46 



ARMY OPERATIONS. 



26th. His total loss was reported at one hun- 

 dred and seventy men killed and wounded. 



Meantime, Gen. W. S. Smith, who was or- 

 dered to report to Gen. Sherman at Meridian, 

 moved from Memphis on February llth, with 

 a force of seven thousand men, consisting of 

 cavalry and a brigade of infantry. After two 

 days the expedition reached the Tallahatchie. 

 A demonstration was made westward by the 

 infantry toward Panola, thus attracting the 

 attention of a force of the enemy, while the 

 cavalry moved eastward to New Albany, where 

 the river was crossed without opposition. Gen. 

 Smith then pushed forward, and in the vicinity 

 of Houston encountered some troops under 

 Col. Gholson. They fell back to a swamp, 

 where a considerable force was concentrated. 

 Finding it impossible to turn either flank of 

 this position, Gen. Smith moved rapidly east- 

 ward, while a demonstration was made in front 

 of the enemy as if an attack was intended. On 

 the same day he surprised and entered Okalona. 

 The 9th Illinois cavalry, Lieut.-Col. Burgh, 

 was then sent to Aberdeen to endeavor to se- 

 cure a crossing of the Tombigbee. On the 

 next morning Col. Grierson was sent forward 

 with a brigade to support the 9th, with di- 

 rections to threaten Columbus strongly. 

 "With the remaining force Gen. Smith advanced 

 along the railroad toward "West Point, tearing 

 up the track and burning all the corn he found. 

 The quantity which he destroyed is reported as 

 nearly a million of bushels, with about two 

 thousand bales of cotton. During this portion 

 of the march negroes flocked to Gen. Smith 

 by hundreds, mounted on their masters' horses 

 and mules. They welcomed Gen. Smith as 

 their deliverer whenever he met them : " God 

 bless ye ; has yer come at last ? "We've been 

 lookin' for you for a long time, and had almost 

 done gone give it up," was the cry of many. 

 They bid farewell to their wives and children 

 and marched in the van. 



Hearing that the enemy was concentrated in 

 heavy force at West Point, the brigade at Ab- 

 erdeen was called over by a forced march to 

 the railroad, at a station fifteen miles north of 

 West Point. Two miles north of this station 

 Gen. Smith encountered a force of the enemy, 

 which fell back, after a sharp skirmish, through 

 the town to a swamp on the right. Gen, 

 Smith now found the enemy on his front in 

 strong force, holding all the crossings of the 

 swamp on the right ; also on the line of the 

 Octibbeha in front, and that of the Tombig- 

 bee River on his left. He could attack only 

 with light carbines, as his horses were useless 

 on the marshy ground. The enemy were armed 

 with muskets and rifles. Gen. Smith was also 

 now encumbered with pack-trains, and mules 

 and horses captured, numbering about two 

 thousand, beside as many negroes. To guard 

 these his effective force was reduced, and he 

 therefore determined to make a demonstra- 

 tion in front, and at the same time fall back 

 with Ma trains and his main body to Okalona. 



This movement was successfully executed, al- 

 though the enemy pressed closely, under the 

 command of Gens. Forrest, Lee, and Chalmers. 

 At Okalona, on the 22d, Gen. Smith was at- 

 tacked, and suffered severely in the loss of 

 men, besides five howitzers. His retreat that 

 day was followed up. Under cover of the 

 night he moved toward Pontotoc. This move 

 ment is thus described : " Picture to yourself, 

 if you can, a living, moving mass of men, ne- 

 groes, mules, and horses, of four thousand or 

 five thousand, all en masse, literally jammed, 

 huddled, and crowded into the smallest possi- 

 ble space ; night setting in ; artillery and small 

 arms booming behind us; cavalry all around 

 and ahead, moving on, on, on over fences, 

 through fields and brush, over hills and across 

 mud-holes, streams, and bridges, and still on, 

 on into the night, until the moon rises on the 

 scene and shows us some of the outlines of 

 this living panorama. I forgot to say that in 

 this crowd were a lot of prisoners, too, once 

 or twice attempting to escape, followed by 

 the swift report of the revolver, once with 

 bitter consequences to the escaping prison- 

 ers." 



During the day the enemy had moved on 

 each flank, with the evident design of reaching 

 the Tallahatchie River in advance, and forming 

 a junction to prevent the crossing of Gen. 

 Smith and capture his whole force; but, by 

 marching all night, he safely crossed the river 

 at New Albany. On the 23d the rear guard 

 had skirmishing all day. On the 25th the ad- 

 vance reached Memphis, at 11 p. M., having 

 marched nearly fifty miles that day. It was re- 

 ported that a million bushels of corn were de- 

 stroyed, many miles in length of the Memphis and 

 Ohio Railroad, bridges, cotton-gins, and build- 

 ings. Says one : " We have probably devoured 

 fifty thousand hams, some eggs, chickens, tur- 

 keys, milk, and butter by wholesale, and such 

 et ceteras as can be found in so rich a country 

 as we have passed through." The captured 

 stock and trains were brought off safely. The 

 loss was less than two hundred killed and cap- 

 tured. The expedition failed to make a junc- 

 tion with Gen. Sherman. 



When the expedition of Gen. Sherman re- 

 turned toward Vicksburg, a detachment was 

 sent up the Yazoo River, accompanied with 

 some gunboats. Yazoo City was attacked, 

 but the enemy held it until reenforced. An 

 amount of stores and cotton was destroy- 

 ed. The Federal loss was about fifty killed 

 and wounded. The general results of this 

 movement, including those of Gens. Sherman 

 and Smith, is stated to have been as follows: 

 One hundred and fifty miles of railroad, sixty- 

 seven bridges, seven hundred trestles, twenty 

 locomotives, twenty-eight cars, several thou- 

 sand bales of cotton, several steam mills, and 

 over two million bushels of corn were de- 

 stroyed. Some prisoners were captured, and 

 upwards of eight thousand negroes and ref- 

 ugees came in with the various columns. 



