SECTION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
SHOWING THE DISTANCES FROM NEW ORLEANS, AND THE ISLANDS BY THEIR NUMBERS.
SECTION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
SHOWING THE DISTANCES FROM NEW ORLEANS, AND THE ISLANDS BY THEIR NUMBERS.
The enemy had one bastioned earthwork, mounting fourteen heavy guns, about half a mile below the town, and another irregular work at the upper end of the town, mounting seven pieces of heavy artillery, together with lines of intrenchments between them. Six gunboats carrying from four to eight heavy guns each, were anchored along the shore, between the upper and lower redoubts.
The country is perfectly level for miles around the place, and the river was so high just then, that the gunboats looked directly over the banks; and the approaches to the town for seven miles were commanded by direct and cross-fire from at least sixty guns of heavy calibre.
The column under General Pope left Commerce, Mo., on the 27th of February, and, after six days of hard marches through and over the interminable jungles of the great Mingo or Nigger Wool swamp, sat down before the town. They had scarcely been in camp a day before the river batteries opened upon them, forcing the right wing back a few hundred yards further from the river.
Trials and dangers now beset the Federal army, which would have discouraged less brave men. It would not have been difficult to carry the intrenchments, but it must have been attended with heavy loss, and they could not have been held half an hour exposed to the destructive fire of the gunboats. It therefore became necessary to bring down a few heavy guns by land to operate against those of the enemy. They were accordingly sent for; and meantime, forced reconnoissances were pushed over the whole ground, and into several parts of the town. Some brisk skirmishes resulted, in which the enemy invariably retreated precipitately. It was found impossible to induce them to trust any considerable force of their infantry outside of their intrenchments. While awaiting the arrival of the heavy guns, Colonel Plummer, of the Eleventh Missouri, was dispatched to Point Pleasant, eight miles below, with three regiments of infantry, three companies of cavalry, and a field battery of 10-pound Parrott and rifled guns, with orders to make a lodgment on the river bank; to line the bank with rifle-pits for a thousand men, and to establish his artillery in sunk batteries of single pieces between the rifle-pits. This arrangement was made in order to present the smallest possible marks to the shells of the gunboats, and to render futile the use of round shot from their heavy guns. Colonel Plummer, after some cannonading from the gunboats which he found there, succeeded in making a lodgment, constructing his batteries and rifle-pits, and occupying them in sufficient force to maintain them against any open assault.
After repeated and persistent cannonading from the gunboats, the enemy found it impossible to dislodge him. He maintained his position, and effectually blockaded the river to transports, during the whole siege. Meantime, the enemy continued every day to reinforce New Madrid, until, on the 12th, they had nine thousand infantry, besides a considerable force of artillery and nine gunboats. The fleet was commanded by Commodore Hollins, the land forces by Generals McCown, Stewart and Gantt. On the 11th, the Federal siege guns were delivered to Colonel Bissell for his engineer regiment, who had been sent to Cairo. They were at once shipped to Sykestown, reached New Madrid at sunset on the 12th, and were placed in battery during the same night, within eight hundred yards of the enemy’s main work, commanding the river above it. They opened fire at daylight on the 13th, just thirty-four hours after they were received at Cairo.
A brigade, consisting of the Tenth and Sixteenth Illinois, under Colonel Morgan, of the Tenth, was detailed to cover the construction of the battery, and to work in the trenches. It was supported by Stanley’s division, consisting of the Twenty-seventh and Thirty-ninth Ohio, under Colonel Groesbeck, and the Forty-third and Sixty-third Ohio, under Colonel Smith. Captain Mower, First United States infantry, with companies A and H of his regiment, was placed in charge of the siege guns.
The enemy’s pickets and grand guards were driven in by Colonel Morgan, from the ground selected for the battery. The work was prosecuted in silence, and with the utmost rapidity, until at three o’clock, A. M., two small redoubts connected by a curtain, and mounting four heavy guns were completed, together with rifle-pits in front and on the flanks for two regiments of infantry. The batteries opened as soon as the day dawned, and were replied to in front and on the flanks by the whole of the enemy’s heavy artillery on land and water.