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and glory of the assault. But what could valor—the valor of half-a-dozen regiments-avail against such impediments? Pemberton had been rëenforced, during the 27th, by three fresh brigades from Grenada; and more were constantly coming in. His rifle-pits were filled with sharpshooters, whose every bullet drew blood; his gunners had the range of the ford, such as it was, and poured grape and canister into our dauntless but momently decimated heroes, who could not advance, and were stung by the consciousness that they were dying in vain. They fell back, by De Courcy's order, quite as rapidly, though not so proudly, as they had advanced: the 17th and 26th Louisiana, by a charge on their flank, capturing 4 flags, with 332 prisoners, and gathering up 500 small arms.

Morgan, who had endeavored to throw a pontoon across, had ordered Col. Lindsey, with his own, Sheldon's, and two regiments of Thayer's brigade, to advance simultaneously with Blair and De Courcy, and ford the bayou farther to the right; but Lindsey failed to execute the order: reporting the narrow point at which the bayou was here fordable covered by a masked battery.

On our right, the 6th Missouri, in A. J. Smith's advance, likewise went forward at noon, and crossed the bayou on a narrow sand-bar; but they found the bank so steep and so thoroughly swept by the enemy's rifles, that they could not force an ascent, but crouched under the bank, occasionally fired down upon by some eager sharp-shooter, till after dark; when they were withdrawn; having

16 Dec. 30.

But Blair's brigade alone lost 636 men this day; Thayer's, 111; Morgan's division, 875; Stuart's brigade, 55: total (including that of the 6th Missouri), 1,734: so that this attempt on Vicksburg can not have cost us less than 2,000 men; while Pemberton reports his casualties at only 63 killed, 134 wounded, and 10 missing: total, 207.

Sherman was baffled, but would not give it up. During the rainy night which followed, our men stood or lay without fire in the swamp bordering the execrated bayou, while their leader visited Admiral Porter on board his flag-boat and concerted new efforts. Next day," he scrutinized his own and his enemy's position, and became satisfied that the Rebel lines could not be broken. But might they not be turned? He proposed to the Admiral a combined demonstration against the batteries on their extreme right, upon Drumgould's Bluff, some miles farther up the Yazoo; the Admiral to approach and bombard them, while 10,000 choice troops should attempt to carry them by assault: the residue of our army distracting the enemy's attention by menacing his front nearer Vicksburg with a fresh attack.

Porter, as ever, lent a prompt and hearty cooperation; and the troops were accordingly embarked:" the gunboats being directed to move at midnight slowly and silently up the Yazoo to Drumgould's Bluff; at 4 A. M., engage and silence the Rebel batteries there; then the troops to disembark, storm the bluff and hold it, while cannonades, attacks, and alarms along the bayou, were to pre

17 Night of Dec. 31.

Steele's division and one brigade of M. L. Smith's were accordingly embarked; and Sherman, who had left them at midnight, had, by 4 A. M., every man at his post, listening for the sound of Porter's guns; but no sound came. At daybreak, a line from Steele apprised the General that the fog on the river had been so dense that the Admiral had been unable to move; so that the enterprise must be postponed to the next night. But, when the next night came, it was bright moonlight, rendering the proposed attack quite too hazardous; while each hour's delay must inevitably increase the sad probability that the enemy would divine, or at least suspect, what was meditated, and prepare to render the purposed assault more costly than that of the 29th. The swamp wherein our men were encamped would be drowned by the next heavy rain; there were already ominous rumors afloat, which every thing tended to confirm, that Grant had fallen back, leaving the Rebels free to concentrate 40,000 men at Vicksburg; there was no use in staying: so Sherman resolved to go; and, by sunrise next morning, he had every thing on board, and was on the point of starting for Milliken's Bend; when he was apprised by Admiral Porter that an officer, his senior in rank, had arrived; to whom he

18

the coming man. He had been for years a Democratic Representative in Congress of some note, but had hitherto won no distinction in the field. | Having been dispatched from Memphis by Gen. Grant to Vicksburg, he, on his arrival, acquiesced in Sherman's decision to return to Milliken's Bend, where he formally assumed 19 command, and at once addressed himself to the execution of a purpose which he had formed while on his way down the river.2o This was the reduction of Fort Hindman, otherwise known as The Post of Arkansas, 50 miles from the Mississippi; where a settlement had been made by the French in 1685, on the first high ground reached in ascending from the great river; eligibly situated in a fertile and productive, though swampy, region, and commanding the navigation of the important river whose name it bears. It had been fortified by the Confederates, having a parapet 18 feet across and a ditch 20 feet wide by 8 deep, with strong casemates, a banquette for infantry, and a cordon of rifle-pits. But its guns were too few and light, and their powder inferior; so that Gen. T J. Churchill, who commanded, had never a chance to hold it, with his garrison of hardly 5,000," against the army that now advanced for its reduction

54 regiments in all-which, though doubtless sadly wasted by the bloody campaigns of 1862, must-to say nothing of the fleet-have numbered more than 20,000 men-probably

graphic order to "hold on till help arrived, or till all are dead"-a piece of silly gasconade, which had no warrant in the proximity of a relieving force; but which he says he says he would have obeyed to the letter, had not "several white flags" been raised, "to my great surprise," by the 24th Texas (dismounted) cavalry. He had no right to be surprised, nor even vexed, if it had really been his intention to subject his men to useless butchery. They had fought with signal gallantry and resolution, so long as hope remained; he admits that the “Fort had now been silenced about an hour, most of the fieldpieces being disabled;" and that his men had "nothing to rely upon now save their muskets and bayonets," against an enemy whose ample artillery was still efficient, who had mastered their defenses, and whose numbers were several times their own. Yet he says he had still a "great hope" to keep our whole army "in check till night; and then, if reenforcements did not reach me, to cut my way out;" and trusts "that the traitor who raised the white flag"-(he had already stated that there were "several" such)" will yet be discovered, brought to justice, and suffer the full penalty of the law." Such swagger had for years diffused an impression that the Southrons were less brave than they were proved by the stern ordeal of battle. Churchill reports his loss at not exceeding 60 killed, and 75 to 80

24 The Missouri Republican has a letter from an eye-witness, dated Arkansas Post, January 12, who makes them 4,500--all of them, but 1,000,

from Texas-and adds:

"Of the entire force garrisoning the Fort,

1,500 to 2,000. McClernand reports his spoils at "5,000" prisoners, 17 guns, 3,000 small arms, beside large quantities of munitions and commissary stores.” sary stores." He makes his losseskilled, 129; wounded, 831; missing, 17: total, 977. Having dismantled the Fort, destroyed whatever was combustible that he could not take away, and forwarded his prisoners to St. Louis, he rëembarked," pursuant to orders from General Grant, and returned to Milliken's Bend; having meantime sent an expedition, under Gen. Gorman and Lt.-Com. Walker, up the White river, which captured Des Arc and Duval's Bluff, without resistance.

26

Gen. Grant having rëorganized and refitted at Memphis his more immediate command, personally dropped down the Mississippi on a swift steamer and met " McClernand, Sherman, and Porter, near the mouth of White river, on their return from their triumphant incursion into Arkansas, accompanying them to Napoleon, where consultations were held, and a plan of action agreed on. McClernand's force moved down the Mississippi next day; somewhat impeded by a violent storm; but reached, on the 21st, Young's Point, nine miles above Vicksburg, on the opposite bank, facing the mouth of the Yazoo. Here was the head of the canal projected and partly opened, months before, by Gen. Williams, intended to secure a passage up and down the Mississippi for our vessels,

27

1,000-mostly Texas cavalry-escaped, taking with them a great portion of the baggage. These effected an exit on the night our forces were

surrounding the place, and before it could be fully accomplished."

25 Jan. 17. 26 Jan. 18. 27 See page 101.

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and at once poured in a flood which filled the embryo internal improvement in a few minutes, burying myriads of implements, and constraining the diggers to run for their lives. Several regiments, quartered

Williams's engineers had located their embryo canal unwisely. At its head, a strong eddy set the current away from the bank, rendering difficult the coaxing of a large body of water into it if it were completed; while its lower terminus was commanded by the batteries of Vicksburg-a serious drawback upon its prospective usefulness. Still, it was judged expedient to complete this, rather than commence a new one; and the river was rising so fast, under the stimulus of incessant rains (which by no means increased the attractiveness to our soldiers of digging up the mire and tough clay), that it was confidently expected soon to obliterate all traces of our engineering blunders. As there was daily increasing peril that it would drown out our camps, compelling our men to rëembark, the excavated earth was all thrown up on the west side, forming an embankment in front of our camps, between them and Vicksburg. Thus the work was proceeding vigorously and hopefully, when" the swelling flood of the Mississippi -now eight feet above the bottom of the canal-broke over the precautionary dam erected across its head,

28 Jan. 22.

move their tents and furniture with remarkable celerity; while some companies were isolated from our main body, and had to be ferried across the new lagoon to rejoin it. The embankment of the Vicksburg and Shreveport Railroad arrested the progress of the inundation northward; and our soldiers stationed below were required to move their tents to the ground above that embankment. And now, after some days' consideration and hesitating effort, it was decided that the canal was an abortion-the Father of Waters having paralyzed it by his veto; while the batteries of Vicksburg frowned grimly, defiantly as ever.

Ere this, Gen. Grant-having more hands than work--had had a channel cut from the Mississippi, some 40 to 50 miles above, into Lake Providence; whence there was a continuous water-way, through bayous Baxter and Macon, into the Tensas, and thus into the Mississippi far below Vicksburg, as also into the Washita and Red rivers; while another sidecut, leaving the great river near Milliken's Bend, communicated, through a net-work of bayous and connecting streams, with the eastern (shorter) branch of the Tensas, and thence, through a similar net-work, regained the lower Mississippi near New Carthage. This one had actually been made so far available, by the help of dredge-boats, that a small

29 March 8,