Page:McClure's Magazine v9 n3 to v10 no2.djvu/82

808 peace of an April night again settled over the river, and the frogs began timidly to trill once more in the marshes.

Porter's gunboats, almost uninjured, were now below Vicksburg; Grant's mighty host of footmen was ready to follow. On the 20th of April, having been over the route in person, Grant issued relief orders for his army to move. These orders hinted of great things. "Troops will be required to bivouac—one tent only will be allowed to each company. One wall tent to each brigade headquarters, and one to each division headquarters Commanders are authorized and empowered to collect all beef, cattle, corn, and other necessary supplies in the line of march, but wanton destruction of property, taking of articles useless for military purposes, insulting citizens, going into and searching houses without proper orders from division commanders, are positively prohibited. All such irregularities must be summarily punished."

And so, with cheers of elation, with renewed confidence in their leader, the army began to stretch and stream away in endless procession along the narrow and slippery roads on the levee top. McClernand's corps moved first. McPherson's troops followed, and Sherman kept the rear. The point of assault was to be Grand Gulf, the enemy's outpost to the south of Vicksburg. Grant himself took no personal baggage, not even a valise, and the army soon found this out. The new men did not need to be told that this was no parade soldier who led them. He had no attendants, no imported delicacies, no special accommodations. He was spattered with mud, grizzled of beard, and wherever he went "the boys" felt a twinge of singular emotion. They had admired him before, they began to love him now, and he became "the old man" to them. And yet he was as unostentatious of his camaraderie as he was of his command. He was his simple self in all this. He meant business, and spared himself not at all, and neglected no detail.

The attack on Grand Gulf failed, and Grant, ordering Porter to run the batteries as before, moved on down the river and landed at a point called De Schroon's, just above Bruinsburg, being led to do so by the information given by a negro, that a good road led inland to Port Gibson and Jackson from that point. Meanwhile, to keep Pemberton occupied with things above, Sherman had been ordered to make a great show of attack on Vicksburg itself and then suddenly to silence his guns and hasten to join the forces below.

On the morning of the 30th of April McClernand's troops and part of McPherson's command were landed on the east bank of the river below Vicksburg, and Grant's spirits rose. "I felt a degree of scarcely ever equalled since" And yet one would say the outlook was not reassuring. He was "in the enemy's country, with a vast river and the stronghold of Vicksburg between him and his base of supplies." He had two armies to fight. One intrenched at Vicksburg, the other at Jackson, less than four days' march to the east, with the whole of the Confederacy back of it. But he was again on dry ground, out of the terrible swamps and bayous of the flat country. So much was gained.

He hurried McClernand forward toward Port Gibson, to prevent the destruction of an important bridge. Parts of McPherson's command arrived, but still the invading army was small, less than 20,000 men, with no pack-train, and with only two days' rations. On the second day the enemy was met in force, but defeated. Reinforcements kept arriving, and the chief was buoyant of spirits although for five days he had been on short rations and had not removed his clothing to sleep. Grand Gulf, being uncovered by the battle of Port Gibson, was evacuated, and on May 3d, Grant rode into the fortress, finding Porter before it with his fleet of gunboats.

Grant now heard from General Banks, who was in command on the lower Mississippi; and abandoning all idea of co-operation with him, he cut loose from Grand Gulf and the river, and moved into the interior, determined to get between Vicks-burg and its supplies and to isolate it from the Confederacy. "I shall communicate with Grand Gulf no more," he wrote to Halleck, "except as it becomes necessary to send a train with heavy escort. You may not hear from me for several days."

The next day after leaving Grand Gulf he learned through Colonel Wilson, his Inspector-General, and Rawlins, that the forces defeated by McPherson had fallen back, not toward Vicksburg, but toward Jackson. He instantly surmised that a considerable army was concentrating in that direction. "Simply asking one or two questions, and without rising from his chair, he wrote orders which turned his entire army toward Jackson." Then mounting his horse, he set his command