The National tribune., 1905-10-05

friends. Sherman and MoTherson, were
doing necessary but fnconspicuous tasks
| j. the rear. They went even further.
man to make an ostentatiOuS feint of
renewing his attack upon Haynes's
| Bluff. In his letter to Sherman he con-
| Siderately mentioned his reluctance to
suggest this to MIN, because their enc
| mics would interpret 1t as another of
sherman's failures. Sherman was not
| the man to let such thing deter him
FROM doing whatever it was thought
| necessary to do. He Immediately set
cut up the Yazoo with the six gunboats
| Porter had left behind. and an impos-
ing array of transports. upon which he
| had about 10000 men. The gunboats
Shelled the banks. and Stevenson. who
| had been left i'm command at FickSburg,
| teleeraphed to Pembcrton. who was at
jackson. so miles away. that he felt
| entire confidence in being able to re-
| pulse the attack.
Line of March From MiIIIken's Bend to
| Bruinsburg.
1t hal beer hoped that the movement
CT troops and supplies below the city
could be greatly facilitated by the use
| of boats navigating the bayOuS and
| streams, and for this purpose a great
deal of very hard and exhausting labor
| was expended in cutting connections
4
the channels of the logs. Stumps and
| cverhanging trees. All the boats that
| could be found in the country We're col
lected, but the expectations were diSap-
pointed by the rapid fall in the level of
he water, which rendered these chan
nels impassab AS the water still
: covered the face of the country, the
march of the troops had to be along
the levees. ard was frequently impeded
by crevasscs in these. The skill. in
Yankee soldiers were illustrated in the
| highest degree by the rapdity with
| which they constructed bridges across
| these creVaSseS with material obtained
| from tearing down buildings along the
| route. In this way the men of McCier-
nandS Corps. under the direction of
| Maj. Peter Hams (now one of the 18TH
milan Canal Commission). built in all
| some 1000 feet of substantial bridging,
over which trains and heavy guns were
safely conveyed. A great crevasse oc-
CURED at Smiths Plantation. but a new
route was found around this to Per-
kins's Plantation, some eight or -
miles below New Carthage. but it in
creased the length of the march from
Milliken's Bend from 81 to 40 miles.
Grant was now moving his whole army
along this route, with McPherson's
Corps (the Seventeenth) following Nc
Clernand's Corps (the Thirteenth) and
Sherman holding the left of the line
with the Fifteenth Corps.
| Attack On Grand Gulf.
| Owing to McClernand's failure to
| force q crossing n Congo Landing II
was now necessary to attack Grand
Gulf. Five miles below Hard Times
Landing, whittier Gen. Grant was now
directing his troops the Point of Rocks
rises above the Mississippi River. on
| the eastern side, to the height of rs
feet. This is 500 yards below the mouth
of Black River, an important stream
coming down from the interior of the
State % Mississippi and passing to the
rear of Vicksburg. 1t was of much
consequence to the COnfederates at that
| time. since it enabled them to carry the
supplies obtained from the Red River
country up into the interior of the state
to the Horces stationed there. \ little
| below the Point of Rocks was the little
village of Grand Gulf, which gave the
name to all the Notifications around.
| The importance Of this had Deen seen,
and the Confederates had erected
work on the upper bluff. on which they
had mounted two seven-inch rifles. one
| eight-inch smoothbore and a 30-poun6
| rifle on wheels. From this a line of
| rifle-pits led to fort three-quarterS of
a mile farther down, in which were
mounted a 100-pound rife, an eight
| inch smoothbore and two 32-pounders.
Fesides this there were some lighter
guns, which could be shifted from one
part of the line to another.
! April p orders were issued for the
gunboats to attack the works, and Gen.
| Grant gathered about 1000 men upon
the transports. going with them himself
| in small tug, to take instant advan-
| tage OF the silencing of the guns by the
sunboats. On the morning of April %
the fleet moved down to the attack, led
by the Pittsburg, whose commander.
Lieut.. Hoel Mississippi pilot, and
4 t,f nhf ain hot LN<,l
| lowed by the Louisville. Carondelet and
Mound City. she ran by the upper fort
and came at once to close quarters with
the lower fertilization. while the La
fayette, Tuscumbia and Benton engaged
the upper works. The attack was
pushed with the utmost vigor, the boats
approaching within pistol shot OF the
shore. but though they succeeded in
silencing some of the enemys guns the
| rest kept up a spirited fire, and by
O'Clock it was seen that the hope Of de-
strOying the batteries could not be real
| lied. Several guns on the bluffs kept
up spiteful fire: a shot came through
the Benton'S pilOt-hOuse, which wound
ed the pilot and shattered the wheel;
the Tuscumbia's port-engine was dis
abled, and some of the other vessels
had received injuries Gen. Grant did
not dare to attempt to land his men
under the fire of the remaining guns.
and reluctantly gave the order for tho
| transports to return to the shore and
| the men to disembark. Therefore the
attack was called off and he and Com
mOdore Porter had a consultation. 1t
| was found that the Benton had lost
seven killed and 10 wounded; the Tus-
cumbia, five killed and "A wounded, and
the Pittsburg, six killed and Is wound
cd. The other vessels had escaped with
only one man wounded on the Lafay-
/, cite
! The river makes a sharp bend toward
/ Grand Gulf. leaving a long, narrow
point Of land opposite on the Louisiana
side. Grant and Porter at once de-
cided to pass below Grand Gulf and
cross the river there. AS soon as ii was
dark the fleet got under way, the Ben
ton leading, with the transports bring
ing up the rear. The Lafayette had
been keeping up desultory fire during
the afternoon to prevent the Confeder-
ates repairing their Notifications and
the other gunboats Joined in her fire as
they passed down. This gave the Con-
federates the impression that this was
all that they intended doing, and they
were amazed in the morning to see the
whole fleet lying four miles below tied
up on the Louisiana shore. Only one
was killed In this passage Of the bat