ARMY OPERATIONS. Near the close of the year 1862, the battles at Fredericksburg and Murfreesboro were fought. The latter was not ended until the 3d of January, 1863. The armies engaged in these conflicts then ceased active operations. No other important military movement of the Federal or Confederate forces was in progress at that time except that under General Grant against Vicksburg, and the concentration of a force under Gen. Banks at New Orleans. The campaign against Vicksburg really commenced about the 28th of November. At that time, the forces of Gen. Grant were at Lagrange, three miles east of Grand Junction, on the Cairo and New Orleans railroad, with garrisons at Columbus, Humboldt, Trenton, and Jackson, in Tennessee, and Bolivar and Corinth in Mississippi. These forces were designated as the Army of West Tennessee. The Confederate forces were at Coldwater and Holly Springs, about twenty miles distant.

The plan of Gen. Grant was-that Gen. Sherman should take command of the forces at Memphis in Tennessee, and Helena in Arkansas, and descend the river on transports with the gunboat fleet, and make an attack on Vicksburg by the 29th of December, and that Gen. McClernand should take the forces at Cairo and move down to Vicksburg, thus reenforcing Gen. Sherman soon after his attack on the town. Meanwhile Gen. Grant was to advance rapidly upon the Confederate troops in Mississippi north and east of Vicksburg, which formed the main body of their army, and keep them fully employed, and, if they retreated to Vicksburg, arrive there with them, ready to cooperate with Gen. Sherman.

Large reënforcements and supplies were received, and the advance of Gen. Hamilton's corps, on the 28th of November, began to move in the direction of Holly Springs, which was reached on the 29th. By the 1st of December, Gen. Grant's forces had arrived, and were chiefly encamped at Lumpkin's Mills, south of Holly Springs, and seven miles north of the Tallahatchie river. The Confederate force, now under the command of Gen. Pemberton, retired to that river, and finally fell back beyond Granada. Meanwhile Gen. Grant advanced to Oxford, and on the 20th of December an attack was suddenly made in his rear, by a Confederate force under Gen. Van Dorn, on the garrison under Col. Murphy at Holly Springs, which surrendered. The prisoners were paroled, and the supplies collected there for Gen. Grant's army were destroyed; also a large quantity of cotton which had been purchased of the people in the vicinity.

This surrender of Holly Springs is thus noted in the orders of Gen. Grant:

HEADQUARTERS THIRTEENTH ARMY CORPS, DEPART-
MENT OF THE TENNESSEE, HOLLY SPRINGS, MISS.,
December 23d, 1862.

the 20th inst., and that without any resistance, except by a few men, who form an honorable exception; and this, too, after warning had been given of the advance of the enemy northward the evening previous. With all the cotton, public stores, and substantial buildings about the depot, it would have been perfectly prac ticable to have made in a few hours defences sufficient brought against them, until the reenforcements, which to resist, with a small garrison, all the cavalry force the commanding officer was notified were marching to his relief, could have reached him.

The conduct of officers and men in accepting paroles, under the circumstances, is highly reprehensible, and, to say the least, thoughtless. By the terms of the Dix Hill cartel, each party is bound to take care of their prisoners, and to send them to Vicksburg, Miss., or a point on James river, Va., for exchange or parole, unless some other point is mutually agreed upon by the generals commanding the opposing armies. By a refusal to be paroled, the eneray, from his inability to take care of the prisoners, would have been compelled either to have released them unconditionally, or to have abandoned all further aggressive movements for the time being, which would have made their recapture and the discomfiture of the enemy almost certain.

It is gratifying to notice, in contrast with this, the conduct of a portion of the command, conspicuous among whom was the Second Illinois cavalry, who gallantly and successfully resisted being taken prisoners. Their loss was heavy, but the enemy's was much greater. Such conduct as theirs will always insure success.

Had the commandant of the post exercised the usual and ordinary precautions for defence, the garenemy, saved our stores from destruction and them rison was sufficiently strong to have repulsed the selves from capture.

The General commanding is satisfied that a majority lessly, and from want of knowledge of the cartel referred of the troops who accepted a parole did so thoughtto, and that in future they will not be caught in the

same way.

By order of

Major-General U. S. GRANT. JNO. A. RAWLINS, Assist. Adjutant-General. The post was under the command of Col. Murphy, who was surprised and captured with all his force except a small body of cavalry. The enemy estimated the stores destroyed as follows: "1,809,000 fixed cartridges and other ordnance stores, valued at $1,500,000, including 5,000 rifles and 2,000 revolvers; 100,000 suits of clothing and other quartermaster's stores, valued at $500,000; 5,000 barrels of flour and other commissary stores, valued at $500,000; $1,000,000 worth of medical stores, for which invoices to that amount were exhibited, and 1,000 bales of cotton and $600,000 worth of sutlers' stores."

On the same day an attack was made at Davis's Mills, a little further north, which was bravely repulsed. Near Jackson, Tennessee, an attack was made by a body of cavalry under Col. Forrest on the 19th. The telegraph wire was cut and the railroad destroyed. On the next day Humboldt was captured and an attack made on Trenton. Other stations on the railroad, as Dyer's, Rutherford, and Keaton, were taken on the same day. The purpose appeared to be to destroy every railroad bridge from Columbus to Corinth, and thus cut off the communications and supplies of Gen. Grant. The consequence of these movements was to make Gen. Grant fall back upon Holly Springs.

river, terminating in Haines's Bluff, a distance of twelve or fifteen miles. They were fortified throughout their entire length. These bluffs front the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. The ascent is abrupt and precipitous, and the only approach to the city by land from up the river is by climbing their face. In the rear the ground is high and broken, and somewhat rolling. It falls off gradually to the Big Black river.

The line of the Yazoo here is nearly northeast. It is six miles distant from the bluffs at Old river, and passes along their face until, at Haines's Bluff, the river and the bluffs come together. This junction is nine miles from Vicksburg by the road along the foot of the bluffs, and twenty-three miles from the Mississippi by the course of the Yazoo river. On the triangular-shaped bottom land between the bluffs and the Yazoo down to the Old river, the troops were disembarked for the purpose of getting in the rear of Vicksburg and capturing it.

About one third of the distance down the Yazoo from Haines's Bluff, a bayou puts off from the river at nearly right angles, until it approaches the bluffs, when it turns and follows their base until it empties into the Mississippi. It is called the Chickasaw bayou. Between this bayou and the bluffs is a plain, upon which the timber had been felled to form an abatis. The banks of the bayou are quite steep, and about two hundred feet apart. At the base of the bluffs, through their whole length, rifle pits had been dug, in the rear of which, upon the face of the bluffs, single-gun batteries had be planted at short intervals from Vicksburg almost to Haines's Bluff. At various commanding points along the range, both on its face and upon the summit, field works were thrown up for the reception and protection of light artillery whenever it might be needed.

Parallel with, and about half mile north of the Chickasaw bayou, is a deep slough, having no connection with the river. As it approaches the base of the bluffs, it makes a sharp turn and enters Chickasaw bayou near the point where the latter makes its angle as it strikes the bluffs. In the latter part of its extent it contains but little water; its bottom, however, is a quicksand, which does not afford good footing. The bottom land of the Yazoo is cov ered with a dense growth cf cypress trees: much of it is quite clear and free from undergrowth, while in other parts it is quite thick.

The first troops landed, on the 26th, were a brigade, under Gen. Blair, of Gen. Steele's division, and a brigade from each of the divisions under Gens. M. L. Smith and Morgan. They were ordered to advance two miles into the country, and make a thorough reconnoissance in the direction of the bluffs. The brigade from Gen. Morgan's division found the rebels in force about two miles inland. The other brigades met with no opposition. No conflict took place.

The force of Gen. Sherman was organized in four divisions as follows: First division, three

brigades, under Brig.-Gen. George W. Morgan; second division, three brigades, under Brig.Gen. Morgan L. Smith; third division, three brigades, under Brig.-Gen. A. J. Smith; fourth division, four brigades, under Brig.-Gen. Frederick Steele. The brigade commanders of this fourth division were Gens. Frank P. Blair, jr., John M. Thayer, C. E. Hovey, and Col. Hassendurbel.

Under the plan of attack, Gen. Steele was to hold the extreme left, Gen. Morgan the left centre, Gen. M. L. Smith the right centre, and Gen. A. J. Smith the extreme right. The division under Gen. Smith, however, not having arrived, Gen. Blair was placed on the right centre. All the divisions were to converge toward the point of attack on the bluffs. The remainder of the division of Gen. Steele was landed on the 27th above the Chickasaw bayou, to operate on that part of the line. The entire day was spent in getting the troops ashore. The bank of the river was overgrown with brush, and the ground was so soft that it was necessary to build roads for moving the wagons and artillery. At night the command had advanced only two miles from the shore.

On the same day, the 27th, the divisions on the centre, including Gen. Blair's brigade, advanced slowly toward the bluffs, in order to give time to Gen. Steele to come into position on the left. A battery of the enemy was found near the point designated for junction with Gen. Steele, not far from the angle of the bayou, and silenced. The night ensuing was cold and frosty, and the troops bivouacked without fires.

On the next day, the 28th, the enemy was driven across the Chickasaw, and night closed with the troops of Gen. Sherman in full possession south of the bayou, with one bridge thrown across, and with two bridges partly constructed. While reconnoitring the ground and directing the movement of some infantry, Gen. M. L. Smith was severely wounded in the hip, and the command of his division devolved upon Gen. David Stuart. Meanwhile, Gen. Steele had pushed forward his command. The slough on his right was deep and impassable, and on the left the ground had become swampy and full of small pools, so as to be also impassable. The only line of approach to the bluffs was along a narrow levee or causeway, which was exposed throughout to the enemy's artillery. Three attempts were made to approach the causeway, but the destruction of the troops was so manifest that they were withdrawn. Gen. Sherman, under this state of affairs, ordered Gen. Steele to return to the river, reembark and land on the lower side of the Chickasaw, thus holding still the extreme left, and advance upon its bank until he met Gen. Morgan. It was too late in the evening of the 28th when the troops were fairly on shore below the bayous to move farther. At this time the division of Gen. A. J. Smith came up and took its position on the right of the line. It had remained at Milliken's Bend as a support to a