the Black River, which they crossed by means of the railroad bridge. At daylight on May 17th, the pursuit was renewed with General McClernand's Thirteenth Army Corps in the advance. The enemy was found strongly posted on both sides of the Black River. At this point of the stream the bluffs extend to the water's edge on the west or Vicksburg bank, while on the east side is an open, cultivated bottom of nearly one mile in width, surrounded by a bayou of stagnant water from two to three feet in depth, and from ten to twenty feet in width, running from the river above the railroad to the river below. The enemy, by constructing a line of rifle-pits along the inside edge of this bayou, had formed it into a natural ditch before a fortified work. The spot was well chosen for defence, and gave to the enemy every advantage.

The position had, however, to be carried before Vicksburg could be reached; and notwithstanding the level ground over which a portion of the troops had to pass without cover, and the great obstacle of the bayou in front of the enemy's works, the charge was gallantly and successfully made, and in a few minutes the entire garrison with seventeen pieces of artillery were the trophies of this brilliant and daring movement.

When the rebels on the west bank of the river discovered that the position on the level below was sure to be taken, they destroyed the railroad bridge by fire with the intent of preventing General Grant's army from crossing the Big Black River: but in this operation they merely cut off every chance of escape for the garrison on the eastern bank, and the men were therefore all taken prisoners with their arms and equipments.

An eye-witness of the struggle at the Black River bridge gives the following account of the battle:

The battle of Big Black bridge was fought on Sunday, May 17th, the day after the battle of Chamon's Hill. In this spirited engagement

only the Thirteenth Army Corps was engaged. It is superfluous to add that the troops comprising this corps fought as they always do, excellently well.* In the morning, after a night's bivouac on the hill overlooking the village of Edwards's Station, the column with McClernand at its head moved towards Black River bridge. The citizens who were questioned ou the subject, said the position was strongly fortified at the crossing, and we naturally thought the enemy would make stubborn resistance there. We were not surprised, therefore, to learn that our advance guard was fired upon by the rebel pickets as the column moved towards the river.

The country between Edwards's Station and the bridge loses that hilly and broken character which distinguishes the region further east, and spreads out into a broad and fertile plain, over which we moved rapidly. There were no commanding hills whence they could pour a deadly fire into our ranks; but there were numerous patches of forest, under the cover and from the edge of which they could easily enfilade the open fields by the roadside. There was such a one a mile east of the intrenchments where the main picket-guard was stationed. Here determined resistance was first made.

General Carr's division had the extreme advance of the column, and opened and ended the engagement. Hastily deploying a heavy line of skirmishers to the right of the road, backed up by the two brigades of Carr's Division in line of battle behind it, with General Osterhaus's Division on the left of the road similarly disposed, General McClernand gave the order to advance. Soon in the depths of the thick forest the skirmishers of both armies were hotly engaged, while batteries of artillery planted on the right and left of the road poured shot and shell into the fort most furiously. The guns in the intrenchments replied with vigor and spirit. Almost the first shot dropped in the caisson belonging to a Wisconsin battery, and exploded its contents, slightly wounding General Osterhaus, and Captain Foster, of the battery, and very seriously injuring two gunners. General Osterhaus being thus disabled, the command of his division was temporarily given to Brigadier-General A. L. Lee.

After skirmishing had continued for an hour, during which the enemy gave way and sought the cover of his intrenchments, the order was given to the several brigade commanders, on the right, to advance and charge

* It will be remembered that this corps was mostly composed of troops who had participated in the contests of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Corinth, under General Grant.

the enemy's works. The order was received with cheers; and when the word "Forward" was spoken, steadily and splendidly the brave boys moved up to the assault. The enemy crouched down behind the breastworks. A portion of them, stationed in a curtain of the fort, whence they were able to get a cross-fire upon the column, reserved their volley until we were within easy musket range of the intrenchments, when they swept the advancing line with their terrible fire. The brave boys lost in that fearful volley one hundred and fifty men; yet they faltered not nor turned their steps backward. They waded the bayou, delivering their fire as they reached the other bank, and rushed upon the enemy with fixed bayonets. So quickly was all this accomplished, that the enemy had not time to reload their guns, and were forced to surrender.

The battle was ended, and the fort, with three thousand prisoners, seventeen pieces of artillery-some of them captured from ourselves, and bearing appropriate inscriptions-several thousand stand of arms, and a large supply of corn and commissary stores, fell into our hands. The enemy had, earlier in the day, out of the hulls of three steamboats, constructed a bridge, over which he had passed the main body of his army. As the charge was made, and it became evident that we should capture the position, they burned this bridge, and also the rail road bridge across the river just above.

In the afternoon several attempts were made to cross the river, but the sharpshooters lined the bluffs beyond and entirely prevented it. Later, the main body of sharpshooters were dispersed by our artillery. It was not, however, safe to stand upon the bank, or cross the open field east of the bridge, until after dark, when the enemy withdrew altogether.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

APPROACHING VICKSBURG.-INVESTMENT.-FIRST ASSAULT.

GENERAL SHERMAN, with the Fifteenth Corps, during the time the battle of Black River was being fought, had as before stated, reached Bridgeport. By the morning of May 18th, he had crossed his command to the west side of the Black River, and was ready for the onward march. It appears, by General Grant's report, that "the only pontoon train with the expedition was with him ;" and as the rebels had destroyed the railroad bridge, it became necessary, in order to get the Thirteenth and Seventeenth Corps across the river, to build floating bridges, which were constructed during the night of May 17th, and early morning of the next day.

At eight o'clock, on the morning of May 18th, the two army corps were ready to make the crossing. The Fif teenth Corps was now ordered in the advance, and commenced moving along the Bridgeport and Vicksburg road at a very early hour.

As the corps arrived within three and a half miles of Vicksburg, the men turned to the right, to get possession of the Walnut Hills, and to open a communication with the fleet in the Yazoo River. This manœuvre was successfully accomplished by the evening of May 18th.

The Seventeenth Corps followed the Jackson road until it connected with the same road previously taken by the Fifteenth. The former then took up the line of march to the rear of the latter, and at about nightfall arrived at the

point of the road where General Sherman had turned off towards the Yazoo River.

The Thirteenth Corps had moved by the Jackson and Vicksburg road to Mount Albans, whence it turned to the left, for the purpose of striking the Baldwin's Ferry road.

"By this disposition," says General Grant, "the three army corps covered all the ground their strength would admit of, and by the morning of the 19th of May the investment of Vicksburg was made as complete as could be by the forces under my command."

As the army advanced, it was continually met by the rebel skirmishers, who fell back steadily to their works before the city. "Relying," says General Grant, "upon the demoralization of the enemy, in consequence of repeated defeats outside of Vicksburg, I ordered a general assault at two P. M., on this day."

At the appointed signal, the line of the Fifteenth Army Corps advanced, and made a vigorous assault; but the other two corps succeeded only in securing advanced posi tions, where they were covered from the enemy's fire.

The ground to the right and left of the road by which the Fifteenth Corps advanced, was cut up in deep chasms, filled with standing and fallen timber, and was so impracticable that the line was slow and irregular in reaching the trenches. The object was, however, finally attained, and the colors of the Thirteenth U. S. Infantry planted on the exterior slope of the works. But this was not accomplished without serious loss. General Sherman reports that the "commander of the regiment was mortally wounded, and five other officers were wounded more or less severely. Seventy-seven, out of two hundred and fifty men, are reported killed or wounded." Two other regiments reached the position about the same time, held their ground, and fired upon any head that presented itself above the parapet;