Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/317

 Fortification and Siege of Port Hudson. 31 1

The necessity of obtaining a store of provisions now became more apparent ; forage, particularly, becoming scarce. But little could be had from the opposite side of the river on account of Banks's inva- sion, and, to increase the difficulty m that quarter, some of General Dudley's cavalry came up the Pointe Coupee shore and burned a small steamboat we had on False river.

THE GRIERSON RAID.

We were collecting a large lot of corn in Mississippi, but transpor- tation was scarcely to be had, and when we were ready to commence bringing it down the Grierson raid was announced, and orders were sent to let it, the corn, remain where it was, lest it might be discov- ered on its way and destroyed.

Nearly all the cavalry at Port Hudson was sent up through Wood- ville to Liberty, with orders to attack wherever they could find the enemy. Grierson made a movement toward Liberty, and our cav- alry formed their line of battle and waited for his attack. This viola- tion of General Gardner's orders enabled Grierson to get a long start on a new track, heading for Greensburg, on the Baton Rouge and Tangipahoa road. When it was learned at Port Hudson that Grierson had escaped our cavalry, two regiments of infantry and a section of artillery were dispatched to occupy the Tangipahoa and Baton Rouge road and intercept him, should he try to get in that way. At night they halted and bivouacked within eight miles of the bridge they were ordered to seize and hold.

At Greensburg, Grierson's column was ambuscaded by a company of Wingfield's cavalry, and he lost a lieutenant-colonel, major and some others. News of this affair, and of the route they were taking, reached General Gardner late in the evening, and he at once dis- patched a courier to our infantry, with orders, in case they had reached their destination that night, to proceed without loss of time. This dispatch failed to reach its destination, and Grierson's whole column crossed the bridge at daylight, within a few miles of our ap- proaching infantry, and got safely into Baton Rouge.

PORT HUDSON ORDERED TO BE EVACUATED.

Events now began to thicken in the department. The enemy, having successfully passed a fleet by the Vicksburg batteries, were enabled to cross over an army from the opposite bank and threaten Vicksburg from the lower side, its most vulnerable part. General Joseph E. Johnston had come to Jackson to look after affairs in our