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| Where Sherman failed Chickasaw Bluffs. Stretching northeast from Vicksburg, Walnut Hill forms a perfect natural fortress overlooking the bottom-lands toward the Yazoo, rising to a height of two hundred feet, as seen in the picture. In the whole twelve miles between Haynes' Bluff (where Sherman landed) and Vicksburg, there were but five points where troops could pass from the Yazoo through the network of bayous and swamps to attack this bluff, and all these points were commanded by Confederate batteries. Sherman had considerable difficulty in properly posting his troops during the determined skirmishing kept up by the Confederates on the 28th. On the 29th, at noon, he gave the signal for the assault. The two brigades of De Courcy and Blair, together with the Fourth Iowa--six thousand men in all — bore the brunt of the fighting and charged gallantly up to the Confederate works. There, unsupported, they were cut to pieces by the cross-fire that was poured upon them. Sherman, who had lost nearly two thousand, decided that the position was impregnable. A thousand men could have held it against ten times their number. |
