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rebels from their position was gone.
Brigade after brigade followed in rapid succession, storming the rebel works until compelled to fall back under the terrible fire of the enemy.
Conspicuous among the brigades that did the most desperate fighting, were those under the command of Colonels Kimball, Morgan, and Birge.
They were all, however, eventually repulsed with great slaughter.
The fighting ceased at eleven o'clock in the morning.
We having been repulsed in every assault, our soldiers, under command of their officets, laid themselves down under the shelter of the gullies, trees, covered way, in fact, every thing that could afford them protection, and waited for the day to pass and darkness come on. Many of our wounded who were accessible were carried from the field by squads detailed for that purpose.
It is a shameful reflection on humanity that a large number of our soldiers, carrying the wounded and dying from the field on stretchers, were shot down by the enemy, and in several instances the wounded were killed while being borne from the field.
At nightfall, however, we commenced the burial of our dead, and succeeded before the morning in carrying most of our wounded from the battle-field.
The enemy's hospitals, after the battle began, seemed to grow as rapidly as mushrooms in the dark.
I counted no less than twelve hospital flags within a square of a quarter of a mile.
I strongly suspect the protection afforded by them was not in every case legitimate, for on one occasion I saw firing in the immediate locality of one of the tents.
New-York, June 28.
The Herald has advices from Port Hudson to the twentieth instant. General Banks on the fifteenth instant issued a congratulatory order to his troops over their steady advance upon the enemy's works, stating that he is confident of an immediate and triumphant issue of the conflict, and says we are at all points upon the threshold of his fortifications.
One more advance and they are ours.
He then will summons the organization of a storming column of one thousand men to vindicate the flag of the Union and the memory of its defenders, who have fallen, promising promotion to the officers, and a medal to officers and privates.
A letter of the twentieth reports no material change in the position of affairs.
The camp rumors about assaults by volunteers and general attacks have proved unfounded.
We are steadily advancing.
Our first parallel which completely incloses the outer line of rebel breastworks and our skirmishers are behind rifle-pits — within twenty yards of the rebel intrenchments.
There are nightly skirmishes without definite results.
Battery No. Seven, to be mounted with twelve thirty-two-pounders, has been erected, commanding the entire series of the enemy's river works.
One heavy shot from the enemy had pierced the heavy plating of the Essex.
The gun which effected this has been dismounted by battery No. Seven.
The citadel on which it was mounted was expected to be soon reduced.
It was rumored and generally believed that an assault would take place on the night of the twentieth, to be led by Gen. Grierson and Col. Von Petten, of the One Hundred and Sixteenth New-York.
The assaulting party was to be supported by General Weitzel's old brigade and that of Colonel Dudley.
A rebel bearer of despatches had been captured with, it is said, a despatch from Johnston, who promises to reinforce Port Hudson and capture Banks's entire army, if the place would hold out until the following Tuesday.
This may be a ruse, however, to induce Banks to make an immediate assault, that he may be repulsed, and arrest the slow process of starvation which stares the rebels in the face.
Deserters report a consultation of rebel officers, who unanimously requested General Gardner to surrender.
He replied that large reenforcements would arrive within a week, and if they would only hold out a few days longer, the siege would result favorably to them.
The disaffected officers returned to their camps and told the men if the General did not surrender in a week they would compel him to.
Another deserter reports that the rebels have but forty head of cattle left to feed on.
Boston traveller account.
New-Orleans, June 19, 1863.
It is not with much pleasure or satisfaction that I undertake to narrate the momentous events in this department for the past week.
Most prominent among them is the second unsuccessful assault on Port Hudson, last Sunday, the fourteenth.
Since the first assault, on the twenty-seventh May, our forces have held the position gained by them then, our infantry in many places being very near the enemy's works, so that easy conversation can be carried on by the belligerents.
The country about Port Hudson is very uneven, cut by deep ravines, especially on the north and east, so that in these ravines one can approach very close to the enemy unseen.
Our army has been very strongly posted in these places, scooping out sleeping-places in the sides of the banks, and making breastworks on top. Here they rested eighteen days. In the mean time our artillery had. been pouring an almost unceasing shower of shot and shell into the devoted city.
Each day had been added a siege-gun or mortar, till on the thirteenth every thing was in position, when for a few hours the very earth shook from their rapid discharges.
Having given them many tons of iron, the firing ceased, and Gen. Banks sent, by a flag of truce, an order to surrender, which his persistence, Gen. Gardner, refused to do, saying he should hold out as long as he had a man left.
The firing was then resumed, and kept up till half-past 3 the next morning, when the assault was to have been made.
The right wing, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Grover, and composed of Emory's old division, under General Paine, and Grover's old 