The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-08-21
VICKSBURC.
Official Report of Major General
Grant.
Review of Operations from the Conn
nencement of his CumInand.

HEADQUARTERS DEPT. OF THE TENNFsSEE,i
VICKsBURG, Miss, July 6.
COLONEL: l have the honor to submit the
ionoWlng report of the operations of the Ar
f cy vi thc tennessee and cooperating forces.
noiii 'ie Gate OF my assuming the immediate
S0.llil!tho OF the expedition against Vicksburg
n'''''sippl' TO the reduction of that place.
THE PENINSULA CANAL.
nioii INC moment Of taking command in
person., i became satisfied that Vicksburg
could only DC turned from the south side and
in accordance with this conviction mroSoc ~rl
ed the work on the canal, which had heon To-
Gated by Brigadier General Williams onroes
the peninsula on the Louisiana side of tho Wv
or, win AL ylgor hoping to make a channel
winch would pass transports for moving the
army anu carrying supplies to this new base
OF operations thus provided The task Ivoc
much more herculanean than it first appnored
and was made much more so by tin. almost
continuous rains that fell durin" the whole
OF the tune this work was prosecuted Tho
river too, continued to rise and make a laroc
expenditure Oh labor necessary to keep the
wafer out OF our camps and the canal
FINALLY, ON the Stl of March the rapid rise
OF the RIVER and the consequent great pressure
upon the dam across The canal near the unnoy
end, at The main Mississippi leree. caused il to
give way ana let through the lowlands back Of
our camps torrent Of water that separated the
north and south shores of the peninsula as Of
iectually as if the Mississippi flowed between
them. his occurred when the enterprise
promised success within II short time There
was some delay III trying to repair damages.
IL was found, however, that with the then
sta-e oF water, some other plan would have to
5e adopted TOW gettin" below Nchsburr with
transports.
Captain I. L, Prime Chief Engineer and
Colonel &. u. Pride, Who was actip.e on nv
! stan, pro>ptctcd 3 route through the bavous
which run from near MilIiken's Bend on the
| north. ana New Carthage Oh the south tllrougb
! houndaWay Bayou into the Kansas river Their
report "t The practicability OF this route deter
mined me 10 commence work upon it. Having
three dredgc boats at the lime. the work Of
opening this route was executed with great
rapidly. Dnc small steamer and Il number of
b2rgto were taken through the channel tins
opened, brt the river commencing about the
middle OF April to fall rapidly, and the roads
becoming paseablc between NIillikens Bend
and New Cartilage. made it impracticable and
unnecessary To open water communications be-
tween these points.
THE lake PROVIDENCE AND COLDwATrP
CANALS.
soon alter commencing the first cana, spoken
OF caused channel 10 be cut from the Missis-
sppi River into Lake Providence: also one
from the Mississippi River into Coidwater by
way OF YazOO Pass.
L lad no grent expectations of important
results from the former Of these. but having
more troops than could be employed to advan-
ta@e at oungo Point, and knowing that Lake
providence was connected by Bayou Baxter
with Bayou Macon, Il n;tyigable stream through
winch transports might pass into the Missis-
Slppi below, through Kansas, Wachita and Red
rivers. thought II possible that route might
be opened IN that direction which would en-
able Inc TO cooperate with Gen. Banks at Port
Hudson.
By the Nazoo Pass route | only expected at
first to get into the 1azoo by way OF ColdWater
aud the la.lalatchie with some lighter gun
boats and 4 few troops and DESTROY the enelny's
transports III that stream and some gunboats
which knew he Was building. The nayiga-
ton, however, proved so much better than had
been expected, that / thought for a time ofthe
possibility Of making tits the route for obtain
ING 4 too.hOld on the high land above Haines'
Blu1, Mississippi, ana small class steamers
were accordingly ordered for Transporting an
army that way. Major General 5. Is. Neither
son commanding 11th army corps. was directed
10 Aold his corps i'll READINGS, to move by this
route: and one division from each, the 18th
ana 10th corps were collected near the pass
to be added 10 his command Ii soon became
evident that It sufficient number Of boats OF the
right class could not be obtained for the move
ment Of more than one division.
GREENWOOD
W!se my forces were opening one end of
the Pass the enemy were diligently closing the
other end. and i'll this way succeeded in gain
ing time to strongly tOrtify Greenwood below
the Junction Of the iallahatce and Yallobu-
sha. The advance OF the expedition, consist
inc of one division Of Netherlands corps from
Helena, commanded by Brigadier General l..
+. Ross, and the 12th and I1tA regiments Mis-
souri, infantry, from Shcrnans corps as sharp
shooters On the gunbOats. succeeded in reach
ing COldWater on the u day Of March after
much difficulty. and the partial disabling Of
most o. the boats From the entrance into
COltlWatcr to Fort pembcrtOu. at Greenwood
Mississippi 10 difficulty OF navigation was eX-
perienced nor any interruption of magnitude
from TIE enemy. Fort Pemberon extends
from the Tallalatchie to tie Yazoo at Green
WOOD. Here the two rivers come within two
hundred yards of each other. The land around
the fort Is low, and at the time Of the attack
was entirely OverHowed. Owing to this fact
no movement could be made by the armygp
reduce it, but all depended upon the elility Of
the gunboats to silence the guns of the enemy
and enable the transports to run down and
land troops Immediately Oh the fort itself
Alter an engagement of several hours the gum
boats drew oil, being unable to silence the bat
teries. Brigadier General j. T. Quimby. COM
handing division of Mcpherson corps, met
the expedition nnder Ross with his division On
its return, near Fort Pemberton, Oh the Dist of
March, and being the senior assumed COM
mand of The entire expedition, and returned to
the position Ross had occupied.
THE EXPEDITIONS THROUGH sTEELE's AND
BLACK BAYOUS
On the Esd day Of March l sent orders for the
withdrawal of all the forces operating in that
direction, for the purpose OF concentrating my
army at Millikens Bend. On the 24th day of
March, Admiral d. ID. Porter, commanding
the Mississippi squadron, informed me that he
had made a reconnaissance up Steele's Bayou,
and partially through Black Bayou toward
Deer Creek, and so far as he explored these
water courses were reported navigable for the
smaller iron clads. Information, given mostly
| believe by the negroes of the country, was to
the effect that Deer Creek was navigable to
Rolling Fork. and that from there through the
Sunfower to the Yazoo River, there was no
question about the navigation. On the follow
inc morning accompanied Admiral Porter in
the ram Price, several irOn-clads preceding us.
up through Steela's Bayou to near Black BAYOU.
At this time our forces were at a deadlock
at Greenwood, and l looked upon the success
of this enterprise as of vast importance. 1t
would, if successful, leave Greenwood between
two forces OF ours, and would necessarily cause
the immediate abandonment of that strong
hold.
About thirty steamers of the enemy would
have been DESTROYED fl lien into orr hands