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Chapter 22: the siege of Vicksburg.
- Grant's Army reorganized, 583.
-- projected Canal near Vicksburg, 584.
-- digging of the Canal, 585.
-- another Yazoo expedition, 586.
-- attack on Fort Pemberton
-- the expedition a failure, 58t.
-- a Third Yazoo expedition
-- Porter's gun-boats in peril
-- expedition abandoned, 588.
-- raids by iron-clad rams, 589.
-- the Itndianola captured by the Confederates
-- her destruction caused by a trick, 590.
-- passage of the Vicksburg batteries by gun — boats and transports, 591.
-- Banks's expedition, and his arrival in New Orleans, 592.
-- the National forces at Galveston, 593.
-- capture of Galveston by the Confederates, 594.
-- the interior of Louisiana, 595.
-- expedition to the Teche region, 596.
-- battle on the Bayou Teche, 597.
-- attempt to pass the Port Hudson batteries, 598.
-- Banks in the interior of Louisiana, 599.
-- his triumphant March to the Red River, 600.
-- he invests Port Hudson, 601.
-- Grierson's great raid in Mississippi, 602.
-- Grant's Army crosses the Mississippi, 603.
-- battle near Port Gibson, 604.
-- March of the Nationals toward Jackson, 605.
-- battle near Raymond, 606.
-- battle near Jackson.
607.
-- capture of Jackson, 608.
-- Pemberton's forces
-- he is compelled to fight, 609.
-- battle of Champion Hills, 610.
-- pursuit of the Confederates
-- New position of the Confederates, 611.
-- battle at the Big Black River, 612.
-- Vicksburg invested
-- Porter again on the. Yazoo, 613.
-- position of the National troops around Vicksburg, 614.
“
Vicksburg must be taken,” was the fiat of
General Grant, in obedience to the will of the loyal people, and he made instant preparations for the great work on his return to
Memphis from the conference at
Napoleon.
The Government was fully alive to the importance and difficulties of the undertaking, and had sent him re-enforcements for the purpose.
He had already adopted an important measure for the promotion of the efficiency of his army, by organizing it
into four corps, known as the Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Army Corps.
1 By this arrangement the
Commander-in-chief was relieved of much official drudgery, and the generals under him commanding corps had a wider field in which to display their own powers.
General Giant was fully sensible of the importance of the acts of Congress, and the proclamation of the
President authorizing the enlistment and use of colored troops; and being a soldier and not a politician, and a manly citizen, who loved justice more than popularity, heartily approved of those measures, and, in orders, said :--“It is expected that all commanders will especially exert themselves in carrying out the policy of the administration, not only in organizing colored troops, and rendering them efficient, but also in removing prejudices against them.”
“As the servant of a great Republic,” says an accomplished writer on military affairs, “he left to the Departments of the
Government their specific duties, while he performed his own.”
2
It was evident that a direct assault upon the defenses of
Vicksburg by the army and navy would result in failure, and
Grant determined to move upon them in reverse or rear.
How to get a base for such operations was a
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vital question, and his attention was turned alternately to the
Canal that
General Williams attempted to cut,
3 Milliken's Bend,
Lake Providence, the
Yazoo Pass, and
Steele's Bayou.
All of these routes were tried, as we shall observe, before in another way he achieved the desired end.
It was determined first to complete
Williams's canal across the peninsula opposite
Vicksburg, which was traversed by the
Shreveport and Vicksburg railroad--the great highway over which large quantities of supplies for the
Confederates were transported from
Western Louisiana.
That cut-off was five or six miles from
Vicksburg.
By it, when completed, that city would be isolated, and through it troops and supplies might be safely transported out of reach of the
Vicksburg batteries to a new base of supplies below that town.
It also seemed probable that it would make a new channel for the
Mississippi, and leave
Vicksburg on the borders of a bayou only.
For the prosecution of this work
McClernand, by order of
Grant, moved with his army down the
Mississippi on the day after the conference at
Napoleon.
In consequence of detention by a storm, it did
not reach its destination at
Young's Point, on the right bank of the river, nearly opposite the mouth of the
Yazoo, until late on the 21st.
On the following day the troops landed, and took post a little farther down the river, so as to protect the
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|
View showing the site of the Canal.4 |
line of the canal.
There also
Porter's fleet, strengthened by the addition of several armored vessels, such as the
Chillicothe, Indianola, Lafayette, East-port,
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and other gun-boats rendezvoused, and immense power was immediately brought to bear on the cutting of the canal, and other operations of a vigorous siege.
General Grant, as we have observed, hastened back to
Memphis after the conference at
Napoleon, and immediately commenced moving his troops, which had been gathered there after the disaster at
Holly Springs, down the
Mississippi, to assist in the
siege of Vicksburg.
These troops had been pushed to
Memphis from
Grand Junction as rapidly as possible, and were now reorganized and in readiness for other work.
All these veterans of the Army of the Tennessee, excepting detachments left to hold posts in that State, and the divisions of
Logan, were there, and with ample provisions and other supplies, they were now borne swiftly, on more than a hundred transports, upon the rapid current of the rising
Mississippi, and were before
Vicksburg at the beginning of February.
Grant himself arrived at
Young's Point on the 2d,
and assumed command in person.
Already the work on the canal (which was only a mile in length) had been vigorously prosecuted by the soldiers with their picks and shovels, and by the powerful
