The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1886-12-01
6UNBOATS AT VICKSBURG.
A NOVEL EXPEDITION TO PASS THE
CONFEDERATE STRONGHOLD.
A Federal FIotiiIa Fails to Force
Passage Through Bogs and
Swnmns-SnVed nv Sherman.

Swamps-Saved by Sherman.
Darlington Smith says, in the Detroit
Freo Press, that had any Confederate in
or around Vicksburg asserted that the
Federals would seek to pass that point
by sending gunboats through the Yazoo,
Sunfower and Yallabusha Rivers and a
corps of men through the swamps and
marshes and bogs which cover the entire
country for City miles in length, he
would have been hoo,ed at as fool.
And yet, continues Mr.. Smith, that was
exactly what Grant planned as cool as
ice and Sherman and Porter were sent
TO carry out.
To begin with, each of the streams
named was hardly more than a creek.
While they had good depth of water,
they were narrow, crooked and OBJ
structed by sunken trees, and at that
date were hardly known even to fat
boats. We made our start about the
middle of March, having five gunboats,
four or five large tugs mounting one gun
each, but depended on for pulling away
Instructions, and two or three floats, OF
fiat bottoms, on which mortars were
mounted. 1t was understood by the
feet that Sherman was to keep pace with
us with about 10, 900 men. The novelty
of the situation was such as no fleet ever
experienced. After ascending the Yazoo
for a few miles details of axmen had to
be sent on ahead to cut away the limbs
which would have brushed away our
smokestacks in the narrow channels.
The woods, as far as the eye could see,
were hung with moss, ivy and wild
grapes, and The ground was hidden by
water. The only way to find the chan.
mel was to sound for it, and to follow
the lead of the pilot-boat. The sight oil
us frightened away great flocks of birds,
and alligators rolled laLily aside and ser.
pents swan kissing away.
We were no sooner out of the Yazoo
than the tugs had to begin on the logs
and stumps and fallen trees, and our
progress was slow and tedious. At one
point the channel ran between growing
trees for three or four miles, and three
fifths of them had to be cut away before
the fleet could pass. They were sawed
off, the trunks hauled off, and then
couple of tugs would hitch to the
stump" and snake it out by the roots.
AT this one spot we suffered a delay OF
thirty hours, and got our first inkling OF
the difficulties of the voyage. Each day
we crept along at snail's pace, clearing
away the distractions, and each night
our hawsers were made fast to trees
along the banks and we turned in with
bruised hands and aching bodies.
AS soon as the Confederates discovered
the movement our troubles vastly in.
creased. Scores and hundreds of trees
were felled across the stream in advance
of us, and our working parties were con,
tinually fired upon by men hidden in the
swamps for the purpose. We had not
ouly to work the vessels, but to clear the
stream of oqstructions and keep the guns
going. We now also had to work by
night as we'll as by day, for if we rested
the enemy were at work again with the
ak.
On the fifth day, when the stream be.
gan to broaden and deepen, and there
was a hope that we had seen the worst,
we found our progress absolutely
blocked. The entire bed of the river
was filled with willows, bushes, canes
and young trees, and a channel must be
cut through or we must go back. A
survey was made, and it was decided il
would be labor of weeks to cut chan.
mel. We were even now under hot
fire, the Conlederates having sent in
fantry and artillery from Vicksburg to
head off the expedition. Sherman had
found 1t impossible to keep the banks,
and had sought TO make cross-cuts. In
this way we had left every Federal In.
fantryman miles behind, and all the
fighting was being done by the men of
the t1otilla. Our retreat began at day
light on the morning of the sixth day of
the expedition.
The waters were rising and the current
increasing, and each vessel dropped
down stern first and had to be ''snubbedn
from tree to tree in the narrow places.
In less than three hours this method had
to be abandoned, the enemy filling the
woods with sharpshooters and killing off
the men handling the hawsers. Indeed
It after awhile became impossible for
any one to show himself on the deck of
single craft. Our men, protected by
such barrlcades as they could form, were
returning the fire with all possible vigor,
when the fleet was brought to sudden
standstill by distractions whichhad been
felled in the rear. At the same moment
the Confederates began telling trees a
mile and half above, and to also in
crease their rifle fire. We were nicely
penned up, and nine men out of every
Z ten among us felt certain that we must
~ surrender. Every craft was short of
= ammunition, and the line was strung out
IN such way, and one was so hidden
from the other by the trees, that signals
were OF little use. However, after lying
under hot fire for about twenty min
utes, a detail was sent off from every
boat, making 500 or 900 men in all, and
while some worked at the trees others
held the Confederates at bay.
We were still Mt work, suffering Sc
verely from the enemy's fire, when word
was sent back from the front that the
Confederates had received large rein
forcement, and that body of regular
troops, accompanied by artillery, was ad
vancing to bold attack. There was a