THE ENGAGEMENT AT HATCHIE RIVER. federates had been repulsed and were in full retreat which Lovell could do no more than attempt to cover. Van Dorn then fell back and bivouaced for the night at Chewalla. Early in the morning of the 5th he continued his retreat on Pocahontas, but when his advance had crossed the Hatchie River, at Davis' Bridge, he was met by General S. A. Hurlbut's division, which had been sent by Grant from Bolivar, Tennessee, to Pocahontas to intercept and stop him. Van Dorn's advance was driven back across the bridge, his main body came up, and General Ord, who had arrived. on the field from Jackson, took command of Hurlbut's division and attacked Van Dorn vigorously. A severe engagement ensued, in which Ord was wounded, and Hurlbut resumed command of the Union troops. Van Dorn, now closely followed from Corinth by Rosecrans, who was 12 miles away, held his position before Hurlbut the greater part of the day and, cut off from his route through Pocahontas, continued his retreat to Ripley and thence to Holly Springs. Rosecrans followed as far as Ripley, when Grant ordered him to return to Corinth and Hurlbut to Bolivar. The Union loss at Hatchie River was 539 killed and wounded and the Confederate loss 127 killed and wounded, 420 prisoners and 4 guns. In the Corinth campaign the Union loss was 355 killed, 1,841 wounded and 324 missing. Rosecrans reported that he buried 1,423 Confederate dead, but the Confederate re 307. ports indicate their loss as 505 killed, 2,150 wounded and 2,183 missing, an aggregate of 4,838. Deducting the loss at Davis' Bridge the Confederate loss at Corinth must have been 2,528 killed and wounded and 1,763 missing." Toward the end of October Grant began to turn his thoughts to the capture of Vicksburg. On October 26 he suggested in a letter to General Halleck the destruction of all the railroads about Corinth and an advance southward from Grand Junction along the east bank of the Yazoo River. In pursuance of this plan he gathered in from Bolivar and Corinth a force of about 30,000 men who arrived in the vicinity of Grand Junction on November 4. Just as Grant was about to start southward he received a dispatch from Halleck promising reinforcements. This prospect induced Grant to delay his principal movement, but on November 8 he sent General James B. McPherson with 10,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry southward. McPherson advanced from Grand Junction and pushed the Confederates under General J. C. Pemberton, who had now superseded Van Dorn in supreme command, to Holly Springs. The main body of Grant's army then moved forward, occupied Holly Springs on the 13th and made it a * *Official Records, vol. xvii.; Battles and Leaders, vol. ii., pp. 737-760; Grant, Personal Memoirs; Sherman, Memoirs; Greene, The Mississippi, pp. 42-53; Pollard, Second Year of the War, p. 164 et seq.; Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. vii., pp. 116-118; Confederate Military History, vol. vii., pp. 87-95; vol. ix., pt. ii., pp. 89-92. 308 VAN DORN'S ATTACK ON HOLLY SPRINGS. depot of supplies guarded by Colonel R. C. Murphy with two regiments of Wisconsin infantry and a regiment of Illinois cavalry. Another advance was then made, whereupon Pemberton fell back to Grenada, while Grant halted south of Oxford until he could repair the railroads in his rear. On reaching Holly Springs Grant had concerted with Sherman a plan of operations against Vicksburg. Grant was to move directly south on the line of the railroad and attack Vicksburg from the rear while Sherman, accompanied by a gunboat fleet, was to move a force from Memphis, descend the Mississippi and then attack in front. After Grant had halted south of Oxford he proceeded to repair the railroads in his rear, and while so engaged learned that General John A. McClernand had been given command of an independent expedition to start from Memphis and open the Mississippi, for which McClernand had already organized and sent some regiments to Memphis.* Believing McClernand unfit for the project, Grant determined to forestal him, and so on December 8 sent Sherman to Memphis to take command of the expedition. Such energy and zeal were put into the work that a week after Sherman reached Memphis 67 boats had arrived. at that place and the embarkation was begun on the morning of the 9th. Just as Grant was about to advance from Oxford on Grenada a force of Confed erate cavalry under Forrest broke up his line of communications in west Tennessee and on the morning of December 20 Van Dorn at the head of 3,500 cavalry dashed into Holly Springs and attacked Murphy. The latter made only a feeble resistance and surrendered his infantry, but the cavalry cut its way out and escaped with a loss of 77 men. Van Dorn took about 1,500 prisoners, destroyed stores to the value of $1,500,000, and left the town in the evening. This disaster, in conjunction with Forrest's raid, compelled Grant to abandon his movement on Vicksburg and to fall back to Grand Junction, thus leaving Pemberton at liberty to concentrate his forces at Vicksburg against Sher man. The latter was informed of Grant's failure, but the information did not reach him in time and the day Holly Springs was captured he was on his way down the river with four divisions of 30,000 men accompanied by the gunboat fleet under D. D. Porter. On the 22d the expedition rendezvoused at Friar's Point on the Mississippi ready to move up the Yazoo River in the rear of Vicksburg. Sherman's divisions were commanded by Generals Frederick Steele, George W. Morgan, M. L. Smith and A. J. Smith, The transports, preceded by the gunboats, entered the Yazoo River on December 25th, and on the 26th and SHERMAN'S REPULSE AT CHICKASAW BAYOU. 27th the troops were landed on the south bank confronting the bluffs overlooking the swamps through which ran Chickasaw Bayou. Meanwhile on the 21st Pemberton had learned of the Union advance for the purpose of attacking Vicksburg, which at that time was held by General Martin L. Smith with the brigade of General Stephen D. Lee. Accordingly John C. Vaughn's brigade was ordered to Vicksburg and was soon followed by the brigades of John Gregg and S. M. Barton. Upon reaching Vicksburg, December 26, Pemberton established the brigades of Vaughn, Gregg, Barton and Lee on a line from Vicksburg on the left to Haynes' Bluff on the right on high ground overlooking Chickasaw Bayou and the Yazoo River, Lee holding Walnut Hills from Vicksburg to Snyder's Mills on the right, a distance of 10 miles. Lee strengthened his position by batteries and rifle-pits on the slope of the bluff which rose to an elevation of about 200 feet above the bayou. Between Lee's position and Sherman's landing place was bottom land almost wholly covered by dense woods and intersected with bayous and low swampy ground. There were only three roads through this region. and these were obstructed by earthworks and felled timber. On the morning of the 27th Sherman advanced along these roads with Steele on the left and Morgan and the two Smiths (M. L. and A. J.) in order on Steele's right. On the 27th and 28th there was considerable skirmishing, 309 but though the Confederates contested 310 THE CAPTURE OF FORT HINDMAN. the batteries that they were com- * In Official Records, vol. xvii.; Greene, The Mississippi, pp. 72-81; Battles and Leaders, vol. iii., pp. 462-471; Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, On January 4, 1863, General McClernand superseded Sherman in command. Before his arrival Sherman and Porter had arranged to make an attack on Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post about 50 miles from the mouth of the Arkansas River. This fort was in regular square bastioned form with casemates and was surrounded by a wide deep ditch; and a line of riflepits it mounted 18 guns and was garrisoned by about 5,000 men under General T. J. Churchill. The admirable situation of this fort at the bend of the river made it one of great importance since it effectually controlled the passage of the Arkansas, protected Little Rock, the capital of the State, and sheltered Arkansas Post and the surrounding fertile country. Accordingly, after McClernand's arrival, the fleet, consisting of three ironclads and six gunboats, entered White River and from it passed through a cut-off to the Arkansas on January 9. On the 10th the ironclads began the attack at a distance of about 400 yards and, gradually moving up, the entire fleet shelled the Confederates out of the rifle-pits and back into the fort. About noon the next day vol. vii., pp. 131-135; Stephen D. Lee, The Campaign of Generals Grant and Sherman against Vicksburg in December, 1862 and January 1 and 2, 1863, known as the Chickasaw Bayou Campaign, in Mississippi Historical Society Publications, vol. iv., pp. 15–36 (1901); S. M. Bowman, Sherman and His Campaigns (1865); Johnson, Life of Sherman (1891); M. F. Force, Life of Sherman (1899); Confederate Military History, vol. vi., pp. 109-110; vol. vii., pp. 101-106; vol. viii., pp. 78-80. |