side his flanks would rest upon and be covered by the Mississippi, and he could re-establish communication between his right wing and his base of supplies at Milliken's Bend. The plan was daring in the highest degree, and required the greatest skill and resolution in its execution.

In order to retain their hold upon the Mississippi the Confederates had fortified Vicksburg with great care. Port Hudson, about two hundred and forty miles lower down the river, had also been fortified, but not so strongly as Vicksburg. As long as the Confederates held these points they were able to keep a considerable extent of the river open to themselves and closed to the Union gunboats.

Preparing for the Struggle.

Thus they were enabled to cross in safety the enormous herds of beef cattle which they drew from the rich pastures of Texas for their armies east of the Mississippi. A strong force held the works at Port Hudson. Vicksburg was occupied by a large garrison, and was under the command of Lieutenant-General John C. Pemberton, who, with an army of about thirty thousand men, independent of the garrison of Vicksburg, held the country in the rear of that city. Appreciating the importance of defeating the Federal army in this quarter, the Confederate Government, in the spring of 1863, sent General Joseph E. Johnston to take command of all the forces in Mississippi. It failed to supply him with a proper force of troops, and General Pemberton treated his orders with open defiance. Grant having completed his preparations moved his army from Milliken's Bend to a point on the Louisiana shore opposite Grand Gulf. On the night of the sixteenth of April a division of gunboats and transports ran by the Vicksburg batteries, suffering severely from the heavy fire to which they were exposed

for a distance of eight miles. On the night of the twenty-second a second division passed the batteries with similar loss. Once below Vicksburg, however, the boats were safe. They then proceeded to Grant's position on the river below. On the twenty-ninth of April the gunboats attacked the batteries at Grand Gulf, but were repulsed. The troops were then marched to a point opposite Bruinsburg, Mississippi, and the gunboats and transports were run by the Grand Gulf batteries.

On the first of May the Federal army was ferried across to the Mississippi shore, and at

GENERAL JOHN C. PEMBERTON.

once began its march into the interior. Near Port Gibson a part of Pemberton's army was encountered and defeated on the same day. This success compelled the evacuation of Grand Gulf by the Confederates. Grant now boldly threw his army between Johnston's forces at Jackson and Pemberton's army, intending to hold the former in check, and drive the latter within the defences of Vicksburg. On the fourteenth of May he attacked Johnston at Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, and forced him to retreat northward towards Canton. Then turning upon Pemberton he attacked him at Champion Hills, or Baker's Creek, on the sixteenth, and

berton withdrew towards the Big Black River, and the next day met a second defeat there. He now retreated within the defences of Vicksburg, which place was promptly invested by Grant's army.

On the nineteenth of May Grant attempted to carry the Confederate position by assault, but was repulsed with heavy loss. The assault was repeated with a like result on the twenty-second. There remained then nothing but a regular siege. This was

While the siege of Vicksburg was in progress, General Banks ascended the Mississippi from New Orleans and laid siege to Port Hudson. Upon hearing of the fall of Vicksburg, the Confederate commander surrendered the post and his army of sixty-two hundred and thirty-three men to General Banks, on the eighth of July.

These victories wrested from the Confederates their last hold upon the Mississippi. They created the most intense rejoicing in the Northern and Western States, and a corresponding depression in the South. Being simultaneous with the defeat of the Southern army at Gettysburg, they were regarded as decisive of the war: as indeed they were. From this time we shall trace the declining fortunes of the Southern Confederacy and the gradual but steady re-establishment of the authority of the Union over the Southern States.

pressed with vigor, and the city was subjected to a terrible bombardment, which caused great suffering to the people. While the siege was carried on Johnston's army was held back, and prevented from undertaking any movement for the relief of Vicksburg. At length, reduced to despair by the steady approach of the Union trenches, Pemberton surrendered the city and his army to General Grant on the fourth of July. By this surrender thirty thousand prisoners, two hundred and fifty cannon, and sixty thousand

After the battle of Murfreesboro', or Stone River, the army of General Rosecrans remained quietly in winter quarters at Nashville and Murfreesboro'. Bragg's army passed the winter at Chattanooga. Towards the last of June Rosecrans moved forward from Nashville, and advancing slowly threatened Bragg's communications with Richmond. The Confederate commander had no wish to emulate the example of Pemberton

MC COOK. CRITTENDEN. THOMAS
FIRST CONED POSITION

POSITIONS OF THE ARMIES AT THE BATTLE OF MISSIONARY RIDGE.

held on to his position with a grim resolution | three thousand men

he withdrew his corps

in good order and retired upon ChattaThe Union

nooga. loss at Chickamauga was sixteen thousand men and fifty-one guns; Bragg's about eighteen thousand

men.

Bragg advanced at once upon the defeated army of Rosecrans, which had taken refuge in Chattanooga, occupied the heights commanding the city, and seized the com munications of the Federal army with Nashville. Thus closely besieged, the Union forces suffered considerably from a scarcity of provisions.

General Rosecrans was now removed from the command of the Army of the Cumberland, and General Grant was appointed to the chief command of all the western armies. He at once set to work to extricate the Army of the Cum berland, to the command of which Gen eral Thomas had succeeded, from its perilous situation. Hooker was sent with twentyfrom Meade's army to