The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1863-08-19
NUMBER 27O.

80 sone~nat injured, but not seriousl
/ hurt. u e''"e' W"
As these boats succeeded in getting b,
SO well, ordered six more to ha 6rc;
pared IN like manner for runnino IN,
batteries. These latter, viz: Ti9resS
anglo Saxon, Cheeseman, Empire C;ty
horlzonia and Moderator, left Milliken',
Bend on the night of the 22d of Anr;l
and tve of them got BY, but in a some
wnat damaged condition. The Tisres,
received shot in her hull below tbo
ewater-llne, and sunk on the Louisiana
shore soon after passing the last of the
batteries The crews of these stoaraers
with the exception of that of the Forest
queen Capt u, Conway, and the Silver
Wave, Capt Mcmillan, were composed of
volunteers from the army. Upon the
call tor volunteers for this dangerous en-
tefprlse, ofheers and msB REaSsPt6sda rs dabds7- tb
take the trip. The names of those whose
services were accepted will be given in
a separate report.
1t IS striking feature so far as nv
observation goes, Of the present volun-
teer army of the United States, that
there is nothing which men are called
on to do, mechanical or professional.
that accomplished adopts cannot he
found for the duty required in almost
every regiment
The transports injured in running the
olockade were repaired by order of Ad-
miral Porter, who was supplied with the
material for such repairs as they required,
ana who was and ever is ready to afford
ali the assistance in his power for the
furtherance of the success of our arms.
In very short time FIVE of the transports
were In running order, and the remain
der were IN condition to be used as
oarges in the removing of troops Twelve
barges loaded with forage and rations
were sent IN tow of the last six boats that
run the blockade; oEe-half of them got
through in condition to be used.
Owing to the limited number of trans
ports below Vicksburg, it was found nee
essary to extend our line of land travel
to Hard Times, Louisiana, which, by
the clrcuitous route it was necessary to
take, increased the distance to about
seventy miles from Milliken's Bend, cur
starting point.
The 18th Army Corps being all through
to the Mississippi, and the 18th Army
Corps well on the way, so much of the
18th as could be got on board the trans
ports and barges were put aboard and
moved to the front of Grand Gulf on the
18th of April. The plan here was, that
the navy should silence the guns of the
enemy. and the troops land under cover
OF the gnnboats, and carry the place by
storm.
At 8 o'clock, A. NJ, the navy made
the attack and kant i'm I..-l.---------.-
seemed to me the gunboats were WITHIN
pistolshot of the enemys batteries. 1t
soon became evident that the guns of
the enemy were too elevated and their
Notifications too strong to be taken from
the water-side. The whole range of
hills on that side were known to be lined
with rife-pits, besides the field artillery
could be moved to any position where 1t
could be made useful in case of an at
tempt at landing This determined me
to a. gain run the enemys batteries, turn
his position by effecting a landing at
Rodney, or at Bruinsburgh, between
Grand Gulf and Rodney. Accordingly
orders we're Immediately given for the
troops to debark at Hard Times, La,
and march across to the plain immedi-
ateIY below Grand Gulf At dark the
gunboats again engaged the batteries,
and all the transports ran ty, receiving
but two or three shots in the passage,
and these without injury. l had some
time previously ordered a reconnaissance
to a point opposite Bruinsburgh, to as
certain, if possible, from persons in the
neighborhood, the character of the road
leading to the highlands back of Bruins
burgh. During the night learned from
negro man that there was good road
from Bruinsburgh to Port Gibson, which
determined me to land there.
The work of ferrying the troops to
Bruinsburgh was commenced at daylight
in the morning, the gunboats as we'll
as transports being used for the pur-
pose.
As soon as the 18th army corps was
landed, and could draw three days ra-
tions to put in haversacks, (no wagons
were allowed to cross unit! the troops
were all over), they we're started on the
road to Port Gibson. deemed it a mat
ter of vastimportanee that the highlands
should be reached without resistance.
The 18th corps followed as rapidly as
it could be put across the river.
About two clock on the lst OF May,
the advance of the enemy was met eight
miles from Bruinsburgh on the road to
Port Gibson. He was forced to fall
back, but as it was dark he was not pur-
sued far until daylight. Early on the
morning of the 1st went out, accompa-
MED by members of my staff, and found
McClernand with his corps engaging the
enemy about four miles from Port Glib
SON. At this point the roads branched
in exactly opposite directions, both,
however, leading to Port Gibson.
The enemy had taken position on
both branches, thus dividing as he fell
back the pursuing forces. The nature
of the ground in that part of the country
is such that a very small force could re-
tard the progress of much larger one
for many hours The roads usually run
on narrow, elevated ridges, with deep
and impenetrabie ravines on either side.
On the right were the divisions of Hovey,
Carr, and Smith, and on the left the di-
vision of Osterhaus, of McClernand s
corps The three former succeeded in
driving the enemy from position to posi-
ton back toward Port Gibson steadily
all day.
Osterhaus did not, however, move the