rebels from their position was gone. Brigade after brigade followed in rapid succession, storming the rebel works until compelled to fall back under the terrible fire of the enemy. Conspicuous among the brigades that did the most desperate fighting, were those under the command of Colonels Kimball, Morgan, and Birge. They were all, however, eventually repulsed with great slaughter. The fighting ceased at eleven o'clock in the morning. We having been repulsed in every assault, our soldiers, under command of their officets, laid themselves down under the shelter of the gullies, trees, covered way, in fact, every thing that could afford them protection, and waited for the day to pass and darkness come on. Many of our wounded who were accessible were carried from the field by squads detailed for that purpose. It is a shameful reflection on humanity that a large number of our soldiers, carrying the wounded and dying from the field on stretchers, were shot down by the enemy, and in several instances the wounded were killed while being borne from the field. At nightfall, however, we commenced the burial of our dead, and succeeded before the morning in carrying most of our wounded from the battle-field. The enemy's hospitals, after the battle began, seemed to grow as rapidly as mushrooms in the dark. I counted no less than twelve hospital flags within a square of a quarter of a mile. I strongly suspect the protection afforded by them was not in every case legitimate, for on one occasion I saw firing in the immediate locality of one of the tents. NEW-YORK, June 28. The Herald has advices from Port Hudson to the twentieth instant. General Banks on the fifteenth instant issued a congratulatory order to his troops over their steady advance upon the enemy's works, stating that he is confident of an immediate and triumphant issue of the conflict, and says we are at all points upon the threshold of his fortifications. One more advance and they are ours. He then will summons the organization of a storming column of one thousand men to vindicate the flag of the Union and the memory of its defenders, who have fallen, promising promotion to the officers, and a medal to officers and privates. It was rumored and generally believed that as assault would take place on the night of the twentieth, to be led by Gen. Grierson and Col. Von Petten, of the One Hundred and Sixteenth New-York. The assaulting party was to be supported by General Weitzel's old brigade ad that of Colonel Dudley. A rebel bearer of despatches had been captured with, it is said, a despatch from Johnston, who promises to reënforce Port Hudson and capture Banks's entire army, if the place would hold out until the following Tuesday. This may be a ruse, however, to induce Banks to make an immediate assault, that he may be repulsed, and arrest the slow process of starvation which stares the rebels in the face. Deserters report a consultation of rebel officers, who unanimously requested General Gardner to surrender. He replied that large reenforcements would arrive within a week, and if they would only hold out a few days longer, the siege would result favorably to them. The disaffected officers returned to their camps and told the men if the General did not surrender in a week they would compel him to. Another deserter reports that the rebels have but forty head of cattle left to feed on. BOSTON "TRAVELLER" ACCOUNT. NEW-ORLEANS, June 19, 1863. It is not with much pleasure or satisfaction that I undertake to narrate the momentous events in this department for the past week. Most prominent among them is the second unsuccessful assault on Port Hudson, last Sunday, the fourteenth. Since the first assault, on the twenty-seventh May, our forces have held the position gained by them then, our infantry in many places being very near the enemy's works, so that easy conversation can be carried on by the belligerents. The country about Port Hudson is very uneven, cut by deep ravines, especially on the north and east, so that in these ravines one can approach very close to the enemy unseen. Our army has been very strongly posted in these places, scooping out sleeping-places in the sides of the banks, and making breastworks on top. Here they rested eighteen days. In the mean time our artillery had been pouring an almost unceasing shower of shot and shell into the devoted city. Each day had been added a siege-gun or mortar, till on the thirteenth every thing was in position, when for a few hours the very earth A letter of the twentieth reports no material change in the position of affairs. The camp rumors about assaults by volunteers and general attacks have proved unfounded. We are steadily advancing. Our first parallel which completely incloses the outer line of rebel breastworks and our skirmishers are behind rifle-pits—within twen-shook from their rapid discharges. ty yards of the rebel intrenchments. There are nightly skirmishes without definite results. Battery No. Seven, to be mounted with twelve thirtytwo-pounders, has been erected, commanding the entire series of the enemy's river works. One heavy shot from the enemy had pierced the heavy plating of the Essex. The gun which effected this has been dismounted by battery No. Seven. The citadel on which it was mounted was expected to be soon reduced. Having given them many tons of iron, the firing ceased, and Gen. Banks sent, by a flag of truce, an order to surrender, which his persistence, Gen. Gardner, refused to do, saying he should hold out as long as he had a man left. The firing was then resumed, and kept up till half-past three the next morning, when the assault was to have been made. The right wing, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Grover, and composed of Emory's old division, under General Paine, and Grover's old DOCUMENTS. division and Weitzel's brigade, under Weitzel, started promptly. But the bags of cotton were gone, so there was ered before the shower of balls. If they had followed sooner the line of skirmishers, they would These two divisions were to make two separate have suffered less, for the enemy took advantage A part went no assaults. In front of Gen. Paine, two hundred of our delay to mass their forces to receive us. yards, were thrown out as skirmishers the Eighth The column became broken. New-Hampshire and Fourth Wisconsin regi- further, and a part forced its way on till it was ments, both then very much reduced and al-around by the hill spoken of. most without officers, from the affair of the twent-seventh. These were followed by the Fourth no easy way of crossing the ditch, and the enemy Massachusetts, bearing hand-grenades, which were to have been thrown over the works as soon as they got near enough; then the Fifty-third Massachusetts, each man carrying a sack stuffed with cotton, with which to fill the moat, that the main body might pass easily over. Then came the column, company front, until they could deploy on the open space before the works. This would have been a dangerous experiment if it had not previously been ascertained that the enemy had no artillery bearing on this point. At the head of the column was Colonel Currie, with the One Hundred and Thirty-third New-York regiment, as fine a body of soldiers as are in the department. Scarcely had the brave fellows of the two regiments, little more than companies, deployed, when the musket-balls and buckshot of the enemy commenced to whistle their requiems about their heads. They heeded them not, never even stopping to bind up the wounds of their comrades or carry off their dead, but rapidly loaded and discharged their faithful rifles and hurried on to almost certain death. It was but a short distance across the space they had to go-an old cotton-field, selected because it was more easily passed overbut when they arrived at the enemy's works, so as to be sheltered by them, they found that they had left two thirds of their numbers on the field, either killed or wounded. now could send from their safe place an irresistible storm of bullets. Thus ended Gen. Paine's charge. If he had not been wounded so soon, I think he would have forced his way through. In the mean time, Gen. Weitzel's skirmishers had advanced to the very ditch, but for some unaccountable cause the cotton-bags had been intrusted to those who cared not to risk their lives for fame. Weitzel's old brigade, then commanded by Col. Smith, of the One Hundred and Fourteenth NewYork, was at the head of his column, but Colonel Smith being mortally wounded very early, it had fallen into confusion, and although a fighting General Weitzel's assault was to have brigade, it became powerless, yet it was badly cut up. been made in the woods, so the Seventy-fifth New-York and Twelfth Connecticut, his skirmishers, were not so badly cut up as Paine's, though Weitzel, they lost nearly one half their men. finding it impossible to carry the works without losing nearly all his command, rested them in the numerous ravines. For some cause the charge on the left was not vigorously sustained, and the loss there was very trifling. I was unable to ascertain the cause of their failure. Many of the wounded on the right had to remain on the field of battle all day, suffering from loss of blood, for want of water, and the hot sun The hand-grenades had not come up, with the pouring down on them. They were in easy musexception of a dozen or so; the cotton-bags were ket-range, and if one approached to carry them not in sight, and the column, which should have off or relieve their suffering, they were shot. Gen. been but two hundred yards behind, was not vis-Paine, wounded early in the morning, was not ible, except Col. Currie, with a part of his regi-brought off till after dark, when his wound was ment in good order. Then Lieut. Jewett, of the alive with maggots. Fourth Wisconsin, one of the bravest of the brave, drew his sword, and calling upon his men to follow him, leaped into the ditch, followed by about thirty men, climbed the work, and jumped down on the inside. This was also the condition of many others. He lay between two rows of an old cotton-field, on his back, and he said if he attempted to cover his face with his cap, a shower of balls would fall around him. His wound is now doing well, and it is hoped his leg may be saved. He is cared for most tenderly by his wife, who is fortunately here, and by the Sisters of Charity, in whose hospital, the Hotel Dieu, he is treated. Just across the hall from him is Gen. Sherman, wounded on the twenty-seventh, who has just had his leg amputated to save his life, and who is now doing Then, if there had been five hundred men to have followed, the work could have been carried; but for some cause, unaccountable except on the hypothesis of the want of pluck of some of our regiments, there was nobody to go in, and this brave band of heroes were murdered; so that when Col. Currie came up in a few minutes, the work was bristling again with bayonets and belch-very well. ing lead like hail. He fell badly wounded in each arm, and his men took position under a slight hill and waited for assistance. Previous to this time, Gen. Paine, at the head of his column, and while cheering on his men by word and action, had been wounded by a ball, which broke both bones of his leg just below the knee. He fell on the field, and his column withVOL. VII.-Doc. 4 Our forces remained in the position I have described till after dark Sunday night, when they were withdrawn, and occupy the same places they did for the eighteen days previous. Our whole loss, killed, wounded, and missing, was about seven hundred and fifty. But a very small proportion were killed, and many are very slightly wounded, the enemy not opening at all with artillery. Among the killed are Colonels rose gradually, and away above, the rebel works Holcomb, First Louisiana; Galway, One Hun- were in plain sight. The moment we turned into dred and Seventy-third New-York; Bryan, One the road, shot, shell, grape, and canister, fell like Hundred and Seventy-fifth New-York; and hail in amongst and around us. But on we went. Smith, of the One Hundred and Fourteenth New-A little higher, a new gun opened on us. York, mortally wounded. ACCOUNT BY A PARTICIPANT. BIVOUAC OF THE "THOUSAND STORMERS," Some days since I wrote and sent to NewOrleans by a friend, a few lines, which I hope are ere now in your hands. From them you will know of my whereabouts. I know the date line of this letter will seem queer to you, but the order inclosed will explain it. [General Banks's call for a thousand volunteers to storm the fort.] I have thus far been spared, but I fear now that this is my last letter for a long time, if not forever. On the fourteenth we stormed the works again and were repulsed with much loss. Still farther, they had a cross-fire on us-oh! such a terrible one; but on we went, bending, as, with sickening shrieks, the grape and canister swept over us. Sometimes it fell in and about us; but I paid no heed to it. After the first, my whole mind was given to the colors, and to keep my men around them; and they did it well. I wonder now, as I think of it, how I did so. I walked erect, though from the moment I saw how they had us, I was sure I would be killed. I had no thought (after a short prayer) but for my flag. I talked and shouted. I did all man could do to keep my boys to their "colors." I tried to draw their attention from the enemy to it, as I knew we would advance more rapidly. The brave fellows stood by it, as the half-score who fell attest. The Our regiment lost sixty out of two hundred "color-bearer" fell, but the "flag " did not. and fifty. I lost just half my company, (killed Half the guard fell, but the "flag" was there. and wounded,) and was slightly hurt on the left Ask (if I never come home) my colonel or lieuwrist by an unexploded shell, which cut the tenant-colonel if any one could have done better flesh, and the concussion lamed the arm badly. than I did that day. I do not fear their answer. However, I am on duty, and have commanded When about three hundred yards from the works, the regiment since then till yesterday A.M., Col-I was struck. The pain was so intense that I onel B. being in command of the brigade, and Lieutenant-Colonel B. being sick. Poor Major Bogart was killed in the charge-struck in the hip by a shell before it exploded and almost cut in two. The same one killed Sergeant Lord and Corporal Newman, of my company- then exploded and wounded several men. I have been in many battles, but I never saw, and never wish to see, such a fire as that poured on us on June fourteenth. It was not terrible-it was HORRIBLE. Our division (Second) stormed about a mile from the Mississippi. We left our camp where I wrote you last at twelve o'clock midnight, on the thirteenth, and proceeded to the left, arriving just at daylight, where the balance of our brigade (Second) awaited us. could not go on. I turned to my second lieutenant, who was in command of company C, as he came up to me, and said: "Never mind me, Jack; for God's sake jump to the colors." I don't recollect any more, till I heard Colonel B. say: "Up, men, and forward." I looked, and saw the rear regiments lying flat to escape the fire, and Colonel B. standing there, the shot striking all about him, and he never flinching. It was grand to see him. I wish I was of "iron nerve," as he is. When I heard him speak, I forgot all else, and, running forward, did not stop till at the very front and near the colors again. There, as did all the rest, I lay down, and soon learned the trouble. Within two hundred yards of the works was a ravine parallel with them, Colonel Benedict arrived from opposite Port imperceptible till just on the edge of it, comHudson on the twelfth, and our regiment was pletely impassable by the fallen timber in it. Of transferred from the First to the Second brigade, course we could not move on. To stand up was and he placed in command. The movement to certain death; so was retreat. Naught was left the left took all by surprise; but we got in shape but to lie down with what scanty cover we could behind a piece of woods which concealed the get. So we did lie down, in that hot, scorching enemy's works and rested. The First brigade sun. I fortunately got behind two small logs, went in first and we followed-the Third brigade which protected me on two sides, and lay there, being a reserve. I saw the First brigade file left scarcely daring to turn, for four hours, till my and move on, but saw no more of it. When the brain reeked and surged, and I thought I should order came to move on, we did so in "column go mad. Death would have been preferable to of company," at full distance. Ask some good a continuance of such torture. Lots of poor military man what he thinks of a brigade moving fellows were shot as they were lying down, and to a charge in that manner. The One Hundred to lie there and hear them groan and cry was and Sixty-second leading, the One Hundred and awful. Just on the other side of the log lay the Seventy-fifth (Bryan's) after us, then the Forty-gallant Colonel Bryan, with both legs broken by eighth Massachusetts and Twenty-eighth Maine. shot. He talked of home, but bore it like a We were in a road parallel to the enemy's patriot. Near him was one of my own brave works, and had to change direction to or file left boys, with five balls in him. I dared not stir, round the corner of the woods, and then started my hand pained so, and it would have been death forward by a road leading up. The ground also. Well, the Colonel got out of pain sooner DOCUMENTS. Doc. 14. THE CAPTURE OF RICHMOND, LA. ADMIRAL PORTER'S REPORT. UNITED STATES MISSISSIPPI SQUADRON, than some, for he died after two hours of intense duct. If I die, you will think of me as one agony. Bullets just grazed me as they passed whose short life was not wholly without a purWILLIE over, and one entered the ground within an inch pose. I hope to come to you with honor- with of my right eye. I could not go that. Our the medal on my breast. boys had run back occasionally, but got a volley as they did so from the rebels, who would curse them. I waited till our cannon fired a round at them, then up and ran across the road, and fell flat behind some low bush or weeds, and well I did. They saw my sword and fired several volleys after me. As my hand was very lame, I crawled several rods back, then under a big log, SI: I have the honor to inform you, that, got behind it, and, for the first time in five hours, sat up. I bathed my hand, and after a while hearing the enemy had collected a force of made my way to the rear, got it dressed, and twelve thousand men at Richmond, in Louiswas on my way back, when I learned that the iana, nine miles from Milliken's Bend, I sent men were to work in, by one and twos, so I General Ellet to General Mowry, at Young's staid. I then learned of poor Bryan's fate, and Point, to act in conjunction to wake them up. one by one came the tidings of my own men, General Mowry promptly acceded to the request, and when the word came of them I cried like a and, with about one thousand two hundred men child. Some of them passed me on the way to in company with the Marine brigade, General have their wounds dressed, and blessed me as A. W. Ellet commanding, proceeded to Richthey passed by. When night came, the troops mond, where they completely routed the adcame in and line was formed, and a small one we vance-guard of the rebels, consisting of four had. The Major's body was brought in to be thousand men and six pieces of artillery, capsent home, and my pet favorite, Sergeant Fred. tured a lot of stores, and the town was comMitchell, (who, as a favor to me, Colonel Bene-pletely destroyed in the mêlée. This duty was handsomely performed by the different parties DAVID D. PORTER, dict had made an acting lieutenant- he was so good a soldier and handsome and talented,) who, connected in it. the last I saw of him, was his sword flashing in the sunlight as he urged the men forward; but he was brought in with half his head torn off, and it was hard to recognize him. But God bless him! He was true, for his right hand grasped his sword firmly in death. I have it stored to Colonel B. and Lieube sent to his friends. tenant-Colonel B. came out safe. The LieutenantColonel had been sick for some time, and this finished him. So I took command of the regiment, brought it to the mortar battery, and bivouacked for the night. On the eighteenth came the call from General Banks for a thousand stormers, and four officers and fifty men of our regiment responded to it. Yesterday our regiment went to Springfield Landing to guard against a raid, (it is our base,) The came here to camp. and the "Stormers thousand are here, and we storm on Weitzel's front, on the extreme right. The first officer in our brigade was myself, my Second Lieutenant is another, and Colonel Benedict leads us. It is, as you will perceive, in spite of the flattering order, "a forlorn hope." Our position is critical. Something must be done. I am confident this will succeed. I pray earnestly it may, though I live not to know it. You will wish to know why I came when our regiment is so short of officers, and I am so easily fixed now. I came on principle. I did not come for the reward or promotion, but because I deemed it my duty to come. Bold men are wanted. If I am not bold, God will make me so. I came, and am to have the honor of leading a company in this charge. If I am wounded, I shall come home at once, and I know you will not be ashamed of me or my con Assistant Rear-Admiral. BRIGADIER-GENERAL ELLET'S REPORT. HEADQUARTERS M. B. BRIGADE, FLAG-SHIP AUTOCRAT, ABOVE VICKSBURGH, June 17, 1863. ADMIRAL: I have the honor to inform you, that, in accordance with your consent, I landed my forces at Milliken's Bend on the morning of the fifteenth instant, and proceeded toward Richmond, La. At the forks of the road, within three miles of Richmond, I met General Mowry's command, and we proceeded forward together, my forces being in advance. We met the enemy about a mile from the town, who opened upon our advance line of skirmishers, from behind hedges and trees and gullies, but they fled before our advance, and took shelter behind the levee on the opposite side of the bayou, near the town. The position was a good one, and very defensible. I deemed it imprudent to advance our lines across the open field without any cover for my men against an enemy superior in numbers and well intrenched. I therefore ordered the artillery to the front, and opened upon their position; and, after a vigorous cannonade of nearly an hour with all our guns, advanced our infantry through the woods on the right, with the intention of turning the enemy's left wing. They returned the fire of our artillery very vigorously for a time, but soon it slackened, and finally ceased altogether. When I arrived at the left of their position, I found it abandoned He had destroyed the and the enemy fled. bridges over the bayou to prevent our following. We found three of the enemy dead upon the field, two mortally wounded, and captured eleven prisoners and about sixty stand of small arms. The enemy was commanded by Major-General the part of the enemy. It is likely, from indicaWalker, was a part of Kirby Smith's command, tions, that the entire force of Gen. Dick Taylor and consisted of two brigades, containing seven (who, by the way, is a son of old Zack) has regiments, four thousand strong, with six pieces skedaddled to the Red River country.* of artillery. They retreated toward Delhi, where General McCulloch is said to be posted with a command about equal in strength to the one we encountered. This was the same force that attacked the negro regiment at Milliken's Bend, a week before, and was repulsed. Our entire loss was three men wounded, one only dangerously. Gen. Mowry's command participated throughout most vigorously, and I feel indebted to the General for his prompt cooperation and advice, and his skilful manner of handling his forces. A. W. ELLET, Brigadier-General Commanding M. B. Brigade. A NATIONAL ACCOUNT. CHICKASAW BAYOU, Thursday, June 18, Doc. 15. REBEL VIEWS OF PEACE. "TWO YEARS HENCE." RICHMOND, June 18. In two years, as many persons hope, we may possibly have peace-that is, always provided we continue to repulse and defeat the invading enemy. The Yankee "democracy" is certainly rousing itself and preparing for a new struggle (at the ballot-box) in the great cause of the "spoils," or, as they call it, the cause of constitutional liberty. Those Democrats are evidently beginning to raise a peace platform for their next Presidential election; and if they have the good luck to be helped on and sustained by more and more serious disasters of the Yankee army in the field, there is no doubt that the present devourers of the said spoils at Washington may soon be so discredited and decried that our enemy's country would be ripe for such peaceful ballot-box revo } On the sixteenth, the rebel General Anderson, with a division belonging to the command of Major-General Dick Taylor, marched from Richmond toward Lake Providence, where Gen. Reid was stationed with a small Federal force, consisting of the First Kansas and Sixteenth Wis-lution. consin regiments, with some negro troops, less than one thousand five hundred in all. Richmond is eight miles from Young's Point, on the Louisiana side, at a point where the Shrevesport road crosses the Tensas. It is about twelve miles from Milliken's Bend, and thirty from Lake Providence, and an important point, from the fact that from it those places are easily accessible by good road, and for the enemy it would be an exceedingly offensive position toward us. General Reid went out to meet him, and destroyed the bridge over the Tensas, a short distance from the head of Lake Providence. The rebels opened on him with a six-pounder, damaging our forces at first considerably, but his men succeeded in silencing the gun and preventing the rebels from crossing, also pouring in a terrible fire of musketry upon them as they pressed up to the river. Thinking our force larger than it was, the enemy retreated, with heavy loss. On the same day, General Mower marched on Richmond, from Sherman's Landing, with his brigade of infantry and Taylor's old Chicago battery, under command of Capt. Barrett. On reaching the Tensas, he met the rebel pickets and drove them in. The rebels burned the bridges, and undertook to make a stand. Capt. Barret opened fire, well supported by infantry. Such was the combined shower of shell and bullets, that, though fighting well, they were obliged to fall back with what cavalry force they had. Gen. Mower then pursued the flying enemy, succeeding in capturing forty-two prisoners, The affair was perfected with signal vigor and promptness our troops, in their impetuosity and daring, overcoming the disparity in numbers on It is sincerely to be hoped that those earnest ed on and sustained in the manner they require, champions of constitutional freedom will be helpnamely, by continued and severe reverses in the field, and it is the first and most urgent duty of our countrymen so to help and sustain that Democratic party. It is nothing to us which of their factions may devour their "spoils;" just as little does it signify to us whether they recov er or do not recover that constitutional liberty which they so wantonly threw away in the mad pursuit of Southern conquest and plunder. But it is of the utmost importance to us to aid in stimulating disaffection among Yankees against their own government, and in demoralizing and disintegrating society in that God-abandoned country. We can do this only in one waynamely, by thrashing their armies and carrying the war to their own firesides. Then, indeed, conscientious constitutional principles will hold sway; peace platforms will look attractive; arbitrary arrests will become odious, and habeas corpus be quoted at a premium. This is the only way we can help them. In this sense and to this extent, those Democrats are truly our allies, and we shall endeavor to do our duty by them. But they evidently look for other and further help at our hands, and of quite a different sort. No doubt they are pleased for the present with the efficient aid which the confederate army is affording them. Chancellorsville was a godsend to them, and the tremendous repulse at Port Hudson is quite a plank in their platform. Yet they understand very well that no matter how soundly their armies may be happily beaten; no matter how completely Lincoln's present For further accounts of this affair, see Supplement. |