ARMY OPERATIONS. 



47 



lahatchie. The village of Greenwood is upon 

 the Yazoo, four miles below. The object of the 

 fortification at this location was not only to stop 

 the fleet from passing below, but also to prevent 

 its passing up the Yallobusha river, on which 

 a number of the enemy's steamers had sought 

 refuge, and on the bank of which also was the 

 important town of Granada. 



The Confederate force was estimated above 

 five thousand men, under the command of Gen. 

 Tilghman, who surrendered Fort Henry, in 

 Kentucky. On the morning of the llth a re- 

 connoissance was made by the gunboat Chilli- 

 cothe, Lieutl-Commander Foster. The boat ap- 

 proached within a short distance of the forti- 

 fication, and fired several shots, and was hit 

 four times in return by heavy shot from rifle 

 pieces. At the same time detachments from the 

 Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Indiana regi- 

 ments were sent out to feel the Confederate 

 position on the land side. A considerable body 

 of the enemy's skirmishers were encountered, 

 who were driven across the slough and into the 

 works, when the detachments were withdrawn. 

 In the afternoon the Chillicothe was order- 

 ed to engage the fortification. After she had 

 fired seven rounds, a 64-pound shell from the 

 enemy passed through a half-open port, strik- 

 ing upon the muzzle of a gun, in which a shell 

 had just been placed preparatory to cutting the 

 fuse. Both shells exploded at once, by which 

 three men were killed and eleven wounded. At 

 this time orders were received to withdraw 

 from the engagement. During the ensuing 

 night a force was sent to throw up a battery 

 facing the enemy's works, west of the slough, 

 and in the edge of the timber. A single 30- 

 pound Parrott gun was mounted, and the work 

 concealed by brush from the view of the enemy. 

 Subsequently another gun was mounted. No 

 attack was made on the 12th, in consequence 

 of the absence of the mortar boats. After some 

 delay, on the 13th, the engagement was com- 

 menced about half past ten A. M. by the land bat- 

 teries. The gunboats Chillicothe and De Kalb 

 soon after approached and opened their fire. 

 It now appeared that the fortification mounted 

 a rifled 64-Parrott and three 24-Dahlgrens, and 

 a small field battery. These guns were pro- 

 tected by a parapet composed of seven tiers of 

 cotton bales, covered on the outside with eight 

 feet of earth. The contest was bravely main- 

 tained for some time, when the fire of the en- 

 emy was suspended, but no disposition to sur- 

 render was shown. The gunboats and battery 

 kept up the fire, but without any success in re- 

 ducing the works. The Cflillicothe was struck 

 thirty-four times, but not severely injured. The 

 DeKalb suffered more, in consequence of some 

 shot penetrating her casemates, by which one 

 man was killed and five wounded. 



The impracticable nature of the approach to 

 the fort by foot soldiers on the west, in conse- 

 quence of the overflow or slough, rendered it 

 necessary that the gunboats should silence the 

 guns of the enemy, and enable the transports 



to run down and land troops immediately on 

 the fort itself. But all attempts to silence the 

 fort by the gunboats proved unsuccessful, and 

 the guns of the battery were withdrawn, and 

 the expedition put on the defensive. After a 

 few days it began to retire. 



Meantime, Gen. Grant had been led to be- 

 lieve, as the navigation proved better than 

 was expected, that it was possible to make 

 this the route for obtaining a foothold on high 

 land above Haines's Bluff, and had sent for- 

 ward a division of Gen. McPherson's corps, 

 commanded by Brig.-Gen. J. F. Quimby, and 

 had ordered some small-class steamers for 

 transporting the army. The seventeenth corps, 

 under Gen. McPherson, was also directed to be 

 in readiness to move, and one division from 

 the thirteenth and fifteenth corps each, was 

 collected near the Pass. But it soon became 

 evident that a sufficient number of boats of the 

 right class, could not be obtained for the trans- 

 portation of more than one division. On the 

 23d of March, therefore, orders were given to 

 withdraw all the forces operating in that direc- 

 tion, for the purpose of concentrating at Milli- 

 ken's Bend. 



At this time another expedition had started 

 under Admiral Porter, for the purpose of reach- 

 ing the Yazoo below Fort Pemberton and Green- 

 wood, and above Haines's Bluff. Such a move- 

 ment, if successful, would leave Greenwood 

 and Fort Pemberton to the rear of the Federal 

 forces, and necessarily cause it to be abandoned. 

 At the same time, about thirty Confederate 

 steamers could be captured or destroyed. The 

 route to be pursued by this expedition was 

 up the Yazoo river to Cypress bayou, which 

 enters that river at a point opposite the land- 

 ing place of Gen. Sherman's troops when at- 

 tacking the bluffs in the rear of Vicksburg, 

 thence into Steele's bayou, and along that 

 watercourse, and through Cypress Lake, to 

 Little Black Fork, thence into Deer creek. 

 Following this stream for some distance, the 

 route branches off along Rolling Fork into the 

 Big Sunflower river, which empties into the 

 Yazoo above Haines's Bluff. 



The expedition under Admiral Porter, con- 

 sisted of the gunboats Pittsburg, Louisville, 

 Mound City, Cincinnati, and Carondelet, with 

 a number of small transports. Gen. Grant 

 stated that the principal obstacles appeared to 

 be the overhanging trees, and he sent forward 

 a pioneer corps for their removal. Soon after, 

 Admiral Porter sent back for a cooperating mil- 

 itary force, and Gen. Sherman was promptly 

 sent with one division of his corps. The num- 

 ber of steamers suitable for the navigation of 

 these bayous being limited, most of the force was 

 sent up the Mississippi to Eagle Bend, a point 

 where the river runs within one mile of Steele's 

 bayou, thus avoiding an important part of the 

 difficult navigation. The cause of the failure 

 of this expedition is thus explained by Gen. 

 Grant : 



" The expedition failed, probably, more from 



