shot or shell. By the aid of a glass the persons in charge of the station could be easily seen; and, during the entire day, every movement of our troops was signaled to the commanding general. Many spectators were also posted there with glasses, among whom were a number of women. "It had been arranged that at an early hour on Monday morning a concerted attack should be made on the enemy's works, at four different points, and to do this it was found necessary to construct three bridges across the bayou so that artillery could be taken over. Accordingly, by daylight, parties were sent out to undertake this dangerous enterprise. Wherever men appeared with this view, the enemy immediately commenced a heavy cannonade upon them, and their batteries appeared to have been so skillfully placed as to command every point where a bridge was possible. General A. J. Smith, at the extreme right, put a bridge across within two miles of Vicksburg, but it was not brought into requisition. General Blair had already got a bridge across at Mrs. Lake's house, and General Stuart, commanding General Morgan L. Smith's division, decided to attempt the crossing at the sandbar, where General Smith had intended to cross when he was wounded. The bank of the bayou, opposite this bar, was about fifteen feet high, and it was further increased by an embankment or levee of three feet in height. This bank was very steep, and the land being sandy, the sides had caved in, so that the brow overhung about a foot and a half. To ascend it was utterly impossible without digging a road, and this would have to be done under a deadly fire from the enemy. The road across the sandbar was about two hundred yards in length, exposed to a double cross-fire, and the only approach to it was over a flat bottom, covered with fallen trees. After consultation with Colonel Giles Smith, brother of General M. L. Smith, who had now been assigned the command of the division, General Stuart resolved to attempt the enterprise. The 6th Missouri regiment, under command of LieutenantColonel Blood, was detailed to lead the van. It was necessary first to send two companies over to dig away the bank, so that when the brigade came over it PROGRESS OF THE ENGAGEMENT. 55 could rush up and storm the works. General coolly slid down his head, and The duty was so perilous that Colonel led his brigade the remainder of the way Blood was unwilling to detail any com- on foot. The other mounted officers, panies, and called for volunteers-one seeing the difficulty, abandoned their company to take picks and spades, and horses also. On arriving at the second the other muskets. Company F, Captain line of rifle-pits another charge was Bouton, and Company K, Captain Buck, made, supported by Hoffman's battery, volunteered for the duty. The plan was and the enemy was again routed and to make an excavation under the bank, driven into a thicket, or willow grove. without breaking the surface through, The 13th Ohio then came up, and in a but so that it could be caved in at any hand-to-hand conflict drove them from moment. Amid the plaudits of their the thicket and took possession of it, but comrades, the two brave companies were in turn driven out by a heavy canstarted on their perilous march. A per- nonade from the enemy's batteries on the fect storm of bullets met them on the hill. The enemy then commenced reway, and with the loss of more than a treating up the hill, General Blair's britenth of their number, they effected the gade pursuing them, when all of a sudcrossing. No more desperate enterprise den, the enemy, from a masked battery, was ever undertaken, and none more opened a most deadly and destructive successfully achieved. Once under the fire upon them, with grape and canister. protection of the bank, they commenced In a few minutes, the ground was covplying pick and spade in a manner indi- ered with the dead and dying. The cating their appreciation of the fact that brigade went into the action with less they had no time to spare. than one thousand nine hundred men, and of this number six hundred and forty-five were lost in killed, wounded and taken prisoners. Colonel Thomas C. Fletcher, 31st Missouri infantry, was wounded and taken prisoner, and Lieutenant-Colonel Dister was killed. The 31st Missouri lost sixteen officers in killed and wounded, and the 29th Missouri, nine. Of the 58th Ohio, only one hundred and seventy-five men were left. This ended the assault on the hill at this point, and General Blair, with the remainder of his brigade, fell back to his position on the right of General Morgan. The heavy firing from General Morgan division, which was to have been the signal, not being heard, and the excavation under the bank being completed, the men sheltered themselves under it the best they could and waited as patiently as the circumstances would permit for the next move. Our sharpshooters of the 13th regulars still kept up a fire to prevent firing from the bank, and in some instances their aim was too low, and the consequence was that they shot "In the mean time, to keep down the enemy's sharpshooters, who were endeavoring to reach over and fire at them down the bank, the 13th regulars were posted on the right, and the batteries from General Steele's and General Morgan's divisions on the left. These kept up a continual fire until the work was completed. Meanwhile, General Morgan prepared to assault the hill from the south side of the bayou, supported by Generals Blair and Thayer, but General Blair having already crossed the bayou, led the assault himself. The signal for General Stuart's brigade to attempt the crossing at the sandbar was to be heavy firing from General Morgan's division, the assault then to be made in concert. General Blair, being in the advance, led his brigade upon the first line of riflepits, and after a hard but brief struggle drove the enemy to their second line. Between the two lay a sort of ditch or small slough, with mud and quicksand in the bottom. As General Blair advanced, his horse got inextricably mired, and the dead two of our own men. The men sent up a shout, 'Fire higher,' and the rebels on the banks attempted to drown their voices by superior numbers shouting: 'Fire lower.' The parties were so close together that when the rebels reached their guns over the bank and depressed them, those below could easily have crossed bayonets with them. Conversation could be easily carried on, and one rebel cried out: 'What regiment is below?' On being answered that it was the 6th Missouri,' he replied: 'It is too brave a regiment to be on the wrong side.' firing all cease, and floods of rain were "It was now nearly evening, and the men had tasted no food since before day, and one of them called out: 'Have you got anything to eat up there, I'm hungry? Immediately a large loaf of corn-bread| was thrown on the bank to them, and was welcomed heartily. The signal for the assault still being unheard, and a heavy rain coming up, it was deemed advisable by Captain Bouton to send back a messenger for further orders, and private Mallsby volunteered to undertake the dangerous exploit. He crossed in safety, and in a few minutes the remainder of the gallant 6th, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Blood, started over to their assistance, amid a renewed shower "The heavy rains of the night and of bullets, and made the passage with the consequent condition of the low, the loss of one-sixth their number. Colonel swampy ground, prevented the possibilBlood was wounded in the left shoulder ity of any military operations the next by a ball, which, striking against a mem- day, by land. General Sherman sent orandum, glanced, or it would have pas-out parties with flags of truce, to bury sed through his body. His wound is not dangerous. Lieutenant Vance was the only officer killed. By the time Lieutenant-Colonel Blood got his regiment across, the day was hopelessly lost by the repulse of the army at other points, and about dark he received orders to retire at discretion. Under cover of the rain and darkness he brought his regiment back, a company at a time, until all were over, without the loss of a man, and only two wounded slightly. Not until the night was pitchy dark did the the dead and bring away the wounded, and the whole day was consumed in the discharge of this melancholy duty. It was discovered that the enemy had carried off all the slightly wounded as prisoners of war, leaving only those who were unable to walk. All the dead had been robbed of their haversacks, and many of the bodies stripped of their outer clothing. During the day, many rebel soldiers came down to the flags of * It was stated 600 killed, 1,400 wounded, and 400 prisoners. |