The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1893-04-20
should have been. certain it is that the town
Wss
CAPTURED BY VAN dorm

CAPTURED BY VAN DORM
and his forces. the supplies for Grants army
do troycd. and nc and his troops compelled TO
| retirr 10 Corinth aud Memphis. The retiring
Of Grants army left the rebel forces in his
front free 10 assist their brethren at Vicksburg
and they at one fastened 10 their aid. Part
! al these forces had reached Vicksburg the
| 2Sth of December and had helped to repel the
| assault made by our army on that day. From
| that time troop; continued to arrive on the
| railroad GIo:H JACKSON, and in the stiffness of
| the night we several times heard the rumbiing
| Of the cars and the cheers of the Southern SOL
| dIcrs upOn the arrival of their friends. All
this was known 10 cur commanders shortly
| after its occurrence and realizing the futliiy
OF further efforts with inadequate force
the withdrawal of the army was ordered. This
withdrawal mad been quietly progressing for
some days and while We in the trOut knew
nothing of these movements VIC found, on
emerging FROM the woods. as before stated, that
We were in fact the rearguard of retreating
army.
While we lay deployed along the bayou teams
came nom the river and loaded up aud hauled
away the remnants of military stores in some
sheds near us. The section OF artillery that
was located on the road where we came out,
and also several small and irregular bodies of
troops, retired to the boats on the Yaz0o River.
At about o'clock in the morning We were
called into line and marched about mile to
tho river 1T the point where VIC disembaTked
Just one week before. Although our regiment
was not the first 10 engage the enemy. and our
losses in the battle were not so great as those
OF some ether regiments, we did what WAS re-
quired of US in all the engagements. and were
the last of tho Union forces confronting the
enemy, and had the honorable if not dangerous
distinction OF covering the retreat.
When reached the river we at once en-
barhed on the Pemhna, which was lying Just
in the bend Of the river, with her PROV poiut-
ing in the direction from which we came.
Shortly after getting on board the day broke.
and not long after daylight we saw in the dis
tance, and in the same fields over which we
had lately Travelled, long lines of Southern
sodicrs-cavairy, infantry, and artiliery-#th
GLITTERING ARMS AND WAVING BANNERS
Proudly and steadily they ad vanced the long
lines stretching entirely across the field. and
their scrried ranks tramping and eveing the
c0cklc burs which had been spared in the
march OF our army out aud back through the
same field. As our march had been by the
flank and theirs being in line they had the
greater bulk of the burs to contend with Still
they advance administers are depiOyed in
their front, and move rapidly forward, while
the lines behind them move steadily onward
in their support The skirmishers have now
got in range, commence firing rs they advance
their fire being concentrated on tho two or
three boats loaded with troops and tied up 10
Tue iiFcT Dduk- Inelr DuIletS whistle among
the soldiers on the boats; some are struck and
wounded and ono man is killed.
Just in front of our boat, on the bank behind
small levee, are two 10-pounders a section of
the Chicago Mercantile Battery, while to our
left, aud above the bend of the river are two
gunboats, with their broadsides toward the
enemy Why do they wait, and why do we
remain huddled together on the boat, tied up
to the bank target for all the rebel skirrnish-
ers, as we shall soon be for their advancing
lines?
Suddenly an order is given to fire. The steel
guns from Chicago respond to the order, and |
the broadsdes from the gunboats, aimed high
for the purpose, send the limbs of the deadeued /
timber down amongst the advancing hosts. |
We see their ranks halt i'll confusion but Just |
at this moment an order comes for our boat to /
move down the river. We are all ready, |
willing and anxious to go, and the officers and /
crew of the steamboat are also perfectly willing. |
When the order is given there is time |
wasted in untyiug the headline. deck hand /
seiZes a ready ak, and with one we'll directed |
blow sewers the rope where it crosses the bow
the boat backs out, rounds-to in the river, and |
with q full head of steam moves rapidly down
the Yazoo toward the mighty Father of
Waters" leaving to the section Of artillery and |
the dark-sided Cunboats the task of enter
tanning our Southern brethren
Farewell, for the present. ye foolish and mis-
guided scions Of the Sunny South but fatter .
not yourselves that our object is abandoned.
We have failed at Chickasaw, but Vicksburg
will be taken. and the mighty Mississippi shall
flow unvexed and untrammeled from Lake
Itaska to the Gulf.