Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1865-12-27

y
Miller, and Vail, or To the gallanto Officers
and men under their command. / sub.
NIT herewith map of Selma and its de-
fenses, surveyed and drawn by Capt. III.
T.. Noyes, Second U. S. Cavalry, and
| A. D. g.
The immediate fruits of our Victory
were thirty-one field guns, and one thirty
! FOUNDER Parrott, which had been used
against us, twenty-seven hundred Iris-
| oners, including one hundred and fifty
! officers, a number of cOlors, and immense
| quantities of stores of every kind. Gems.
| Forrest, Armstrong, Roddy and Adams
/ escaped with q number of men, under
! cover of darkness, either by the Burns
vile and river road, or by swimming the
| Alabama river. a portion of UptOn's
Division pursued on the Burnsville road
until long after midnight, capturing four
guns and many prisoners. ! estimate the
entire garrison, including the militia of
the city and surrounding country, at
seven thousand men. The entire force
under my command, engaged and in
supporting distance, was nine thousand
men and eight guns.
! As soon as the troops could be assem-
bled and got into camp ! assigned Breyet
Brig.-Gen. Winslow to the command of
| the city, with orders to destroy every
thing that could possibly benefit the
I Rebel cause | directed Gen. Upton 10
march at daylight with his division, for
the purpose of driving Chalmers to the
west side Of the Cahawba, TO open COM
munication with McCook, expected from
/ Centreville, and, in conjunction with the
4 latter, bring in the train.
| The capture of Selma having put us in
! possession of the enemy's greatest depot
! in the Southwest, was vital blow 10
| their cause, and secured to us the GER
| tainty of going in whatever direction
might be found most advantageous, |
gave directions 10 Lieut.. Haywood,
/ Fourth Michigan Cavalry, engineer
( kploy all the resources of the shops IN the
city in the construction of pontoons, with
/ the intention oflaying a bridge, and cross
I ing to the south side of the Alabama
river, as soon as ! could satisfy myself in
regard to. Gen. Canby's success in the
operations against Mobile. On April
/ fifth Upton and McCOok arrived with
/ the train, but nothing definite had been
! heard of CroxtOn. McCOOk had been
entirely successful in his operations
/ against Centreville, but on reaching
/ Scottsboro he found Jackson well posted,
with force, he thought, toostrong to at
/ tack. After a sharp skirmish he retired
[ to Centrevilie, burned the Seottsboro
I Cotton Factory and Cahawba bridge, and
returned toward Selma, satisfied that
/ CroxtOn had taken care of himself and
I gone in a new direction.
On the sixth Of April, having ordered
| Mai. Hubbard 10 lay bridge over the
Alabama, with the utmost dispatch,
went to Cahawba to see Gen. Forrest
\ H.
a flag of truce, for the purpose of arrang-
ing an exchange of prisoners. ! was not
long in discovering that | need not ex-
pect liberality in this matter, and that
Forrest hoped to recapture the men ofhis
command in my possession. During our
conversation he Informed me that CrOX-
ton had had an engagement with Writ
Adams, near Bridgeville, forty miles
southwest of Tuscaloosa, two days be-
fore. Thus assured of CrOXtOn's success
and safety, / determined to lose no fur
ther time in crossing 10 the south side
of the Alabama. | had also satisfied
myself in the meantime that Candy
had an ample force to take Mobile and
march to Central Alabama | therefore,
returned to Selma and urged every one
to the utmost exertions. The river was
quite full and rising, the weather unset
tied and rainy, but, by the greatest eXer-
ton, night and day, on the part of Maj.
Hubbard and his battalion, Gen. Upton,
Gen. Alexander, and my own staff, the
bridge, eight hundred and seventy feet
long, was constructed, and the command
all crossed by daylight of the tenth.
So swift and deep was the river, that the
bridge was swept away three times.
Gen. Alexander narrowly escaped with
bis life, boats We're capsized, and men
precipitated into the stream, but the ope-
ration was finally terminated by COM
plete success. The report of Maj. Hub
bard, transmitted herewith, will give ad-
ditional details of interest. Before leav-
ing the city, Gen, Winslow destroyed
the arsenals, fOundries, arms, stores and
military munitions Of every kind. The
enemy had previously burned twenty
five thousand bales of cotton.
Having the entire Corps, except Crox-
toms Brigade, on the south side of the
river, and being satisfied that the Rebels
could receive no advantage by attempts
ing to again occupy Selma, sothOroughly
had everything in it been destroyed, |
determined to move by the way Of Mont
gomeFy into Georgia, and after breaking
up railroads and destroying stores and
army supplies in that State, to march
thence as rapidly as possible to the thea
ter of operations in North Carolina and
Virginia.
Enough horses We're secured at Selma,
and on the march to that place, to mount
all our dismounted men. In order to
disencumber the column of every unne-
eessary impediment, / Iordered the sur
plus wagons TO be destroyed, and all Of
the bridge train except enough for twelve
boats. The main object for which the
latter was brought had been secured by
our passage of the Alabama.
/ also directed the column to be Claared
of all centraband negroes, and such of
the able-godied ones as We're able to en-
list, 10 be organized into Tegiments-one
to each division. Efficient officers weIe
assigned TO these commands, and great
pains taken to prevent their becoming
burdensome. How well they succeeded
can be understood from the fact that, in.
addition TO subsisting themselves upon
the county, they marched upon one
occasiopl forty-fiVe miles and frequently
as much as tlirty-five in one day.
In the march from Selma, La Oranges
Brigade of McCoOk's Division was given
the advance. The recent rains had rem
deTed the roads quite muddy, and . small
body Of Rebel cavalry, in falling back
before La Grange, destroyed several
bridges, so that our progress was neces-
sarily slow.
At seven a. NJ, April tWelfth, the ad-
Nanced guard reached Montgomery, and
received the surrender of the CITY from
the Mayor and Council. Gen. Adams,
with a small force, after falling back be-
fore us to the city, burned ninety thous-
and bales Of cotton stored there. an, c,r-
tnued his retreat To Mount Meigs, OF
the Columbus road. Five guns andlarge
quantities of small arms. stores. etc
We're left in our hands and DESTROYED.
Gen, MeCook assigned Col. Cooner
Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, to the com
mand Of the city, and Immediately be-
gan the destruction of the public stores.
MAJ. Weston Of the Fourth Kentucky,
with asnah detachment of his regiment.
made arapid march toward WedImpka.
swan the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers.
and captured five STEAMBOATS, aud their
eargpesl which were taken 10 Mont
gomery and destroyed Early on the
fourteenth the march was resumed. |
instructed Brevet Maj.-Gen. Upton to
move with his own division directly upon
Columbus, and to order LaGrange, with
his brigade, 10 make q rapid movement /
upop West Point, destroying the railroad |
bridges along the line of his march. | !
hoped to secure a crossing OF. the Chatta-
hooehee at one of the otAeT If these
points,
AlintY followed Upton by the way of |
Tuskegee. McCook, with a part of his |
division, remained a few hours at Mont /
gomery TO complete the destruction of |
public stores. shortly after leaving his /
camp, near Montgomery, La Grange |
struck a force OF rebels under Buford and /
Ciareton, but drove them in confusion.
capturing about one hppdred and fifty
prisonsr2
About two P. m. Of the sixteenth, Gen. |
Cpton's advanee-a part of Alexander's |
Brigade-struck the enemy's DicLs.S on
the road and dreys saeih RAPIDLY 4
through tsirard to the lower 1
bridge over the Chattshooche at Column /
bus. The rebels hastily set fire 70 l.. and l
thereby prevented its salltare. After
securing q position on the lower Mont
gomery Road, Gen. Upton detached .
force to push around to the briaLs OF the I
factory, three miles above the citv. He (
then made Reconnaissance in person 4
and found the enemy strongly posted ia i
a line of works covering slI the bridges. |
with large nuIAbef 0fgihs in position |
"A p0lh sides Of the river He had al 1
ready determined to m.1ve WinsIow's /
Brigade to rhS Upelika or Summerville
u II