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The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), Vicksburg during the siege. (search)
on to alter his mind in this connection, and the troops which he had dispatched to General Bragg, at Chattanooga, were promptly withdrawn. Early in April, a new plan of campaign was adopted by General Grant. He struck work on the canal. His new scheme was to march his troops down on the west bank of the river to some suitable point below Vicksburg, and throw them over in transports that were to pass the batteries under veil of night. Already, in March, the Hartford and Albatross, of Farragut's squadron, had passed the Port Hudson guns. On the night of April 16th, a Federal fleet of gunboats and three transports, towing barges, ran by the batteries at Vicksburg and moored at Hard Times, La. (thirty miles, say, below the city), where the forces had arrived. On the night of the 22d six more transports and barges followed. The damage done by the Confederate artillerists on these two occasions summed up as follows: One transport sunk, one burned, six barges rendered unserviceable
The Annals of the Civil War Written by Leading Participants North and South (ed. Alexander Kelly McClure), The First attack on Fort Fisher (search)
e defenses on Federal Point, and commanded the entrance to the Cape Fear river by New Inlet. About seven miles southwest from Fort Fisher, at Smithville, on the right of the old entrance to the Cape Fear, was Fort Johnson; and about a mile south of that was Fort Caswell. The latter and Fort Fisher were the principal guardians of the port of Wilmington. At Baldhead Point, on Smith's Island, was Battery Holmes. These were the works which the government proposed to turn or assail after Farragut had effectually closed the port of Mobile, in August, 1864. Wilmington was then the only refuge for blockade-runners on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The National Government considered several plans for capturing and holding the city of Wilmington. One, submitted by Frederic Kidder, of Boston, seemed most promising of success. Mr. Kidder proposed to have a fleet of flat-bottomed steamers rendezvous at Beaufort, fifty or sixty miles up the coast, on which should be placed about twelve tho
Robert Lewis Dabney, Life and Commands of Lieutenand- General Thomas J. Jackson, Chapter 9: General view of the campaigns of 1862. (search)
ntage of these bases, even the great superiority of the Federal numbers would not have availed to give. them the campaign. But the most fatal of all these advantages was the occupation of New Orleans. This success also resulted from the discovery, whose novelty was so unfortunate for the Confederate cause, that war steamers could pass batteries with impunity. After the chief of the naval force had despaired of the reduction of the forts which guarded the approaches to the city, Commodore Farragut, April 24th, essayed, what was then esteemed the rash experiment of passing them by night, with perfect success. The rich and unarmed city then lay at his mercy; for the Confederates had no fleet adequate to resist his approach, and the surrender of the forts was thQ obvious sequel to the loss of that, which they were intended to protect. The Mississippi River was now open to the Federal navies through all its length, except the section embraced between the fortresses of Port Hudson
Thomas C. DeLeon, Four years in Rebel capitals: an inside view of life in the southern confederacy, from birth to death., Chapter 20: from Shiloh to New Orleans. (search)
nd covered Memphis. Still people were not satisfied; and tongues and pens were busy with the subject, until an event occurred that wrapped the whole country in wondering and paralyzing grief. On the 26th April New Orleans surrendered to Admiral Farragut! The Federal fleet had long been hovering about the twin forts at the mouth of the river; and daily telegrams of the progress of the bombardment and of their impregnability had schooled the country into the belief that the city was perfet have been made effective as a defense-would have been the cotton and the trifling damage done by the shells. So the people hoped on. A long correspondence, coupled with reiterated threats of bombardment, ensued between Mayor Monroe and Admiral Farragut, relative to the State flag that still floated over the Custom House. Still the city was not in Federal power and there might yet be a chance. But on the 28th, the news of the fall of the forts in consequence of the surrender of their g
Thomas C. DeLeon, Four years in Rebel capitals: an inside view of life in the southern confederacy, from birth to death., Chapter 31: the Chinese-Wall blockade, abroad and at home. (search)
s. Almost as damaging, in another regard, were the occupation of New Orleans, and the final stoppage of communication with the trans-Mississippi by the capture of Vicksburg. The Heroic City had long been sole point of contact with the vast productive tracts, beyond the great river. The story were twicetold of a resistance-unequaled even by that at Charleston and beginning with first Union access to the river, by way of New Orleans. But, in May, 1862, the combined fleets of Porter and Farragut from the South, and Davis from the North, rained shot and shell into the coveted town for six terrible weeks. Failing reduction, they withdrew on June 24th; leaving her banners inscribed-Vicksburg vicrix! In May of the next year, another concentration was made on the key of the Mississippi; General Grant marching his army one hundred and fifty miles from its base, to get in rear of Vicksburg and cut off its relief. The very audacity of this plan may blind the careless thinker to its b
Lt.-Colonel Arthur J. Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States, May, 1863. (search)
e river, looked very prosperous; but signs of preparations for immediate skedaddling were visible in most of them, and I fear they are all destined to be soon desolate and destroyed. We came to a courier picket every sixteen miles. At one of them we got the information, Gunboats drove back, at which there was great rejoicing, and the captain, recovering his spirits, became quite jocose, and volunteered to give me letters of introduction to a particular friend of his about here, called Mr. Farragut ; but the next news, Still a-fightin‘, caused us to tie ourselves to a tree at 8 P. M., off a little village called Columbia, which is half-way between Munroe and Harrisonburg. We then lit a large fire, round which all the passengers squatted on their heels in Texan fashion, each man whittling a piece of wood, and discussing the merits of the different Yankee prisons at New Orleans or Chicago. One of them, seeing me, called out, I reckon, Kernel, if the Yankees catch you with us, the
Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, The bayous West of the Mississippi-criticisms of the Northern press-running the batteries-loss of the Indianola-disposition of the troops (search)
and as low down as it was prudent to go. My mind was much relieved when I learned that no one on the transports had been killed and but few, if any, wounded. During the running of the batteries men were stationed in the holds of the transports to partially stop with cotton shot-holes that might be made in the hulls. All damage was afterwards soon repaired under the direction of Admiral Porter. The experiment of passing batteries had been tried before this, however, during the war. Admiral Farragut had run the batteries at Port Hudson with the flagship Hartford and one iron-clad and visited me from below Vicksburg. The 13th of February Admiral Porter had sent the gunboat Indianola, Lieutenant-Commander George Brown commanding, below. She met Colonel [Charles] Ellet of the Marine brigade below Natchez on a captured steamer. Two of the Colonel's fleet had previously run the batteries, producing the greatest consternation among the people along the Mississippi from Vicksburg C
J. B. Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary, chapter 38 (search)
ive, and attack Grant. The following shows that we have had another success: Mobile, April 11th, 1864. To Gen. S. Cooper, A. & I. General. The following report was received at Baton Rouge, on the 3d inst., from the Surgeon-General of Banks's army: We met the enemy near Shreveport. Union force repulsed with great loss. How many can you accommodate in hospitals at Baton Rouge? Steamer Essex, or Benton, destroyed by torpedoes in Red River, and a transport captured by Confederates. Farragut reported preparing to attack Mobile. Six monitors coming to him. The garrisons of New Orleans and Baton Rouge were very much reduced for the purpose of increasing Banks's forces. D. H. Maury, Major-General Commanding. April 13 A clear, but cool day. Again planted corn, the other having rotted. There is an unofficial report that one of our torpedo boats struck the Federal war steamer Minnesota yesterday, near Newport News, and damaged her badly. I learn (from an official
William H. Herndon, Jesse William Weik, Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, Etiam in minimis major, The History and Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by William H. Herndon, for twenty years his friend and Jesse William Weik, Chapter 19. (search)
, from the mountains of Tennessee through Georgia to the sea, while Grant, with stolid indifference to public criticism and newspaper abuse, was creeping steadily on through swamp and ravine to Richmond. Thomas had defeated Hood in Tennessee, sending the latter back with his army demoralized, cut in pieces, and ruined. The young and daring Sheridan had driven Early out of the Shenandoah Valley after a series of brilliant engagements. The Kearsarge had sunk the Alabama in foreign waters. Farragut had captured Mobile, and the Union forces held undisputed possession of the West and the Mississippi Valley from the lakes to the gulf. Meanwhile Sherman, undaunted by the perils of a further march through the enemy's country, returning from the sea, was aiming for Richmond, where Grant, with bull-dog tenacity, held Lee firmly in his grasp. Erelong, the latter, with his shattered army reduced to half its original numbers, evacuated Richmond, with Grant in close pursuit. A few days later
Mrs. John A. Logan, Reminiscences of a Soldier's Wife: An Autobiography, Chapter 9: (search)
t. Secretaries Welles, McCulloch, Browning, Stanberry, P. M. G. Randall were there, each contributing his best efforts to the pleasure of every one. Very few of the Senate and House appeared-Senators Sprague, Dixon, Doolittle, Grimes, Trumbull, Ross, and a few others attended; of the House there were even fewer who paid their respects. The army, led by General Grant and a long list of military officers, presented an imposing appearance, as also the officers of the navy, following Admirals Farragut and Porter. There were then a number of officers of both branches of the service in Washington who had but recently been relieved from active duty. The bureau officers, different organizations, and privileged persons had scarcely passed the President when a fearful crowd from the streets pushed their way in, their feet muddy and their clothing dripping with the rain in which they had been standing outside. The President encouraged their coming, and very soon the reception became a
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