In the mean time the remainder of the Union forces had continued their march, and reached Starkville, where they captured and destroyed a rebel mail which had arrived; and set fire to and utterly destroyed one of the finest tanneries in the country, which they reached after continuing their march for five miles in a southerly direction.
On the following day, the 22d, the march was not only disagreeable, as the men were often compelled to swim their horses through streams and lead them over blind marshes, but extremely perilous; for often horse and rider would sink into the marsh together, and though the men escaped with life, the hapless animals often disappeared and were lost. With unparalleled fortitude the men pushed on; and at ten o’clock the next morning they reached Philadelphia, Miss. At this place the mail was taken from the post-office, and destroyed, but nothing else was injured in any way.
On the following day the march was vigorously prosecuted. A battalion was sent by the Southern railroad to Decatur and Newton, where they were joined the same night by the main body, under Colonel Grierson. Two trains of cars were captured at Newton, laden with every description of commissary stores, and a large quantity of ammunition and loaded shell. All were destroyed, and the locomotives rendered unfit for any further service. The march was then resumed, and continued till the 25th, when a halt was made at a plantation a few miles west of Montrose, the men having fired every bridge which they passed on the way. From this place the route was slightly changed, and the cavalry pressed on in a more southerly direction.
At Raleigh they halted for the night, and a scout who had been sent out to cut the telegraph wires on the Southern railroad between Lake Station and Jackson, was met by the enemy, and questioned as to the whereabouts of Grierson’s men. The rebels were then on the direct road to the camp, and not more than fourteen miles distant; but the scout, with admirable self-possession, parried their questions, and succeeded in misleading them as to the position of the Union troops, and then escaped and hastened back to camp in time to give information of the enemy’s proximity. Colonel Grierson immediately moved his men across Leaf river, and destroyed the bridge to prevent the rebels following and attacking him in the rear. They then marched on to Westville, and swam their horses across Reaul river, at a point ten miles from Westville. The advance, under Colonel Prince, had by this time reached Hazlehurst station, where they captured a train of forty cars,—four of which were filled with shell and ammunition, and the remainder with commissary stores. As the march continued, the cavalry came upon a team carrying a 32-pound Parrot gun, which was then on its way to Fort Gibson. The piece was captured and spiked. Two detachments from the main body had been doing serious damage to the rebels, burning cars, water tanks, and a great deal of other property.
At early dawn on the 28th, the advance moved upon Brookhaven, and entered the town so suddenly that two hundred rebels were taken prisoners, before they had recovered from their surprise at finding themselves confronted with Union soldiers. At Gallatin a camp of instruction, said to have been one of the most beautiful and extensive in the State, was utterly destroyed. After leaving Gallatin, the Union cavalry encountered a rebel cavalry force under Colonel Garland, and a skirmish occurred, in which the enemy suffered severely in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Two clever feints, menacing Port Gibson and Natchez, deceived the enemy again, and the main body marched straight forward to Brookhaven, which was already occupied by Colonel Grierson’s advance.
On the 30th, the whole force left Brookhaven, and proceeded to Bogue Cluto Station, destroying every bridge on the way. At the station, fifteen freight cars, which were standing on the track, partially loaded, were fired, and utterly destroyed. From that point to Summit a rapid march was performed, and there twenty-five freight cars were reduced to ashes. Information was sent to Colonel Grierson that a regiment of rebel cavalry was rapidly moving toward Wassitta, and they were discovered at Wall’s bridge on the Tickfaw, by a detachment of Union cavalry, who dashed in upon them, and killing and wounding a large number, put the rest to flight. Colonel Grierson’s loss was one killed and five wounded.
The march again continued, at first east of the Tickfaw, and then changing again continued directly south, marching through woods, lanes and by-roads, and struck a road which led directly from Clinton to Osyka. There the cavalry came most unexpectedly upon the Ninth Tennessee cavalry regiment, which was posted in a strong defile guarding the bridges across the Tickfaw river. A sharp skirmish ensued, in which the enemy’s pickets were captured, and the regiment driven back with great loss. The cavalry then crossed the river at Edward’s bridge, where they were met by Garland’s rebel cavalry, which they put to flight with a single battalion of the Sixth Illinois, and two guns of the battery, without even halting the column. It was clearly perceived now that the rebels were sending out forces in all directions to intercept the march of Colonel Grierson’s troops.
At midnight the Amite river was crossed, over which there was but one bridge; and the National troops were just in time to escape a heavy column of infantry and artillery which had been sent to intercept them. They moved on to Sandy creek, where Hughes’ cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Wilburn, were encamped, and reached that point at dawn of day. The rebel camp, completely surprised, was in no condition to make a successful resistance, and a large number of the enemy were taken prisoners; the camp, consisting of one hundred and fifty tents, was destroyed, together with a great quantity of ammunition, guns, public and private stores, books, papers, and public documents. A large number of horses were captured also; and the cavalry then took the road to Baton Rouge, and on the way surprised Stuart’s cavalry at Commite river, and took prisoner forty men with their arms and horses.
On the morning of the 1st of May, the commander at Baton Rouge was startled by the intelligence of the close proximity of Grierson’s cavalry, and sent out two companies under Captain Godfrey, to meet and welcome them. The troops entered the city at three o’clock in the afternoon, amid cheers and shouts of welcome that rent the air, and echoed along the hills toward Port Hudson. Thus in less than sixteen days this heroic cavalry force had marched over six hundred miles, over marshes and rivers, endangering their lives for whole days at every mile they traversed. The last twenty-eight hours’ march was performed without either rest or food to men or horses. The loss to Colonel Grierson’s command during the whole journey was three killed, seven wounded, five sick and left upon the route, and nine men missing. Of the enemy, over one hundred were killed and wounded; five hundred taken prisoners (many of them officers); from fifty to sixty miles of railroad and telegraph wire destroyed, and three thousand stand of arms, together with army stores and government property, captured and destroyed—making in all a loss to the rebels of over three million dollars.