Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1863-05-29
THE EVENING STAR.
vuCKsEuRa AsDrrS SURROUNDINGS.

= Z
Mr.. Colpurn, q CORES pendent OF : E New
York Weird, who has just been reh SEQ ~
the rcbeis, gives some description o Vicks-
burg ard its surrounding. where re as KEEP
prisoner for two days, that are OF spe :ial in-
ter, st Just now:
At Si,Eshiirs we remained two days, bsing
confined tTst 70 tho common Jail and after
wards 70 tie upper stories % tho C'oUrt House.
As SickssCrc nsUst be TO orr annals point o.
great Interest, we give cr impressions OF il,
hoping ere long 10 verify with mere leisure
anG liberty their accuracy. We Were, not
withs,anding the laundering salute attending
our satree, disappointed IN J: rs fortified po-
sition. From an elevated Judgment, from walks
about town, orr entrance and exit, from con-
yersation and testimony OF many kno wing per-
men, guns, works and natural conformation to
have been oTc---atea. The site is adfnira BILE.
especially fes river defence. The batteries
fronting the river are neither so numerous nor
dangerous as commonly supposed. Although
il IL likely tina. portion OF the heavy guns
have Leen transferred TO Grand Gull, Big
Black, and Haines' Bluff, we guess the num-
Der OF guns ON the river side 70 be less than
forty and never 10 have exceeded seventy.
or these we hge informed: only three ere To-
inch, two 9, and four three riiist, and the rest
32-pounders. There is bu: one casematsd bat.
terry in the vicinity. zhe earth worss are, how
ever, perfect OF their kind. Negroes are still at
work on tomb-prcofs and magazines, probably
TO guard against mortar shells. A landing from
now happily needless. The rEmored fortsfica.
items in The streets are simple little pits or
shoulders OF ramparts projecting ipto theroad-
way. The works back OF the city are :ae ordl-
nary intrencbments commanding the roads and
small eafthwcrks on the ridges. livery hiii on
the outskirts is crested with an earthwork.
point Big Black Bridge,, the defences At the rsar
are rudimentary only. The country is rough.
q succession of small hills. to the banks OF the
Big Black, but the roads are good and the hills
tIa
overwhelming attack, ti,e Confcderates might
resist large force at every rod, and so prolong
the siege.
MP the shores Ct the Big Black, aud across to
the Yazoo, or, what Is the same, the meagrs-
ness of their forces to guard il, is the great
weakness of the position. 1t would require, to
keep such line twenty six miles1 intact, an
army of 50,GGu men ard 100 pieces Of light ar
tillery. / have grounded conviction, based
upon concurrent testimony, that at tine time Of
our soiourn there were not more than $4,000
troops west of the smaller stream and q. 1000 east.
Could all these be concentrated upon one de-
eisiye point, they might, with their works, re-
pei five times their numbers; but repetition
Of such plan OF attack on our part they lilay
never hope for again.
The Confederate hopes OF Ticksburg are
mainly hung upon Gen. Joe Johnston, who ar
rived at Jackson on the 18th, and was pursued
thence after Il destructive fight next dav. His
plan appears to be to mass considerable army
outside and drive off the besiegers. We do not
believe his inteD ton is to get inside OF Vicks-
burg, but to leave that post to Pemberton. II
he can do this, Grant is, by the double line,
front and rear, placed in a critical position.
We have no fears for the result; but in this
case minutes are OF great moment. To the three
thousand forces at Jackson, when we passed
through, Johnston seems to have scraped up
six thousand additional. Loring is since ut
Jackson with his corps, which will lea VIC Grant
with fifteen thousand his front and say
twenty thousand in the rear, deducting disabled
and captured in the three late engagements,
which, from the meagre reports received al
Richmond, we judge to be considerable. The
extent to which Johnston can be reinforced bY
way of the railroad from the Tombigbee to
Meridian is fifteen hundred y day. His army
cannot be supplied by that route. Ticksburg
is provisioneG for thirty days only. The coun-
Try affords him perhaps sufficlency of corn
and forage. His communication with the rest
of the South is precariGus, and if GTierson be
not idle, may be destroyed.
1t is astonishing how long and how much the
enemy has, here and elsew here, befooled and
thwarted us by an empty show of strength. 1t
is admitted by those w mo have lived in and
defended Fieksburg that it might have been
taken at any time since the fall Of Memphis
with less force than we have brought against
il. When Farragut first approached it, iii May,
ISt2, il was almost defenceless. When Davis
went, in une, il was all but evacuated In
December, when Grant was marching on Gre
NADIA, and Sherman attacked from the Yazoo
river. the reDels had but thirteen hundred men
in the city while the latter was tied APP two
days at Milkens Bend. By the forenoon Of
the day of assault they had received nine regi-
nents from Mobile. Canton and Jackson.
At the close OF the assault, when fa!!
back, the report had spread in the city that The
Yankees were coming, and horse and wagon,
soldier and civilian, began 70 scamper ont OF
town.. The bombardments have not hurt the
city appreciably.