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AEMY OPERATIONS. 



35 



This left the Confederate Gen. Pemberton at 

 liberty to concentrate his forces at Vicksburg 

 to resist Gen. Sherman. Thus that part of the 

 plan of the campaign against Vicksburg, which 

 related to the movements of Gen. Grant by land, 

 was unsuccessful. The approach of the wet 

 season of the year, the destruction of the rail- 

 roads, and the difficulty and delay in making a 

 further advance, caused the forces of Gen. 

 Grant soon to be withdrawn for the purpose 

 of joining Gen. Sherman before Vicksburg. 



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Meanwhile Gen. "William T. Sherman, who 

 had been stationed at Memphis, embarked with 

 one division on the 20th of December, and 

 dropped down to Friar's Point, the place of 



rendezvous. On the next day he was joined 

 by Admiral Porter, in his flagship, with the 

 gunboats Marmora, Capt. Getty, and Conea- 

 toga, Capt. Selfridge, to act as a convoy. The 

 main body of the naval force was at the mouth 

 of Yazoo river. On the same evening the troops 

 at Helena, making another division, embarked 

 in transports, and came to Friar's Point. 



The arrangements were completed by the 

 military and naval commanders during the next 

 forenoon, the 22d, and the fleet got under way, 

 and moved down just below the mouth of White 

 river, where it came to, at sunset. On the next 

 day it descended to Gaines's Landing, and at two 

 P.M. came to anchor, to await the arrival of 

 those transports in the rear, and also a division 

 of troops from Memphis. Half of the town of 

 Gaines's Landing was destroyed by fire while 

 the army was there. Similar destruction had 

 also been made at Friar's Point. These acts led 

 to stringent measures on the part of Gen. Sher- 

 man. 



On the night of the 24th and the morning of 

 the 25th, the fleet arrived at the mouth of the 

 Yazoo river. The fleet consisted of more than 

 sixty transports, with a number of ironclad 

 and other gunboats, and several mortar boats. 

 The Yazoo is a deep, narrow, and sluggish 

 stream, formed by the Tallahatchie and Yal- 

 lobusha rivers, which unite in Carroll county, 

 Mississippi. It runs through an alluvial plain 

 of extreme fertility, about 290 miles, and emp- 

 ties into the Mississippi river twelve miles 

 above Vicksburg. 



By this time Gen. Grant's communications in 

 his rear had been cut off, and he had been 

 compelled to fall back. The confederate forces 

 in his rear retired toward Vicksburg, where 

 they had already begun to concentrate, both 

 from the east and the west, although these facts 

 were unknown to Gen. Sherman. 



It was supp'osed by the Federal forces that 

 they would now receive the cooperation of 

 Gen. Banks and Admiral Farragut. The former 

 had left New York, near the close of the year, 

 with a considerable military force, for New 

 Orleans, where the latter commanded the naval 

 forces. 



On the 26th, the expedition, under convoy 

 of the gunboats, moved up the Yazoo, and the 

 troops were landed at various points from the 

 junction of Old River with the Yazoo to John- 

 son's Farm, a distance of about three miles, 

 without opposition. The distance from Vicks- 

 burg was about eight miles. A strong position, 

 known as Haines's Bluff, some distance above 

 on the river, was held by the Confederate 

 forces, and in the mean while attacked by the 

 gunboats De Kalb, Cincinnati, Louisville, Ben- 

 ton, and Lexington. It was the plan of Gen. 

 Sherman to attack Vicksburg in the rear. For 

 this purpose he was engaged, on the 28th, in 

 getting his forces into position. 



The bluffs on which Vicksburg is built take 

 their rise a little below the city, and extend in 

 a direction north of northeast to the Yazoo 



