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of his men, had been killed, and 27 more severely wounded.

Simultaneously with this charge, the 4th Indiana cavalry dashed headlong through the town, secured both bridges over the Chattahoochee, drove out the slender Rebel force found there, and burned 5 engines

with their trains.

dark, Gen. Wilson ordered an attack; when 300 of the 3d Iowa cavalry moved forward, supported by the 4th Iowa and 10th Missouri, under a heavy fire of grape, canister, and musketry, pushed through strong abatis, and pressed back the Rebel line. Gen. Upton now sent up two companies of the 10th Missouri to Early next mornseize one of the bridges leading into ing, Gen. Minty, commanding (since Columbus; which, under cover of Long's fall) the division, was on his darkness, was effected. And now way to Macon, as was Wilson on the Gen. Upton charged again, sweeping Columbus road; both columns araway all resistance; and soon the city | riving on the 21st, after Wilson and was ours, with 1,200 prisoners, 52 Minty had both received assurances field guns, and large quantities of from Gen. Howell Cobb, commandsmall arms and stores, at a cost to us ing in Macon, that the war was of barely 24 killed and wounded. virtually ended. Among the Rebels killed was C. A. L. Lamar, of Howell Cobb's staff, former owner and captain of the slaver Wanderer. We destroyed here the Rebel ram Jackson, mounting six 7-inch guns, burned 15 locomotives, 250 cars, 115,000 bales of cotton, &c., &c.

Lagrange's advance reached West Point at 10 A. M. this day, and found the crossing of the Chattahoochee defended by Fort Tyler, a strong, bastioned earthwork, 35 yards square, situated on a commanding hill, and mounting 4 guns. At 13 P. M., this fort was bravely assaulted on three sides; but its ditch, 12 feet wide by 10 deep, stopped our men under a withering fire of musketry and grape. Lagrange, refusing to fall back, posted sharpshooters to tranquilize the Rebel gunners while he gathered materials for bridges, over which his men sprang at the sound of the bugle; rushing over the parapet, and capturing the entire garrison-265 men. Gen. Tyler, its commander, with 18 April 2.

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Cuxton did not arrive till the 30th. Outnumbered by Jackson in their encounter near Trion,' he had moved off swiftly to Johnson's ferry on the Black Warrior, 44 miles above Tuskaloosa, where he crossed and came down the west bank; surprising and capturing " Tuskaloosa, with 3 guns and 150 prisoners; destroying the military school, public works, stores, &c. Hearing nothing from Wilson or McCook, he burned the bridge over the Black Warrior, and sped south-west nearly to Eutaw; where he heard that Wirt Adams, with 2,000 cavalry, was close upon him. Too weak to fight such a force, Cuxton turned and countermarched nearly to Tuskaloosa; thence by Jasper, Mount Benson and Trionsville, to Talladega; near which, he scattered a small Rebel force under a Gen. Hill; pushing thence by Carrollton, Ga., Newnan, and Forsyth, to Macon; having, with his small force, moved 650 miles in 30 days, in entire ignorance of the position or for

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CANBY ADVANCES AGAINST MOBILE.

tunes of Wilson and his lieutenants, yet going whither and doing as he pleased; scarcely resisted at any town he chose to take. The 'fireeaters' had disappeared; the survivors were heartily sick of War.

Gen. Canby, commanding in New Orleans, was kept inactive throughout the Summer and Autumn of 1864, by the exacted return of the 16th corps from his department, to serve on either bank of the Mississippi above. His remaining corps-the 13th, Gen. Gordon Granger-participated, as we have seen, in the reduction of the forts at the mouth of Mobile bay. During the year, Gen. Dick Taylor crossed the Mississippi and assumed command of the Confederate forces in Alabama. At length, after the overthrow of Hood, in Tennessee, the . 16th was returned to Gen. Canby; who now proceeded, in concert with Wilson's demonstration from the north on central Alabama, to attempt the reduction of Mobile and its remaining defenses," now held, under Dick Taylor, by Gen. Maury, with a force estimated at 15,000 men.

The forces employed by Gen. Canby consisted of the 13th, and 16th corps aforesaid, with a division of cavalry and one of colored infantry

-in all, from 25,000 to 30,000 men; and he was assured of the hearty cooperation of Porter's powerful fleet, now commanded by Rear-Admiral Thatcher, so far as the available depth of water in the shallow bay of Mobile would allow. Active operations awaited only the arrival of the 16th corps by water on Dauphine island;" which was the signal for a concentration on Mobile of Canby's entire dis

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posable force. The cavalry, under Grierson, crossed Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, advancing to Mobile Point, whence the movement on Mobile commenced: the 13th corps marching thence around Bon Secours bay to strike Mobile from the east, where its defenses were deemed least elaborate; while Gen. F. Steele, with a division of Blacks, was impelled from Pensacola on Blakely, and a brigade of Smith's corps was transferred by water to Cedar Point, on the west side of the bay; landing under a heavy fire of shells from our iron-clads, and threatening an attack on the city from that side.

Steele's advance was resisted by cavalry only, and not seriously, till, on reaching Mitchell's creek, a stand was made" by some 800 of the 6th and 8th Alabama cavalry, under Clanton, who were promptly charged and routed-275 prisoners, including Clanton, being taken, and the residue of the force dispersed. Steele encountered no further resistance till he was in front of Blakely, which was strongly held by the Rebels; where he halted and sent to Canby for supplies, which were promptly transmitted."

Gen. Granger's march around Bon Secours bay and up to Mobile was impeded by pouring rains and heavy roads; so that Smith's corps, which was embarked on transports and thus moved up and across the bay to their appointed rendezvous near Fish river, arrived first;" but Granger's corps came up in the course of the two following days; and the joint advance on Mobile was resumed on the 25th. It was resisted only by skirmishers; but the roads were thickly

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planted with torpedoes, which, unless | our total loss had not exceeded 400 cautiously sought out and exploded, men. The siege was pressed with were very destructive. Quite a number of men and horses were killed by them.

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'Spanish Fort,' the strongest of the eastern defenses of Mobile, was thus approached and finally invested:" the Rebel movable column retiring on Blakely. The 16th corps, on the right, threatened Blakely, while the 13th, on our left, more immediately invested Spanish Fort. Steele now joined hands with Smith, thus forming our extreme right.

great ardor, and with considerable loss from Rebel shells. On the morning of the 30th, Veatch's division of Gen. Grangers corps, while relieving guard, blundered into the Rebel lines, and were regarded as the head of an assaulting column; provoking a sally, whereby our skirmishers and working parties were hurled back, with some loss; but the enemy, advancing too far, were repelled in turn; whereupon, the artillery on both sides suddenly reopened and Our fleet had moved up the bay kept firing till daylight to little purparallel with our army, making for pose. Still, the siege was steadily Howard's landing just below Spanish pressed forward; and, the investment Fort, with intent to aid in the reduc- being completed," the result was no tion of that stronghold by bombard- longer doubtful: our troops having ment, and by isolating it from Mobile. already built an earthwork and Notwithstanding the general shallow-mounted siege-guns within 200 yards of the Fort

ness of the bay, they were enabled to approach the shore so nearly as to deliver a very effective fire, which was seldom returned, and which ultimately cut off the fort from all communication with the city; but, in effecting this, the Metacomet first, afterward the Osage, were blown up by torpedoes, and destroyed. Their crews generally escaped, owing to the shallowness of the water. The gunboats Stockdale, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Albatross, Winnebago, and Genesee, with some smaller vessels, remained. After firing leisurely through the day, they usually dropped down the bay to Great Point Clear to anchor for the night.

Our losses were mainly from shells: many of them thrown by batteries whose location was concealed, and which could not, in consequence, be silenced. One of these shells killed or wounded 15 men; another 12. Our fleet, unable otherwise to get within effective distance of the fort, crossed the bar and engaged the Rebel fleet, which included several iron-clads; compelling it to move up toward the city.

All being at length ready, a tremendous concentric fire at close range was opened" at nightfall on the doomed fort, from siege-guns and field-pieces in battery, and from gunboats on the side of the bay; while our skirmishers and sharp-shooters, creeping up from ridge to ridge, and firing from the heads of our trenches, picked off the Rebel artillerists or April 3. April 8.

The siege of Spanish Fort was opened in due form on the 28th; our lines having been established during the preceding night, at distances of 300 to 400 yards. Up to this time,

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BLAKELY ASSAULTED BY STEELE.

drove them from their guns; which
replied at first briskly, then more and
more feebly; until, by midnight,
they were utterly silenced, and, an
hour later, the fort was ours; Gen.
Bartram's brigade entering unop-
posed at 2 A. M." Most of the garri-
son escaped under cover of darkness;
but 652 prisoners and 30 heavy guns,
with a large quantity of munitions,
fell to the victors; who forthwith
turned the guns, seconded by those of
the Octorara, on the smaller forts
Tracy and Huger near the mouth of
the Tensaw; which were speedily
abandoned by the Rebels, after spik-
ing their 8 heavy guns. And now our
fleet, enlightened as to the location
of torpedoes by some of the captives,
succeeded in picking up 35 of them
unharmed, and was thereby enabled
to run up almost within shelling dis-
tance of Mobile.

Blakely had already been for four
days invested by land; but its com
munication by water with Mobile
remained open until the fall of the
forts below. Our gunboats now
moved up to invest it on this side;
while Gen. Steele, in immediate com-
mand before it, formed his columns
for a prompt, determined assault;
which he appointed for 5 P, M., and
which was actually delivered at 5.

The position was a very strong one, heavily fortified with abatis, palisades, chevaux de frise, and a deep, wide ditch at the base of the fort. Its front extended nearly three miles-its right was near Bayou Minetta, its left on Blakely river; and it was garrisoned by 3,000 men, under Gens. Thomas and Cockrill. Its abundant cannon swept every practicable approach.

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The struggle opened on our left; where Gen. Garrard, under a fire of the 17th Ohio battery, sent forward one-third of his strong division to within 50 yards of the main works, defying a hail-storm of shell and shrapnel, to discover and indicate the safest ground over which to move up in force, preparatory to the decisive charge. Finding that there was no choice of ground-all being alike impracticable-a brief conference was held by the general officers, and closed with the word ' Forward!'

The whole division at once sprang forward with a shout; to which the Rebels responded with all their guns. For nearly an hour, our men struggled with obstructions that seemed insurmountable, under a fire of shell and canister that threatened their annihilation; sometimes recoiling for a moment, when the voice of their commanders would cheer and encourage them to rally; and thus at length the abatis and other obstructions were struggled through, and the Unionists leaped into the ditch and scrambled up the face of the defenses; while Rinnekin's and Gilbert's brigades, turning the fort by our right, gained its entrance and arrested there the flight of Gen. Thomas and 1,000 of his men, who were made prisoners.

The conflict along the center, where the assault was delivered by Dennis's brigade of Veatch's division and Spiceley's and Moore's brigades of Andrews's, was far less sanguinary; yet Andrews's men, when but 40 yards from the fort, were plowed with grape from 8 guns; while our skirmishers, on reaching the brink of the ditch, were scattered by the 19 April 9.

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