2O JOHN WESLEY POWELL. 



having been ordered to report to General Banks. General Crocker 

 remained in Natchez a few weeks after Captain Powell's return, 

 and then was ordered to Vicksburg, and finally back of Vicksburg 

 to a little place called Hebron, where winter quarters were estab- 

 lished. Captain Powell had their batteries parked on a beautiful 

 piece of ground, barracks were constructed for the men, and stables 

 erected for the horses, and the weeks were spent in recruiting men 

 and horses and preparing for more active operations. 



Then the expedition to Meridian was made by General Sher- 

 man, and the division to which Captain Powell was attached took 

 part. The movement was one of destruction, its purpose being to 

 attack a small body of troops which had occupied the country not 

 far from Jackson, drive them across the State of Mississippi and 

 back into Georgia, and destroy all railroad communication with 

 Vicksburg, in order that the captured city might be garrisoned 

 with a small force, and the main body of the army withdrawn to 

 take part in operations elsewhere. 



In the march to Meridian the army met with but little opposi- 

 tion ; from day to day there was skirmishing, and some loss of life 

 on both sides, but the railroads over a broad zone of country were 

 torn up, and everything that could be utilised by an enemy in sup- 

 port of troops was destroyed. This destruction often involved the 

 burning of farm-houses and barns, and many buildings were re- 

 duced to ashes. On the return a vast horde of negroes, men, wo- 

 men, and children, with horses, mules, and cattle, were brought 

 back from Vicksburg, and once more General Crocker's division 

 went into camp at Hebron. 



Early in the spring his division was ordered to Chattanooga, 

 but in the meantime a regiment of colored troops was partly organ- 

 ised at Vicksburg, and Captain Powell, upon the request of General 

 Thomas, consented to take charge of them. He soon came to the 

 conclusion that these troops were not likely to take an active part 

 in the war, but would probably be held behind for garrison duty; 

 so he determined not to be mustered in as colonel of the regiment, 

 though a commission had been sent him, and he obtained permis- 

 sion to join the Fourth Division once more. 



On his return to the Fourteenth Division he was made Chief 

 of Artillery, of the Seventeenth Corps, having previously been com- 

 missioned as Major, and took part in the operations around Atlanta. 

 Subsequently he was made Chief of Artillery of the Department of 

 the Tennessee. 



When General Hood turned back toward Nashville, Major 



