The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1863-06-10
The Fsr.,aeatlons Of vIeAsburg.

A correspondent Of the Cincinnati Commercial,
gives the following description Of the fOrtifca-
tons in the rear Of Vick-burg:
The Notifications in the rear Of Vicksburg
form a seuiicirce around the city, both right and
left, extending ~ the Mississippi and resting Oh
il. They form continuous chain of forts Al
an average interval of 500 yards, for distance
of at least miles The breastworks also ex-
.end this entire distance and are OF a very for
midsble character, OF an average height OF fifteen
feet In front OF these is a ditch fifteen feet
wide, and varying in depth from ten 20 twenty
feet in different places. At points where it Il
thought likely attempts would be made to stern
he works, the ditch has a false bOttom-rss
are driven into tho ground with sharp points
sticking upward; over these is placed layer OF
brush and underground, so "a TO give il the ap
pearance of a solid foundation. The stOrming
party jump into the ditch, installing its appa-
rent for its real depth, aud one half of the men
are lacerated or mangled upon the treacherous
oaken bayonets concealed benea'h- The f,,st-
are strongly built. In their construction large
number of cotton bales have been used. and Cit
liens tell US that some of them are faced with
railroad iron.
Add to all these facts simple statement of
the topography of the country around Vicks-
burg and the arduOus nature o. the task before
General Grant may be understood and apprecia-
ted For ten miles or more in the rear of the
city the eve does not rest on a sing acre of lev
e ground. We have seen nothing but hills and
ravines since we crossed Big Black River, and
the nearer We approach Vicksburg the more i'm
passible they become. The roads over which we
have to pass are cut through hills little less than
one hundred feet high in some places They
are 80 narrow as to admit of but one file of Wag-
Ons passing at a time,
The rebel artillery, at FIRST, bore directly upon
the main road on which our army advanced to-
ward their works, and harrassed as considerably
until partially silenced by our infantry. We sue
ceeded, notwithstanding the many dsadvanta-
ges which surrounded IA, in getting exactly the
positions our Generals wanted for the commence
ment of hostilites. But while doing so | could
not help thinking Of what planter said to me
last winter, speaking of the probability OF a
movement in the rear of Vicksburg, and the i'm
possibility of successful results from it, You
might as well try to climb trees with your artil-
lery as to get them along the roads in the vicin-
ity of Walnut Hill, said he
l fully realized the truth of his remarks as
saw the difficulty with which guns were moved
from place to place on the eth l doubt if any
civ in the South is as well calculated, by nature
and art, for defence against An invading army a.
the defiant metropolis on the banks OF the Mis-
sissippi Oace in position on the hills which
surround this south west q bralter, it seems as
| If an army Of FIVE thousand men ought TO check
the advance of fifty thousand. if indeed il be not
/ true, as one of our Generals said to-day, thai
| five thousand men ought 10 DO a. much fighting
a fifty thousand, from The difficulty OF Maupu
veriBg large bodies OF troops on such hills as VI
have here.