Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 2.

[606] in front of McPherson, who, two or three miles from Raymond, the capital of Hinds County, Mississippi, encountered two Confederate brigades about six thousand strong, under Generals Gregg and Walker (commanded by the former), well posted near Farnden's Creek, with infantry on a range of hills, in timber and in ravines, and two batteries commanding the roads over which the Nationals were approaching. Logan was in the advance, and not ,only received the first heavy blow at about ten o'clock, but bore the brunt of the battle that ensued. Brisk skirmishing had begun sometime before with the advance cavalry, under Captain Foster It speedily developed into a severe though short struggle.

The Confederates were mostly concealed in the woods, but their fire was soon drawn by Logan's Second brigade,¹ which advanced toward their covering. Soon afterward De Golyer's (Eighth Michigan) battery was ordered forward to assist in dislodging the foe, when for the first time the latter opened their batteries. Finding it impossible to silence the Michigan guns, the Confederates dashed forward to capture them, when they were repulsed with heavy loss by two shells that burst among their advancing troops. They fled beyond the creek and rallied.

McPherson now ordered an advance upon the new position of the Confederates. The movement was led by General Dennis's brigade, supported by General Smith's. A very severe conflict ensued, in which the Twentieth Ohio, Twentieth Illinois, and Twenty-third Indiana, lost heavily. The Confederates were pushed back a little, yet they maintained an unbroken front, when the Eighth Illinois, Colonel Sturgis, charged furiously upon them with fixed bayonets, broke the line into fragments, and drove them from the creek in wild disorder. So ended the battle of Raymond. It had lasted about three hours.

The Confederates rallied and retreated in fair order though Raymond toward Jackson, followed cautiously by Logan, who occupied the town an hour after the fight,² and found there Jackson newspapers of the day before, announcing, in grandiloquent style, that the “Yankees had been whipped at Grand Gulf and Port Gibson, and were falling back to seek the protection of their gun-boats.³” During the engagement McPherson and Logan were seen riding along the lines directing the battle, and exposed to death every moment. This conduct greatly inspirited their troops.

McClernand and Sherman had skirmished pretty heavily while McPherson was struggling at Raymond, and when the result of that struggle was known to Grant, he ordered the other corps to move toward Jackson. He had learned that General Joseph E. Johnston, the ablest of the Confederate leaders, was hourly expected at Jackson, to take the command of the Confederate troops in that region in person. Perhaps he was already there. “I therefore determined,” Grant said in his report, “to make sure of that place, and leave no enemy in my rear.”