Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-03-06

little redoubt, where he had fallen whom
struck in the face by rebel bullet, in
structed his next IN command, Colonel
Tourtellotte, to assure Sherman that we
would not only hold the fort, but whip
the enemy. The rations were saved and
the march to the sea was made.
Herein is illustrated the differ
ence between 1862 and 1864. Had
Holly Springs been in command OF
Corse or Tourtellottc on the 10Th of
December, 1862, Vicksburg would have
been taken before the winter ended.
We were still in our camp at the ex-
treme front, below Oxford, when Holly
Springs fell, and the disaster sent ns on
forced marched over the road to OK.
ford. As we fell back the enemy 80
long before us followed, and between the
front and rear confederate forces We were
in condition Of uncertainty as to how
the affair would finally terminals.
Reaching Oxford after dark We could not
discover that there Was any we'll defined
shape to the situation. ALI night long
We were moving from point to point in
the outskirts of The town, coming into
battle front first in one direction and
then in another, until all points OF the
compass had been duly served with no.
tice that we we're there. There was no.
thing to fgnt and we survived the ex-
periences of the night without loss OF
anything except sleep.
From Oxford our column moved slow
ly to the rear, constantly menacsd by
the enemy until tho Tallahatohis was
crossed and though threatened assaults
did not materialize, we were kept in q
condition of excited uncertainty ell
along that muddy stretch. Once north
of the Tallahatchie We were given an
opportunity TO indulge IN undistnrbed
| reflections, and then it occurred TO us
that we had nothing to eat. The return
trip was not so much of picnic a5 the
advance had been, for with soldierly
improyidence we had eaten the country
bare on our southwark tramp. In my
diary of that distressful period find at
the end of days dreary notations tho
entry, zone spoonful Of mush per man
issued for supper" After that
| we descended is much deeper into the
realm of nothingness that spoonful oi
mush would have figured az fair ban
quet.
So the army trudged hack over the
we'll worn route until, oE the 3lst oi
December, we struck the Memphis i
Charleston railroad at Moscow. The
lexpedition was over and Grants army
Istretched itself along the railroad
| towards Memphis, for brief rest before
the springs renewal OF active operations
| with the same destination in view which
had tempted us into the mud of central
Mississippi. Thus ended the first cam.
palgn against Vicksburg and its close
| found Grants army no farther south
| than its original starting point.
4 While we were attempting te
force our way over the
land route, General Sherman had been
dispatched with the right wing Of the
army down the Mississippi river By
boats to cooperate with us by attack
ling Vicksburg on its Yazoo river side
and iorclng his way in while We held
Pemberton in our front. Not lea.nins
of the Holly Springs disaster and oul
retreat, Sherman made the assault AND
was repulsed by Pemberton, who, by !
} forced march, had flung his forces inss
the Vicksbnrg works before Sherman's
arrival The season closed with dis
aster all around, though we had lost ns
] ground and had met no serious defeat
1t was disaster to us not to have accom-
IL pllshed our undertakings. Later in th'
war, when we had learned that it WA
? possible to subsist al army in an enc
my's country, We would have pushed on
) regardless OF the Holly Springs effai
/ and knocked loudly at the back door Q
} the Mississippi river stronghold.
3 w. s. BowKH.