Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-04-17


and the running of the blockade at tina
city, the crossing of the river abou
seven miles below, the capture of For
Gibson and the complete rout of tn
enemy, the chase from that point u,
the river on the east side, with occas
ional fighting, the laying Of the siege
and finally the surrender by Gen
Pemberton-all these things and NOR
are still fresh in the minds of ever,
Union soldier who still lives ant
participated In this expedition
Many Of us have since the1
dragged out miserable existence OF
account of wounds and diseases con
tracted in the army, and many OF us
like myself, are now languishing upo1
beds of sickness, and in the languag,
Of the poet are
Fading away like tine stars Of the morning,
Losing their light in the glorious sun;
| Ever remembered. forever remembered,
Ever remembered while the years are roll
Ever remembered, forever remembered,
Ever remembered for what we have done.
But now Is our story. We will 90
back to Young's Point and give it il
detail, that our readers may be the
better able to understand it.
The time had now come when Gen.
Grant had decided to move forward
consequently, as we have already
stated. the canal had been dug across
the peninsula about three miles west Of
the city, the object of which was to
run the blockade, but this had proven
failure. So there was nothing left
him but to face the music and take his
chances on running his transports with
his supplies through the blockade.
This was accomplished by first loading
an old condemned barge with boxes
and barrels SO as to make it as conspic-
uous as possible, andon one dark night
this boat was sent adrift to float at will
down the river which it did nobly the
enemy opening fire upon it as soon as
it hove in sight around the bend, but
proudly and nobly she was borne on the
current on a downward course until
she had passed out of range of the last
battery, and although every available
gun had been brought to bear upon
this sham boat, but little if any harm
was done, if my memory serves me
right. This test trial being accomplish
ed, which gave our boatmen courage, ii
was then decided to run our transports
through, which numbered about ten or
dozen, which. was accomplished by
running with as little light as possible,
each boat keeping its proper distance,
noiselessly as possible hugging the op-
posite shore, until the last transports
had passed out of the range of the
rebel guns, which had done their utmost
to destroy our feet. Upon examination
it was found that little damage was
done; this was joyful news to our boys.
The river was now clear as far as Grand
Gulf. Part of the troops had already
gone, and now that our transports had
run the blockade, by order Of our great
commander the remainder of the army
took up its line of march southwark to
Grand Gulf. This march was attended
with great difficulty on account of
heavy rains and deep mud, our artillery
being able to make but very few
miles each day. However, as time
moved on and rain became less fre-
quent the roads dried up, and the ar
tillery was now enabled to go above
ground and hurried on, so that the lat
ter end of this march to Grand Gulf
was ahurried one. Consequently, when
the head of the army had reached the
point below Grand Gulf where the
crossing was to be made, the middle
and rear of the army, which had been
held back to guard artillery and sup
ply trains, was now ordered forward
with all possible speed, which made it
indeed forced march, sosmuch SO that
we were compelled to march day and
night, often through heavy rains, with
no covering but our poncho blankets
for the night, and with very little rest
until we reached the point. As the
regiment to which I belonged ap-
preached the city, we arrived at point
up the river about three miles, where
we had fine view of naval engage
ment between our gunboats and the
enemy's artillery along the shore. This
was done by the gunboats forming q
circle at proper distance from the
enemy's batteries and moving round
and round. When each gunboat came
with her broadside to the enemy she
fired every shot she was able to, and
moved on to let the next one do like
wise, until the day was finished. This
done, it was an easy matter to run the
blockade that night under cover Of
darkness, which was accomplished with
very little damage.
The running of the blockade at
Vicksburg on the night Of the 29th of
April, 1863. which was Witnessed by o
large portion of the army, will ever
be remembered by. the old boys as one
of the grandest scenes they ever
witnessed. The shrill screaming Of
solid shots, the bursting of bombshells
in the air and the incessant roar of
cannon until the last boat had passed
out of reach, all combined to render it
grand scene in the darkness and an
exciting moment to the Union forces.
To our great surprise, after the trans
ports had been landed, it was discov-
cred that little damage had been done.
The worst, and about the only, dam
age Of consequence that we heard Of
which I had the privilege Of witnessing
myself, was that caused by solid shot
which passed through the wheel house
of the steamer Pocahontas and killed
two horses which were standing in
range in that part Of The boat.
Now that our transports with sup
plies were ont Of danger, the next day
was spent in crossing the Thirteenth