ARMY OPERATIONS. 



65 



son ; and our river transportation to be used 

 for the movement of troops to any point the 

 exigency of the service might require." 



At ten o'clock on the 4th, the Confederate 

 forces marched out and stacked arms in front 

 of their works, while Gen. Pemherton appear- 

 ed for a moment with his staff upon the para- 

 pet of the central front. The city was imme- 

 diately after occupied by the divisions of Gens. 

 Logan, J. E. Smith, and Herron. 



The part taken by the naval force in these 

 operations is thus summarily described by Rear- 

 Admiral Porter, in a despatch to the Secretary 

 of the Navy, as follows : 



U. 8. MISSISSIPPI-SQUADRON, ) 



FLAG SHIP BLACK HAWK, July 4^,1868. ( 



SIR : I have the honor to inform you that Vicksburg 

 has surrendered at last to the United States forces, 

 after a desperate but vain resistance. That she has 

 not done so sooner has not been for want of ability on 

 the part of our military commanders, but from the 

 magnitude of the defences, which were intended to re- 

 pulse any force the Government could possibly send 

 there. What bearing this will have on the rebellion 

 remains yet to be seen, but the magnitude of the suc- 

 cess must go far toward crushing out this revolution, 

 and establishing once more the commerce of the States 

 bordering on this river. History has seldom had an 

 opportunity of recording so desperate a defence on 

 one side, with so much courage, ability, perseverance 

 and endurance on the other; and if ever an army was 

 entitled to the gratitude of a nation, it is the Army of 

 the Tennessee and its gallant leaders. 



The navy has necessarily performed a less conspic- 

 uous part in the capture o Vicksburg than the army; 

 still it has been employed in a manner highly creditable 

 to all concerned. The gunboats have been constantly 

 below Vicksburg in shelling the works, and with suc- 

 cess cooperating heartily with the left wing of the 

 army. The mortar boats have been at work for forty- 

 two days without intermission, throwing shells into all 

 parts of the city, even reaching the works in the rear 

 of Vicksburg and in front of our troops, a distance of 

 three miles. Three heavy guns placed on scows, a 

 nine-inch, ten-inch, and a one-hundred-pounder rifle 

 were placed in position a mile from the town, and com- 

 manded all the important water batteries. They have 

 kept up an accurate and incessant fire for fourteen 

 days, doing all the damage that could be done by 

 guns under such circumstances. Five eight-inch, two 

 nine-inch, two forty-two-pounder rifles, four thirty-two- 

 pounder shell guns have been landed, at the request 

 of the different generals commanding corps, from the 

 gunboats, and mounted in the rear of Vicksburg ; and 

 whenever I could spare the officers and men from our 

 small complement, they were sent to manage the guns, 

 with what ability I leave the general commanding the 

 forces to say. 



In the mean time, I stationed the smaller class of 

 gunboats to keep the banks of the Mississippi clear of 

 guerillas, who were assembling in force, and with a 

 large number of cannon, to block up the river and cut 

 off the transports bringing down supplies, reenforce- 

 ments, and ammunition for the army. Though the 

 rebels on several occasions built batteries, and with a 

 large force attempted to sink or capture the transports, 

 they never succeeded, but were defeated by the gun- 

 boats with severe loss on all occasions. 'Without a 

 watchful care over the Mississippi, the operations of 

 the army would have been much interfered with ; and 

 I can say honestly that officers never did their duty 

 better than those who have patrolled the river from 

 Cairo to Vicksburg. One steamer only was badly dis- 

 abled since our operations commenced, and six or 

 seven men killed and wounded. 



While the army have had a troublesome enemy in 

 front and behind them, the gunboats, marine brigade, 

 VOL. in. 5 A 



under Gen. Ellet, and a small force under Gens. Den- 

 nis and Mower, have kept at bay a large force of reb- 

 els, over twelve thousand strong, accompanied by a 

 large quantity of artillery. Though offered battle sev- 

 eral times and engaged, they invariably fled, and sat- 

 isfied themselves by assailing half-disciplined and un- 

 armed blacks. The capture of Vicksburg leaves a 

 large army and naval force free to act all along the 

 river, and I hope soon to add to my department the 

 vessels which have been temporarily lost to the ser- 

 vice, viz., the Indianola and Cincinnati. The effect of 

 this blow will be felt far up the tributaries of the Mis- 

 sissippi. The timid and doubtful will take heart, and 

 the wicked will, I hope, cease to trouble us, for fear of 

 the punishment which will sooner or later overtake 

 them. 



There has been a large expenditure of ammunition 

 during the siege. The mortars have fired seven thou- 

 sand mortar shells, and the gunboats four thousand 

 five hundred. Four thousand five hundred have been 

 fired from the naval guns on shore, and we have sup- 

 plied six thousand to the different army corps. 



DAVID D. PORTER, 

 A. R.-Admiral, comm'ng Mississippi Squadron. 



Hon. GIDEON WELLES, Sec'y of the Navy. 



The result of his operations is thus summed 

 up by Gen. Grant : " The result of this cam- 

 paign has been the defeat of the enemy in five 

 battles outside of Vicksburg; the occupation 

 of Jackson, the capital of the State of Missis- 

 sippi, and the capture of Vicksburg and its 

 garrison and munitions of war ; a loss to the 

 enemy of thirty- seven thousand (37,000) pris- 

 oners, among whom were fifteen general offi- 

 cers ; at least ten thousand killed and wound- 

 ed, and among the killed, Generals Tracy, 

 Tilghman, and Green ; and hundreds, and per- 

 haps thousands, of stragglers, who can never 

 be collected and reorganized. Arms and mu- 

 nitions of war for an army of sixty thousand 

 men have fallen into our hands, besides a large 

 amount of other public property, consisting of 

 railroads, locomotives, cars, steamboats, cotton, 

 &c., and much was destroyed to prevent our 

 capturing it. 



" Our loss in the series of battles may be 

 summed up as follows : 



"Of the wounded, many were but slightly 

 wounded, and continued on duty ; many more 

 required but a few days or weeks for their re- 

 covery. Not more than one-half of the wound- 

 ed were permanently disabled." 



On Saturday, the llth of Jiily, the force of 

 Gen. Pemberton, having been paroled, marched 

 from Vicksburg, and arrived at the Big Black 

 river at night. Thence they were distributed 

 to different parts of the South. 



On the 13th of July, the President addressed 

 the following letter to Gen. Grant : 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, July 13th, 1863. 

 MY DEAR GENERAL : I do not remember that you 

 and I ever met personally. I write this now as a 



