738 



VICTORIA. 



armies ore they had time to unite. On May 7 the 

 movement commenced. \viili (lie assault of Vicks 

 bnnrfroO) tie rear :i." its ultimate nh''cc|. Oil llie iL'th 

 Mcl'herson leading (irant s advance met at Itayiiioml 

 A force Milder (ieti. (ircgg from Jackson. 'I 'I. 

 defeated ami driven hack on lint eity. The in \t 

 .\as direct on Jackson. when- Jolmstoi ..... w was 

 at tlie lii-ad of II'.IKMI men. and on the I till this place 

 was taken, the supplies collected there destroyed, and 

 the railroad bridge. broken down. .Inliiisiuii lost S|.~. 

 men and IT guns. (irant instantly t'aceil to the \\< M 

 nL r :iin.-t Pavbotoa, met him on the I i"th ai Champion's 

 Hill, and, alter the hardest timirhl battle of tin- 



paipn, defeated him with a loss of MOO put hnr lit 

 C'nitfi'it. li.">00 prisoners, and L'4 guns. On the; ITtli 

 the enemy was again MHOantereO intrenched at Big. 

 Black Kivi-r bridge, and, alter a hard light. driven 

 across the river, with a heavy loss in killed and 

 wounded, and of 1751 men captured as well as is 

 guns. On May is the outworks of Vicksburg were 

 reached, and the Confederates driven within the forti- 

 fications. The city was forthwith invested, and from 

 this date the siege is to be reckoned. 



< 5 rant, U'lieving Pemberton's troops demoralized 

 by their defeats at Champion's Hill and His Black, 

 ordered a heavy Assault on the 19th and another on 

 the Jd. Both resulted in discomfiture, Ithongb 

 some of the enemy's advanced positions were cap- 

 tured. On the LMd the siege was begun in regular 

 form, and the troops set to work in fortifying the posi- 

 tion and pushing it forward towards the enemy's 

 parapets. 



Vicksburg is situated on the cast hank of the Mis 

 sissippi, a mile below the junction of the Va/.m), and 

 Mauds on an uneven bluff, much broken up on the 

 land side with ravines, having an average height of 

 from lioo to U.'jO feet above the river. Its defences 

 commenced ,'i miles below the town and followed the 

 highest ridpe in an east and north-east direction till 

 they reached the Jackson Knad. where they turned 

 due north and then west for U miles till they reached 

 the river at Fort Hill. The total length was about 

 7 miles. The line had been selected in the autumn of 

 thoroughly fortified diirimr the winter 

 and spring. At an average distance, of Hi Ht yards bat- 

 liad Wen constructed, the parapets L'.'I feet thick, 

 111 t'eet high, and ditch 7 feet deep. The works were 

 defended by ISHguns. In addition to land defences, 

 the circuit was made complete by a scries ol' water 

 battcries stretching along the Mississippi from Fort 

 Hill on the north to where they met the land batteries 

 on the south. These mounted :;<) pi. irtillcry 



of the heaviest calibre and 13 pieces Held artillery. 

 The troops for the defence numbered over liO,(Ho 

 effectives, in four divisions, under (lens. Stevenson. 

 Forney, Smith, and Howen, with the addition of 

 Waul's legion. Stevenson held tin! right, Forney the 

 centre, Smith the left. Bowcn's division and Waul's 

 legion were in reserve. 



(iiMHt had 71, (XX) troops to conduct the siege and 

 defend his rear auain-t Johnston, who had now been 

 reinforced to over 30,000. By June :',0 he had _"_'( 

 military puns in position, all light field-pieces except 

 3^-poundcrs, supplemented by a battery of heavy guns 

 from the navv in all 248 pieces. Sherman held the 

 right of the besieging force, starting from the river; 

 Mrl'hcrson came next; McClcrnand stood left of him, 

 holding the road south to Wairenton. LuM&u'l 

 divLsion. which arrived at this time, held the extreme 

 left. Grant's head quarters were at the north cast 

 angle, where Sherman's and Mcl'herson's corps 

 touched. His whole lino measured about 15 miles. 

 A sap which had l>cen run up to the enemy's parapet 

 was exploded on the H.'jlh June without any definite 

 and an attempt to charge after the explosion 

 resulted in failure. On July I another mine was ex- 

 ploded. and destroyed a redan, killing and wounding 

 a number of its occupants, but no attempt was made 



to charge. From this time the work of mining and 

 pushim: the position nearer the' enemy went on with 

 renewed vigor. Already the approaches had reached 

 the enemy's ditch, and orders were i:ivcn to prepare 

 for the assault on July (i. Meantime the garrison had 

 begun to suffer from failure of supplies An inter- 

 iespateh had informed ilr.;nt that Johnston had 

 planned an attack to relieve it. while lYmbciton w;ui 

 lo cut his way out. The line of defence which 1 

 iniiircemeiils enabled (irant to make towards Jackson 

 foiled this scheme, as the means taken by him in con- 

 nection with Admiral 1'orter had on the L'lst equally 

 toiled a scheme of IVmlicrtoli's to leave the city for 

 the Louisiana side by boats. When PembettOD saw 

 that all hope of relief or escape had vanished, he. on 

 July 1, addressed his four division commanders, asking 

 whether they would counsel evacuation. Two directly 

 counselled surrender ; the other two did practically the 

 same, saying that an attempt to evacuate, would fail. 

 Already IVmlierton had received a message from 

 Johnston suggesting he should negotiate for ihe re- 

 lease of the garrison with their arms. 



On July '> a white flag appeared on a portion of the 

 works and hostilities along that line ceased. Shortly 

 thereafter (!en. Boweti, and l'eml>erton's aide-de- 

 camp. Col. Montgomery, appeared with a white flag 



and bearing a letter asking an armistice "for 



hours" to allow commissioners lo meet to arrange terms 

 of capitulation. This (irant declined to accede to, but 

 wrote, saying he would meet PembotOD to arrange for 

 unconditional surrender of eity and garrison, promis- 

 ing that the latt'T would bo treated with all the res|>ect 

 due prisoners of war. At :: P. M. IVndierlon appeared 

 with some of his officers and met (irant with some, 

 Union generals, (irant woul 1 accede to nothing but 

 unconditional surrender, but agreed to send a letter 

 embodying his final terms at in p. M. These terms 

 the surrender of the city and of the whole force, with 

 their arms and munitions, as prisoners of war, not to 

 serve again till properly exchanged were accepted ny 

 I'euiberton, ami at 10 A. M.. July 4,. the Confederate 

 troops man-bed out, each division taking position in 

 front of its works, where it stacked arms, laying its 

 colors upon them, and then marched back to tic 

 Logan's division man-bed in and took possession. 

 I'aroles were made out and signed as quickly as pn--i- 

 ble, the prisoners being meanwhile fid from the Union 



stores. On July II they marched out unarmed, and 

 proceeded to the neighborhood of Enterprise, Mis*., 

 and llemoj.olis, Ala., where they remained till they 

 were exchanged in the following September. The 

 number of men actually paroled was L".i.:V.i], namely, 

 Jli'tl officers and L'7.4L.'f> men. There were, also 7iK) 

 who refused parole and were sent north as prisoners of 

 war, so that the total force surrendered was, in round 

 numbers, ,",0.4(M1. The artillery found in the place 

 numbered ITU pieces. i',7 of which were siege-guns. 

 (irant's total loss in the campaign (including expedi- 

 tion i-.gainst Jackson) was a little under Iti.iioo. lYin- 

 berton's loss, includim.- men surrendered, has In 

 timated at -15.1X10. The total leiiL'lh of the siege, from 

 May IS to July :i. ISd.'J, was 47 <! 



The events of July 4, ISfiS, at Vicksburg and Gettys- 

 burg, sounded the death knell of the Confederacy. 

 The struggle was prolonged indeed, and maintained 

 with the desperate resolution of brave men. but of 

 men conscious that defeat awaited them in the end. 

 (irant, for his brilliant services, was promoted to major- 

 general in the regular army, ami Congress, on its meet- 

 ing, nasscd a vote of thanks to him and hia army and 

 Voted him a gold medal. (j. II.) 



YMTOIMA, Queen of (ircat Britain and Ireland, 

 and F,m press of India, daughter and only child of Ivl- 

 ward. Duke of Kent, was born at Kensington I'alace, 

 London, May 24, IS I '.I. her mother ] ini; Victoria Mary 



da la- liter of Francis. Dukcof Saxi: Cobill 

 feld, and widow of Prince Charles of Leiningcn. The 

 Duke of Kent died when his daughter, Aiexandrina 



