a joint attack was begun by the land and naval forces. The navy opened a furious fire upon the fort, while McClernand's artillery joined in the fire from the land side. Churchill's guns being silenced, McClernand ordered a general assault and after a severe contest the fort was carried with a loss to the Union army of 134 killed, 898 wounded and 29 missing. The loss to the fleet was 6 killed and 25 wounded. The Confederate loss was 60 killed, about 80 wounded and 4,791 captured. The next day McClernand received peremptory orders from Grant to return to Milliken's Bend with his entire force and accordingly the prisoners were sent to St. Louis, the fort was dismantled and blown up, and the fleet and troops went down the river to Napoleon which was reached on January 18.*

On December 18 Grant had received orders from Washington to divide his command into four army corps with McClernand in command of one of them and to be assigned to that part of the army which was to operate down the Mississippi. This considerably interfered with Grant's plans, as he had placed Sherman in command of the river expedition; hence, after falling back to Grand Junction, he decided to go down the Mississippi,

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unite a portion of his forces with those under McClernand, and assume command of the whole.* Accordingly the army was divided into four corps the 13th under McClernand, the 15th under Sherman, the 16th under Hurlbut and the 17th under McPherson. Hurlbut's corps was left in charge of the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad and as rapidly as possible McPherson's was brought down the river and joined those of McClernand and Sherman at Milliken's Bend. On assuming command in person on January 30, 1863, Grant planned a new campaign to get below Vicksburg and operate from the south. McClernand's and Sherman's commands were moved from the mouth of the Arkansas to Young's Point to cut a canal across the peninsula by the aid of which it was hoped to get below Vicksburg and land on the east bank of the Mississippi. Work on the projected canal was pushed, but on February 4 Grant questioned its success. and began to look for other routes. by which the army could reach a high ground either north or south of Vicksburg. Two projects were consid

ered.

One involved cutting a way from the Mississippi into Lake Providence from a point 70 miles above Vicksburg. This lake, a former bed of the river, was connected by Bayou Baxter with Bayou Macon, a navigable stream which led to the Tensas,

*For Grant's relations to McClernand see Nicolay and Hay, Life of Lincoln, vol. vii., p. 141 et seq.

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thence into the Washita and finally into the Red River. It was hoped that the army could be transported to the lower Mississippi to coöperate with Banks who was then in front of Port Hudson. When the levee at Lake Providence was cut the water from the river flowed in rapidly and the six miles of the lake beyond were soon available, but for miles Bayou Baxter was choked with fallen trees and a growth of timber. McPherson's entire corps attempted to open this channel and those below it, but in March this project was abandoned.*

A few miles below Helena on the east side of the river was Yazoo Pass which for some years had been closed by a strong levee. By reopening this route it was believed that the Yazoo bluffs north of Vicksburg might be reached. Accordingly on February 4 the levee was cut by the engineers under Lieutenant - Colonel Wilson (later Major-General James H. Wilson), a way was cleared to Coldwater, and on the 24th the pass was opened to navigation. With 4,500 men Brigadier-General Samuel Ross was ordered into the pass upon light transports, and then, preceded by gunboats, penetrated to the Tallahatchie and thence to the Yallabusha where after an advance of 225 miles the expedition was stopped on March 10 by Fort Pemberton. As the fort could not be attacked, owing to its situation, attempts were made to flood it, but these were unsuccessful and the expedition

withdrew. On the way back a reinforcement under General I. F. Quinby was met, whereupon the expedition returned to Fort Pemberton to make another attempt to reduce it. Quinby, however, soon became satisfied that the fort could not be reached and the expedition again withdrew. Meanwhile the Confederates had gathered a strong land force under General W. W. Loring and this soon became aggressive. In order to relieve Ross Sherman with five gunboats went in haste through Steele's Bayou to Black Bayou and thence to Deer Creek. This opened into Rolling Fort by which he could enter the Big Sunflower and by this stream reach the Yazoo. Sherman energetically pushed forward his troops and was barely in time to save the gunboats which had been attacked in Deer Creek. These several attempts to cut through the bayous were finally abandoned and the army reassembled at Milliken's Bend and Young's Point.*

Having failed to flank the position on the right, Grant once more turned his attention to getting south of Vicksburg by a series of bayous running from Milliken's Bend past Richmond to New Carthage, and on March 29 directed McClernand to move the 13th corps toward Richmond and New Carthage with a view to making his way to the banks of the Mississippi below Vicksburg and the batteries at

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Warrenton and Grand Gulf. Meanwhile Admiral Porter was preparing for the perilous enterprise of running past the batteries of Vicksburg and Warrenton. Early on February 2 Colonel Charles R. Ellet in command of the wooden steam ram Queen of the West started on the perilous journey but was struck only a few times. Proceeding down the river the Queen captured three Confederate steamers and a number of prisoners and on February 10 set out on an expedition for much the same purpose, passing the Warrenton batteries and reaching the Red River the following evening. During several days' active work Ellet was quite successful in capturing Confederate boats, but at last was compelled to abandon the Queen. Meeting the Indianola near Natchez which had run the batteries on the night of February 13, Ellet again attempted to ascend the Red River for the purpose of destroying the Confederate batteries at Gordon's Landing. Having advanced about three miles he discovered the Confederate steamer W. H. Webb coming toward him, but as soon as the latter sighted the Indianola she turned and fled. The attempt to ascend the Red River was then abandoned and Ellet made his way up the Mississippi to a station below Vicksburg after having passed the batteries at Grand Gulf, Warrenton and other places without injury. On March 14 Farragut with his flagship, the Hartford, and the Albatross had passed the batteries at Port Hudson,

but as these two vessels were not strong enough to maintain the blockade of the Red River, Farragut sent a message overland on the west side of the Mississippi asking aid from the fleet above. Accordingly on March 25 General Ellet sent two rams, the Lancaster and the Switzerland, to run the batteries at Vicksburg. The Lancaster was destroyed but the Switzerland, though badly injured, got by them without being sunk. This assured Grant that he could take his fleet past the batteries at any time, and on April 16 announced his readiness for the movement. Porter with the eight gunboats (the Benton, Lafayette, Price, Louisville, Carondelet, Pittsburgh, Tuscumbia and Mound City), and three transports (the Forest Queen, Henry Clay, and Silver Wave) laden with supplies and a number of barges filled with coal swung into the stream and floated down the river. The fleet was not discovered until fairly abreast of the town. A little before 11 o'clock the Confederate batteries opened fire and were answered by broadsides of grape and shrapnel from the ironclads. Porter steamed boldly under the bluffs which were blazing with a terrific cannonade from the Confederate batteries, while the transports, gliding as near as possible to the Louisiana shore, sought to escape under cover of the smoke and tumult into the darkness beyond the town. But the Forest Queen was disabled by a shot, the Henry Clay was set on fire by the

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explosion of a shell and burned, while the Silver Wave escaped without injury. On reaching Warrenton the gunboats poured in their broadsides and so continuous and terrible was their fire that the Confederates scarcely attempted a response. The Forest Queen was taken in tow by one of the gunboats and the fleet, with the exception of the loss of the Henry Clay and with only one man killed and a few wounded, passed the dreaded ordeal in safety. Porter's success was so gratifying that on the night of April 22 six transports protected by cotton bales and loaded with supplies and having 12 coal barges in tow ran the batteries; five of the transports though more or less disabled, got through while one was sunk, and some of the barges were lost. By the 27th McClernand's corps had advanced to Hard Times on the Mississippi below Vicksburg and two divisions of McPherson's corps headed by General John A. Logan followed, so that on the 29th everything was ready for the movement upon Grand Gulf.*

At 7 A. M. on April 29 Porter with seven gunboats carrying 81 guns left his anchorage at Hard Times and steamed down the river followed by transports and flat boats carrying 10,000 men of McClernand's corps. Porter opened his guns upon the batteries at Grand Gulf about 8 o'clock and though 2,500 shot were thrown against them by 1:30 in the afternoon the Confederate guns had not been *Greene, The Mississippi, p. 112 et seq.

silenced, whereupon Porter withdrew with a loss of 19 killed and 56 wounded.* Convinced that he could not take the batteries Grant determined to move still further down the river and flank Grand Gulf. McClernand landed his men at Hard Times and marched across a point beside Grand Gulf and three miles down the river while Porter with his fleet of gunboats and transports dropped down to the same point. Grant had learned of a good landing place on the east bank of the river and early on the morning of the 30th transports and gunboats began ferrying the troops across to Bruinsburg, 10 miles below Grand Gulf and 32 miles in a straight line below Vicksburg. By noon McClernand's four divisions of 18,000 men had been landed and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon they pushed out into the country; the enemy's pickets were encountered, but as the day was too far gone to commence a battle both sides rested on their arms during the night. The Confederate force consisted of Thomas Green's brigade which had marched from Grand Gulf on the afternoon of the 30th and had been joined by E. D. Tracy's brigade from Vicksburg.

The Confederate line lay about three miles west of Port Gibson across two roads converging on the town and uniting just outside of it. Green was

*Ibid, pp. 123-124. On Porter's operations see also J. E. Homans, Our Three Admirals (1899); J. R. Soley, Admiral Porter (1903); D. D. Porter, The Naval History of the Civil War (1866).

across the southern road and Tracy across the northern one, the roads running on two ridges separated by a deep ravine filled by a dense growth of cane and underbrush. At 5 o'clock the division of Peter J. Osterhaus was placed on the northern road to attack Tracy, and the divisions of E. A. Carr, A. P. Hovey and A. J. Smith went along the southern road to attack Green. At 5 on the morning of May 1 the battle was opened by the advance of Osterhaus, but the movement was checked and repulsed by Tracy with much loss. The divisions of Carr and Hovey assaulted the ridge held by Green's brigade and after a hard fight carried it, capturing two guns and over 300 prisoners, Green then falling back toward Port Gibson. General J. S. Bowen, commanding the Confederate forces at Grand Gulf, arrived on the field with General W. E. Baldwin's brigade at about 9 o'clock and formed line in Green's rear. Carr and Hovey continued to press Green, whereupon the latter was withdrawn. and sent to assist Tracy while Baldwin undertook to oppose Carr and Hovey. A severe contest ensued lasting nearly two hours during which Bowen, with two regiments of Colonel F. M. Cockrell's brigade which had arrived about noon, made a very determined effort to turn McClernand's right, but the attempt was defeated and Cockrell's men joined Baldwin. Meanwhile Logan's division of McPherson's corps had come up and with the division under Osterhaus attacked

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and gradually forced back the brigades of Tracy and Green. On the right McClernand's troops again attacked Baldwin and just at sunset the entire Confederate force retreated. Of the 23,000 Union troops engaged there were 131 killed, 719 wounded and 25 missing. Of the 6,000 Confederates engaged there were 68 killed, 380 wounded and 384 missing.*

While Grant was crossing the river at Bruinsburg, Sherman, whose corps had been left at Young's Point, went up the Yazoo River with a division accompanied by some of Porter's gunboats and made a strong demonstration at Snyder's Bluff on the Yazoo 12 miles above Vicksburg. On May 3 Grant rode into Grand Gulf. He had resolved to get below Vicksburg, unite with Banks against Port Hudson, make New Orleans a base and with that base and Grand Gulf as a starting point move the combined forces against Vicksburg. Upon reaching Grand Gulf, however, Grant received a letter from Banks stating that he could not be at Port Hudson for ten days and then with only 15,000 men. Accordingly, as time was worth more than reinforcements, Grant determined to push into the interior of the enemy's country.

After their defeat at Port Gibson the Confederates retreated across Big Black River at Hankinson's Ferry

Official Records, vol. xxiv.; Greene, The Mississippi, p 126 et seq.; Grant, Personal Memoirs, vol. ii.; Battles and Leaders, vol. iii., pp. 486, 497, 500.