BATON ROUGE, Natchez, and THE FIRST ATTACK ON VICKS BURG, 1862.-After New Orleans had been secured and handed over to Gen. Butler, Farragut pushed up the Mississippi, taking Baton Rouge, Natchez, and every town of any importance as far as Vicksburg. On June 28th a general attack was made upon this city. Farragut succeeded in running the batteries with two frigates and six gunboats, and bombarded the enemy's works from above; but little or no effect was produced upon them. The bombardment was continued at intervals, while General Williams was attempting to cut a canal across the isthmus formed by the bend of the river, and while an application to Gen. Halleck at Corinth was pending, for a corps of his army to aid the fleet. The work of the canal, the first of three attempts, proved unsuccessful, and no troops were sent to aid Farragut. The siege of Vicksburg was abandoned by order from Washington, and Farragut dropped down the river with the greater part of his fleet. Gen. Williams with his soldiers returned to Baton Rouge in time to repulse an attack made upon that place, August 5th, by the Confederates under Gen. J. C. Breckinridge.

FORT PILLOW EVACUATED, MAY 10.-Not long after the brilliant victory of Commodore Farragut before New Orleans, a Federal fleet under Com. H. C. Davis prepared to attack Fort Pillow, located on the Mississippi in the vicinity of Memphis. But on the approach of the fleet, the enemy evacuated the place, May 10th.

MEMPHIS TAKEN, JUNE 6, 1862.-Commodore Davis proceeded with his fleet toward Memphis. A formidable Confederate flotilla awaited his approach, commanded by Commodore Montgomery. The fleets met at half-past five in the morning, when the engagement began. The inhabitants swarmed in multitudes upon the bluff, levee, and house-roofs, to witness the battle. Disaster came thickly upon the vessels of the enemy. Their entire fleet was either captured or destroyed in an hour and a half after the beginning of the engagement, with the exception of the flagship Van Dorn, whose superior speed enabled her to escape. The enemy's loss was heavy-nearly 100 men killed and wounded; while Col. Ellet, jr., commander of the Union rams, was the only man wounded on the Federal fleet. He died afterward from exhaustion and from the effect of the wound. The Queen of the West was the only Federal vessel severely injured.

Commodore Davis then took possession of the city, and the supremacy of the Federal Government was again established in one of the chief towns of Tennessee.

The ultimate effect of this victory was great. It assisted in effectively clearing the Mississippi from the presence of the powerful Confederate gunboats.

With the single exception of Vicksburg, every other stronghold of the foe had been taken. The conquest of Vicksburg alone was necessary to open the channel of the great highway of the West, and sever one of the leading arteries of the Confed

eracy.

SECOND MOVEMENT AGAINST VICKSBURG, DECEMBER, 1862. Vicksburg, located on the Mississippi river about midway between its mouth and Cairo, was the natural center and chief stronghold of the slaveholding States in the West after the fall

of New Orleans. Its natural strength and importance as commanding the navigation of the Mississippi river were early appreciated; and it was so fortified and garrisoned as to make the storming of the works a dangerous task and the capture of

it well-nigh impossible. The naval demonstration against Vicksburg after the victory at New Orleans, had proved a failure.

After Halleck was promoted and transferred to Washington, Grant was put in command of the district of western Tennessee. His command was extended Oct. 16, 1862, to include the State of Mississippi. He had gradually driven the enemy southward at Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, and Iuka. He now commenced preparations for an active campaign against Gen. John C. Pemberton in his front, with the hope of ultimately taking Vicksburg. Pemberton had established his headquarters at Jackson, Mississippi, while Van Dorn, second to him in command, occupied the Confederate front at Holly Springs. Grant moved his own headquarters from Jackson, Tenn., to Lagrange, and arranged with Rear Admiral Porter to convey Sherman's men from Memphis to Vicksburg. He himself moved with nearly 60,000 men by way of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad. He pushed through Grand Junction and Holly Springs to Oxford. While at the latter place preparing to move on Jackson and Vicksburg, Van Dorn struck a damaging blow to Grant's communications. Col. R. C. Murphy was left in command of Holly Springs, which had been the temporary depot of arms, munitions and provisions for the Union army. He ignominiously surrendered the place and men under his command Dec. 20, 1862, to a band of Confederate raiders, while other places with a less number of men in garrison valiantly repelled the invaders. Grant had dispatched 4,000 men by rail for the relief of Holly Springs, but they arrived only a few hours after

the enemy had departed. Col. Murphy was dismissed from service in a stinging order by Gen. Grant.

Thus by the cowardice or perversity of one man, were not only 2,000 men surrendered, and several million dollars' worth of property sacrificed, but the fair promise of an important expedition was blighted. By the loss of his stores Grant was completely paralyzed. He decided to fall back to Grand Junction, to move westward to Memphis, and to descend by the river to Vicksburg. A courier was at once sent to notify Sherman of this disaster.

The day after the Holly Springs surrender, Gen. Sherman had left Memphis with the right wing of the Army of the Tennessee, about 30,000 strong, and passed down the Mississippi, on transports, and twelve miles up the Yazoo. Debarking his men, he commenced an assault upon the defenses of Vicksburg from the north. Grant's recoil from Oxford was unknown to Sherman, as Grant's courier failed to reach his destination, and the Confederates under Gen. Pemberton, previously confronting Grant, now faced about and concentrated their energies in opposition to Sherman, who expected Grant to engage the attention of the main body. Expeditious as were Sherman's movements, all of the Confederate forces, with the exception of Van Dorn and his cavalry, were on hand to receive him.

Vicksburg is built on a range of bluffs whose average height is about 200 feet, and quite precipitous from Vicksburg to Haines Bluff, a distance of about thirteen or fourteen miles. Beyond the bluffs there is low ground of swamps and bayous,