VICKSBURG Chapter Eighty - Nine

 

A woman of Vicksburg awoke in her cave on Saturday morning, 4 July, 1863 to an unusual sound. Silence. Returning to her home, later that morning, in her kitchen,  she met a soldier looking for scraps. He told her that “...the men in Vicksburg will never forgive Pemberton...A child would have known better than to shut men up in this cursed trap to starve to death...Haven’t I seen my friends carted out three or four in a box, that had died of starvation... because we had a fool for a general.”

At about 10 a.m., white flags began to appear along the rebel fortifications. Painfully thin Confederate regiments (above)  " “staggered like drunken men from emaciation, and...wept like children..." and formed pale skinned ranks on the ridge line. They stacked their rifles, handguns, shotguns, swords and bayonets and furled their battle flags. Then they glumly waited.

John Benjamin Sanborn (above) was a 36 year old widowed lawyer from St. Paul, Minnesota, who had fought in every major engagement of the campaign since the Battle of Port Gibson.  Now a full bird Colonel, he and his old regiment, the 4^th Minnesota infantry, were General Logan's choice to lead the 3^rd division into Vicksburg. The evening before Sanborn's brigade had been issued new uniforms. The soldiers had shined the brass on their muskets and buttons until it shown like new as they formed up along the Jackson Road behind their band.

With General Grant and his staff in the lead, followed by General John Alexander Logan and his 3^rd division staff, the Yankees marched through the remnants of the Louisiana redoubt and down into the heart of Vicksburg. The 3^rd division band was playing “Hail Columbia”, the defacto national anthem since 1800, as well as “The Star Spangled Banner”, which would not be the official anthem until 1931.

Carried in an ambulance at the head of the 45^th Illinois, second regiment in the column, was the wounded Colonel Jasper Adalmorn Maltby. His head bandages still seeped blood from the 22 June battle in the crater of the Louisiana redan,  but the 36 year old gunsmith from Galena was determined to celebrate with his regiment, both crippled in the victory. He would shortly be promoted to Brigadier General, but would struggle to recover from his injuries.

As the column passed into the city itself, the victorious Yankee cannon outside slowly fired a 31 gun salute – one shot for each state in the union, including those in rebellion. By limiting the salute in this way, Grant disguised the number of cannon already moved to Sherman's front 20 miles to the east, which was now preparing to advance against Joe Johnston's Army of Relief. At the junction with Cherry Street the regiment reached the Warren County Courthouse (above) , where they formed around the base of the building. 

In front of the east portico, Grant dismounted and (above) was greeted by his defeated foe - Lieutenant General Pemberton. This set the Yankee soldiers to cheering.

A resident of the United States for just 5 years, Norwegian born 22 year old Private Knud Helling, wrote his best friend, “ We marched into the city in good order with (band) playing and the flags flying...The Rebel soldiers and the inhabitants stood in groups on the street corners and stared at us while we passed them...The inhabitants....looked very pale and wretched...The city is somewhat damaged by the horrible bombardment, and many of the houses have marks from our cannon balls....” John Thurston, also with the 4^th Minnesota, recalled it as “...the most glorious 4^th of July I ever spent.”

The cheering, happy blue coats drove the weary Confederates to evacuate the court house. With them gone, Yankee staff officers clambered up the iron staircase to the cupola, for an unimpeded view of their victory. One of them, who had imbibed of spirits, noticed the staircase had been forged in Cincinnati, and promptly cursed “...the impudence of the people who thought they could whip the United States when they couldn't even make their own staircases.”

Confederate Captain John Henry Jones was so reduced by hunger that he approached a Union lieutenant and requested permission to buy food. The lieutenant responded that request had to go through military channels, to which Jones replied it must be obvious from his appearance, “I would be dead some days before its return”.  

Laughing at the shared frustration with military bureaucracy, the Yankee remembered he had some “trash” in his haversack. The 32 year old Jones wrote that, “The “trash” consisted of "...about two pounds of gingersnaps and butter crackers; luxuries I had not seen for three years. I was struck dumb with amazement....I fell upon that “trash” like a hungry wolf....the memory of that sumptuous feast still lingers, and my heart yet warms with gratitude towards that good officer for the blessing he bestowed.”

Viewing from her nearby home, Dora Miller with her husband watched the American flag unfurled atop the Warren County Courthouse. They shared northern sympathies and he . “...drew a long breath of contentment. Dora herself wrote, “Now I feel once more at home in mine own country.” In an hour more a grand rush of civilians set out for the river. With the riverfront batteries silent, the Federal fleet of transports now swarmed to the empty docks (above), carrying “coffee and flour.” First come, first served,’ you know,” the couple were told. Within hours crowds were dashing “...through the streets with their arms full, canned goods predominating.”

Grant wrote in his memoirs, “Our soldiers were no sooner inside the lines than the two armies began to fraternize...I myself saw our men taking bread from their haversacks and giving it to the enemy they had so recently been engaged in starving out. It was accepted with avidity and with thanks.” Not every southerner was willing to be gracious. Margaret Lord, wife of the Reverend Lord and mother to Lida, turned down a Yankee offer of food.

From the docks, Grant dispatched a staff officer to Cairo, the nearest secure telegraph station, with the following message for Washington: “The enemy surrendered this morning. The only terms allowed is their parole as prisoners of war. This I regard as a great advantage to us at this moment. It saves, probably, several days in the capture, and leaves (our) troops and transports ready for immediate service...

"....Sherman, with a large force, moves immediately on Johnston, to drive him from the State. I will send troops to the relief of Banks, and return the 9th army corps to Burnside.” The dispatch boat arrived in Cairo about noon on Tuesday, 7 July, 1863. And then the entire world knew.

Grant meanwhile returned to his headquarters, where he ordered all but a few units to prepare to join the march on the Big Black River.   About 5:00 that evening, Logan's men began to spread out into the town. Noted the woman of Vicksburg, “What a contrast to the suffering creatures we had seen so long were these stalwart, well-fed men...Sleek horses, polished arms, bright plumes, - this was the pride and panoply of war. Civilization, discipline, and order seemed to enter with the measured tramp of those marching columns; and the heart turned with throbs of added pity to the worn men in gray, who were being blindly dashed against this embodiment of modern power. And now this “silence that is golden...” 

It would be a another week before the 31,000 rebel soldiers, including sick and wounded, would receive their parole papers, and set out for their homes or other bases to await exchange. The Confederates also surrendered 50 smooth bore field cannons, 31 rifled field guns, 22 howitzers, 46 smooth bore siege guns, 21 rifled siege guns, 1 siege howitzer, and a 10-inch mortar - 172 artillery pieces in total. 

The Yankees also removed from Confederate control 38,000 artillery shells, 58,000 pounds of black powder, 4,800 artillery cartridges and 60,000 muskets.

Editor John Shannon had dismissed a Yankee boast that one day Grant would eat dinner in Vicksburg, by advising the recipe for cooking rabbit was “First, Ketch your rabbit”. The honorable Mr. Shannon now admitted in the last edition of his publication, printed on the back of wallpaper, that Grant had indeed caught his rabbit.

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VICKSBURG Chapter Forty - Eight

 

It was men from Madison who drew the first shots from the rebel cavalry at about 6:45am on that Saturday, 16 May, 1863, about 10 miles northwest of Raymond on the Edward's Depot Road. Under the able direction of 22 year old lawyer, Lieutenant Colonel William Freeman Vilas, Companies “A”, “D” and “I” of the Wisconsin 23^rd Infantry (above) were deployed as skirmishers, and they slowly drove the rebel cavalry northwestward up the road.

The 23^rd was the leading regiment of 31 year old Brigadier General Stephen Gano Burbridge's 1^st Battalion, within the 10^th Division, under the irascible professional, 47 year old Brigadier General Alexander Jackson Smith. Behind Smith's division on this same road was the 2^nd Division of 42 year old politically connected Major General Francis Preston Blair, junior. His division, under Sherman's XVIIth Corps, had just escorted 200 wagons of ammunition to Grant's army. But now they were marching under General McClernand's orders, expecting battle with the Army of Mississippi sometime today.  

Confederate Major General William Wing Loring's division was just up that road, alerted now and preparing a reception for the Yankee's. But shortly after 7:30am, the sound of cannon fire from the north made obvious the central flaw in Loring's plan, which Lieutenant General John Clifford Pemberton (above) had adopted. 

The only bridge over Baker's Creek was behind the rebel army's left flank. And with the ford on the Raymond road still flooded, that bridge was Pemberton's only connection to Edward's Depot and his supply line back to Vicksburg. So while trying to cut Grant's supply line, Pemberton had uncovered his own. In a near panic, Pemberton ordered Loring to pull his men back 2 miles to Champion Hill, dig in and hold his ground.

Up north, where the the Ratliff Road met the Clinton road, atop the 75 foot high Champion Hill, the “slender dark-bearded” 29 year old Brigadier General Stephen Dill Lee (above) was methodically getting his Alabama battalion organized for the day's march. He was not expecting trouble, but then, about 7:30am, a company of the 20^th Alabama regiment on the Clinton Road began exchanging gunfire with an advancing Yankee regiment. The shooting got hot for a time, and when the Yankees kept showing up in disturbing numbers Lee had to react quickly. He formed his men into an angle, facing Yankees to the north and to the east.

In one regard the South Carolinian was responsible for this war. As an 1856 graduate of West Point, Captain Stephen Lee had delivered the ultimatum to Fort Sumter in April of 1860. When the fort's commander, Major Anderson, pointed out he had rations for only 3 days, making any shooting or loss of life unnecessary, Lee had rejected the peace offer out of hand. He replied, “(General) Beauregard will open fire on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time." Would the north have reacted with such unity, if the rebellion had begun with a quiet surrender and not a bombardment? Thanks to Stephen Lee, we will never know. 

As a cavalryman in 1862 Stephen had fought at Seven Pines, where General Johnston was wounded. As a Colonel of artillery, he had commanded Confederate guns at Antietam Creek that September, and maybe saved the Army of Northern Virginia. At Chickasaw Bluffs, in January of 1863, at the head of a full division, he had repulsed Sherman's corps, maybe saving Vicksburg. And now atop Champion Hill, reduced again to a brigade commander, Lee recognized the key to his position as the almost imperceptible narrow crest that formed an angle along the hilltop.

Grant's hammer was about to fall on Pemberton's army at the most crucial spot at the precise moment it could destroy the rebel army. In addition to the 11,000 blue coats approaching on the Raymond Road, 2 more Yankee divisions were heading toward Champion Hill on the Clinton Road – the 9^th Division , under 40 year old Prussian born revolutionary Brigadier General Peter J. Osterhaus, followed by the 14^th Division of 33 year old New Yorker, Brigadier General Eugene Asa Carr – both members of 51 year old Major General John Alexander McClernand's XIII Corps.

And to the north, on the Bolton road, were 3 divisions - the 12^th of 42 year old Brigadier General Alvin Peterson Hovey, - XIII Corps - the 3^rd Division of 37 year old John Alexander Logan, and the 7^th Division of 33 year old Hoosier Marcelles Monroe Crocker, both from the XVII Corps under 34 year old Major General Birdseye McPherson. But McClernand was the senior officer present, and about 9:00am when General Hovey asked for permission to launch an assault, McClernand postponed the decision until General Grant had arrived. Meanwhile he ordered Logan's division to extend Hovey's bent line line toward Baker's Creek.

As Hovey's infantry twisted to face Champion Hill, the 168 men of the 16^th Ohio Volunteer Light Battery pulled up north of the the Champion farm house, From here they had a clear view of the Confederates atop the hill.

These Buckeyes had been organized by 37 year old Springfield, Ohio lawyer, Captain James Anderson Mitchel. Its six 6 pound brass rifled cannon were serviced by, among others, the captain's brothers and cousins– 36 year old Lieutenant Isaac Newton Mitchel, 31 year old Sergeant “Jim” H. Mitchel, 25 year old Sergeant William Mitchel, 22 year old Corporal Isaa Mitchel, 21 year old Corporal Pomeroy Mitchel, and 32 year old Private Milton Mitchel.

Corporal Pomeroy Mitchel (above) would write years later, “A skirmish line was thrown out to feel (the rebel) position. Logan's Division marched past and filed to the right....while the enemy was in the woods facing them....” Hovey's men were facing west and south.

Up on the bare hilltop, division commander, Major General Carter Stevenson (above), edged Lee's Alabama brigade to the left - replacing it on the Clinton/Ratcliff crossroads with the larger 1^st Brigade of Brigadier General Seth Barton – the 34^th, 31^st and 39^th Georgia regiments. The defense of this vital position at the new center of the line was also supported by the sole 2 remaining cannon of the Botetourt Artillery – the Virginians badly mangled at Port Gibson back on 1 May – and the 8 guns crewed by Alabamians, under 36 year old Captain James Flemming Waddell.

Stevenson's 3rd Brigade, under Brigadier General Alfred Cumming, extended Lee's line west along the crest, facing north. Stevenson held his 4^th brigade under Colonel Alexander Reynolds in reserve, and sent the supply wagons scrambling back across the Baker's Creek bridge to safety. All this took time to establish, but luckily the Yankees seemed in no hurry.

It was not until 10:00am that Grant  (above) and McPherson finally arrived on the field. Grant took over the Champion house as his headquarters. Angry at the delay, Grant reluctantly waited until Logan's men were deployed out on his left flank, and then, about 10:30am, ordered the assault against the entire rebel line.

Wrote the witness Corporal Pomeroy Mitchel, “The infantry of our brigade went forward on both sides of the road. At the brow of the hill there was a battery which was to be taken first of all. (37 year old hat maker Brigadier General George Francis) McGinnis ordered one section of our battery (2 guns) to advance and prepare for action. After advancing to the (base) of the Hill we halted, while the 49th Indiana and 29th Wisconsin were creeping up the hill to capture the battery...For the last rush, they waited till all the (enemy) guns had fired.” 

The charge, when it came , was short - about 75 yards -  and bloody.  Recalled 23 year old Lieutenant Thomas Wise Durham, of the 11^th Indiana, “We were stabbing with bayonets, clubbing with guns, officers shooting with revolvers and slashing and thrusting with swords.” After several long violent  minutes the rebel line broke, and the Confederates fell back, seeking shelter in a ravine on the southern slope, cut by Austin Creek,  But other Federal regiments flanked the ravine, and fired volley after volley into it, until,  said Durham,, “They were really piled on top of each other,” Austin Creek, he said, ran red. By 11:00am, the Yankees had captured half a dozen rebel cannon and controlled the vital road junction. Grant had just cut off two thirds of the Pemberton's small army.

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VICKSBURG Chapter Forty - Three

 

The first manifestation of Grant's shift in strategy came shortly after 4:30am on Wednesday, 13 May, 1863, when the bloodied troops of General Logan's 3^rd division marched through the village of Raymond, and surprisingly took the right hand fork in the road. They were heading not toward the capital of Jackson, 25 miles to the east, but north. And by noon they had reached the tiny railroad town of Clinton, Mississippi.

          

After the bloodletting of 12 May, General John Gregg (above) withdrew his battalion to a line along Snake Creek. But he could not stay there. His little force was now reduced to less than 3,000 effectives - healthy men still in organized units with ammunition and the willing to fight. But this was the only force available to defend the state capital. Allowing his men a few hours of rest, Gregg pulled them back further to Mississippi Springs. But in the process, because the Texas General had no cavalry, he lost contact with the Yankees. The afternoon of 13 May, 1863, Gregg returned to Jackson, to gather every additional man he could find, to defend the city.

Meanwhile, the small village of Clinton, fell without a shot fired in its defense. In effect, Grant merely extended his arm, that appendage being Logan's division (above), and the great prize the Federal armies had striven for the past 5 months, dropped into the palm of his hand like a ripe fruit. He now had only to close his fist and the Gibraltar of the Confederacy, the western post supporting the thousand mile long jugular that pumped life's blood from the bounty of the trans-Mississippi across the continent to Richmond, Virginia would be rendered assunder. The instant Yankee soldiers picked up the first ten foot long iron rail from its bed or set fire to the first bridge over a dry creek along the Southern Railroad, the 45,000 rebel soldiers 40 miles to the east defending Vicksburg, were cut off.

The Yankees spent the afternoon tearing up rails for a mile or more to the west of Clinton Station. Anything in town they could not eat or wear or use to entertain themselves, they burned. And while they did, McPherson pushed the 13 regiments of 33 year old Brigadier General Marcellus Monroe Crocker's 14^th Division out the Jackson road. And before the tail of McPherson's XVII Corps had even reached the fork in the road, the 17,000 men of William Tecumseh Sherman's XV Corps marched into Raymond on the Utica road. The next day, 14 May, they were to strike at the capital of the state of Mississippi.

The first effect of the war on the 3,000 residents of Jackson had been inflation. Within a year a pair of boots cost as much as $125.00, a pound of sugar was going for $3.50, Tea cost $7.00 a pound and locally grown watermelons cost up to $25.00 apiece. Still, the war remained an abstraction until April of 1862, when trains delivered a small portion of the the 8,000 wounded from the bloody fields around Shiloh Church, Tennessee, to the hospitals and homes of Jackson.

That winter, when Grant first invaded the state,  Jackson was encircled by a single “mild” trench dug by slaves.  By then the population had almost doubled, the newcomers being refugees from the battle zones.

And there was also the Jackson Arsenal, in the College Green neighborhood, 2 blocks east and a block south of the state capital building (above). 

In the 2 story brick North School building in College Green – an antebellum boy's school - some 80 men, women and children assembled ammunition -  small arms' cartridges up stairs and artillery shells on the ground floor. 

The work was hard, the pay was low, the conditions abysmal, and the outcome inevitable. At about 3:00pm on Wednesday, 5 November, 1862 there was an horrific explosion, which blew apart the school. This was followed by fires which set off any of the stored munitions left.

The Weekly Mississippian reported 2 days later, “ All the men and women employed in the building...had been hurled to instantaneous destruction...One man had a leg torn off and his brains literally blown out. The body of a poor girl was hanging by one foot to the limb of a tree...her clothes were still burning. Other bodies were blown to the distance of from fifty to one hundred and fifty yards, and presented a mutilated and most shocking appearance. The packages of powder and the shells were yet continually exploding...The fire engine was promptly on the ground, but could not do much owing to the want of water.”

It would appear that several people in authority knew full well the unsafe conditions in the arsenal, since, as the Mississippian newspaper pointed out, “The officers in charge of the Arsenal...save one superintendent, were not on duty at the site.” One was, in fact, “in his sick room.” Those who died did so because they needed the money, and/or because they were dedicated to the cause.

Then, at about 10:30pm that very night “...a fire broke out in (a South State Street)...jewelry and dry-goods establishment...The fire raged northward...and destroyed the house occupied by Mrs. Evans as a millinery establishment and continued its ravages to Mr. Weirs, next to John Martz, next to Mr. John Robinson's where the progress of the flames was arrested. Also destroyed was the depot of the Southern Railroad with several surrounding buildings. Several bales of cotton and a considerable quantity of goods were also destroyed..." One resident noted that before dawn, many of the goods saved from the burning homes and stores were then stolen by looters. Now it felt as if the war was  truly coming to Jackson.

Six months of dread followed, and it began to weigh upon the citizens. As soon as Grant had crossed the Mississippi river, General Pemberton had advised the governor to send the state archives into the interior. People took note of that. Less than a week later, the Mobile Alabama Register and Advertiser newspaper noted that in Jackson, “The trains for the interior are crowded with non-combatants, and the sidewalks blocked up with cases, barrels, old fashioned trunks and chests,..."  Civilians were getting out, and a few soldiers, like General Gregg, were coming in.

And the night of Wednesday, 13 May, 1863, General Gregg was startled to discover yet another arrival in the capital of Mississippi, Lieutenant General Joseph Eggleston Johnson. No one had been told to expect the old man. But Gregg welcomed him, particularly because he was closely followed by 3,000 reinforcements.

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