THE ENGAGEMENT AT HATCHIE RIVER.

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
every inch of the road they were
slowly driven in and at night of the
28th the Union troops lay parallel to
Chickasaw or Walnut Hills Bluff or
about 600 yards from its foot. The
main assault on the bluff was to be
made by Morgan supported by Steele,
while A. J. Smith with one of his own
brigades and a division of M. L. Smith
was to cross a lake about a mile below
Morgan and there to make an attack
so as to create a diversion in favor of
Morgan.
Morgan. On the extreme right the
rest of A. J. Smith's division was to
demonstrate on the road to Vicksburg.
John F. DeCourcy's brigade of Mor-
gan's division and the two brigades
of F. P. Blair, Jr., and J. M. Thayer
of Steele's division were formed for
the assault. At 12 o'clock the attack
was made but through some misunder-
standing Thayer's brigade with the
exception of the 4th Iowa diverged
too far to the right. Nevertheless
DeCourcy, Blair and the 4th Iowa of
Thayer's brigade, in all about 6,000
men, after floundering through the
deep mire and tangled marsh under a
terrific artillery fire, finally secured
a lodgment on the tableland at the
foot of the bluff. Owing to the nature
of the ground brigade and regiment
formations were broken up, but the
troops pushed on up the bluff and
finally reached different points of
Lee's works. Here they were met on
both flanks by such a withering fire
from the rifle-pits and so severe a
cross fire of shell and canister from

310

THE CAPTURE OF FORT HINDMAN.

the batteries that they were com-
pelled to fall back to the point of
starting, leaving about 1,500 killed,
wounded and captured, while Lee
lost only 115. Meanwhile on the
right, where A. J. Smith was to
demonstrate, the 6th Missouri had
established themselves at the foot
of the hill, but the Confederate fire
from above was so hot that they were
unable to advance farther. The Union
troops sought shelter by digging with
hands and bayonets into the ground
where they remained until night cov-
ered their withdrawal. Sherman in-
tended to renew the attack the next
morning but after a personal exam-
ination concluded that his army would
be too badly crippled by an assault
and therefore decided to attack
Haynes' Bluff higher up the Yazoo.
Preparations were made to begin the
assault at 4 o'clock on the morning of
January 1 but Porter who was to co-
öperate in the attack found the fog
so dense on the river that he could
not move his boats and accordingly
the action was deferred and finally
abandoned. The next day the troops
were reëmbarked on their transports
and sailed for Milliken's Bend.
the assault of Chickasaw Bluff and
in the skirmishing preceding it, the
Union loss was 1,213 killed and
wounded and 563 missing, while the
Confederate loss was only 177 killed
and wounded and 10 missing.*

*

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.