The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-03-27

DESCRIPTION OF THE YAZOO PASS.
The Voyage of the Fleet Through it..

undertaken. The expedition launched up
on the Coldwater river has no means of
retreat. 1t must 60 through triumphantly
or fall into the hands of the enemy. If it
succeeds, the fall of Vicksburg becomes a
mere question of time, as our troops will
exchange the marshy border of the Missis-
sippi for high ground, and will actually in
vest the place. The calculation is that the
Yazoo Pass expedition, coming upon the
rear of the enemy at Haines' Bluff, is to
be supported by an attack in front, made
with the iron-clads, the main body of the
army cooperating. No doubt Of success
in such contingency is entertained.
The following journal of the expedition,
written on board the gunboat Marmora,
will be read with interest:
CoLDwATER RIVER, Miss, Feb. %, 1868.
The Rubicon is passed. Three and a
half days of most tedious, vexatious, both
ersome, troublesome and damaging steam
boating has brought the expedition twenty
miles on its way, and disclosed to its view
the end of the now famous Yazoo Pass.
have passed through it from one end to
the other, and assert candidly that there
is not throughout it's entire length piece
two hundred feet long of perfectly straight
river. The orders under which this eXpe-
ditiOn moved required that the boats should
be kept three hundred yards apart; but
there was no place to be found in the whole
OF %1a,, Al. .,,1
this distance ahead or behind them.
The stream itself is never to exceed a
hundred feet in breadth, and frequently not
more than fifty or seventy-fve. Over this
the timber forms most perfect arch tre-
quently, as good fortune would have it, SO
high as to admit the easy passage of the
tall smoke-stacks beneath it.
say we are through. Our boat is the
fourth in the line. 1t is through, and
those behind it are struggling along. We
expect they will get through, because we
have gone through before them and DEM
onstrated that the thing can be done The
road behind us must certainly be easier
than we found it. We have made route
ourselves by chopping down trees, cutting
away overhanging branches, dislodging
huge RATS of heavy drittwood, and fore
ing our own boat through.
March l, 1S63.-The boats have all ar
rived in the Coldwater, and we are ready
to push forward again in the morning, &C
cording to orders already issued. Some
of the vessels look pretty hard. The gun
boat Romeo, has both her chimneys car
ried away. The tender Bayard has hole
in her hull, All of them have their upper
works badly torn to pieces, and their
wheels more or less bandly damaged; but
none are so badly injured as to effect their
working qualities materially. We shall
start forward at daylight in the morning
We have been greatly gratified to-day
by the arrival of reinforcements that
were not looked for. The light-draught
gunboats Ourlew and Cricket, and the
ram Lioness, have arrived 1t the rear Of
our line.
March 5, 1S63.-We are pressing to-
ward our destination, though slowly. To-
day we have been about six miles down
stream, and are now catching breath after
this rapid locOmotion, preparatory to an
early start tomorrow morning.
The Coldwater River is but slight I'M
provement on the Yazoo Pass. 1t is q
that the branches seldom meet above it
but in other respects we have gained
nothing, so far as ease of navigation is
concerned.
In my last | made slight mistake in
mentioning the achievements we had re-
ceived. l mentioned two gunboats and
one ram as having arrived in the rear of
our lines. The numbers should be re-
versed. The gunboat Petrol and rams
Lioness and Fulton have joined us and
been placed at the head Of the line-the
Petral as an advance guard and to pick
up cotton, with which to make additional
barbados for the lght-draught gunboats.
Our force has also been increased by the
arrival of two mortar-boats The huge
300-pound shells thrown by these monsters,
added to the heavy metal we are prepared
to throw in unlimited quantities from sun
dry nine and eleven-inch guns, will have
startling effect on the nerves of the quiet
people of Yazoo City. These mortar-boats,
with the rams, bring our little expedition
up to formidable dimensions.
If any anxious anticipations were previ-
ously INDUCED in, growing out Of the dar-
ing and almost reckless character of this
movement, they have been entirely dis
PEELED by these reinforcements, and we are
now all in excellent spirits, and have not
the slightest doubt of our ability to pass
through the Yazoo River, despite any OBJ
stacles the enemy may oppose to us.
March 5, 1861 can report but little
progress since my last. We have dropped
about twenty miles further down the
stream, but have failed to discover build
ing or clearing to relieve the monotony
of an unbroken wilderness. The stream
widens little as we advance, but our
boats seem to suffer more damage than
they did in the pass, owing to the efforts
made to crowd them forward. We expect
to be in the Tallahatchie tomorrow, when
we shall doubtless begin to make progress
in earnest. We have received no intelli-
gence of any kind as yet from in front of
us, having seen no living being to talk
with.
The receipts at the Bureau of Internal