| A PLACE WHICH THE FEDERALS DID NOT CAPTURE
By SUSIE JAMES For the Commonwealth Take the tour with Greenwood historian Henry McCabe, and, before long, sounds of muskets popping fairly capture the imagination, the roaring cannon blasts rip through the air, and life is injected into the ghosts of a battle from 1863 at Fort Pemberton Waving a hand toward the sheen of sunlight against the wet asphalt parking lot at Wal-Mart, McCabe said, "That's where the 35th Mississippi was camped." Veering right off U.S. 82 at Fort Pemberton Park, glimpses of the Tallahatchie River peek through the deep woods until there's the Racquet Club, and not far from it, the makings of a new house. "There was Fort Ann, and there, Fort Moore," McCabe said. A pumping station on Riverside Drive long ago commandeered the Civil War Fortification, Fort Texas, and a ramble east on Robert E. Lee, Middle Fort, and even farther, glimpsing back to the Tallahatchie, Lower Fort. There, cradled in the crook of the Yalobusha, the Tallahatchie, and the Yazoo was Fort Leflore. In the Tallahatchie, McCabe said, " The transport brought up by 2nd Texas, the John Walsh, came to the surface, a quarter of a mile east of where it was sunk, not far from The Star of the West." The John Walsh was back down by the end of the day. "I last saw Star in 1957-58," McCabe said, standing on the south bank of the Tallahatchie up from the Pemberton park, looking at the yellow waters flowing near the opposite bank -- waters covering what little must actually remain of the graceful, 228.4-Foot ship. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places. McCabe described how his father pointed the Star out to him when he was in seventh grade. "He said, "There's that battleship." I looked, but couldn't see what he was talking about. I realized later he was pointing at ribs of the boat, which could be seen when the water was quite low." The Star of the West drew the first shots of the Civil War in the darkness at Charleston Harbor Jan. 9, 1861, as she was used under lease from the U.S. government to try and reinforce Fort Sumter. Three other transports were sunk in the bend of the Yazoo River southwest of Fort Pemberton, and so was another, the Paragour, east of them, all roughly during the same time as "Star of the West, a historic sidewheeler steamer captured by Texas Confederates in 1861. The ship was sacrificed in the Tallahatchie at Fort Pemberton March 11, 1863 to help Confederates prevent the Yazoo Pass Expedition of the U.S. Navy from succeeding. A raft was also sunk nearby, to try and clog the channel so Union forces couldn't proceed. Rebels dug-in at the fort, which was 2,400 feet long, 14 feet at the base, and 10 feet tall. Neither the ironclad Baron de Kalb nor the ironclad Chillicothe could fight its way past the Rebels. The fight three miles northwest of Greenwood marked the first time U.S. Naval forces were defeated by ground forces--and delayed the fall of Vicksburg by about 2 months. The battle at Fort Pemberton began the day the Star was sunk and ended April 5, 1863. Relics can still be found in the fields and waters of the area--but increasing construction makes it more and more difficult to visualize the Fort Pemberton area as it was during Civil War times. So far, efforts by McCabe and others to get the state or national park services involved in not only preserving what's left of the sites but also in setting up walkways, with teaching stations to illustrate Fort Pemberton's place in history, have fallen on deaf ears. As a local park created after land was donated by the Pillow family, Fort Pemberton seems largely forgotten. An abandoned concrete base on the southwest corner of the green bears the inscription: "Lady Polk, presented by Mildred Maury Humphreys Chapter No. 1198 U.D.C. Itta Bena, Miss., Oct. 20, 1933" even through the Lady Polk, a 12-pounder Blakely cannon has been at Greenwood's Cottonlandia Museum for safekeeping for a couple of decades now. "My hope," said McCabe, whose great-grandfather, Private Philip Hawker Selby, fought with the 37th Mississippi at Fort Pemberton, "is someone will help preserve this legacy." Cottonlandia Museum. US-82, Greenwood, MS. "Lady Polk," restored Blakely Cannon that was used at Fort Pemberton Cottonlandia Museum. Ship's flag and fragments from the "Star of the West" |
| "The Commercial Appeal correspondent gives the following account of this sent by him to the Picayune October 18, 1887:
"A party from Greenwood a few days since made a visit to Fort Pemberton, the famous boat that had once been fired into at Sumter in the beginning of the struggle that had tried men's souls, and had, after a number of changes, been scuttled and sunk in this small Southern river, was lying fully exposed to the eye of some who had reached man's estate, that were in swaddling clothes when these scenes were being enacted years before. The bow of the Star of the West was lying down-stream, with the stern resting on the bank in an angle of about 45 degrees, the wreck at this low stage of water was plainly visible for near its whole length, slightly careened, and in some places eight or ten feet out of the water. Relic hunters had been here before, and both wood and iron, brass and copper, had been cut and torn away to satisfy their insatiable appetite for a part of the boat that had passed through scenes of stirring events, and sailed in waters, both fresh and salt, to at length lie buried beneath the waves of this little Southern stream. Large posts of cedar three or more feet above the sand, dirt and rubbish, of the end on the bank, were still in a good state of preservation, and your correspondent, by the use of the sturdy blows of the ax, soon had in his possession several blocks of the beautiful and aromatic wood, that was as sound as the day it was first put into its place. Copper bolts and tacks, iron and brass nails and spikes were secured by dint of hard wood and delving in the mud and debris that lay in sheets on the frame of this historic craft. Each of the party secured such relics as they best could find or fancy covet. Dr. J. P. Henry, of Greenwood, has in his possession a bronze figure, about three feet high, of the Goddess of Liberty that once stood out proudly upon her prow as an emblem of the nation under which the Star of the West sailed. It is said that the hull of this boat lies buried in the sand and debris covering the boat, but has been sought for in vain." |
At a distance of some three miles above Greenwood, Miss., is the only fort on the river that resisted the attack of the Federal forces during the war between the States. It is Fort Pemberton. The embankment stretches from river to river, from the Tallahatchie on one side to the Yazoo on the other, and even to one unacquainted with military defenses, the lines of the embankment are yet plainly visible to the eye as one passes the historic spot on the steamboats that now peacefully ply their trade on the river. The Tallahatchie river runs for a short distance here parallel with the Yazoo, and these forts were built as defenses by the Confederates against the Federals. It is not more than 300 yards from one river to the other at fort Pemberton. The army of the Confederates commanded by Gen. Loring was at Grenada, Miss., when orders were issued to the civil engineer in charge of the defenses to take a party of men, and on board the transport J. M. Sharp, Capt. B. W. Sturdevant commanding (who is now a large planter on the Tallahatchie river near Sharkeys), to proceed up the Tallahatchie river in search of a suitable place to build a fort and obstruct the river to prevent the Federals, under Gen. Washburn, from coming through the Yazoo pass from the Mississippi river and thence down Cold Water, the Tallahatchie and Yazoo Rivers to attack the Confederate stronghold, Vicksburg. In the language of W. A. Gillespie, of Greenwood, Miss., who was detailed by Gen. Loring to accompany the civil engineers, he says: "In March, 1863, we took on board a party of civil engineers and several hundred negroes, with overseers, and went up the Tallahatchie and Cold Water into the Yazoo pass, where we unloaded the overseers and negroes, who went to work cutting timber in the Yazoo pass to obstruct it and prevent the Federal fleet of gunboats and transports from coming down the river. The federals put out a cavalry force and drove us back. We then steamed down to the mouth of the Cold Water, where we landed, and the engineers, after examining the grounds failed to find a suitable location for a fort. We then steamed down the Tallahatchie, when I suggested that at the mouth of Clayton bayou would be a good location for breastworks. We got there in the afternoon and landing the engineers, overseers and negroes, went to work at once to erect Fort Pemberton, named in honor of the general commanding the department. The John M. Sharp was used to bring cotton bales to the fort, and they were rolled into the line and covered with dirt, and this covered with beef hides. An embankment was thrown up from one river to the other, while another embankment was thrown up below on the Yazoo river to prevent the Federals from flanking the fort, as they had cut a trail through the dense swamp with the intention of flanking Fort Pemberton, but, the water rising, their purpose was thwarted. Beside the embankment large rafts were constructed and sunk in the river above the fort. The famous vessel that had first opened the battle between the states at Sumter, the Star of the West, was scuttled and sunk just below the raft. |
| Greenwood, MS. near the intersection of U.S. Highways 82 and 49E. Site Marker: Fort Pemberton Park reads - In the 1863 Campaign against Vicksburg, General Grant tried several approaches, one being to send troops on transports down the Tallahatchie and Yazoo Rivers. He cut the Mississippi River levee in February which flooded the several bayous between the Mississippi and Tallahatchie Rivers, making a navigable connection. Twenty-two transports (with 5000 troops), two ironclads, two rams and six light draft gunboats made up the first expedition, which was later reinforced with another brigade and additional vessels. It took several weeks to make the two hundred mile trip as the bayous were narrow and tortuous. Apprised of the Federal plans the Confederate General John C. Pemberton ordered a fort to be constructed to block the enemy forces. The engineers selected a location where the Tallahatchie makes an abrupt turn easterly, the river flowing to this point in a straight stretch. There being room for only two gunboats abreast, thus the Confederates would be shooting down a straight alley. The fort was hastily built of cotton bales covered with earth, and named Fort Pemberton. It had but a few light guns, but one an eight inch rifle, was very accurate. The fort was manned by 1500 men under command of Brig. Gen. W.W. Loring. cutting the levees had flooded the area and the only approach to the fort was by water. To further impede the enemy the steamship "Star of the West" was sunk in the channel. The Federal Flotilla arrived at Fort Pemberton on March 11th , and the two ironclads attacked at 1000 yards, but both were damaged after several attempts to reduce the fort. The Federal fleet retired to the Mississippi. Grant had failed to reach Vicksburg by the Tallahatachie-Yazoo route. Part of the fort is included in the park and some of the original breastworks may be easily recognized.
A small section of the fort is north of US-82. The majority of the fort is south of the highway on private property |
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A. A. Stoddard, an old gentleman now living in Greenwood, is the man who, as an officer of the Confederate army, had charge of the detail to sink the boat. He says that holes were bored to quite a number in her hull and stopped up with pegs, one man being in charge of two pegs, that at a given signal each man drew the pegs he had in charge, and this historic boat soon sank to the bottom of the Tallahatchie river. On the secession of South Carolina, December 6, 1860, Maj. Anderson, in command of the defenses of the harbor, was called upon to surrender them to the State authorities. Instead of doing this, he abandoned the others and occupied Fort Sumter. This was considered an act of war by the Confederates and their troops, and they, under the command of Gen. Beauregard took possession of Forts Pickney and Moultrie and erected additional batteries. This aroused the North, and the attack on Fort Sumter and its fall began the war. It is a matter of note, also, that the first gun fired during the civil war was was discharged by Franklin J. Moses at the steamer Star of the West, sent to supply Fort Sumter in 1861. Edmund Ruffin, an old Virginian, fired the first gun at Sumter. It is said that Moses is now a convict in the Massachusetts penitentiary, and it was stated in Southern papers after the war that Ruffin had committed suicide not long after the surrender of Fort Sumter. It is a historic fact that the army of the Union was repulsed at Fort Pemberton, and retired after its failure, back the way they came, through the Yazoo pass into the Mississippi river. The cotton bales that were used in making the fort were taken out but little damaged. A gentleman who lives near the fort had a piece of clay that he had very recently taken out of the fort, and which was part of the embankment near a gin-house that had been burned. The clay had hardened by the heat of the fire, the impression of the bagging that had wrapped the bales of cotton was indelibly stamped upon the clay. There are a number of relics that have come from the Star of the West in Greenwood and are treasured as of value. A part of the cedar wood and iron and brass spikes were carried from Greenwood and placed in the exhibit of the war department at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago. The Star of the West was built by the United States on the coast of California. The live oak and cedar that were used in her construction are still in a good state of preservation, the cedar being full of the aroma peculiar to that wood. After the attack at Fort Sumter by the Star of the West she was used by the Federals in their service until captured early in 1863 by Gen. VanDorn of the Confederate army, and entered the Mississippi by way of New Orleans, thence to Fort Pemberton on the Tallahatchie. The outline of the old fort is plainly visible at this day, and up to a few years ago the frame of the Star of the West was plainly seen when the water in the river ran low. I am told by a gentleman now living here that at one time Gen. Loring had decided to give up the struggle at Fort Pemberton on account of the difficulty in getting supplies of good for men and horses, but that this gentleman was given a detail of ten men and $10,000, who foraged the country and soon had plenty of meat and corn on hand. Greenwood is now a peaceful little city on the quiet waters of the Yazoo, but in 1863, in March stirring and important events were enacted there. |
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Lady Delegates to State Chapter U.D.C's. As I have been called on by Mrs. Lizzie George Henderson, president of the J. Z. George Chapter, and S. R. Coleman, commander of our Camp, to tell you something of Forts Pemberton and Loring, I will not try and do so in my own way, begging your pardon for any egotism on my part in the following narration. On Gen. Pemberton's retreat from Coldwater to Grenada, Miss., in Dec. 1862, my company, C, 20th Miss. Reg't, was in that cold, wet and muddy retreat. At Grenada, Gen. Van Dorn gathered his troops of cavalry together and got in Gen. Grant's rear at Holly Springs, causing the Federal army to fall back to Memphis, where Gen. Smith was organizing a fleet of transports and gun boats to get in the rear of Vicksburg via Yazoo Pass, Coldwater, Tallahatchie and Yazoo Rivers. While we, the army at Grenada, had gone into winter quarters, my regiment being camped some five or six miles above Grenada, on the south side of the Yalobusha River. Where on Christmas day my wife--God bless her, she is with me yet and the grandest old veteran of us all, who wore her fingers and hands into blisters and knots cutting rolls of gray cloth into uniform suits to keep busy the good women of Greenwood sewing them together for our company before leaving for the front and she who traveled over the country behind runaway mules to Tan Yards and Shoe Shops to procure boots and shoes for myself and others, & brought or sent them to us--visited me in camp and then procured board in Grenada, whom I visited daily and procured the mail for the regiment, when one day in Grenada I met an old friend, Capt. Ben Sturdivant, who had orders from the General commanding, to get up a crew for the steamboat J. M. Sharp and go down the river for supplies for our army the next day. He said that I would complete the crew as he had engineers, Mate Brown of the old steamboat Dew Drop and Dis Auter as pilot on board. With both of the last named I was well acquainted, Auter living in Greenwood, an by the way has a daughter living here at present, Mrs. Arnold. After securing a special detail for myself from Gen. Pemberton, I returned to the camp on Yalobusha River and showed my detail to Capt. Monroe Liddell, then commanding my company, who got quite wrathy because of the detailing of his Orderly Sergeant. I went back to Grenada and on board the boat Sharp that evening and went to work. The boat had been stripped for burning. But we got off down the next the next day bound for the Tallahatchie River for a load of corn, the country then being well supplied with corn, and the barns full. I will let my wife tell you of our trip down the Yalobusha River to Greenwood, and as she was the only cook on board, and how she managed to cook meal and meat for a hungry crew on an old box-shaped wood stove in the cabin, without any cooking utensils. After getting to Greenwood and laying in a supply of rations and cooking utensils, dishes, bedding and adding to our crew Mrs. Auter, wife of the pilot, we steamed up to Capt. Sturdivant's plantation for a load of corn where the Capt. put his negroes and teams to loading the boat. Mrs. Sturdivant had just killed hogs, and Oh! the spare ribs and the home made sausage we had! While the negroes were loading the boat the next day, Mr. Pat Brown, an old friend of the families of Sid Auter and myself, sent up for us to come down and spend the evening and night with them. I will let my wife relate the laughable incident that occurred that night at Uncle Pat Brown's. After getting a load of corn aboard and back to Greenwood, where we left our lady passengers, we steamed up to Grenada, using corn for fuel when we failed to get fence-rails. After unloading by orders from headquarters, we took on board a party of civil engineers and overseers, with about 200 negroes to proceed at once down the Yalobusha and up the Tallahatchie Rivers for the purpose of having the engineers to locate and fortify a position to stop Gen. Smith with his fleet of gun boats and transports which was then entering the Yazoo Pass from the Mississippi River. We proceeded to the mouth of the Yazoo Pass, where the overseers and negroes were landed on both sides of the Pass, to obstruct the same and thereby prevent the fleet from descending, when Capt. W. B. Prince, in command of a cavalry company above us, and whose widow and daughter, Mrs. F. M. Southworth, by the way now reside at Carrollton, sent us word to leave at once or we would be captured, and that by cutting down the overhanging trees we were helping the enemy more than ourselves, as the fleet had a submarine saw boat in advance, which sawed the trees up and floated them to one side out of their way. So we took on board the overseers and the negroes and left there in a hurry and steamed down to the mouth of "Coldwater" River, where the engineers landed and examined the ground for fortifications and pronounced it unsuitable. We then proceeded down the Tallahatchie River out of what is known as the "Wilderness," to about Sharkey landing and tied up for the night, and late in the night when every one was quiet asleep except the watchman, pilot, mate and myself, who were in the cabin playing cards (cuchre). In answer to my partner who was complaining of my not taking any interest in the game, making bad plays, etc., I replied: "I was thinking more about helping the engineers out of their trouble in selecting a suitable place to fortify," and I remarked to Auter, who was somewhat acquainted with the topography of the country, that the mouth of Clayton Bayou would be the most suitable in my judgment. So we awoke the civil engineers and stated the case to them who, becoming very much interested, kept me up the balance of the night in mapping of the ground and propounding questions to me. Just before daylight they ordered Capt. Sturdivant to get up steam and proceed to the mouth of Clayton Bayou at once," when the Captain and pilot protested that it was very dark and there were no torch lights aboard, to which the engineers replied: "D--it, float till daylight," which we did, and on arriving at Clayton Bayou that evening the engineers landed and after looking over the ground and verifying the maps of the country with aid of some citizens, they commenced to stake off the ground in a zig-zag way for the breastworks and named the place Ft. Pemberton and sent dispatches to Grenada that evening, ordered our boat up Tallahatchie River to Dr. Curtis' plantation, (now Jones), after a load of cotton bales to be used in breastworks, and our next load of bales came from Purnell plantation, (now Alridge), which was down the river a few miles, and so on all the next day getting bales and supplies and as the bales were unloaded, they were rolled to place and covered with dirt. Gen. Pemberton came across the country from Grenada and took in the situation. The next morning we were ordered, with another steamboat, Ben McCullough, to Grenada for troops. Gen. Pemberton went back with us on the boat, (he was a quiet, unassuming gentleman). It so happened that our boat brought down my company and my regiment, so the army was soon transferred from Grenada by boats and across the country to Fort Pemberton, three miles below Greenwood on the Yazoo and Tallahatchie Rivers as per above map and which I understand you will visit to-day or tomorrow. Other troops from Haynes landing and Snider's Bluff on the Yazoo River above Vicksburg which were quickly transferred here by boats. Fort Loring, named for Gen. W. W. Loring, who list his arm in the Mexican War, was a continuation of Fort Pemberton down the Yazoo River. In a few days, the historical steamship, Star of the West, at which the first gun of the war was fired by order of Gen. Beauregard at Charleston, S.C., and afterwards captured by Gen. Van Dorn on the Texas coast, was brought up the Mississippi, Yazoo and Tallahatchie Rivers, scuttled and sunk just above the mouth of Clayton Bayou across the channel to obstruct the passage of the enemy's fleet. She was scuttled and sunk by Lieut. A. A. Stoddard and a detail from my company. Lieut. Stoddard has at present a son, M. L., and a daughter, Miss Lula Stoddard, now in our city. In a few days the enemy's fleet appeared and battle commenced, which was strictly an artillery fight and was continued for several days without any casualty but cripple one of their gunboats and killing several of their crew. No loss on our side. They failed to reach either our right or left flanks of battle with troops, owing to the dense woods, cane and overflow. They did land some light artillery at the Tindall place and came across to the Cothran plantation, (now owned by the heirs of Gen. J. Z. George), but met with such a warm reception of our cannon planted along the South banks of the Tallahatchie and Yalobusha Rivers at of Point Leflore that they were more than glad to retire, as our artillery outclassed theirs. My company comrade and messmate, T. L. Chapman, who lives in our city, can relate a very interesting coincident of a famous brass cannon, the Lady Richardson, that we had at Fort Pemberton. The enemy soon became discouraged at their failures and retreated back the way they came and my company comrade, Tom Chapman, was detailed by Gen. Loring to follow the enemy's fleet in his "dugout" and he saw them safely back into the Mississippi River, after which our army fell back to Vicksburg and other places and Forts Pemberton and Loring were no more except in history. Courtesy of Henry McCabe, Greenwood, Mississipp |
| The Fort Pemberton Page |
| Below is a group of "clippings" I've collected on Creenwood and the Fort. |
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| Yazoo Pass Expedition |
| March 11 to April 5, 1863 |
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Official Reports of Lieut. Col. J. H. Wilson, Chief of Topographical Engineers, Army of the Tennessee (with 2 maps) February 24-April 8, 1863.-The Yazoo Pass Expedition (by Moon Lake, Yazoo Pass, and the Coldwater and Tallahatchee Rivers), including engagements (March 11, 13, and 16, and April 2 and 4) at Fort Pemberton, near Greenwood, Miss. February 2-February 24, 1863, Official Reports of Lieut. Col. James H. Wilson, Assistant Inspector-General, U.S. Army, Chief of topographical Engineers, Army of the Tennessee. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ YAZOO PASS, Miss., February 2, 1863--8 p.m. COLONEL: We reached Helena last night, and had all arrangements complete to start from there this morning at 10 o'clock. General Gorman accompanied me, sending under my command 500 men, provided with two days' rations, and implements complete for the necessary labor. He returned to Helena this evening, and will send down all the provisions, tents, &c, needed. I arrived at the levee across the Pass about noon, and found a much more favorable state of affairs than I at first anticipated. The stream looks quite navigable, and I am sure will allow the boats now here to navigate it without difficulty. I had the men at work cutting the embankment by 2 o'clock, and by to-morrow night will have a water-way 20 yards wide cut. The difference of level between the water outside and inside of the levee is 8½ feet. The steamers Henderson and Hamilton came in the Pass this afternoon, landed against the embankment, and turned about without difficulty, and went back into the Mississippi. The following rough sketchwill convey an idea of the state, of affairs here at present From the above you will perceive that there are two entrances into the Pass; the lower one is the one formerly used, but the upper is the one through which our boats passed to-day, and is the best. You will also perceive that the levee is a very heavy one, and, therefore, will require a good deal of work to cut through; but from the fact that there is 8½ feet difference of level between the water inside and out, once opened, the crevasse will enlarge very rapidly. The back country both north and south of the pass is partially overflowed by water from crevasses in the levee. I think boats can go through our cut in three days. The undertaking promises fine results. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. H. WILSON, Lieutenant-Colonel, Chief Topographical Engineer. Lieut. Col. John A. Rawlins, A. A. G., Hdqrs. Dept. of the Tenn., near Vicksburg, Miss. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- YAZOO PASS, MISS., February 4, 1863--8 a.m. COLONEL: The Pass is open, and a river 75 or 80 yards wide is running through it with the greatest velocity. I wrote you on the evening of the 2d that by the next (yesterday) evening the water would be let through. About 7 o'clock, after discharging a mine in the mouth of the cut, the water rushed. The channel was only about 5 feet at first, though the embankment was cut through in two places, with an interval of about 20 feet between them, the cut through which the water was first started being considerably the larger. By 11 p.m. the opening was 40 yards wide, and the water pouring through like nothing else I ever saw except Niagara Falls. Logs, trees, and great masses of earth were torn away with the greatest ease. The work is a perfect success. The pilots and the captain of the gunboat Forest Rose think it will not be safe to undertake to run through the Pass for four or five days, on account of the great rapidity and fall of the water. It will take several days to fill up the country so much as to slacken the current. A prominent rebel living near Helena, General Alcorn, says there will be no difficulty whatever in reaching the Yazoo River with boats of medium size. Captain Brown will go in with the gunboat at the very earliest moment the passage becomes practicable. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. H. WILSON, Lieutenant-Colonel, Assistant Inspector-General, &c. Lieut. Gel. JOHN A. RAWLINS, Asst. Adjt. Gen. and Chief of Staff, Hdqrs. Dept. of the Tenn. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HELENA, ARK., February 9, 1863--6 p.m. GENERAL: Your note of the 7th instant is just received by the steamer Emma. I have been waiting all day for a boat to return to Vicksburg, in order to report in person the condition of affairs in Yazoo Pass; but as an expedition has already been arranged, and you gave me permission to accompany it, I shall go back to the Pass in the morning. After the levee had been cut, the pilots thought it unsafe to undertake an entrance for several days. The gunboat Forest Rose, needing repairs, plank, &c., ran up to Memphis, returned, and, on the morning of the 7th, we ran down and entered the Pass with great ease. About a mile inside of the levee we struck Moon Lake, ran down it about 5 miles, to the point where the Pass leaves it, and from that point I proceeded to make further examinations. I was somewhat disappointed to find the stream neither so large nor straight as it is nearer the river. I went in it about 3 miles in an open boat, but found no obstruction of a serious nature. However, we found three men who had just come through in a dug-out from the Tallahatchee, ostensibly for supplies of salt, &c. They said that the people at the mouth of Coldwater had discovered what had been done at the levee, and that a force of rebels (some 30 or 40), with about 100 negroes, had been engaged for several days in felling timber across the stream at intervals between its junction with the Coldwater and a point nearly 5 miles from Moon Lake. The next day (yesterday), after waiting till noon for a small steamer that I had expected the day before, I went in again with Captain [G. W.] Brown's cutter and crew, and descended the Pass nearly 6 miles. During this trip we took 2 men who had belonged to a company of partisan cavalry. They spoke of the rebels having been there in small force, engaged in cutting timber, but said they had left the evening before. I saw, perhaps, at different points, forty trees that had been cut so as to fall in the stream, but in no place had it obstructed the channel so as to resist or prevent the passage of boats. At three places some drift timber had collected against standing trees, so as to contract the waterway, but a few hours' work would open it so as to make the passage easy. The timber, or, at least, all that I saw, which had been cut into the water, had either sunk out of sight or been drifted against the shore so as to hurt nothing. From this fact, and the opinion of boatmen accustomed to small streams, I am inclined to think that, although many more trees may have been cut lower down, and at points opposite each other, they will not materially interfere with navigation. The stream is only about 100 feet wide (but very deep), and, as the timber overhangs it in many places, it will be necessary to cut out considerable in order to prevent the smoke-stacks of the steamers from being knocked down. This will be a more tedious operation than usual, from the fact that, in many places, the banks of the stream are under water; but, with all these difficulties, no one here entertains a doubt of our being able to work through. General Gorman sent General Washburn down yesterday with 1,000 men and sent 500 more this morning. They have begun Operations. I shall go down myself early in the morning and push matters as rapidly as possible. Before I left there the ferry-boat Luella, about 100 feet long, had gone into the Pass nearly 3 miles, turned about, and returned. Information of no very reliable character has reached General Gorman to the effect that the rebels were aware of our movements, and were making arrangements for our reception. Where or how is not known. I have been thus minute in my statement so that you could see exactly how the matter stands. I am quite sure that no material advantages in the way of a surprise can be obtained, unless our expedition gets through within five or six days. 1 see nothing, however, except the non-arrival of the gunboats to prevent this, unless, indeed, the obstructions in the other end of the Pass are more serious than we now think. Should the river fall again 8 or 10 feet, there is not the possibility of a doubt that Yazoo Pass can be opened to admit a large class of boats, and after the Coldwater is reached there are no obstacles of any kind, and very little chance of interposing any, until you arrive at Yazoo City; there is a bluff there, and the next high land is at Haynes' Bluff. I shall accompany the Yazoo expedition unless you direct otherwise. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. H. WILSON, First Lieutenant Topographical Engineers, Lieut. Col., &c. Maj. Gen. U.S. GRANT, Commanding Department of the Tennessee. P. S.--It is called 12 miles from Moon Lake to the junction of the Pass with the Coldwater, and, therefore, there is only 6 or 7 miles yet unexplored; certainly 2 miles of which are no more difficult than what I have explored already. I will keep you informed of our progress. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IN YAZOO PASS, 14 MILES FROM THE MISSISSIPPI, February 12, 1863--8 p.m. COLONEL: In my letter of the 9th to the general, I informed him of the fact that, although eminently successful in opening the levee across the Pass, as well as fortunate in finding it naturally a stream entirely capable of navigation, the rebels had discovered our Operations time enough to obstruct the channel by felling trees across and into it. On the morning of the 10th, I joined General Washburn over a mile from Moon Lake, inside the Pass. Since then, with three days' constant work, we have made somewhat more than 5 miles, having passed and removed two somewhat considerable obstructions of fallen and drifted timber. Just in front of us there is another about a half mile long, in which many of the trees reach entirely across the stream. Some of them, cottonwoods and sycamores, are 4 feet through at the butt, and will weigh 35 tons. To add to the difficulty of removing them, the country near the stream is overflowed; nowhere is there more than a mere strip of land next the bank, and that only a few inches out of the water; but, with all these things against us, there is no doubt of our ability to remove the obstructions, and make the Pass navigable for the largest boats that pass through the Louisville Canal. We have brought three steamers with us all the way, two of which, the Mattie Cook and Luella, have been turned about, and run to and from Helena. Our greatest difficulty so far has been to obtain tackle strong enough to resist the strains brought upon it; but by to-morrow noon we expect to have new 6-inch cables. With these we shall be able to lift the heaviest logs. By sawing in two the larger trees, removing such parts as will not sink, and taking out the smaller trees entirely, we can remove all the obstructions in time. The narrowness and rapidity of the streams require everything to be taken out that will not float off or sink. I learned to-day what I previously suspected, that rebel sympathizers in Helena, through some means or other, obtained information, and communicated to their friends the nature of our Operations at the levee the day we began. At all events, it is certain that while we were engaged in opening the Pass at one end the rebels were closing it at the other. We are now about 7 miles from Moon Lake, and by the meanderings of the stream the same distance from the Coldwater, though the map shows both distances scarcely 6 miles. It will take from seven to ten days, possibly longer, to reach the end of our work. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. H. WILSON, Lieutenant-Colonel and Chief of Topographical Engineers. Lieut. Col. JOHN A. RAWLINS, A. A. G. and Chief of Staff, Hdqrs. Dept. of the Tennessee. [Indorsement.] HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE, Before Vicksburg, Miss., February 16, 1863. Respectfully forwarded to the Headquarters of the Army, Washington, for the information of the General-in-Chief. There is a force now diligently at work clearing out Yazoo Pass, and four light-draught gunboats (one iron clad) with the party. I am also sending an additional division of infantry, with a few pieces of artillery, without horses, to accompany the expedition. If successful, they will clear out the Yazoo and all tributaries of all vessels that can do us any injury, saving them for the Government, if possible, or as many of them as possible. The first attempt will be to ascend the Yalabusha to Grenada and destroy the railroad bridges there. The force now at Grenada is not large. U.S. GRANT, Major-General. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HELENA, ARK., February 24, 1863. SIR: I have to report, for the information of the major-general commanding, that Yazoo Pass is now open for navigation. The levee at the entrance was cut on the 3d instant, with comparatively little difficulty, and by the 7th the rush of water through the crevasse had so subsided that the U.S. gunboat Forest Rose, Capt. George W. Brown, entered as far as the exit of the Pass from Moon Lake. About this time it was fully ascertained that the rebels had obstructed the stream by felling heavy trees into and across it. On the 8th, fresh troops, under the command of General Washburn, arrived at Moon Lake, and began the removal of the blockades. By the evening of the 21st, the work was accomplished, and at 5 p.m. of the 22d the steamers Henderson and Mattie Cook, with one regiment of troops on board, entered the Coldwater River and descended it 2½ miles, to Cole's plantation. On the 23d, they went down from 10 to 12 miles farther, through some of the shortest bends, and returned the same day to Hunt's Mill, on the Pass. I am confirmed in the opinions expressed in my previous reports concerning the practicability of this route, during proper stages of water, as a line of military Operations. In navigating Yazoo Pass some difficulty will be experienced from limbs of overhanging trees, not removed because of the impossibility of cutting them down without letting the whole tree fall into the channel. Should the water fall 4 or 5 feet, this could be easily obviated by cutting and pulling inland the trees now partly in the way. The Coldwater is a considerable stream after its junction with the Pass--from 120 to 150 feet in width inside of its banks; is now quite full, rising slowly, and is easily navigable for any boat that can work its way through the Pass. Like the latter, it might be improved by cutting off more of the overhanging trees, though it is not essential in either ease. It would simply facilitate the navigation. In the present condition of affairs, I think boats 180 feet in length, and of any proportional beam and draught-of water, can be sent from the Mississippi to the Tallahatchee by this route in four days, possibly in less time, with good management. The period for which this route can be used will depend entirely upon the stage of water in the Mississippi, the shallowest part being on the bar, over which boats are compelled to pass in order to reach the entrance. In submitting this report of the work assigned me, it would be unjust not to call attention to the difficulties encountered and the arduous labor performed by the troops in overcoming them. With the exception of the secondary ridges, some distance from the stream, and occasional strips of land, from 20 to 50 feet wide, close to it, the entire country was overflowed, so that communication was nearly impossible, and the work could only be done by small parties, beginning at the upper end and working toward the Coldwater. In no case were more than 500 men employed, and frequently not half that number. The obstructions were found at intervals, all along the Pass, from a point 4 miles from Moon Lake to a point near the Coldwater, the principal one being a mile long, and composed of the heaviest trees, cut from both sides of the stream, so as to lie across and upon each other. Various plans were tried for removing them, all attended with the breakage of cables and boat machinery, but finally, by cutting, sawing, and pulling out upon the banks entire trees, the way was opened. The labor was so severe, and the exposure so great, that it was found necessary to relieve the troops several times by fresh regiments from Helena. Brigadier-General Washburn, who was in actual command of the forces employed, after leaving Moon Lake will doubtless report concerning them; but I take the liberty of commending the zeal and intelligence of Lieut. George [G.] Murdock, of the Sixteenth Ohio Battery; Captain Whipple, of the Thirty-third Iowa, and Colonel Cameron, of the Thirty-fourth Indiana. They rendered valuable assistance (Lieutenant Murdock from the lake to the Coldwater) in directing and prosecuting the work. The steamer Henderson, under the efficient command of Capt. A. Lamont, rendered invaluable service. Her cordage and light upper work were considerably broken; it would, therefore, be no more than justice to put her in repair at the public expense. Inclosed herewith I hand a sketch* (66 KB) of the Pass and adjacent country. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. H. WILSON, Lieut. Col., U.S. Army, and Chief Topographical Engineer. Lieut. Col. JOHN A. RAWLINS, Assistant Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff. From Here |
| MORE MISSISSIPPI |
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| Out West on the Mississippi, events mercifully finally put a stop to the canal-digging efforts of Sherman and his men across the river from Vicksburg. In early March the rising Mississippi broke through the earth dam protecting the northern end of the cut, flooding the Union men out of their camps. The Federals tried to return when the water went down, only to come under fire by the Confederates across the river. Grant called the whole thing off.
It was obvious by this time that the Lake Providence route wasn't going to work, either. The only real option for the moment was the Yazoo Pass route. Lieutenant Colonel James Wilson, after laboring to clear Yazoo Pass all the previous month, finally cut through, and in the first week of March accompanied ten armed vessels, including two ironclads, to make a back-water attack on Vicksburg. 22 transports were to follow once the gunboats cleared the way. Wilson wasn't actually in charge of the expedition; the vessels were under the command of Navy Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith. The exercise proved to be a little more difficult than expected. While the Coldwater was wider and deeper than Yazoo Pass, and the Tallahatchie that it flowed into wider still, they were still cramped waterways for large steamships. Squeezing around tight bends was troublesome, but worse, overhanging branches knocked down smokestacks and tore off anything not nailed down tight. The real trouble came after they had proceeded more than a hundred miles (160 kilometers) downstream, when they encountered a crude fortification built by the rebels directly in their path. Fort Pemberton, as the Confederates called it, had been thrown together from sandbags and cotton bales, and mounted nothing more potent than a 6.4 inch (16.3 centimeter) rifle and some smaller artillery. There were 1,500 rebels there, under the command of Major General William W. Loring. It wasn't much of a fort in itself, but it was sited so that any vessels coming downstream would have to do so in single file, exposed to continuous fire at long range and with no way to bring one or two guns to bear in return. The banks of the Tallahatchie were flooded, one of the consequences of blowing the levee, and too much of a quagmire for infantry. On 11 March, the two ironclads in the Union fleet, the CHILLICOTHE and the DEKALB, moved downstream to take Fort Pemberton under fire. Unfortunately, while the gunners on the CHILLICOTHE were loading their 11 inch (28 centimeter) guns, a rebel shell slammed through the gun port into the turret, setting off the Federal shells and mowing down the gun crew. Lieutenant-Commander Smith, who had been showing increasing signs of agitation as he moved his fleet downstream, now reached a peak of distress and ordered the two ironclads to fall back. His men described his behavior as "incoherent". They tried again on 13 and 16 March and took a terrible pounding. Both ironclads were badly shot-up, while they had hardly scratched the Confederates. "Give 'em blizzards, boys!" Loring called out to his gun crews. From that time on, he would be known as "Old Blizzards". On the 17th, Smith, recovering his senses for a moment, called it quits. Wilson protested loudly, but Smith sent his fleet back upstream anyway. Two days later, the little fleet ran into the second division that Grant had committed to the project, under the command of command of Brigadier General Isaac Quinby. Quinby was the ranking officer and didn't want to give up without investigating further, so the entire fleet went back downstream, spending about two weeks there while Quinby inspected the situation. In early April he agreed that the matter was a lost cause. In fact, by this time even Wilson had given up, since the rebels had brought up a steamship to sink and block the river if the Federals tried to come through. Interestingly, the blockship was the STAR OF THE WEST, whose attempt to resupply Fort Sumter had been one of the triggers that started the war. The Union vessels went back upriver once more, and this time they didn't go back. Wilson was apprehensive of his standing in Grant's staff because of the failure of the project, but Grant was undiscouraged. Porter was less kindly to Watson Smith, who he relieved of duty and sent back north, where he subsequently would die in a delirium in a sanitarium. Grant's sympathy with Wilson was partly based on the fact that Grant had been finding out for himself what Wilson had been going through. After the loss of the QUEEN OF THE WEST and the INDIANOLA, David Porter had wanted to take action to restore his self-assurance and public reputation. Now he conceived of his own back-door route to attack Vicksburg. The heavy rains and Wilson's destruction of the Yazoo Pass levee had resulted in flooding most of the lower Yazoo Delta. Porter believed that he could snake a river fleet through the twisty bayous of the region to land it upriver of the Confederate defenses at Haine's Bluff. <This was the Steele Bayou plan.> |
| Below is some background on what Grant had been trying in late 1862 and early 1863 on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River across from Vicksburg. He first wanted to bypass Vicksburg's guns. When he couldn't he decided to attack Vicksburg, This was his first attempt from the north through the bayous on the Mississippi side. Steele Bayou, on the previous page was the second and last. All the boxes are from articles I found. |
| Wilson Reporting to Grant During the Yazoo Pass Attempt |
| Recollections of one of the Confederates to deny Grant: |
| Below is evidently a newpaper article on the fort. |
| Another newspaper article: |
| The Man Who Sank The Star of the West and Some More History |
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| LOUISIANA |
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| Historicall Marker Courtesy of Jason's Website |