The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1863-08-28
GEN. GRANTS OFFICIAL REPORT
Fall History q the vscksburg Cam
patgu!


-tn HEApauARrERs Dept. Of the Tennessee, !
Vicksburg, Miss July q.
Colonel have the honor to submit the
following repor, Of the operations Of the
Army Of the Tennessee and cooperating
forces, from the date of my assuming the
immediate command Of the expedition
against Vick>burg. Mississippi. to the re-
duction Of that place.
THE PxNINsuLAR CANAL.
From the moment Of taking command in
person. became satisfied tbat Vioksburg
could only be turned from the south side.
and, in accordance with this conviction,
prosecuted the work on the. canal. which
had been located by Brigadier G-neral Will
lians, across the Louisiana side Of the river.
with all vigor. hoping to make channel
which would pass transports for moving the
army and carrying supplies to the new base
OF operations thus provided. The task was
much more heroulean than il az Grst ap-
Peared. and was made much more 50 By the
almost CONTINUOUS rains that fe!l during the
wnoe # the time the work was prosecuted.
The river too. continued to rise and make
large expenditure of labor necessary to
keep the water ou, of our camps aud the
canal
Finally. on the h Of March, the rapid
rise o! the river and the consequent great
pressure upon the dam across the canal
near the upper end, ~ the main Mississippi
lsvee, caused il TO give way and let through
the lcwiands back o. our camps a torrent OF
wa,e' that separated he north and the south
shores o' the peninsula as effectually as il
the Mississippi flowed between thrm. This
occurred when the enterprise promised sue
cess within . short time. There was some
delay IN trying to repair damages. 1t was
tound. however, that with the then stage of
water. some other plan would nave 10 be
adopted for getting below vicksburg with
transports. Hi
Captain F. f Prime, chief engineer. and
Colonel g. q. Pride, who was acting on my
stat, prospected a route through the bayous
which run ir m near Msllikin's Bend on the
north, and New Carthage on the south
through h midway Bayou into the Tensus
river. Their report of the practicabIity of
this route determined me to commence work
upon il. Having three dredge boats at the
tu.e, the work of opening this route was ex-
ecuted with great rapidity. One small stea-
mer and a number Of barSes were taken
through the channel thus opened. but the
river commencing about the middle of April
TO fall rapidly, and the roads becoming pas.
sable betweenSAdillikin' Bend and New Car.
thage, made it impracticable and unneces.
sary to open water communication between
these points.
TEE LAKE PROVIDENCE coLDwArER CANALS.
Soon after commencing the FIRST canal
spoken OF i caused channel to be out from
the Mississippi river into Lake Providence
also one from The Mississippi river into Cold.
,e
/ had no great expectations Of important
results from the former of these. bus having
more troops than could be employed to ad
vantage At Young's Point. and knowing that
Lake Provideuce was connected by Bayou
Baxter with Bayou Macon, . navigabls
stream through which transports might pass
into the Mississippi below. through Tensss.
Waehta. and Red River, thought it pos
able tha, rou might bs opened in that
direction witch would enable me to co-ope-
rate with Gen. u INKS at Por, Hudson.
By the Yszoo Psss route l only expected
At first 10 .e' into the Ysz.o by way of
Cold water and Tsllai a'chie = 18th ONE ligh .er
gunbosts and few troops and destroy the
eneny's transports in t:ls.t stresm AMI some
sunoo which knew he was buithn2-
The nayig cation. however, proved 50 muca
better ha,ii,ad been eypeetettha 4 tA1ughi
fcr time Of the possibility o( nasing this
sho route for obtaining f5otholG ou the
high hand sbova Hsine's BuH, Mississppi,
anI small class steamers HeEeLaceardtnglY IL
ordered tor transporting al army that
h way. Msjor General j b Mcpherson,
commanding the Seyshtseejh Army Corps,
wns directed 20 hold his corps 10 readiness
20 C,oya- sy-this routes and ene division
from eschst the Thirseeu,s. and Fifteenth
Cops we're collected near tie. entrance OF
the pass to be added to his commsnd. l;
soon became evident that sufficient NUN
Der OF boats oi the right class could not b.
ch'ained for the movement of more than
oas dlS isiou.
1Hs n'cLERsAsD AND aoss .xxrKDrr,oS-
fs- - u i y u EASTWOOD. 1.
- While my forces yer. opening one end O
the Pass the eaemy were diligently closing
the other end. and in this ~ny sn,c.s.ied s
gaining si~e 70 strongly fort,.v Gr.en v"..s
bsl'w the iasesioe of the Taliahxtcb;s .nJ
IA Yailobasha. The advance Of the err.J;
Ron. consisting Of one division Of Nctylsr
naud's Corps from Helena, commanded h,
B.igadisr General l. F. Res. and the ls,,
and l7,h Regiments Missouri Infan,rv fro,,
zshsrmsn's Corps - sharpshooter. on th,
gunboats. succeeded in reaching Cold vate
an fhA cd dav ~ Mserh ~f&>, --~A 80