a mile and a half of the main force of the retreating foe, having driven their rear-guard in upon their column. We got within three miles of the Castor a little after dark. Here Lieuteuant Bast, son of G. Y. Bast, was taking supper at a farmer's. The farmer said that about five minutes before a squadron galloped by, hailed the Lieutenant, told him the Yankees had rebuilt the bridge and were close at hand. The Lieutenant could not believe them, and went back to supper; but Lieutenant Poole, with some five of our boys from the advance, charged by, Lieutenant Poole killing two of the Texans as he passed, and returning took the Lieutenant in, who was so be that against heavy odds he had saved their houses from pillage, their homes from desolation, and their town from destruction. The reënforcements that arrived never fired a gun, the gunboats never discharged a shot, but to General McNeil and his little band of one thousand seven hundred heroes belong exclusively the honors of the day. Amongst those officers particularly active were Colonel Huston, of the Seventh Missouri volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Baumer, of the First Nebraska, Captain Meisner, of the artillery. Adjutants Poole and Cramer were at all points of attack, and displayed a zeal and courage that aided much toward the good fortunes of the day. Colonel Strachan was constantly employed in carry-wildered that he had not presence of mind enough ing orders and bringing up supports to the points menaced. The First Nebraska infantry proved that officers and men could be fully relied on in any emergency, and no one who witnessed or participated in the attempted storming of Cape Girardeau but will cheerfully award to them the highest praise. On Monday, at two o'clock P.M., General McNeil, without taking any rest-for Sunday night all hands were kept on the alert, expecting a night attack-started in pursuit of the retreating foe. That afternoon his wearied men marched sixteen miles to Whitewater, found the bridge destroyed, that General Vendever had made eight miles that day, engaged the enemy, and that part of one company of the Third Iowa had been gobbled up by them. The column from Cape Girardeau was not allowed to push on, prudential reasons ruling the order of advance next morning. General McNeil, with the invaluable assistance of the First Wisconsin, under Colonel La Grange, rebuilt the bridge in three hours, and the column pressed on. Colonel Benjamin of the Second M. S. M., having the advance, they rushed on some ten miles, when orders were received from General Vandever to stop the advance. They had captured two of the enemy who were finishing the destruction of a bridge, and who told them if they had come up ten minutes sooner they could have had the rear-guard of some fifty men, who destroyed the bridge, and had just disappeared. The advance under Benjamin pushed on until we were within a mile of the enemy, who were in force, when up rides an orderly from General Vandever, some ten miles in our rear, calling on them to halt. Orders were obeyed, although it gave the enemy additional time to shove ahead and rest their jaded animals. to make his escape. The same farmer informed us the enemy were at the Castor, and could not cross, the river being up. Guns were pushed on, and position taken to sweep the Castor Bottom so soon as day should dawn; but alas! the enemy succeeded in crossing during the night, and their sharp-shooters were posted in the woods on the opposite bank to dispute our crossing, while the main column should have time to get out of our way. A sharp skirmish ensued, the First Wisconsin succeeded in driving them, aided by artillery, and we had undisputed control of the fords, when, instead of crossing, it was understood that orders had been received from General Vandever abandoning the crossing and giving up further pursuit. So waited we for several hours, when General Vandever changed his mind and allowed us to move on once more. The delay prevented our getting over in time to occupy Bloomfield that night. We shoved on to Bloomfield next day, having sharp skirmishing in front, which at one time seemed like advancing toward a general engagement. But falling back was the ruling order among the rebels. On arriving in Bloomfield, several citizens informed us that we were but two hours behind. Again did joy illuminate the faces of the brave and resolute men of McNeil's column, but alas! its fitful flash soon died away, we remaining in town to give the enemy a good start again, when it was well known that forty miles would land him in Arkansas, across the St. Francis, and he could then laugh at us with impunity. Finally General Vandever gave to General McNeil two brigades, first under command of Colonel J. M. Glover, Third Missouri volunteer cavalry, and Finally, the column was allowed to push on- second under Colonel La Grange, First Wisconsin got within three miles of the Castor, captured cavalry. Vandever asked McNeil when he could Lieutenant Bast and a few others, who admitted move. "In half an hour," replied McNeil. "I they had no knowledge of the rapidity of our will march at four in the morning," said Vandemarch, and supposed the Whitewater had effect- ver. General McNeil marched all night without ually stopped us. On the east side of the Cas-rations or feed, the men never murmuring, so anxtor was Carter's division, numbering over three ious were they to make up the criminal delay thousand effective men; also Shelby's division. at the Castor and Bloomfield. At five o'clock Both brigades should have been captured at the Castor. Prisoners have frankly admitted that they expected they would be forced to surrender. Four times had McNeil's column been halted by General Vandever, who was several miles in the rear, and that several times when we were within A.M., Colonel Glover became engaged with the enemy, forced them from their position, (although it was a strong one,) and backed by their artillery. About four miles further the enemy made another stand. The artillery was hurried up, skirmishers went to work, and soon Colonel Glover forced them again to retire. Here a few of us fell heir to an ample breakfast that had been prepared for the officers of the retreating rebel column. It suffered not by passing down loyal instead of disloyal throats. General McNeil, desirous of seizing their batteries, which were annoying us, constantly proposed to Colonel Glover that he should order a charge from a battalion of his regiment, at the next stand made by the foe. In a few minutes the time arrived, the gallant Lieutenant-Colonel Carrick with several companies of the chivalrous Third Missouri cavalry, and led by Colonel Glover himself, made a dashing charge. The First Iowa had been ordered to hurry up and sustain the Third Missouri, but they from misapprehension or some other cause went haltingly on and failed to give the support that would have made the charge a complete success. The Third Missouri went through and through the enemy, strewing the points and the road with rebel dead. Colonel Glover was unhorsed; Lieutenant-Colonel Carrick wounded in the shoulder. The brave Captain Mitchell received a serious wound, and other noble and daring spirits were killed and wounded. After cutting their way through the enemy for a mile and a half, the main force of Texas cavalry came at them and forced them back-no support arriving, General McNeil making frantic but vain efforts to hurry the artillery up. We lost the advantages that would have resulted from this most brilliant charge. For twenty miles the enemy were driven with loss, and every one rejoiced at the supposed prospect of cutting them off at the St. Francis, but again delayed, the enemy made good their escape. Next morning a sharp engagement ensued between McNeil on this side and the rebels on the other side, in which General McNeil and his aid Lieutenant Ankony, volunteer, both had their horses shot from under them. A terrific artillery fire served as a de joie for the final safety of the rebel force. The First Nebraska infantry again clothed themselves with immortal honor-leaving the Cape some twelve hours behind the Thirtyseventh Illinois-then passed them and marched eighty miles in two days; made the night march from Bloomfield and participated in the twenty miles fight, as though not a man was fatigued. In obedience to orders, General McNeil fell back on Bloomfield, and resumed march to Cape Girardeau, followed by a host of movers, who dared not remain at home after the Federal forces had been withdrawn. Thus closed the Sir Marmaduke raid into South-East Missouri. The enemy defeated at every point-demoralized yet allowed to carry off their fourteen pieces of artillery, with full as many prisoners as graced our columns, and the balance of killed and wounded being largely in our favor. Too much praise cannot be given Captain Dawson and his company A, of Second M. S. M., for their invaluable services in crossing the Castor, and making a floating bridge on which artillery and wagons were successfully crossed. S. Doc: 178. BATTLE OF FAIRMONT, VIRGINIA. FAIRMONT, VIRGINIA, May 4, 1863. THE rebel raid into West-Virginia has come and gone. The smoke of battle has drifted away, and the thousand rumors have given place to well-determined facts. I propose to describe briefly what I understand to be the route taken by the raiders after entering our lines until they escaped beyond them; and, with as much detail as time will permit, the engagement at this place. It appears that on Friday and Saturday, the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth ultimo, the rebels, having driven our small forces from Beverly and Philippi back to Grafton, crossed the railroad at several points between Grafton and Rowlesburgh, and went to Kingwood, in Preston County, thence to Morgantown, which place they reached on Monday, at two P.M. Tuesday morning they left Morgantown, and came up on the east bank of the river to within seven or eight miles of this place, where they were met by another body, which crossed the railroad subsequently. The whole force then returned to Morgantown, crossed the river, spread out over the country, taking every good horse they could find, and concentrat ed here on Wednesday morning. They crossed Buffalo Creek - which flows from the west and enters the river a mile below town - at Barracksville, and approached town on the Mannington pike. The first positive information of their number and whereabouts, was received from Morgantown on Monday evening. Their number was estimated by a gentleman who witnessed their entree, at five thousand. Before this news came, and while all was vague rumor and perplexing uncer tainty, many of our fighting men whom we relied upon as certain to die in "the last ditch," if die they must, performed "a grand strategical movement," and "fell back" to a new "base of operations" at Cameron, Moundsville, Wheeling, and various other points in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Those whose lips retained the crimson hue of natural life, and whose knees did not quake like Cæsar's with the ague in Spain, remained and busied themselves in hunting up arms, and in making every effort to defend the place against the im pending assault. A delegation went to Mannington, and returned on Tuesday morning with two companies of militia and as many guns as were fit for use. The whole defensive force consisted of only three hundred men, made up of companies D and F, One Hundred and Sixth New-York volunteers - one hundred and five men; two companies of the One Hundred and Seventy-sixth Virginia militia one hundred and seventeen men; thirty-eight men of company A, Sixth Vir ginia; a few of company B, Sixth Virginia, and about forty citizen soldiers. The rebel army was commanded by General William E. Jones, and consisted, according to his statement, of seven regiments of cavalry, one regiment of mounted infantry, and three hundred mounted sharp-shooters, in all six thousand men, many of them being of the celebrated Ashby's cavalry. Wednesday morning dawned wet and foggy; our scouts came dashing in and reported the enemy approaching only two or three miles off. One company of militia and most of the armed citizens went out on the hills to meet him. About eight o'clock picket-firing commenced and was kept up briskly for half an hour. The enemy finding we were posted on the hills prepared to rake him severely as he came down the pike along Coal Run, sent a heavy force on the hills to drive us off. In this they succeeded after several of them had been summarily unhorsed. The men from the hills retreated, some to the main force, near the railroad bridge a mile above town, and some to the Palatine end of the Suspension bridge. The latter made a gallant stand and resisted the crossing for nearly an hour. They took shelter in a foundry, and fired from the windows upon the rebel sharp-shooters, who dismounted and took positions in vacant houses, behind fences, stables, and whatever else would conceal their cowardly carcasses from our unerring aim. Thus was the unequal contest continued, until one man, named Coffman, from Bingamon, was fatally wounded, and all but five or six had straggled off. The remainder ceased firing, and each one took care of himself as best he could. When the firing ceased, the rebels sent over a flag of truce to demand a surrender, but, to their astonishment, they found no one to receive it. They then hastily replaced the plank, which had been removed from the bridge, and crossed over to the number of nearly a thousand, and pushed on up to get in the rear of our men at the railroad bridge. ing and firing, for the most part after deliberate aim at the cowardly rebels, who, notwithstanding they had twenty to our one, fought Indian fashion, from behind whatever would conceal them. Finding further resistance utterly hopeless, and just as the rebel cavalry were ready for a grand charge, which must have resulted in the total destruction of the gallant little band, a white flag was raised from a house near by, and the firing ceased. Scarcely had the formalities of the capitulation been completed, when two pieces of ordnance from Mulligan's command at Grafton opened on them from the opposite side of the river. They then double-quicked the prisoners off the field, and placed them in the court-house, where they were paroled about nine o'clock at night. The rebels on the left bank of the river were soon shelled out of range, but those on the same side as the battery made a desperate effort to tear up the road in the rear of the battery to prevent its return. They took up one or more rails, and piled several cords of wood on the track, but, after a sharp engagement, they were driven off by eighty men of company B, One Hundred and Sixth New-York, and a few rounds from the cannon. While the train bearing the battery was behind the hill protecting itself from being cut off and captured, the rebels commenced the destruction of the railroad bridge, which was doubtless the finest structure of the kind in the United States. It was made of iron, supported by four piers of massive stone-work, and was about nine hundred feet long. The iron-work was above the piers, and was supported by tubular columns of cast-iron. In these hollow columns they poured kegs of powder, which they had brought along for the purpose, and in this way the noble structure was blown from the piers into the river. The whole cost of its erection was four hundred and ninety-six thousand dollars, two thirds of which was expended in getting the piers above the high-water mark, owing to the great depth of water and mud above the solid rock. The destruction of this bridge is one of the most serious losses this railroad has sustained during the war. Months must elapse before even a temporary bridge can be erected. While the fight at the suspension bridge was going on, the rebels disposed their main force for attack at the upper bridge. Our force in defence of the railroad bridge, now about two hundred and seventy-five, had taken up a position half a mile north-west of the bridge, and within gunshot of the road leading to Pruntytown. As the rebel cavalry dashed along this road in order to reach the river above the bridge, they were exposed to a raking and destructive fire, which unhorsed ten or twelve of them. Having crossed at the suspension bridge and occupied the heights at the eastern end of the railroad bridge and gained the river above, they had our men completely surrounded. From his position on the heights to the rear and immediately overlooking the Spartan band, the commanding general called out: "Why the h-ll don't you surrender?" Our.boys sent back a defiant response, when he immediately commanded his men to "Rally." Then began one of the most desperate and unequal contests of this or any other war. For some time the rattle of musketry was incessant. Our men were in open meadows, protected somewhat from the fire in front by ravines, but exposed to the rebel sharp-shooters behind rocks and trees on the right bank of the river. Inch by inch we were forced back to within two hun- Captain Chamberlain, of company F, One Hundred yards of the bridge, all the time coolly load-dred and Sixth New-York volunteers, had com The battle we have endeavored to describe, was fought on Wednesday, April twenty-ninth, and was in many respects the most remarkable in the annals of warfare. The great disparity in the numbers engaged; the obstinate, determined resistance made by the Unionists; the length of time they held out; and, stranger still, only one killed and four wounded on our side, while the rebel loss, according to their own admission, was fifty or sixty. Indeed, General Jones told Captain Chamberlain that we had killed and disabled about a hundred of his men. He, as well as the rebel soldiers, complimented us on the gallantry with which we maintained our various positions. Where all who took up arms did so well, it would be invidious to particularize individual acts of heroism. mand of the post, Major Parish of the militia, and each citizen-soldier commanded himself, and as many more as would obey him. Every store in the town was robbed of every thing the thieves fancied. The home rebels pointed out the private property they wanted destroyed, and it was done. A valuable steam saw-mill, belonging to J. N. Cromwell & Co., was burned. The National printing-office was destroyed because it has been uncompromisingly Union, while the Butternut concern in Morgantown was uninjured, because, as the traitors said, it was on their side and was devoted to their cause. The law and private libraries of Governor Pierpoint were carried into the street in front of his office, and burned; every horse in town and surrounding country was taken. At least five hundred horses were taken out of Marion County alone. Fortunately the Union men had moved their horses out of the neighborhood, while the secesh relied on their opposition to the Government, which has always protected them, for security. Hence in the loss of horses they are by far the greater sufferers, as the raiders were no respecters of persons in making their selections. Some men, who have all along been very desirous to get their "rights," have had a little foretaste of what their rights are in the estimation of traitors. The miserable copperheads who have been opposing the war, and growling about taxes, have lost more by the men whose rights they are so jealous of, than the Government expects them to pay as taxes for the next ten years. -Wheeling Intelligencer. Doc. 179. ATTACK ON GRAND GULF, MISS. ADMIRAL PORTER'S REPORT. SIR: I had the honor of sending you a telegraph announcing that we had fought the batteries at Grand Gulf for five hours and thirty-five minutes, with partial success. Grand Gulf has been very strongly fortified since Admiral Farragut went down, to prevent his coming up again, and four (some of very heavy guns) are placed at the distance of a quarter of a mile apart, on high points, and completely command the river. unmanageable for a short time, and she drifted down to the lower batteries, which she opened upon while repairing damages. The Pittsburgh, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Horl, for a short time bore the brunt of the fire, and lost eight killed and sixteen wounded. The Tuscumbia was cut up a great deal. As the fire of the upper battery slackened, (I presume for want of ammunition,) I passed up a short distance above the fort to communicate with Gen. Grant, to see whether he thought proper to send the troops in the transports by the battery under what was rather a feeble return to our fire. He concluded to land the troops and march them across by a road two miles long, coming out below the batteries. As there was a prospect of expending a great deal of ammunition on the upper battery, without being able to occupy it if it was silenced, the vessels moved up-stream again by signal, without being much fired at or receiving any damage while the enemy had a raking fire on them. I then sent down Captain Walke in the Lafayette to prevent them from repairing damages, which they were doing with great diligence. He opened on them, to which they responded a few times, and finally left the fort, when he fired at intervals of five minutes until dark. At six o'clock P.M. I again got under way, with the transports following up, and attacked the batteries again, the transports all passing down under cover of our fire. We are now in a position to make a landing where the General pleases. I should have preferred this latter course in the first instance; it would have saved many lives and many hard knocks. The Benton received forty-seven shots in her hull alone, not counting the damage done above her rail; but she was just as good for a fight when she got through as when she commenced. All the vessels did well, though it was the most difficult portion of the river in which to manage an iron-clad-strong currents (running six knots) and strong eddies, turning them round and round, making them fair targets. It was a hard fight and a long one on both sides. The enemy fought his upper battery with a desperation I have never yet witnessed, for though we engaged him at a distance of fifty yards, we never fairly succeeded in stopping his fire but for a short time. It was remarkable I ordered the Louisville, Carondelet, Mound that we did not disable his guns, but though we City, and Pittsburgh, to lead the way and attack knocked the parapets pretty much to pieces, the the lower batteries, while the Tuscumbia, Ben-guns were apparently uninjured. ton, and Lafayette, attacked the upper ones; the Lafayette lying in an eddy, and fighting stern down-stream. The vessels below silenced the lower batteries, and then closed up on the upper one, which had been hotly engaged by the Benton and Tuscumbia, both ships suffering severely in killed and wounded. The Pittsburgh came up just at the moment when a large shell passed through the Benton's pilot-house, wounding the pilot, Mr. Williams, and disabling the wheel. This made the vessel The squadron has been six hours and a half to-day under a hot and well-directed fire, and are ready to commence at daylight in the morning. I will send a list of killed and wounded the first opportunity. No naval officers were killed or severely wounded. In our attack to-night only one man killed; he was on the Mound City. DAVID D. PORTER, Acting R. A., Commanding Mississippi Squadron. Hon. GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of Navy. A NATIONAL ACCOUNT. NEAR GRAND GULF, MISSISSIPPI, Wednesday, April 29, 1863. This day, which a year ago was signalized by the capture and occupation of New-Orleans by the Union forces, has been again rendered memorable by one of the fiercest and longest contested naval engagements of the war. The long-promised, and, as some think, too long delayed attack upon Grand Gulf by our naval flotilla commenced at eight o'clock this morning, all seven of the gunboats-Benton, (flag-ship,) Lafayette, Tuscumbia, Carondelet, Mound City, Pittsburgh, and Louisville-participating, and the fight continued until near one o'clock P.M., lasting almost five hours. The place was, very properly, reported by Admiral Farragut as very strong. We found it so. The enemy had at least twenty guns favorably posted in casemates and behind earthworks of the most formidable description. They fought, too, with characteristic tenacity and courage. Our gunboats, however, were too much for them. One after the other was silenced by the direct firing at close quarters from the rifle Parrotts, and the eleven-inch and nine-inch Dahlgrens-the guns, large and small, which compose the armament of the gunboat fleet. At one P.M. only a single gun, protected by a casemate, on the bluff nearest to Big Black River, responded, at long and nervous intervals, to our fire, and the place was taken, to all intents and purposes, so far as silencing the rebel guns was concerned. All that was wanted to complete the victory was for the fifteen thousand troops, which were lying on board of transports three miles above, to land, according to the programme, and occupy the enemy's works under cover of our guns. Why they did not do this-why they remained spectators to the scene, and why, after five hours of as hard and successful fighting as has been done during the war, all the gunboats were withdrawn, are questions I am unable to answer. The Tuscumbia remained at a considerable distance below the batteries, while all the rest proceeded up-stream. Within two hours-while I am now writing-some hundred and odd men may be seen by the glass, busily engaged repairing their dilapidated works, and apparently remounting their guns. The troops, at a late hour in the afternoon, are on the march to a point below Grand Gulf, on the Louisiana side, from which, it is reported, they are to be ferried across by the transports, which will go down empty. All the gunboats have received some injury, but not one has been materially damaged or crippled. The Lafayette, Tuscumbia, Pittsburgh, Mound City, Carondelet, Louisville-all went in and fought the rebel batteries, head, stern, and broadside; first down-stream, then up-stream; then enfilading them in the still basin formed by the outlet of Big Black, within two hundred yards or less of the rebel casemates. The Mound City actually laid herself ashore directly opposite to one of the most formidable batteries, and kept firing at it until every rebel gunner had left. The Benton (flag-ship) did terrible execution with her guns. First Master Bryant, a New-Yorker by birth, but who fought all through the Crimean war, and received a medal from the British government, handled his guns with remarkable skill and judgment, and was complimented several times by Captain Walke for his excellent shots. The Benton fired over six hundred rounds, the Lafayette over three hundred. The number of rounds fired by all the boats must have exceeded four thousand. The rebels were not backward in returning the fire, as all the boats give unmistakable evidence. The Benton was hit over fifty times, the Lafayette twenty-eight times. The Lafayette received a shot in her hull, exploding near the magazine. The Benton had eight killed and twenty wounded, Pittsburgh six killed, and Tuscumbia seven killed and a number wounded. Doc. 180. BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON, MISS. GENERAL GRANT'S DESPATCH.* GRAND GULF, VIA MEMPHIS, May 7. To Major-General Halleck, General-in-Chief: WE landed at Boulingsburg, April thirtieth, moved immediately on Port Gibson, met the enemy, eleven thousand strong, four miles south of Port Gibson, at two o'clock A.M., on the first instant, and engaged him all day, entirely routing him, with the loss of many killed and about five hundred prisoners, beside the wounded. The enemy retreated toward Vicksburgh, destroying the bridges over the two forks of the Bayou Pierce. These were rebuilt, and the pursuit was continued until the present time. Beside the heavy artillery at this place, four field-pieces were captured, and some stores, and the enemy was driven to destroy many more. The country is the most broken and difficult to operate in I ever saw. Our victory has been most complete, and the enemy is thoroughly demoralized. Very respectfully, U. S. GRANT, Major-General Commanding. GENERAL ORDERS, No. 32. I desire to congratulate the officers and soldiers of this division on the brilliant and successful manner in which they performed their duty in the different conflicts of the late battle near Port Gibson. At the end of a tiresome night-march the Second brigade, under Colonel Stone, being in the lead, came upon the enemy at one o'clock in the morning, posted in a strong position, with artillery, immediately formed into line, and Captain Griffith's First Iowa battery, with the assist see General Grant's Report of the Siege and Reduction of Vicksburgh, Volume VII. REBELLION RECORD. This battle is also known as the battle of Thompson's Hill. |