The New York herald., 1863-12-23
HERALD WEDNESDAY 2s SHEET

unyt oI blCu eet4Hu7 e1Hbe ESs W. Wv S'S~
pursue them.
That The rebels were seriously crippled there can b
but little doubt as April s. the day after the secon
battle, General Beauregard sent communication {
General Grant Ia which he stated he had ''wthdrawn
from the field consequence OF the reinforcement Of tn
linton army and requested permission to bury the reoe
dead General Grant replied that he had already bure
the dead and declined to accept receive the dag
truce
During struggle the rebels lost ia killed about fou
thousand men, among whom one Of their Anes
generals, Aber, sydney Johnston.
ooRrsrH-pErAarxEST OF rag TENNESSEE
After the rebels had retroated to Corinth all thu
country of line drawn through Knoxville TO th
Rocky Mountains, made into ths Department Of tn
Mississippi. under command Of General Haeck, who hat
to take the ed In person his forces at the beginning
Of May consisted OF three armies vizhs Army Of tn,
oho four divisions the left under General Buell. com
nander the Army of the Mississippi four divisions on
the right General Pope commander and the Army Of thu
Tennessee eight divisions in the centre. General Gran
commander It will thus be that, Notwithstanding
the Hrsf days struggle at Shiloh General Haiieck had
good opinion Of General Grant that he gave him twice
the force he had awarded to either General Pope OF
raj Buell.
During the whole OF the operations Of the siege OF
Corinth General Grant ranked second command to
General Haleck and would have ned that position the
fed had battle taken place. X'N egn
On the Goth of May 1862 Corinth was evacuated and
the llth of the following June General Haeck was
called to Washington This call necesstated remodel.
ling Of the whole OF the departments Of the West.
department made to include Cairo, Fort
Henry, Fort Donelson Northern Mississippi Kentucky
and Tennessee, OF the Tennessee river This
deEomnafed the Department OF the Tennessee and
placed under the charge Of Major General Grant All the
troops within were Included in the Thirteenth army
corps Of the United States forces
The remainder OF the summer not remarkable for
any very importan; movement in General Grant depart
ment until September 10. 1862, when portion Of his
corps under General Rosecran attacked the rebels under
General Price south Of 1uka. The contest lasted into
the next day the rebels re,reating the end On
tober the position at Cornth attacked by the rebels
under General Van Dorm, and after three days lighting
aud around the place. resulted in the ieieat Of the
rebels and their final retreat.
In the meantime General Grant wa engaged in his
plans for the redemption OF Northern Mississippi from
rebe rule On the Goth Of October 1862, the rebels be-
gan concentrating their forces at Ripley Miss with
the intention Of attacking General Grants positions In
that vicinity but Grant, by his dispositions completely
outgeneraed them. On the 9th OF November 1852, a
portion of his army occupied lagrange station west
Of Grand Junction, for the pWpose Of holding all tho
lines leading south from Tennessee. ttf
10 prevent any iofca from Nea Orleans CO. operating
by the Miss ssippi river with General Grant in the reduc
tion of yclsburg the rebels, November %, 1862,
began fortrying Port Hudson On the Cd of December
portion Of General Grants forces however under General
Hovey pushed down TO Grenada, Mss., and occupied it,
the rebels retreatng with great loss Of rolling stock
The next day the rebels at Abbe ve Miss, abandoned
their fortdcaons and rereated before the advance o.
General Grsnt
Several ryer expeditions were sent out about this time
by the Mississippi river feet which operating
with General Grants military noyemears. and several
cavalry collisions occurred along the oaposts Of the de-
rartment. eftr,.e
During all these movements General Grants forces
being gradually increased unt the I'D 0: Do
cember lit became necessary 10 organize them into four
army corps, under the designations OF the lhireentb
Fifteenth. Sixteenth and Seventeenth army corps Each
Of these corps placed under elcon commander,
and thcy TO operate for time Independent Of each
other bat under the direct command OF General Grant
FIRST AITAak UroS vicxsBuxG--Tax ynxsauHG CAN
PAiGS.
General Grant ueM began operating along the railroad.
for the purpose OF driving the enemy into the interior
and cutting the railroad communications with vcksbu:g,
which expedition he succeeded admirably. The right
wing Of his army was, however, not SO successful as
General Sherman, who commanded il. found the deIences
OF vcksburg much stronger tnan he anticipated During
the st part Of the struggle the rebels were driven from
their exterior lines Of defence but the Goth OF Decem
Der, being considerably reinforced IRON Grenada and
other posts they attacked the uuicnsts with their whole
strength, and the expedition had to be abandoned.
General Grant now assumed the immediate command Of
the army the Mississippi which was largely reinforced
Be,ng satisfied by result OF Gen. shermaus operations
that the north line Of the enony works too strong
TO bs carried without very heavy loss he directed his
t.aah
the year before by General Williams the peninsula
on the west bank o; the river While working parties under
Capt Prince chief engineer Of that army diligently
employed upon this canal Gen Grant directed his stten
tion several other projects for turning the euemy
position The canal proving mpracticsbe ,snd his other
plans being unsuccessful. except as eins TO draw OF
troops from vicksburg lie determined 10 move his army
by land down the west bank of>she Mississippi river
some seventy miles, while transports for crossing should
run past the enemy's batteries at vieksburg
The danger OF running the batteries being very great,
and the roads the west side Ia horrible condition. this
was difficult and hazardous expeden; but it seemed to
he the only possible solution OF the problem The
ton Of the plan however. greatly facilitated by Ad.
mal Iarragut who had two OF his vessels past the
enemy batteries at Port Hudson and Grand GuH and
cleared the river OF the enemys boats below vcksburg
and finally, through the ndomsble energy Of the com
maudug general and the admirable dispositions Of Ad
mira Porter FOR running the enemy batteries, the opera
: ton completely successful.
Genera, Grant having by feluis so manouvred abou,
all round the vicinity Of vcssburg as TO deceive the
rebels relative to the actual place he intended TO strike
at Colonel afterwards Ceners Grierson, the
commander Of the First cavalry brigade attached to the
seventeenth army corrs. on sn expedition southward
from Lagrange through the whole state OF s'ssippi, 70
Baton Rouge In louisiana The object of this expedition
was cut all the communications OF the rebels with the
stronghold vcksburg. This expedition most sue
cessfuy conducted II started from Lagrange April
H. 1863 and reached Baton Roure, la on May 2 thus
travelling distances OF about eight hundred miles in o.
teen days. II destroyed many OF the enemys railroad
bridges depo,s tsnneries aud much rolling stock
and the fact that the Interior oi the State
was entirely unde!endcd.
As soon A. General Gran, discovered from deserer,
that Colonel Grierson's expeditions had travelled fa
enough for his purpose, he began moving his force
across the river by the aid OF the vessels that had
past the batteries stycksburg and Port Hudson The
n. IN.