CHAPTER XX.

CHANGE OF BASE.-WILLIAMS'S CANAL.

On the 29th of January, 1863, General Grant landed a portion of his army at Young's Point, Louisiana, and another portion at Milliken's Bend. He shortly followed these forces, and established his head-quarters at the former place, whence he could have good control of all the operations necessary to the reduction of the rebel stronghold. General Grant next thoroughly inspected the rebel works, and became convinced that it was impossible to take them from the water front. He then held a consultation with his generals as to the best plan to be adopted to turn the rebel position, and all agreed that the only method that promised success was to flank the works on the south side.

The most important object of consideration was the means to be adopted to transport his forces to the south side of the fortified city. But in this lay the great difficulty. The river was completely blockaded above by the works on the Walnut Hills and other elevations, and no advance could be made from New Orleans in consequence of the fortification of Port Hudson. General Grant, therefore, turned his attention to the reopening of the canal first cut by General Williams, opposite Vicksburg, across the Peninsula on the Louisiana side of the river. If this canal had been made successful, transports and gunboats could have been taken through it

to the south side of the city, and the troops and supplies moved to a new base of operations.

The work, however, was of such a herculean nature, and was being continually interrupted by the heavy rains and the rapid rise of the river, that the number of men required to keep the water out of the camps and cuttings was much larger than those engaged on the canal, and more than could be conveniently detailed for the purpose.

It now became necessary that the utmost secrecy should be used concerning every thing that was being done or about to be done in General Grant's army, and the following order was issued to prevent any one from being admitted within the lines who did not properly belong to the army, and to prohibit those who were inside from going beyond the limits :

HEAD-QUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE,
YOUNG'S POINT, LA., Feb. 12, 1863.

[Special Field Orders, No. 2.]

I. The nature of the service the army is now called upon to perform, making it impracticable to transport or provide for persons unemployed by government, the enticing of negroes to leave their homes to come within the lines of the army is positively forbidden. They should be permitted to remain at their homes, in pursuance of the recommendation of the President, "in all cases where allowed to labor faithfully for reasonable wages." Those at present within the lines will not be turned out; but in future, in the field, no persons, white or black, who are not duly au thorized to pass the lines of sentinels, will be permitted to enter or leave camp.

II. Whenever the services of negroes are required, details will be inade by army corpsc ommanders for the purpose of collecting them, and they will be registered, provided for, and employed in accordance with law and existing orders.

III. The habit too prevalent of arresting citizens beyond the lines of the army, and bringing them into camp without charges, is preJudicial to the service, and must not be continued. When citizens are arrested hereafter without charges being preferred warranting the arrest, the citizen will be turned outside the lines, and the officer or soldier

causing the arrest will be confined, and otherwise punished at the discretion of a court-martial.

IV. No flag of truce will hereafter be allowed to pass our outposts. Any message sent under it will be received by an officer and receipted for, and the flag directed to return immediately. All answers to such messages will be sent under our own flag of truce.

V. Attention of army corps commanders is particularly called to the 41st, 42d, 46th, and 50th Articles of War, which will be rigidly en forced.

By order of

JOHN A. RAWLINS, A. A.-G.

Major-General U. S. GRANT.

The four Articles of War referred to in the foregoing order are as follows:

ART. 41.-All non-commissioned officers and soldiers, who shall be found one mile from the camp, without leave in writing, from their commanding officer, shall suffer such punishment as shall be inflicted upon them by the sentence of a court-martial.

ART. 42.-No officer or soldier shall be out of his quarters, garrison, or camp, without leave from his superior officer, upon penalty of being punished according to the nature of his offence, by the sentence of a court-martial.

ART. 46.—Any sentinel who shall be found sleeping upon his post, or shall leave it before he shall be regularly relieved, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be inflicted by the sentence of a courtmartial.

ART. 50.-Any officer or soldier who shall, without urgent necessity, or without the leave of his superior officer, quit his guard, platoon, or division, shall be punished, according to the nature of his offence, by the sentence of a court-martial.

It will be seen at once that something of more than ordinary importance was being transacted, to require the issuance of such stringent orders as the foregoing.

The banks of the Mississippi River at this time were lined with guerilla parties, who would occasionally fire upon the supply boats and transports with light fieldpieces, and when attacked would retreat into the jungles and cane-brakes. This partisan warfare proved to be a

great annoyance, and sometimes destructive, but did not seriously interfere with General Grant in the prosecution of his work.

During the early part of February, a reconnoissance was made in the neighborhood of Lake Providence, and a skirmish took place at a point about five miles distant from the lake, resulting in the defeat of the rebels. Another skirmish took place at Old River, Louisiana, on the 10th of February, with a similar result. During the reconnoissance, Captain Prime, Chief of Engineers on General Grant's staff, ascertained certain facts that led him to believe that a water route could be made through the bayous which run from near Milliken's Bend, north of Vicksburg, and from New Carthage, south of that city, into the Tensas river.

Meanwhile, the work on the Williams Canal continued to be prosecuted with great vigor, and a large number of men were employed upon it. On the 8th of March the overflow of the river broke in the dam at the end of the canal, and flooded the whole of the low lands, before the cutting could be completed. As the season was too far advanced to renew experiments on this enterprise, it had to be abandoned.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE QUEEN OF THE WEST AND INDIANOLA.*

ACTING Rear-Admiral Porter's gunboat fleet ably cooperated with General Grant in his operations before Vicksburg, and, early in February, the ram Queen of the West, under command of Colonel Ellet, ran by the batteries at Vicksburg, and pushed down the Mississippi and up the Red Rivers on a reconnoisance. During the first trip Colonel Ellet captured three of the enemy's transports, and then returned to the lower end of the Williams Canal. On the 10th of February Colonel Ellet started on a second expedition in the same direction, and on the 12th arrived at the junction of the Red and Atchafalaya Rivers. The latter stream runs from the Red River to the Gulf through a curious swampy tract of country in Louisiana. The Queen, having left her tenders behind in a secure position, started down the Atchafalaya, and after passing along about six

*This chapter is written to point out one of the great difficulties under which General Grant labored. The Red River had been used by the rebels as a highway for the transportation of stores and supplies for the rebel garrisons at Vicksburg, Grand Gulf, Natchez, and Port Hudson, and until that source of supply was cut off, it would have been impossible to reduce the place by siege. To reach the mouth of the Red River it became necessary to run the batteries, and the experiment was first made by the Queen of the West, and next by the Indianola. These trials of the strength of the rebel batteries may also be looked upon as special reconnoissances for future use, as will be developed in the course of the narrative.