The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1863-06-05

came across the rebel pickets about tw,
miles from. the Notifications and fv,
from the town. On the center and rieb
!, the enemy's cavalry was on yidette ldu J
4 further out from the works. Gen. Bar
BRIDGES brigsde, Of Steele's division
formed into line Of battle Immediately
on hearing the. exchange of picket shots
Shortly afterWard McClernand's entir,
command was in line. The work Of Che
18th was confined almost exclusively "a
artillery firing At tolerably long range
| a general assault was, indeed, 10
be made at two O. clock in the afternoon;
/ but all the commands were not in readi-
ness, and a did not fake place. I.-E
Gen. Blair, on the right, and Gen. LD-
gan, in the center, pushed forward to-
ward the enemy's works and met with
ierce resistance. Their principal object
| was to get positions for their artillery,
and they found il impossible to do this
without briskly engaging the rebel forts
Gen Blairs loss in killed and wounded,
during the day, was not much less than
five hundred, lGen. LOgan's loss was
slight, ,..,.rlIa fa .lsaar
"a the morning of tho 10th, while
Gen, OsteThans division was marching
TOWARD the enemy's Qualifications, oh3 Of
Nice fernando aids. came dashing back
from, the front, with the intelligence that
The enemy were coming outside Of their
Notifications, to attack rs in force. 0s-
terbaus, not yet recovered from n wound
received at Big Black, was riding in an
ambulance at the head of his column.
On hearing the aids report of the state
of affairs in the front,g he instantly or
dered his horse, mounted him, drew his
sword aud said to. his men, "We'H see
if they, attack US, Keep well closed up
and follow the flying Dptchman." (The
aYing, DItchman, is sobriquet bestow-
ed upon him by his, men, on account Of
bis activity and energy in the ield.and
IN campl ga 80 D. s.a
THE Ism REGULARS. d. %
About noon on the 18th, detachment
Of the LIST Regular Infantry, underco
.mand, of Major Mulluny, arrived on the
left with elk seige guns-thirty- pound
Parr0tts,r Three of these were planted
on a comm anding5 hill about two miles
FROM The rebela tortification4 and did
good execution for time. 10 ls.i..'u $50
| D.. The Let Regulars have done some ex-
estlelt shooting within the past few days.
| lp their ranks there are many soldiers
who hsya been nths army twenty years
| The, otieersaFe nearly ali West Pointers,
or men who have been. promoted from
| the ranks. lis a noticeable fact and
woIthy iof mention just there, that che
haughtiness and sneer metines evints
by regulars toward volunteers, comes nj
most entirely from men whose oommis-
siQns data ffom the commandment of
the war. The most strongly marked
| gregulag" officers of the day, ia the do
nothing young gentlemen of '6l. When
You hear an officer speak disparAgingly
of the volunteers, you may, with SAT, ty,
put him, down as a recently ipromota d
haberdAsher, or an elevated street prom
enader. .g W. as s,uru' aa s..."
II THE FoRTIEIpATIONsDoF vIOKsBURas H
| Before proceeding any further in my
narrative, Of the important events Of the
last few days, l. ought TO describe the
Notifications of .Vioksburg and the to-
i biography Of the country in which Gen.
Grants army has to operate against them,
1 The impragnability of the front Of this
stronghold is an Old story, 10 which our
4 military authorities seem to have given
credenee. Our gunbOats have been re
\ pulsed time and again and the itnpossi-
bility'0f landing troops under the fire OF
1 the tremendous batteries along the river
i has bern admitted. While we all knew
| that. Yieksburg presented such formi
dable front. i think few had any idea OF
| the strength on oharaeterof the defensive
| works in the rear OF che town Judging
from the Qualifications now before as, Il
| is safe TO sayithat the rebels anticipated
| General. Gran t'smoyements so far as At
lacking from the rear is concerned. The
| works look oldand grass grown, which
shows thatathey were not commenced
since oar successful running of the fiery
gauntlet ON the Mississippi
The civilizations in the rear OF Vicks-
burg form = somiciroe around the city,
both right and left extending 10 the Mis- :
Eslssippi, and resting on II They form
a continuous chain of forts, at an aver
age Of 800 yards, for a distance Of al
Lleast seven miles. The breast works
also extend this entire distance and are
OF a very formidable character of an
average height Of fifteen fee &. In front OI
these is ditch fifteen feet wide, and
varying in depth from ten 70 twenty feet
! in different places. At points where i
was thought likely attempts would b.
4 made 70 storm the works, the ditch ha
1, false bottom--rails are driven into tb'
ground with sharp points sticking up
ward; over thessuis places q layer O
brush and under growth, 30 as to giVei
the appearance Of a solid foundation
The storming party jump into the ditch
installing its apparent for its real depth
and one half of the men are lacerAtei
aud manglet upon the ireacherous cake
I bayonets concealed beneath. The fort
are strongly built In their cohstruc
ton large number OF cotton bales hag
betn used, and citizens tell US that SOM
Of them are faced With railroad iron.
T. Add tJ all these facts simple state
: ment OF the topography Of the countr
! Around Yicksburg add the -arduous ma
q turs Of the task before General Gran
NAV be understood and 81 preclated 10
/ ten milssIh the rear Of the city tue ey
= doesnst rest upon a singl area Of lev'
3 pr,uud. We have seen nothing but hilI
. and rayiqes sipce we crossed Big Blsc
j river, aud tae nearer we APP bach Eloks
p burg the more impossible they becom
The roads over which we have 70 pa.
e are cut through little hills less than on
q, hundr feet IN some places. They ~
. 50 narrow as 10 admit Of but one Die 4
wagons passing at time The rebel Al
p talery, AZ first bore directly upon q
main road on which our ARMY advance
8 toward their works and hGrrassea as cm
g aderably, until partially silenced B
: our infantry. We succeeded, nOtwit
st.,di,g fhS many digadyantaFeg viii