ARMY OPERATIONS. 



51 



miles to the north hank of Bayou Pierre, built 

 a bridge over that stream, and the advance 

 commenced passing over it at five o'clock on 

 the following morning. On the 3d, the enemy 

 were pursued to Hawkinson's Ferry, with 

 slight skirmishing all day, during which quite 

 a number of prisoners, mostly stragglers, were 

 taken. The following despatch from Gen. 

 Grant was sent to Washington : 



GRAND GULF, May 1th. 

 To Major- General Halleck, General-in-Chief: 



We landed at Bruinsburg, April 30, moved immedi- 

 ately on ?ort Gibson, met the enemy, 11,000 strong, 

 four miles south of Port Gibson, at 2 o'clock A. M., on 

 the 1st instant, and engaged him all day, entirely rout- 

 ing him, with the loss of many killed and about 500 

 prisoners, besides the wounded. The enemy retreated 

 toward Vicksburg, destroying the bridges over the 

 two forks of the Bayou Pierre. These were rebuilt, 

 and the pursuit was continued until the present time. 

 Besides the heavy artillery at this place, four field 

 pieces were captured, and some stores, and the enemy 

 was driven to destroy many more. The country is the 

 most broken and difficult to operate in I ever saw. 

 Our victory has been most complete, and the enemy is 

 thoroughly demoralized. 



Very respectfully, U. S. GRANT, 



Major-General Commanding. 



These movements of Gen. Grant had caused 

 the evacuation of Grand Gulf, and Admiral 

 Porter, upon making a movement to attack 

 that position on the 3d, found that it had been 

 abandoned. He then sent the following des- 

 patch to the Navy Department : 



FLAG SHIP BEXTON. GRAND GULP, Miss.. ) 

 May 3d, 1863. \ 



To the Hon. Gideon Welles, Sec'y of the Navy : 



SIR : I have the honor to report that I got under 

 way this morning with the Lafayette, Carondelet, 

 Mound City, and jPittsburg, and proceeded up to the 

 forts at Grand Gulf, for the purpose of attacking them 

 again if they had not been abandoned. 



The enemy had left before we got up, blowing up 

 their ammunition, spiking their large guns and bury- 

 ing or taking away their lighter ones. The armament 

 consisted of thirteen guns in all. The works are of 

 the most extensive kind, and would seem to defy the 

 efforts of a much heavier fleet than the one which 

 silenced them. 



The forts were literally torn to pieces by the ac- 

 curacy of our fire. Col. Wade, the commandant of 

 the batteries, was killed; also his chief of staff. 

 Eleven men were killed that we know of, and our in- 

 formant says many were wounded, and that no one 

 was permitted to go inside the forts after the action, 

 except those belonging there. 



We had a hard fight for these forts, and it is with 



reat pleasure that I report that the navy holds the 

 oor to Vicksburg. Grand Gulf is the strongest place 

 on the Mississippi. Had the enemy succeeded in fin- 

 ishing the -fortifications, no fleet could have taken 

 them. 



I have been all over the works, and find them as fol- 

 lows : One fort, on a point of rocks 75 feet high, cal- 

 culated for six or seven guns, mounting two 7-inch 

 rifled and one 8-inch, and one Parrott gun on wheels, 

 which was carried off. On the left of this work is 

 a triangular work, calculated to mount one heavy 

 gun. 



These works are connected with another fort by a 

 covered way and double rifle pits extending a quarter 

 of a mile, constructed with much labor, and showing 

 great skill on the part of the constructor. The third 

 fort commands the river in all directions. It mounted 

 one splendid Blakely 100-pounder, one 8-inch and two 



30-pounders. The latter were lying burst or broken 

 on the ground. 



The gunboats had so covered up everything that it 

 was impossible at first to see what was there, with the 

 exception of the guns that were dismounted or broken. 

 Every gun that fell into our hands is in good condi- 

 tion, and we found a large quantity of ammunition. 

 These are by far the most extensively built works, with 

 the exception of those at Vicksburg, that I have seen 

 yet, and I am happy to say that we hold them. 



I am dismounting the guns, and getting on board 

 the ammunition. 



Since making the above examination, new forts have 

 been passed nearly finished. They had no guns mount- 

 ed, but were complete of the kind as regards position, 

 and had*heavy field pieces in them. 



(Signed) DAVID D. PORTER, 



Acting Rear- Admiral, Com'g Mississippi Squadron. 



Gen. Grant now made the necessary arrange- 

 ments for changing his base of supplies from 

 Bruinsburg to Grand Gulf. From Milliken's 

 Bend to New Carthage a water communica- 

 tion had been opened by the Roundaway ba- 

 you, and troops occupied positions along the 

 route from Milliken's Bend to Dallas and thence 

 to New Carthage. A strong body also occu- 

 pied Richmond, situated in the angle formed 

 by the junction of the Brasby with Roundaway 

 bayou. 



When the army moved from Milliken's Bend, 

 the fifteenth corps, under Maj.-Gen. W. T. Sher- 

 man, remained to be the last to follow. Gen. 

 Sherman had also been ordered to make a 

 demonstration on Haines's Bluff, in order to 

 prevent heavy reinforcements leaving Vicks- 

 burg to assist the Confederate forces at Grand 

 Gulf. Gen. Sherman moved upon Haines's 

 Bluff, landing his forces on the south bank of 

 the Yazoo, and the attack was made chiefly by 

 the gunboats, on the 6th of May. The iron- 

 clads De Kalb and Choctaw, with other gun- 

 boats, engaged the batteries for six hours, dur- 

 ing which the Choctaw was struck fifty -four 

 tunes. The enemy displayed a strong force, 

 and anticipated a battle. On the 7th the ex- 

 pedition returned, and the military part pre- 

 pared to join Gen. Grant. It was entirely 

 successful in preventing reinforcements to the 

 enemy at Port Gibson. 



It had been the purpose of Gen. Grant, up to 

 the time of crossing the Mississippi, to collect all 

 his forces at Grand Gulf, and to get on hand a 

 good supply of provisions and ordnance stores, 

 before moving against Vicksburg from the 

 south. tCe had also determined, in the mean 

 while, to detach an army corps to cooperate 

 with Gen. Banks on Port Hudson, and effect a 

 junction of forces. But this plan was given 

 up by him in consequence of learning that 

 Gen. Banks could not return to Baton Rouge 

 from his position west of the Mississippi before 

 the 10th of May ; and that by the reduction 

 of Port Hudson he could not join Gen. Grant 

 with more than 12,000 men. The delay also 

 for the arrival of Gen. Banks at Baton 

 Rouge, and then for the reduction of Port 

 Hudson, would be so great that the addition 

 of 12,000 men to his forces would not make 

 him relatively so strong for the attack upon 



