/UW^. iWef^V S ^^ i *<%&&$!$( m P Hi ?? x^7lf ,- fclfevi W--V b-Mrf ;ffe.K" " ' - '- f THE GRANT POEM, CONTAINING GRANTS PUBLIC CAREER AND PRIVATE LIFE FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE, General GRANT, wnat a Yolnme in a Name, an Army in a Man. BY ADRIAN _Ji ITT, AUTHOR OP "Los CINCO MASUS SONER," "SHAKESPEARE'S BONES," ETC. Designed, Illustrated and Engraved by the Author. The reason why I wrote tnls book was to get money for an expedi tion to the North Pole by an entirely new and novel scneme, which Is too simple and positive to ever fall. May the sons of Uncle Sam be the first to view that curious, long-sought object of the frozen realm. NEW YORK: NASSAU PUBLISHING CO., 122 NASSAU STREET. 1886. 672 The place where my compositors Worked and growled so strong, Was No. 1 New Chambers street, A street not very long. Set by Hawley pay In the prescribed foregoing way. I'll bet that regiment felt oppressed, With the damage to all of them assessed, Except those in hospital and other places, That were a way honorably without disgraces. It took several dollars and sixty-six cents [1242.66] To pay the seventh night of November's expense. [the bout, While Captains Orton Frisbee and John Tunison in For their work in the business got mustered out. The subject of trade in the States Secession After leading a long, wide bloody discussion, And after they got back into the Yankee lines Again they wished to trade as in olden times. But such would advance the southern cause More than it would aid the northern laws So the Treasury at Washington made TRAFFIC TROUBLES. 159 A firm finger-board in guidance of trade. But, 0, how rude So rigid and crude, To those that such pursued ; And they dared not contrary The law military. For one to do trading he needed a long writ, "Which is legally called a trader's permit. Signed by the treasury and the local provost. Then he was bound by the chains of a ghost. And therefore I'll tell you why is the reason [treason. To buy ahead of the army, was counted as They'd handle you unjust, or deal you unfair, If you bought of a farmer e'er the army was there. To describe the traffic law here I shall fail. It worked under rules without head, end, or tail. But it was like clouds in a summer of drouth, The whole tariff law would turn to a mouth. But of all the people to do things unright, It was the sanctified wretches the Jew-ish-re-lite. [expel, So from Grant's department they got a lightning And at once they moved, taking baggage as well. All the trading and traffic Grant did retard, Fearing the people at large would call him a pard. [would wag. He was afraid of the slandering tongue that And call him the partner of each trading vag'. Ah, here 'tis ! A grand advance into the State of Miss.' Though chasms of death around Vicksburg yawn, The object in view is to reduce it till gone. Letting the Father of "Waters, unsullied by force, Flow unobstructed down from its source. 160 THE LIFE OF GRANT Nature herself at Vicksburg had planned A place that with ease an army could stand ; Then round it the rebels threw soul and heart, And strengthened it with all the details of art. The reason that Vicksburg was so infinite strong Was that nature and art worked on it so long. [send Every victory that Grant among the rebels would The works at Vicksburg were sure to extend, Till she was strong throughout all her courts [forts. Until she was a fort built up out of layers of She was a series of layers from end to end. She was strengthened so far that none could [mend. Thus she stood ready to oppose, defend or op- [press. Surmounted or enclosed in a huge fortress. Vicksburg had been struck all round and round, And every one found she was solid and sound. Commodore Foote, from the river above, Struck her with all the ardor of a warrior's love. As Farragut's fleet steamed in from below, And stmck her a heavy, though ungenerous blow. While General Williams, back in rear of them all, Was working away with one division small, Coaxing Mississippi to follow his trail. And leave Vicksburg isolated back in the dale. Oh, what a scheme, If he could have stolen her away from the scene, He would have closed a great chasm of death, The spilling of blood, and the wasting of breath. The great river then would have been unblockaded And Vicksburg back into peace would have faded. It failed, and she nobly stood the rubs, LOGAN'S SPEEC3. ifll Of those that struck her with inferior clubs. And well could old Vicks' turn up her proud nose, When assailed by an inferior number of foes. Thus stoodVicksburg ere Grant crept up to her walls, And thundered at its gates with steel cannon-balls. Port Hudson lay fortified far down below, To parry the navy from striking a blow. Now note ye what Logan said, Ye living few of the numerous dead. General John A. Logan's speech was grand, About northwestern men under Grant's command. Who knew them from the first stroke made, And he knew each carried a trusty blade. He asserted in the nation's halls, Surrounded by congressional walls, If the northwestern soldiers had but a chance, They'd hew their way to the gulf in a bloody advance. No soldiers of an unjust cause, Can clench them in their dirty claws. So that's the size of the western men, They are fearless now, but were bolder then. Uncle Sammy viewed their hearty size, And put backing to the enterprise. Grant's department, they enlarged it then, And multiplied his fighting men. They backed him up in munitions of war, And gave him all he desired for. Thus our army prepared, Vicksburg was sure, In battle din to hear things roar. Parties reconnoitering, were so grand and wide, The rebel army, entrenched, they e'en defied. Towards November's latter end, On rebels Washburn did descend. Descended with all the fury meant, Carrying off baggage, supplies, men and tent. TH LIFfl OF GRANT. It was one grand cavalry raid. The killed and captured, wounded and slayed. This was along Cold Water river, "Where danger made the rebels shiver, Throughout the country broad and wide. On Tallahatchee's river side, Vast reconnoitering parties rode, Till the country was deemed a dangerous abode. A special command to Garner's station, Went there to deal them a depredation, They went the rebels to annoy, The bridge of a railway to destroy. They destroyed some railroad track as well, Then ba?k to the command they quickly fell. Thi3 raid, wi'h several more succeeded, As also several more were needed. Then few of the many from glory fell, And the rebels chased in a bloody repel. Their devastation on every hand, Marked the country wild and grand. Panola got a Yankee fill, As Oakland did, and Coffees ville. General Hovey's command took short naps, For knocking railroads into gaps. Therefore they scarce could sleep, For the love of making railroads weep. With all those brushes, kicks and brawls, 'Mid saber strokes and cannon-balls. Along Grand Junction's rail to Grenada Grant's fearless army wound its way, To Waterford through Holly Springs, Where he stumbled onto some Jewish things. Here illicit traffic was pursued, A way o'er peace it did intrude. A St. Louis house here done the job, MURPHTS TREACHERY. 163 Itself to enrich, the North to rob. At Oxford, on December third, A skirmishing series there occurred. Grant manoeuvred the country into fear. With a cavalry lead to a ponderous rear. Grant's head quarters at those times Was at Oxford, Miss., among his lines. Our garrison at Holly Springs There done some dirty little things. A few rebel farmers to them came, Conquered them, and paroled the same, And also destroyed Grant's supplies ; Which to him was a big surprise, Which displeased him quite immense, At their cowardice and little sense. And to him the darkest ghost Proven disloyalty, hurt the most. Then Grant fell back to Holly Springs, To regain his store of needed things. Holly Springs surrender he did condem' The sneaking acts of treacherous men, Which ended Colonel B. C. Murphy's careers O'er the eighth Wisconsin volunteers. Col. Murphy did not then feel so gay, With a lost command and a forfeited pay. Grant's army now had grown so large He changed commanders and men in charge. And the time and date of this remember, Was the twenty-second of December. Lincoln, gathering men by threes and fours, Swelled Grant's divisions into corps. Now monotony breaks the scene, In general order, called fourteen. From Holly Springs of small, and great, and glorious things, Now heed my order, for it's brief. 164 THE LIFE Off GRANT. And under direction of the general-in-chief. All of this department, and that of Missour's, Operating along Mississippi's shores, Will be made into four army corps. 1. Thirteenth army corps must be, The size of it below you'll see. The troops composing the ninth division, Under Brigadier-General [G. W.] Morgan's supervision. And the tenth division, all of its band, That's under Brigadier-General [A. J.] Smith's command. With all the uucorpsed below Memphis, Tenii., Must also be classed along with them. Under John A. McClernaud they are to go, To storm the field or siege the foe. 2. Then army corps fifteen, In the lines below are seen. Morgan L. Smith, commanding fifth division, [supervision. And the Helena, Arkansas, troops under [F.] Steele's With the forces in the district of Memphis, Tenn., [them. And it's Major-General [W. T.] Sherman commanding 3. Read what follows things before, Below is the sixteenth army corps. Divisions eight, seven and six, who ran them. [will man them, [L. F.]Ross.[I. F.JQuinby and [J.] Me Arthur, the same With the troops of Sullivan and Davis, [S. A.] Ilurlburt commands them just to save us. To save us from wreck and ruin, And one nation into many strewn. 4. Description of army corps seventeen, Beginning here soon ends the scene. Describing there who and what, how and when, And who is commanding of its men. [they all commanded, [J. W.] Denver, [John A.] Logan and [J. G.] Lawrence, [Pherson handed. Divisions one, three and four, which were o'er to Mc- With Colonel [B. II.] Grierson's cavalry, brigade one, All combined like 'chiuery, to make the Johnnys ruu. SHERMAN'S MEN. 165 All division commanders with reports consolidated, To those headquarters must occasionally be freighted ; And to all other business tend, Danger to a foe, and assistance to a friend. Major-General U. 8. G. JOHN A. RAWLINS, A. A. G. Sherman's expedition down the Miss., To make cannon balls o'er Vicksburg hiss. It was a thing stupendous and grand, To move on water and by land. It was a whale attacking a minner. And if they didn't lose it ! the de'il's a sinner. Here's a sight for bards and dreamers, A fleet of an hundred and thirty steamers, And of gunboats half-a-sco're Perhaps a dozen if no more. Sherman's men were Westerners, Used to hardships,* unknown to fears. Hardy daring fighters by trade, That shunned no foe and feared no blade. They were men of fighting oh, how rife } Bred to a rough, adventurous life. This expedition, like none before, In military character it was pure ; No speculators could attend, Or with them the river descend. When Sherman left the Memphis scene, He head-quartered on the "Forest Queen." And at Friar's Point, ere the set of sun, He arrived on December twenty-one. But he was unaware that Holly Springs Had disarranged Grant's plans and things. * Talk of ships, stale eggs, and canvas hams ! What are hard ships but Ironclad rebel rams ? Talking of misfortune, man's slides and his slips, But. tliese iron-clad gun-boats, \ ca.U 'em b,a,rd, shipa. 166 THE LIFE OF GRANT. For Grant was to strike Vicksburg when Sherman pressed her with his men. From all accounts the plan was this : Grant was to strike Vicks via Jackson, Miss. But it was impossible for Sherman to learn That Grant from Oxford did return. But Sherman's hopes that Grant would meet Would help to bring- him o'er defeat. Therefore it was but moral aid That could support his daring raid. Sherman earned out his part of the plan As well as could be done by man. Under Morgan L. Smith, at Millikeii's Bend, He landed a small force the rebels to rend. On the railway line Texward bound They tore it in sections from the ground, The Delhi and Dallas depots they burned. Then back to Sherman's command returned. This was to keep the Johnnies from running After they gave up their gunning. (But the Yankees found no end of shot Around Vicksburg' a deadly spot.) Ah, the plan it was what we needed, If it could have just succeeded. "When December had glided past her 'leven To the day called twenty-seven, Sherman disembarked at Johnson's landing, With the main force under his commanding, Near where the Yazoo river flows, And into the Mississippi goes. With all the power of thought he cared. To assail Vicksburg he prepared, To tear away at life's expense The city of Vicksburg's north defence. Sherman's force was fierce and long, SHERMAN'S DANGER. 16? His command was four di visions strong, And could do some bold and daring things. 'Twas was the right of Grant's two ponderous wings, From Johnston's landing to Vicksburg town, In hills and swamps it does aboun', Also bayous, Lagoons and sloughs. To get an army to Vicksburg by this way, "Would be a difficult task in a peaceful day. One cannot picture in the mind, The difficulties there confined, With vantages that nature boast, Entrenched therein a rebel host, Had the country a chance to try, The world at large they might defy. Sherman drew his men in line of battle, Like men to slaughter beeves of cattle, And as the eaves of dark set in The enemy was driven two furlongs in. On the twenty-eighth the men in arms, Fought with all the power of bravery's charms. When Grant's left wing did not appear Bright things began to look most drear. And the rebels that fled from the advance of Grant, Filled up the lines that once were scant. Where Sherman probed them with his blade, But yet unconscious Grant was stayed. Where the concentrated fire of the reb's Played havoc among the daring fed's. And Sherman could not make them race, Or start them from their hiding place. (O, for what is war so good, Only wrecking brotherhood.) Such is the breadth of waning fate, So closed December twenty-eight. 6 f HE LIFE OF OH ANT. And when the morning sun arose, New scenes to them it did disclose. The rebels had extended their lines Far beyond their old confines. They made a strong position stronger ; Weak places pregnable no longer ; Their sharp-shooters filled the woods, A-picking off the leading goads ; They done it at a rapid rate, Dangerous to an army's fate. Sherman done some charging grand. In his captured places could not stand. For the foe Struck a long and tiresome blow. And when Sherman got a hold, He was thrust out in the cold. In those fields General Blair Made some charges bold and rare. He tightly grasped his trusty blade, A-foot he headed his own brigade. They followed where he led the charge, O'er hills and copse, through glen and gorge. Of his eighteen hundred able men More than a third was killed or wounded then. O, bloodiest picture of historic pages, You'd appal the soldiers of darker ages.* Under a flag of truce the dead was buried, And away the wounded ones were carried. * Oh, for wood to try my tools, Upon this murderous lot of fools I Thus educated In their 9chools, Up to all the general rules, That swords are our country's Jewels. To Innocence be It e'er concealed, The hideous work of a battlo-fleld. It's a wreck pruned by a sword and fenced by a spear, Its music a widow's moan, Its water an orphan's tear. EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY- THREE. 169 Then Sherman gave out to his command To return, return to safer land. Now to our calendar, We add twelve months, another year, And see what twelve months more will bring ; "War or peace, or anything. May we in peace wind up this spree, In EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-THREE. Then after all these battle marks, Sherman and his troops re-embarks. They boarded their vessels in river Yazoo, Where in advancing first they drew. But General McClernand at this fraction, Arrived upon the scene of action. Then as McClernand o'er Sherman ranked, His orders into action clanked. And his first action sure was this, He got his fleet into the river Miss'. And where'er his order ranged The title of the army changed. To fool the rebels, and give him grip, He called it the army of the Mississip'. Now for awhile this army grand Was taken from under Grant's command. Accordingly was Grant arraigned, And by the President maintained, The thirteenth corps, with the fifteenth along, To Grant's force again was added on. But in the meantime here they boast Qf clearing out Arkansas Post, 170 THE LIFE OF GRANT Which by the powers of arms to them Fell garrison, stores, and ten thousand men. But it was a three hour hand-to-hand Contended they this noble band, But many o'er death's stream did ferry, That long and bloody tenth of January.* [Springers During the court martial trial of the disloyal Holly The investigation fished up some political ringers. [arms, Which caused several officers to get bounced from [charms. That they might seek the country and rest in rural ninth Illinois. The volunteer infantry regiment one hundred and A wild investigation was hurled among her boys. But as a regiment disloyal it was exonerated. To its old place of honoi-, again 'twas reinstated. But the officers discharged, had many jags and jars. [wars. In wishing the enemy success in relation to the My space here is too scant to write you all about it. [got routed. Though those officers of honor for dishonor they The cavalry about the country places Charged the rebels in deadly races, Such was the cavalry's occupations. * A long time single, Cleveland tarried, But to-day, that batohelor's married, Married to one who'll live, I hope, To see her ancient husband croak ! Then Cleveland, I hope he will, sirs, Live longer than her at least two years, And when this national Job occurred, Was sixty-eight on Juno the third. Ah, hold, I am too fast, It was the evening of the last, Which makes it the second day, Amid the flowers of June's ajrray. SAID ON EIPLEY. 171 Around the Union posts and stations. The Yankees followed the deadly cause, Close as an eagle to his claws. They followed the rebels to wound and kill, Close as an indorsement on the back of a bill. On a camp near Ripley, Tenn. [Jan. 8,] They raided it for fifty men. And killed and wounded several more, And carried off their arms and store, With teams to haul their captured stores, Of horses, half a dozen scores. The rebel guerrillas would raid and spoil The rebel citizens turned loyal. Therefore the country was devastated, Where foe on foe retaliated. On January, day called twenty-third, (Few now remember when it occurred) The army of the Mississippi came Back to Memphis with loads of fame, Where Grant and his army laid, Who from Mississippi strayed, To work a plan for another raid ; To test the Johnnys with their blade. And ditch around them with the spade. The first campaign, who could expect, Success, when the thing -got wrecked? It struck a Murphy at Holly Springs, And that's what disarranged the things. With the proclamation of emancipation, Came the freedmen of the nation. And Grant determined to back them through, And equip them to fight their masters too. Here it was Grant's infernal wishin', To wreck the white man's superstition. H<3 wanted the white man to suppose, 172 THE LIFE OF GRANT. It was the nigger, not the clothes ; And, that both of them together, One was no better than tiie other. He wanted the white man to raise his pride! And with niggeis work side by side. Oh, fiends of hell's infernal dower, The de'il's own smutty, right hand bower, To equalize the nigger and whites ! Oh, when did man receive such rights? On Divinity it has no claim, For that sacred writ forbids the same. White men and niggers, here I'll say, Will mix no more than night and day. For where one raises, the other descends, Where one commences the other ends. Wreck such thoughts, they will not last ; Be they buried objects of the past. But Grant was right, To arm these cle'ils, and make them fight ; For o'er those Afric' sons of bitches. We have wasted uncounted riches. Will be, was, now, and foreverinore, To our race a constant sore. Now for a race, A change of base, To displace, The rebel's cause. Therefore where, Will they scare, At Sherman's rear, Or bleed him with their claws. On the twenty-ninth of January, The country o'er looked dull and dreary. And many soldiers, sad and merry, Had tramped along till they were weary. In transports were carried down, Landed at Young's Point in the town. Then Young's Point assumed renown. ATTEMPT TO OPEN WILLIAMS CANAL, 173 For tramping rebel nuisance down. It assumed the loyalty of a friend, "When headquarters did attend. Also on transports did descend, Troops that landed at Milliken's Bend. Soon Grant followed and took position, And threw out bait for rebel fishin'. E'en rebels came and asked permission, To join Grant's latest new addition. Grant wanted to be near at hand, Heady to attend command, When descending troops should land, With Yankee Doodle on a band. It was to drive the rebels bold, Dislodging them from their stronghold. Grant e'en viewed their works all o'er, From viewing now and learning before. Which on the water's front he found, That it was adamantine sound, And it needed tons of cannon balls To e'en shake its stubborn walls. Grant and his generals counseled long, O'er this structure fierce and strong. So at last they did confide The southernmost the weakest side On which to bring the troops to bear. The point was how to get them there. , Above, the river was blockaded, And from below could not be aided. For their it was fortified, Port Hudson guarded the rippling tide. So General Grant concluded then Williams' Canal to try again And make Vickburg isolate, By taking land from another State. 1?4 frHE LIFE OF GRAN?. It was a task most liirculain, Shot by foes, and drenched by rain. It took more to fight the water Than the men called out to slaughter. Secrecy was now demanded, In sturdy accents, firm and candid. No soldiers could go in or out, And citizens dared not prowl about. All had to stay within the lines That was the limit of confines. Not e'en a flag of truce could come Inside the line where picket run. It was all mute a secret affair Verging on some great scheme to dare. Articles of war was carried out, In their relation true and devout. The guerillas was a pest and bore, Firing at transports from the shore, With field-pieces, light of heft, Easy to take, but easier left. At all safe places they hovered near, In all big steals they had a share. A reconnaisance did advance, Around Lake Providence' narrow expanse. Many a skirmish then took place, And the rebels led in many a chase. Then on the tenth of February They played the rebels bold and merry. And at Old River, Louisian', They chased the rebels to a man. During the reconnaisance Captain Prime Found a place o'er which to climb. He was Grant's chief engineer, And of this scheme he had no fear. No facts in it, could ever lurk, RED RIVER EXPEDITION. 175 It was too watery a scheme to work. Still Williams' canal extended ; Ten thousand men o'er shovels bended. But on the eighth of March, the stream, Overflowed and wrecked the scheme. For the Mississippi ran with pleasure, Where space was found to store her treasure. This scheme was then forever left, To hands that work the dirt more deft. THE BED EIVEK EXPEDITION. Colonel Ellet worked a glorious racket, Ran the rebel batteries with his packet. It was a rack of death and disaster, The wonder was, it ever passed her. I must be excited out of a calm, Ellet's packet was an iron-clad ram. "Queen of the West" was the name she wore, And closely on the rebs she bore. She ran down blockaded Mississip', And up the Bed River on a trip. The rebels now held her with their forts, But from them she towed off three transports. Where the lower end of Williams' canal expanded There's where she and her transports landed. Wlien the month of February had run to ten, On a second trip she started again. [morn, He captured a steam transport from rebeldom, one With a few soldiers, and nine hundred barrels of corn. And as he pushed along the river's course again, He fell upon and destroyed, an army wagon train. But he lost his own dear ram, in iron siding dressed, [of the West." His old, powerful, and active, but beautiful " Queen Colonel Ellet by rebels I'm sure was never gotten, 176 THE LIFE OF GRANT. For he navigated from the " Queen " upon a bale of [cotton. Then he sought his captured vessel, a thing that came [in play, Though loaded down with corn and things, but still [not in the way. This captured vessel, "Era" was the name she bore; Upon a rebel water bound, by a rebel shore. [is meet, The United States gunboat, " Indianola," to tell of her Though at first successful, she wound up in defeat. [helm, And all other boats that strained their steam and [realm. To run the Vicksburg batteries to gain the lower Those vesseled expeditions show the weak and wise, Where Gibraltered Vicksburg gets her grub supplies. It showed the stones . That broke our bones, That lay in the path, That backed the wrath-of rebs With grub secured, They worked their sword, "With fierce disaster. A tyrant master. The Lake Providence canal scheme, We see it different now from what it then did seem. In it could be heard the clang of many spades, [aids. The privates were their backers and most stupendous [of Vicks', The bayous that run from the river out on either side [land betwix' So Grant could boat around, he aimed to canal the He therefore called out his topographic seers, A lot of blockheaded things, they called 'em engineers. The simplest schoolboy their answer would know, For a thing suggested, they would try to make it go. The first grand, mighty thing that had to here be done, From Mississippi to Lake Providence a canal must nm. THE CANAL SCHEME 177 Through which alas, a boat can pass, Thence, from whence, o'er Providence, and on, Through bayous, o'er sloughs, into Black River, Through River Tensas gone. Then along the bed of the River Red, She slides, and glides and onward rides, Along its banks, with clatter and clanks, Till the Mississip' has full grip on its seething tides. Where the Red River, is lost for ever, in the grip, Of the Mississip' ; oh ! gigantic flow. Then we could land under right command, With Port Hudson's blockade far below And troops by this course, could assist the force, Under General Banks. That was fixing to take, Port Hudson to rake, By battle ranks. Then Vicksurg o'er the Miss' no longer could master, As boats could go above without traveling a-past her. Under the cover of this canal racket scheme, Grant curried and harnessed his great w r arring team. Below Vicksburg, inland from the shore there, In Louisiana State, he planted troops with great care. The canal was dug with rapidity of motion That proved the Union cause was run with devotion. [barges, It was opened, and a steamer, with a number of Were taken through it on orders of duty discharges. [needed. When the middle of April came with her warm days The water of the Mississippi so rapidly receded, That the roads from New Carthage to Milliken's Bend Began to get good as the weather did mend. And the canal got so dangerously low Navigation no longer o'er it could go. So it was no longer used but the roads resumed. 178 tltE LIVE OF OitANT. Then for battle again Grant's wings were plumed. Then after the canal to a failure had led, Grant had no faith in it from the first, he said. Grant dug that canal, he did in after years say, To work the soldiers, to drive laziness away. It's now, alas, Well view the expedition of the Yazoo Pass. It was in the woods so densely shaded, That the gloomiest gloom of all glooms pervaded. fup pass, To the Cold Water and Tallahatchee it was a closed [mass ; Till the Yankee from its mouth dug the great levee Which made it run one way, but never this, And parted its water from the river of Miss'. When the month of February had reached a score, And to that many days add the number of four, [mass, Is the day that they cut the levee's water-clogged And commenced navigating the long hidden pass. There many a log or tree and drift aggravated, But it was a great deal better than was anticipated. After entering the pass in four days more, [shore. They reached the cold waters and its wood-bound And when the vessels got there, they looked as hard As if they had stood a long siege or a fierce bombard. The hurricane-deck was battered and bruised, As the big limbs o'er them plowed and perused. A smoke-stack, or two was raked from the deck, And a cabin or two was turned to a wreck ; And an old contraband nigger was slain, As in a sick-bunk he was laid up with pain. By a big limb that came down through the deck, And left that old nigger and bunk a dead wreck. Take the Dismal Swamp and an Indian jungle. YAZOO PASS EXPEDITION. 179 And the John Brown tract all in a jumble. The three extracted and together combined. But in them but a shadow of the pass you'll find. If in looking for compound crooks doubly refined. The Yazoo Pass is the chief one ? Bear it in mind ! No hundred feet in it that goes along straight. Or I have stretched here at a hundred fold rate. The banks of the stream meanders together, Each fifty to a hundred feet off from the other. And the boats in it travelled in Yazoo styles, Three days and a half to make twenty miles. Aided by an army to cut away the brash, With a big head of steam through saplings to crush. The point was to reach the Upper Yazoo, "With light gun-boats and a heavy armed crew, To keep the rebel country from aiding their forts. And clear from that section all rebel transports. But ere they got there the rebels were charmed At the daring feat that the Yankees performed. For they had heard of their deeds and daring tricks. And came out to meet them like a thousand of bricks. The Tallehatche river with a fort was closed, So that's the way the rebels welcomed their foes. Fort Pemberton that place was called. [March, 1863.] There General Boss and his force got stalled. After his forces mastering such unbeatable places, Have rebels to shove cannon into their faces, And forbid them progressing any further at all, For fear of destruction from steel cannon ball. But Ross tried hard to conquer the site, To drive out the rebels and capture 'em in flight. But they were troops from Vicksburg lent, Armed and equipped against the Yankees sent. Armed and equipped to aid in the chase, But had no desire to lead in the race. 180 THE LIFE OF GRANT The balls from Ross's guns were hurled, Like comets around a dying world. The fire in the powder so quickly expanded That death-telling missiles in the fort was landed. The land forces here couldn't land at all, For the high water swept to the very fort's wall. When March to the twenty-third day had extended, [scended. Ross went back up the stream the way he'd de- It was a scheme that assisted Grant's own plans For on Vicksburg rebels it made heavy demands. Now the expedition of Bayou Steele, Shows a movement strong and real. It was ordered by Grant and strangely maintained. Backed by Porter and powerfully sustained. For both of them viewed it e'er they begun, Through Bayou Steele their boats to run. The infantry travelled both by foot and steam, As there was few transports for so small a stream. The infantry received their solid strong tuition [ammunition. That they were to carry nothing but arms, grub and But from Young's Point, Grant, therefore, did not go. [the blow. Sherman, Steward and Porter are the ones that struck They struck hard, both officers and man, [off again. And it was hard and active work that brought them It was in March, late on the sixteenth day, [way. That the expedition was prepared and started on its The road was to the Yazoo, above old Haynes' Bluff. [snuff. Or by that way it was proposed to give the rebel's Sherman cleared and opened a passage With his pioneering corps. He cleared the trees, and sawed the stumps BA TO U 8TEELE EXPEDITION. 181 As they passed along before. And the reasons the expedition failed, Why not I here describe it ? There was none along that knew the country, Well enough to guide it. That's the reason it got into Several rebel wrangles, And in navigating through the woods Met with several tangles. When almost within our grasp The object of the scheme, Then it vanished from before us, Like an object in a dream. The rebels about it with Torturing guns were seen, And chasms of death At once did intervene. Then a fight was pressed, so close On those that were concerned, If it had not been for Sherman None could have returned.. Some scenes about this expedition Were novel and exciting. The gunboats pushing through the woods And soldiers chase in fighting. The gunboats from the cypress limbs. Got many an awful drubbing, And raked along their mailed sides, With one continuous rubbing. There was many a scene fantastic, Scattered along the way. Things burlesque and picturesque, Happening night and day. By destruction among the rebels, Many a ginn and house was gotten, 182 THE LIFE OF OR ANT. For them it also took away, Two thousand bales of cotton. The provisions then destroyed, To give it here I scorn. The most of it consisted In ten thousand barrels of corn. Private property was almost Universally respected, Although it was a fact that The rebels scarce expected. All these expeditions proved elegant extremes, They used up rebel power and wasted Yankee means, At each expeditions start they each would pick the pie. [deny, But when they got back again, they were willing to Was it the officers that led the warring men, Or did the officers stay behind and follow after them. They each defy, and all deny they ever had bad luck, [they're struck Until a sword cracks their gourd, or by cannon-balls Until it's such as, Death holds 'em in his clutches. With death so close they can't defy, Their tongue so stiff they can't deny. Soldiers hold a curious belief, The de'il or death's their only thief. Throughout the army from blade to blade, Providence assisted to work the trade. Upon both sides he killed and slayed. For some chaplain was always there, Ordering Providence to do and dare. E'en heaping on him the biggest share. [ Mar. 1883. The armies wealth, In spirit and health, Was highly rated throughout, around and before, MOVING ON TO VICKSBTTRG. 183 From the commonest soldier to the heaviest corps. Of course there was a few on the sick list, And it spread over the country in a frightful whist. As no mail from the army could reach its friends, Until the Vicksburg scheme came to solid ends. As our mails might be captured by rebel power, From whence facts might be learned in a critical hour. The home friends of the Union and her cause [claws. Were more to be dreaded than the rebels' bloody [loud. O'er the sick that went home they howled long and Fearing that Grant's army was dying in a crowd. [supplies. They were afraid Grant was short and needed hospital Thus it disturbed the weak, and horrified the wise. But in such, he had all that could be needed. His hospital in any branch could not be exceeded. Now Grant combines his aid with Farragut and Porter, [court her. Combined against Vicksburg with shot and shell to Grant moved around Vicksburg to reach its lower side, [tide. As Farragut runs Port Hudson's guns on Mississippi's Now Grant and Vicksburg were by -no means together, [other. Vicksburg on one side of the river, and Grant upon the It was in March's days, when run to twenty-nine, Above Vicksburg then, Grant's forces marched in line. The thirteenth corps led in marching to the scene, Then seventeenth was followed by fifteen. [munication, The sixteenth corps held watch o'er supplies and corn- While the others marched on to lead in devastation. About this time Farragut went down the Mississippi 184 THE LIVE OF GRANT. To go up the Red River on a devastating trip. Thus he did a part that was extremely wise, For it always kills a foe in taking their supplies. On March thirteen, the village of Richmond found, That Yankees were marching o'er their sacred ground. But the thirteenth corps spent two long hours in fight, Ere they forced the daring rebs to flight Then on they pressed with vim and vigor, To cut the bonds that tied the nigger. In reaching New Carthage they checked their vim. For in getting there they had to boat it o'er or swim. [to build, (Therefore they stopped, boats to collect and barges And at it, many a long, weary day was killed.) Bayou Vidal's levee opened, To try the Yankee armies' fate, And placed the village of New Carthage In an isolated state. Therefore a question with this Vast Yankee army arose, How to convey their ordnance,. And grub to fight their foes. Therefore the men laid hold With sufficient force amain, And men assumed the place of mules, To drag the heavy train. Tt was no use to go and strike A half supported blow. Therefore Grant got a giant's club To crush a daring foe. As Grant was performing those Long and muddy inarches, Porter was preparing to pass Vicksburg's cannon tortures. On April sixteenth, Porter's fleet, COLONEL ORIERSON'S EXPEDITION. 185 Combined with three transports, Ran by Vicksburg's batteries, Fired on from all her forts. And why not here confess, One was totally injured, And the others more or less. Then six transports were made ready, Against Vicksburg's balls to press, No soldiers were ordered to travel With such a dangerous fleet, But volunteers were called, To perform the daring feat. To which officers and men responded, With unequalled enthusiasm, To ferry this transport fleet, O'er Vicksburg's deadly chasm. To each boat was attached Two barges loaded with forage. To tug them along o'er water, Was much faster than by carage. Upon their wooden hulls, The bombshells shrieked in clatteries, On April twenty-second, five out of six, Got safe below the batteries. Part of the barges and one boat, Got awfully in distress, And all of them, both in and out, Were injured more or less. The repairing of them Gives many glorious charms, Porter had material, And the mechanics were men in arms. Before leaving Vicksburg's northern side, Grant cut all communications, never to be tied. * Tlie ret>els attempting to scale Grant's swor