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Washington to supersede McClellan. A large rebel army under Sterling Price had occupied Iuka, twentyone miles southeast from Corinth, against whom General Grant advanced by two different routes. General Rosecrans, commanding the Army of the Mississippi, advancing from the south, while that under General Ord from the north; General Rosecrans on September 19, fiercely attacked Price, defeating him in a bloody battle, but Price succeeded in escaping; uniting his forces with Van Dorn, he marched upon Corinth. General Grant was at this time at Jackson, where he was threatened by a considerable Confederate force located at LaGrange and Ripley. Rosecrans was in command at Corinth having only nineteen thousand men in his ranks, while the enemy approached with thirtyeight thousand men, with the evident intention of retaking Corinth at all hazards, or at least, to break the Union line of communication, and force a retreat. On the 4th of October the enemy made a furious attack upon the works at Corinth, and the most desperate fighting ensued. The rebel troops rushed to the assault with their usual bravery; bravely did the garrison defend the position, repelling the enemy with enormous slaughter; during the battle General McPherson had arrived from Jackson with reinforcements, having been sent by General

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GENERAL VAN DORN.

Grant in aid of the beleaguered garrison. General Grant, feeling confident of the success of the Union arms, had sent Generals Ord and Hurlburt with 4,000 men to strike the enemy in flank upon their retreat. General Rosecrans pursued the enemy from Corinth, pushing them toward the Hatchie Rive, where the force under Generals Ord and Hurlburt fell 1.pon their already bleeding and shattered columns, forcing them back, capturing a battery of artillery and several hund ed prisoners. General Rosecrans, on the next day sent the following telegram:

TO MAJOR-GENERAL GRANT:

CHEVALLA, October 6, 1862.

The enemy is totally routed, throwing everything away. We are following sharply.

W. S. ROSECRANS, Major-General.

Generai Grant's congratulatory order to his troops will be
found in the appendix. President Lincoln dispatched to
General Grant the following congratulations and inquiries:
WASHINGTON, D. C., October 6, 1863

MAJOR-GENERAL GRANT:

I congratulate you and all concerned in your recent battles and victories. How does it all sum up? I especially regret the death of General Hackleman, and am very anxious to know the condition of General Oglesby, who is an intimate personal friend.

A. LINCOLN.

The Federal success at Iuka and Corinth, relieved West Tennessee from ali immediate danger. This brief campaign had displayed General Grant's military judgment and the admirable clearness of his perceptions, and made the way clear for his campaign against Vicksburg.

1

CHAPTER VII.

THE ADVANCE TO VICKSBURG.

By general orders from the War Department, dated October 16, 1862, General Grant was assigned to the "Department of the Tennessee," which was now extended to include the State of Mississippi, in which was Vicksburg. General Grant formally assumed his new command on the 25th of October, although he had virtually held it since the departure of Halleck for Washington. In November Grant removed his headquarters from Jackson to LaGrange, that he might be in a better position to support Sherman who was then at Memphis preparing for his movement on Vicksburg.

On the 20th of December the Confederate General Van Dorn succeeded in capturing from the Federal forces, through the cowardice of General Murphy, the important post of Holly Springs, which had been made the principal base of supplies for Grant's army. Its loss prevented Grant's co-operation with Sherman in his movement against Vicksburg, which promised to be successful.

Vicksburg is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi, twelve miles below the mouth of the Yazoo. All that the Confederacy had of engineering skill and experience was exhausted in rendering it the Gibraltar of America. It was out of the question to capture the town by the river front, and the rear had been made almost as impregnable. Already three attempts had been made by the Federals to

capture this stronghold. Commodore Farragut, after his capture of New Orleans, had ascended the river as far as Grand Gulf, a short distance below Vicksburg, but accomplished nothing. On the 8th of June, soon after the capture of Memphis, a second attack was made, and for a time the batteries at Grand Gulf were silenced, but the low state of the water obliged the fleet to return down the river. General Williams had attempted to dig a canal across

ADMIRAL FARRAGUT.

the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, hoping to turn the waters of the Mississippi into it, allowing the Union gun. boats and transports to pass below Vicksburg. Unfortunately for the success of this plan, the low condition of the water compelled him to abandon the undertaking, and the Confederates at once filled up the canal.

It had long been pre

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dicted that the Mississippi Valley would be the seat of the future Empire of America. Napoleon, when negotiating the cession of Louisiana, said: "The nation which controls the Valley of the Mississippi, will eventually rule the world." De Tocqueville, in his writings, says: "It is the most magnificent dwelling-place prepared by God for man's abode." The river enriches an area of nearly one million and a half of square miles, six times the area of the Empire of France. Fifty-seven rivers, many of them a thou

sand miles in length, contribute to swell its waters. The Indians called it the "Father of Waters." General Sherman once said, "The possession of the Mississippi River is the possession of America." Jefferson Davis said to the citizens of Mississippi at Jackson, "Assist in preserving the Mississippi River, that great artery of the Confederacy, and thus conduce more than in any other way, to the perpetvation of the Confederacy, and the success of the cause." Vallandigham, in his speech declaring the inability of the government to conquer the Rebellion, and the determination of the Northwest to go with the South, said: "There is not one drop of rain that falls over the whole vast expanse of the Northwest that does not find its home in the bosom of the Gulf." Unlike Vallandigham in his views, yet recognizing the importance of this vast inland sea to the people of the Northwest, the brave and eloquent General Logan said: "If the rebels undertake to control the Mississippi, the men of the Northwest will hew their way to the Gulf, and make New Orleans a fish-pond."

By the retreat of Grant, the Confederates were enabled to reinforce Vicksburg, and fortify Port Hudson on the Louisiana side of the river, in order to blockade the river against the fleet under Farragut from below. General Sherman, unaware of the mishap to General Grant, had moved his army in front of the Confederate works at Vicksburg, and on December 28 and 29, he made several brilliant and determined assaults on the enemy's lines, but all in vain, the Union forces being compelled to return. After his defeat at Vicksburg, General Sherman planned the capture of Arkansas Port, on the Arkansas River, which on the 10th of January, 1863, after a gallant defence, surrendered with nearly 5,000 prisoners. After this success, Sherman returned to the vicinity of Vicksburg in order to co-operate with General Grant.

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