Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-07-07
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YICKsBURG, Miss, July 4, 1862.
EDrFoRs APPEAL: II IS now more Than five
weeks since the Federal feet, fresh from the
victory st New Orleans, advanced upon this
city, and, in peremptory and insolent terms,
demanded its immediate surrender. All win
remember the prompt and patriotic response Of
Col. AUTRY, the commandment of this post,
when he said, "Mississippians don't know, and
refuse to learn, how to surrender = and scarcely
lad the crest-fallen foe received this check to
i~nsolenee before the mortars Of PORTER and
the gunboats of FARRAGUT commenced to dis
charge their missiles of destruction and death
into the city. Steadily and almost without ces
sation, night and day, have they continued Their
attack since the 22d day of May last, throwing,
it is estimated, over 10000 shot and shells, and
yet the extent of our casualties, killed and
wounded, as / heard to-day from the lips of an
officer high in command, will not reach more
than sir men and one harmless acOmGa
Vicksburg is a natural fortiication, being
located on a high bluff that commands the
approaches both from above and below on the
Mississippi river, and, in this respect, possesses
all the advantages of Columbus and Fort Pillow,
without the dangerous facility of being Aanked,
to which they were always subjected af lei the
fall of Forts Henry and Donelson. Our defsnses
hero consist of two sets Of batteries, about two
miles apart, the one above and the other below
the city, as near the river bank as practicable.
They are manned with the best gunners in the
oo,tb 81, avo 7 hal;ora ,rbo f,,obt ca al
lantly in the naval conflict below New Orleans
last April.
The fleets of the enemy above and below can
at present be distinctly seen with the naked eye
from almost any prominence near the river.
From the top of the court house this morning I
counted thres miles distant below, six trans
ports, FIVE war vessels moored in the middle of
tho river, and fifteen mortar boats, eight on this
side Immediately under the shore and seven OPP
posite. The smoke from numerous others is Wis
ible behind the bend, probably five miles of. 1
could also see the upper feet, which, owing to
the curve in the river is almost directly west of
the city, cay two miles and a half-but prob
ably Eve miles around the bend. This fleet is
estimated at twenty vessels of all kinds, in
GLIDING ANS End gunboats. 1t was reinforced
on Saturday last by FIVE war frigates from be-
low, which succeeded in passing our batteries,
after sustaining considerable injury. One Of
these the Brooklin, bearing twenty-eight guns,
is reported as having since sunk. From this
circumstance it is quite probable that the enemy
have designs upon our batteries up Yazoo river,
and also that having d~espsired of taking our
works below, they viii soon attempt to carry
those above, which they have discovered TO be
much weaker.
The bombsrdment, with the exception of last
Saturday, when the firing was tremendous, some
say seven shells being then thrown per second,
has been slow and continuous since the incep-
ton of the seige. 1t is generally suspended
in the morning between sunrise and IL o'clock,
owing to the fact that the sun then glares in the
face Of the gunners-but opening about an
hour before noon, shell is thrown every four or
Eve minutes, sometimes at our batteries, and
quite as often into the city To day, however,
being the Fourth of July, operations have tenn
porarily ceased, after a salutation early this
morning of h5tythrse guns in honor of the oc-
casiOn. Our lower battery responded with
thirteen.
The city has suffered considerably from the
constant rain of shell and shot that have been
poured upon il, though the actual damage in dol
and cents is comparatively small. 1 hear
that a responsible party has offered to repair all
done for the moderate, sum Of 5000,
1 think he would lose money taking The con-
tract for twice the amount. One is surprised
upon first witnessing the character of the iDju-
ries sustained from these missiles by the houses
the city. They generally pass through them
like a pistol ball through a pain of glass, leaving
g smooth round hole just the diameter of the ball
shell discharged. Rarely is a wall badly
preached except by the explosion of a bomb,
and in no case has confagration yet been pro
duced. So much for this terrible bug-bear of
shelljng cities, Of which we have heard and
read SO much. Vieksburg was the first city of
the South that dared to defy this brutal threat,
and, deserted as she is now by her inhabitants,
hundreds of whom are refugees in the woods
shelter, she presents the sublimest and
spectacle that illumes the pages Of this
'evolution-ma6e still more glorious by her suf
and desolatiOn. Mark the prophecy which
5 made after a careful view of the situation here =
Vicksbarg soil nsUer be taken. A few of the guns
lpOn her bluffs may be siIeneed, the gunboats
If the foe may insolently present themselves
u front Of the city, and lay it in ruins, but when
he invaders dares put their feet on the soil Of
Mississippi to :" take, hold and possess " Vicks-
,uug, they viii be driven back into the river at
he point Of The boyonet in ignominious defeat
such is the unanimous spirit that actuates the
rmy and the leaders who are gathered together
for The defense of the Mississippi valley.
H. N. s.