About the 1st of November Grant initiated his movement in the direction of Vicksburg. Commencing on the line of defence which had just been wrested from the rebels, there was a railroad extending from Memphis to Grenada. Fifty miles east of Memphis, from near La Grange, on the railroad extending east and west, was another line to the south—the Mississippi Central—which also went to Grenada, where the two roads meeting extended to Jackson, forty miles east of Vicksburg, and thence to New Orleans. Both of these roads crossed the Tallahatchie River, a branch of the Yazoo, which flowed into the Mississippi a few miles above Vicksburg. Grant's plan was to move down upon these lines of railway, depending upon them in his rear for supplies.
Pemberton, who was in command of Vicksburg and the forces which were covering it in the State of Mississippi, was holding the railroad, and made the Tallahatchie River his line of defence. On the 4th of November, Grant took possession of La Grange, near the Central Railroad, driving the Confederate advance to Holly Springs, about twenty miles farther south.
While Grant moved in this direction, Sherman started from Memphis, and another force was moved out from Helena to coöperate with him. Grant proceeded on the railroad, captured Holly Springs, and made it his depot of supplies, placing it in charge of Colonel Murphy. Continuing on his victorious path, the enemy abandoned Abbeville, and the line of the Tallahatchie, without a battle, and were finally driven into Grenada, with the Yallabusha River as their line of defence. Here the commander proposed to hold the rebels, and send an army from Memphis to make the direct attack upon Vicksburg. For this purpose Sherman was sent back, with directions to organize the expedition, and procure the coöperation of the squadron under Admiral Porter.
Sherman executed his orders with his usual decision. With one hundred and twenty-seven steamers, and a flotilla of gunboats for his protection, he went down the river, and debarked his force at Johnston's Landing, near the mouth of the Yazoo.
In the mean time, Van Dorn fell upon Holly Springs, surprised the garrison, and captured the place, with all the supplies which had been accumulated for the support of the advancing army. Colonel Murphy, in command, made no resistance whatever. By this sad and unexpected blow, inflicted by the imbecility or treachery of a single officer, the entire plan of the campaign was defeated. Grant, with his army, was in the heart of the enemy's country. His communications were cut in several places behind him; his base of supplies was lost, and his stores destroyed. The success of the experiment of subsisting upon the enemy had not been demonstrated then, and sorely chagrined and disappointed, the progressive general was obliged to retrace his steps. It was a bitter day to him. Murphy was promptly dismissed from the army, without even the formality of a court martial.
Sherman, having no knowledge of the disaster which had crippled Grant, attacked the enemy's positions, and gained some advantages; but the rebels were reënforced by the withdrawal of the army in the rear of Vicksburg, and he reëmbarked his forces, abandoning the attempt. At this point General McClernand appeared, and superseded Sherman, who then took command of one of the corps of the army of the Mississippi, as it was from that time designated. The great bugbear of Grant's military existence, "a political general," was thrown into his path, and though this act of the president sorely grieved him, he made the best of the circumstances.
His grand calculation had failed through the dastardly cowardice and imbecility of Murphy; but Grant was still serene in his disappointment, as he was in his triumphs, and immediately set himself at work to "fick it again". He was conscious of the magnitude of the enterprise he had undertaken, and of the difficulties which lay in his path. After all the minor "Gibraltars" had melted away before the victorious arms of the Union, Jeff. Davis declared that Vicksburg was the Gibraltar of the Mississippi. So thoroughly had it been fortified, with battery behind battery, with every conceivable approach guarded, with the heights for miles around the city bristling with guns, the president of the Southern Confederacy was perfectly confident that the place was invulnerable. Above and below the city the country was intersected with bayous, lakes, and rivers, and the land so low that it hardly afforded a foothold for an army. Every rood of high ground in the vicinity was occupied by the rebels, and covered with defensive works.
Grant knew all this, and he made up his mind to capture Vicksburg. Frowning heights studded with guns, fortifications overrunning with obstinate soldiers, swamps and morasses, could not deter him. "I cannot tell exactly when I shall take Vicksburg," he said, "but I mean to stay here till I do, if it takes thirty years." This was the spirit of the man. He had actually begun the job, and he was determined to carry it through. Towards the close of the year 1862 he issued orders for the reorganization of his army, having matured the system himself.
On the 1st of January, 1863, the president issued the Emancipation Proclamation, taking that greatest and most decisive step of the war. It was contrary to Grant's political antecedents, but he gave the measure his hearty support. Many generals did otherwise, and opposed in spirit, if not in fact, the policy of the government in using negro troops. Grant issued an order in relation to this subject, directing his subordinates to afford every facility for the organization of negro regiments, requesting them "especially to exert themselves in carrying out the policy of the administration, not only in organizing colored regiments and rendering them efficient, but also in removing prejudice against them."
Grant's force in the department of the Tennessee, in January, was one hundred and thirty thousand men. Fifty thousand of these he sent down the river into camp at Milliken's Bend and at Young's Point. Admiral Porter coöperated with him, having a fleet of sixty vessels of all classes. On the 29th of January he arrived at Young's Point himself, and assumed the control of operations against Vicksburg, in spite of a protest on the part of McClernand, who gave Grant a great deal of trouble in one way and another.