Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/63

 ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 37 After the battle of Corinth, Grant proposed to Halleck, in the latter part of October, a movement looking to the capture of Vicksburg. On Novem ber 3 he left Jackson, Tenn., and made a move ment with 30,000 men against Grand Junction, and on the 4th he had seized this place and La Grange. The force opposing him was about equal to his own. On the 13th his cavalry occupied Holly Springs; on December 1 he advanced against the enemy s works on the Tallahatchie, which were hastily evacuated, and on the 5th reached Oxford. On the 8th he ordered Sherman to move down the Missis sippi from Memphis to attack Vicksburg, Grant s column to co-operate with him by land. On December 20 the enemy captured Holly Springs, which had been made a secondary base of supplies, and seized a large amount of stores. Col. Murphy, who surrendered the post without having taken any proper measures of defence, was dismissed from the service. The difficulties of protecting the long line of communication necessary for furnishing supplies, as well as other considerations, induced Grant to abandon the land expedition, and take command in person of the movement down the Mis sissippi. Sherman had reached Milliken s Bend, on the west side of the river, twenty miles above Vicks burg, on the 24th, with about 32,000 men. He crossed the river, ascended the Yazoo to a point be low Haines s Bluff, landed his forces, and made