The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1863-01-26

In the council Of war, held On board the
steamer Tigress, as she lay in the Yazoo river
on that gloomy Sunday, january a, after two
weeks Of maneuvering and hard fighting had
resulted in dead failure, there were three opln-
ions. Gen. Sherman desired to go into winter
quarters and wait for reinforcements Per-
haps the greater number of voices at FIRST ia
yored this measure. A few, and but few,
still urged another instant attack with the
force in hand. This was evidently madness !;
but on the other hand nothing could more
surely effect the utter decentralization of the
army, than idleness after repulse. To have
been beaten was bad enough; to cover for
weeks afterwards under the guns Of the feet
would ruin any troops. Gen. McClernand
therefore insisted upon action in some direc-
ton at once, and it was agreed, at whose sug-
gestios does not appear, to attempt surprise
of the rebel garrison at Arkansas.
The feet sailed the next morning, and
steaming slowly up the Mississippi reached
the mouth of the Arkansas on Thursday, the
9Th, and passed it-entering the White river.
The neck Of long peninsula, washed by the
Mississippi and the Arkansas on either side,
Is cut near the mouth Of the White river, so
as to allow the passage of the largest river
steamers, The course of steamers from be-
low, however, Is usually directly up the Ar
kansas, and in this case the rebel spies aud
scouts were entirely at fault Passing through
the cut just described, the expedition pushed
up the river, and Friday night reached point
about ferty-five miles from its mouth, and two
miles below the fort.
This post is understood to be the only defence
of Little Rock, the Capital of the State. Its
capture involves the fall Of that place and will
enable Gems. Blunt and Heron to transfer their
base ofsupplies to the Arkansas river Full de-
tails Of the action win be given tomorrow;
for the present we wish merely to draw atten-
tion to the fact that the place was regularly
invested, as Vicksburg should have been be-
fore and, it is to be hoped, will be when next
assailed.
The rivers course at Arkansas Post may be
represented by an inverted n. The fort is at
the top of the bend, on the north side of the
river, and just below the town. One division
debarked on the peninsula south of the bend,
to cut off any retreat across the river. About
twenty transports had pushed on up the White
river about twenty-five miles, landing troops in
the rear of the enemy. This division march
ed overland ten or twelve miles, to a bridge
over creek on the Little Rock road, Of which
they took possession, cutting off the enemy's
retr eat in that direction. The main body of
troops was on shore by one o'clock on Satur-
day; and as they advanced, the left wing ex-
tended nearly to the river while their right was
pushed up to the left of the White river divis-
ion, thus completing the investment.
Then, at three O'Clock, the gunboats moved
up and engaged the forts, with manifest adj
vantage but with no decisive result. The bat
tie was renewed at daylight on Sunday morn
ing, the 18th; every gun in the fort was silen-
ced; the land force pressed closer; and AFTER
desperate and twice renewed effort to break
through the Union lines. at four O'Clock that
afternoon the place was surrendered with its
garrison. A regiment, which fought its way
into the fort at the last moment Saturday,
found 1t impossible to fight its way out again
Sunday. The Memphis Enquirer says in an
extra slip, that two more regiments arrived
Monday morning, marched into our lines with
drums beating and flags flying,and were made
prisoners This is probably distortion of the
story just given, resembling the original quite
as much as could reasonably be expected of a
rumor.