Page:Decisive Battles Since Waterloo.djvu/300

266 The fleet of gun-boats and transports started from Memphis on the 20th December, and on the 26th the troops debarked on the south bank of the Yazoo River near the mouth of Chickasaw Bayou. The whole day was consumed in landing, and on the 27th the Confederate lines were attacked. That day and the next passed in skirmishes and small encounters of no great consequence. But on the 29th an assault was made on the Confederate works, in which there was heavy loss of life with no advantage to the Union side. The charge up the hillsides seamed with rifle pits, covered with abatis, and raked by artillery and small arms, was most heroic; it was performed by the division of General Morgan, reinforced by the brigades of Generals Blair and Thayer from Steele's division. General Thayer's brigade reached the edge of the Confederate entrenchments side by side with that of General Blair, but the fire was so furious that it could not be met, and the storming party was driven back, leaving the ground strewn with dead and wounded. The Union loss in the attack on Haines' Bluff was 1,929 killed, wounded, and missing; that of the Confederates was 209. The failure of the movement was due partly to the delay in making the assault, and partly to the fact that on the very day the expedition left Memphis General Grant's line of communication was cut by the Confederate cavalry under General Van Dorn. That energetic ofificer had been sent by Pemberton to attack Holly Springs, which was insufficiently defended, having a garrison of only 1,200 men under a commander who was soon afterwards dismissed for incompetence. Van Dorn seized the place and remained there several hours engaged in destroying the immense stores which had been accumulated. Then he rode away without molestation, having upset all of General Grant's plans. Grant was compelled to retire to Holly Springs, and his retirement gave opportunity for Pemberton to send reinforcements to Vicksburg and