Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Official Reports of Battles: Embracing the Defence of Vicksburg; Attack Upon Baton Rouge
The evacuation of Fort Pillow and the fall of Memphis opened the new danger of a combination between the upper and lower ?eets of the enemy. This junction was e?'ected early in July, and thus an added force of more than forty gun-boats, mortar-boats, rams and transports lay in menace before the city. On the 132th of July it opened fire, and kept up a continuous attack until the bombardment of the city ceased. Having received authority from the President to use the ram Arkansas, as part of my force, some days prior to the 15th of July, I issued an order to Captain Brown to assume command of her, and prepare her for immediate and active service. From all reliable sources I learned that she was a vessel capable of great re sistance, and armed with large offensive power. Making the order imperative, I commanded Captain Brown to take her through the raft of the Yazoo, and after sinking the Star of the West in the pas sage to go out and attack the upper ?eet of the enemy to the cover of my batteries. I left it to his judgment to determine whether on reaching the city his vessel was in condition to proceed down the river and destroy the lower mortar ?eet. Captain Brown properly substi tuted a vessel of inferior quality in place of the Star of the rest, entered the Mississippi, and on the memorable morning of the 15th of July, immortalizedhis single vessel, himself, and the heroes under his command by an achievement, the most brilliant ever recorded in naval annals. I deeply regret that I am unable to enrich my report by an authentic account of the heroic action of the o?icers and men of the Arkansas. Commodore Lynch declines to furnish me with a report of..the action, on the ground that he was an o?icer out of the scope of my command. The glory of this deed of the Arkansas stung the pride of the Federal navy, and led to the most speedy, but unsuccessful c?'orts of the combined ?e'ets to destroy her. I refer the department to the accompanying report of General Smith for an aocurate detail of those efforts, as also for.a connected and faithful relation of the important events which make the history of the siege and defence of Vicksburg. With the failure to destroy or take the Ar kansas, the siege of Vicksburg practically ended. The attack on the batteries soon ceased, and the enemy baf?ed and enraged by. An unexpected, determined and persistent defence, vented his wrath in impotent and barbarian efforts to destroy the city. On the 97th of July, both ?eets disappeared, foiled in a more than two months' strug gle to reduce the place. The casualties on our side, during the entire siege, were twenty-two killed and wounded. Not a gun was dis mounted, and but five were temporarily disabled. The successful defence of Vicksburg is due to the un?inching valor of the cannoniers, Who, unwearied by watchfulness night and day, stood by their guns unawed by the terrors of a. Fierce and continuous bombardment; to the sleepless vigilance and undaunted courage of the troops, who lay, at all hours, in close supporting distance of every battery, ready to beat back the invader so soon as his footsteps should touch the shore; to the skilful location of scattered batteries, and last, not least, to that great moral power - a high and patriotic resolve pervading and swelling the breasts of o?icers, soldiers and citizens, that, at every cost, the enemy should be expelled. I refer the department to the specific enumeration of the names of officers and men who won distinction by meritorious service during the siege, as reported by General Smith, and I heartily endorse his commendations. Satisfied that the enemy disappeared from Vicksburg, under the mortifying conviction that it was impregnable to his attack, I resolved to strike a blow before he had time to organize and mature a new scheme of assault.
