May 18, 1863. |
May. |
 |
| Pemberton's Headquarters in Vicksburg.2 |
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during the afternoon of the 17th, and prepared to cross the stream in the morning.
The Confederates at the railway bridge, finding themselves flanked, fled to Vicksburg.
Then McClernand's men constructed a floating bridge there and just above, over which his and McPherson's corps crossed the next morning at about eight o'clock. Sherman crossed at the same hour,
and all pressed on over the wooded and broken country toward Vicksburg.
Three miles and a half from that city Sherman turned to the right and took possession of the Walnut Hills, near the Chickasaw Bayou,1 without opposition, and cutting off the Confederates at Haines's Bluff.
McPherson followed Sherman's track some distance to the point where he turned to the right, and halted, while McClernand, advancing on the line of the retreat of the Confederates, on the direct high-way from Jackson to Vicksburg, bent his course a little to the left, and took position at Mount Albans, so as to cover the roads leading out of Vicksburg on the southeast.
So, on the morning of the 19th of May, Grant's army, which for more than a fortnight had subsisted off the country in which it was moving, completely invested Vicksburg on the land side, and, by a successful movement of Admiral Porter, his base of supplies was changed from Grand Gulf to the Yazoo.
Let us see what Porter did. On the morning of the 16th
he went to the Yazoo.
He left several of his iron-clad steamers below Vicksburg, while others in the Yazoo were ready for co-operation with Grant.
When on the 18th he heard the booming of guns in the rear of the city, he knew that the army was approaching, and very soon he saw through his glass National troops on the Walnut Hills.
These were Sherman's men. Porter immediately sent Lieutenant-Commander Breese up the Yazoo with the De Kalb, Choctaw, Romeo, and Forest Rose, to open communication with the army, which was accomplished in the course of a few hours.
The De Kalb then pushed on toward Haines's Bluff, which the Confederates had al-ready commenced to evacuate.
The latter fled precipitately, leaving every-thing behind them, such as stores, ammunition, gun-carriages, and an admirably constructed camp.
All these Porter destroyed, and the next day he sent Lieutenant Walker, with five gun-boats, to Yazoo City.
Walker found the navy, yard and vessels in flames, and the citizens ready to surrender the town,
with fifteen hundred sick soldiers in the hospital.
Other public property which the Confederates had not destroyed Walker burned,3 and then
1 See map on page 578.
2 this is a view of the fine residence of C. A. Manlove, on Cherry Street, Vicksburg, when the writer sketched it, in 1866, which was occupied by General Pemberton as his Headquarters during the siege. Of Vicksburg. It is a brick building, stuccoed, with a pleasant garden in front of it.
3 Among the vessels on the stocks at Yazoo City was the Republic, a ram three hundred and ten feet in length and seventy-five in width. Also another called the Mobile, which was ready for plating. The navy-yard was well supplied with machinery and workshops, and such as were not on fire when he arrived, Walker committed to the flames.
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