May 16, 1863, The Charleston Mercury
The attention of the country is at this moment fixed upon the important campaign of GRANT against Vicksburg and Jackson, Miss. From our Western exchanges we glean some intelligence from that quarter that will be read with interest. The Jackson correspondent of the Mobile Advertiser, writing on May 7th, says:
Gen. Pemberton is represented to express the fullest confidence in his ability to check Grant and capture the detachments which have been sent inland in order to turn the town of Vicksburg. The only thing which gives him any uneasiness is the raids threatened on the railroads diverging into the State of Mississippi from Corinth and Grand Junction.
Jackson may be visited at any time by a raid of cavalry from the neighborhood of Edwards’ Depot, a few miles this side of Big Black River; but the Bluebellies hardly contemplate the permanent occupation of the place. Every precautionary measure has been taken to secure Government property and private effects, and breast works and rifle pits are being constructed wherever needed. The people are determined to resist to the last, and with the military force now here there is no doubt but that we can successfully hold our own. The President has taken measures to provide arms and equipments for all the men the Governor may raise throughout the State, and everything goes to show that the determination of the Mississippians to defend their soil is cheerful, enthusiastic and universal. Three hundred citizens of Brandon are drilling every day – the same is the case, relatively to their population, at Canton, Meridian and other towns; but it would be imprudent to state how many in Jackson have shouldered their muskets. Suffice it that hardly any one is backward at the call of Governor Pettus.
If the worst should come, and our troops in the field back of Vicksburg be likely to be overpowered by superior numbers, Port Hudson could be evacuated, and the garrison there thrown upon Grant’s flank, readily restoring the equilibrium.
I presume you are aware in Mobile as to what reinforcements are on the way from the East. The feeling of our military men is sanguine and buoyant, and no fear, beyond a few temporary inconveniences and robberies, is entertained of the final result.
Of one thing, however, we may rest assured – Grant will not be economical of his Yankees. Their term of enlistment will soon be up, and he must make some great attempt, no matter how perilous and difficult, in order to justify the stupendous expenses of his expedition. What are the lives of men to the Yankee Administration, so long as they are not soldiers?
He is compelled to risk a great, decisive engagement before mustering his troops out of service, and it will be immaterial how many men he loses so long as he can forward exaggerated accounts of Confederate engineering and rebel slaughter. He has probably a month more to operate in. If he cannot find a weak point in our defences, he will be necessitated to take the bull by the horns, and advance madly and desperately to certain destruction.
About one hundred prisoners arrived from Vicksburg last evening. A portion of them were taken at Grand Gulf, and the remainder composed the crew and passengers of the tug which was sunk in attempting a few nights ago to pass Vicksburg. Three of the latter are reporters of The New York Herald and Tribune, and very gentlemanlike personages. One of them said one million rations were destroyed at the time of their disaster. The staid reporter of the Tribune sought safety on a bale of hay which floated from the wreck as it went down. The impetus caused by the knight of the quill springing upon the bale made it revolve three or four times, and it is to be hoped the immersion purified him of some little portion of his sins and abolition fanaticism. They are to be sent today or tomorrow to Selma, and I hear the reporters will be unconditionally released, as being non-combatants.
We are lucky in having all fighting generals on the Big Black. First, there is Loring, the one armed, who has done probably more travelling in the last two months than any other man in Mississippi, and been sent to every point in the Department which required energy and courage to avert the threatened danger. Then Bowen, who led his men at Grand Gulf, and was unhorsed four times by hostile bullets. Then Tilghman, the old hero of a hundred desperate battles.
Colonel Pettus, who is a competent judge, estimates the Yankee strengths to be between 40,000 and 50,000, distributed along the road from Port Gibson to Big Black, and commanded by Grant in person.
The press upon the train leaving for Meridian is very great. Ladies not only fill the car allotted to the sex, but have frequently to seat themselves among the soldiers and other unkempt bipeds of the masculine gender. The stampede continues unabated, and if the scare keeps up, there won’t be a pretty face in Jackson a week hence. The hotels are packing up their effects not in daily use.
The same correspondent, writing from Jackson on the 9th instant, says:
Now that the Jackson papers have set the example, it may not be improper to state that reinforcements are hourly pouring into Jackson, both for its own defence and to swell the ranks of the gallant army on Big Black. It is not known who commands the troops sent from North Carolina. No matter who the officer in command may be we have plenty of Generals on Big Black who will set him to emulate deeds of heroic daring and self sacrifice. It may not be amiss to inform you that Port Hudson has contributed her share of reinforcements, but to what extent it would be imprudent to mention.
The exposed points, particularly the highways leading out of Jackson, are being hastily fortified, and the town limits will soon be bristling with entrenchments and pickets. The Governor is exerting his utmost energy – and that is unsurpassed – in preparations for defence. If the Yankees procrastinate in a contemplated movement on this town, they will meet with an infant brother (or sister, as the case may be) of rugged Vicksburg, and find a newborn Hercules, who, from his cradle, will strangle the serpents sent by granny Grant to destroy it.
The papers to the eastward complain very generally of the meagreness of military news furnished by telegraph from Jackson. A little reflection will show how unjust and unfounded is this complaint. Vicksburg is now the centre of operations; the military officers have all, even to General Pemberton’s entire staff, been transferred to that city, and a very intelligent and experienced gentleman – a newspaper editor in the bargain – is the agent of the Associated Press there. The silence of the agent in Vicksburg is compulsory – that of the agent at Jackson, 48 miles distant from the place to which all reports and despatches are directed, unavoidable; and it is as unjust to blame the one for not furnishing news which he dare not furnish, as to blame the other for withholding information which he knows nothing about. The best proof is to be found in the absence of all news of movements between this place and Vicksburg from the ridiculous and phantasmagorical rumors which uncertainty and ignorance create in hourly myriady on the streets.
The two armies are now facing each other on the opposite banks of the Big Black River, the one eager for the impending battle, confident and self reliant, notwithstanding the inequality of numbers; the other hesitating and fearful to advance, in spite of its imposing paraphernalia, and the boasting and blustering of its commanders. It is reported that Grant is using the pick and spade on the side of Big Black opposite to the object of his wishes. This does not look as if he intended to advance his immense columns rapidly to the attack, and crush the less formidable numbers of the Confederate army. If he intrenches himself in his present position, he will have to make almost a complete circle of defences in order to protect himself from the veterans that Gen. Lee will probably send down in case of necessity, now that he has settled the hash of Fighting Joe so definitely and effectually.
The Jackson Appeal of the 9th instant contains the following:
From the best information we can gather, it is the purpose of General Grant to advance in this direction from Port Gibson, fortifying his lines at intervals as he progresses, so as to enable him, with a small force, to keep up communications with the river, and while he makes a demonstration against Vicksburg to engage the attention of our forces, he will hurl the main body of his army against Jackson. With the force he is represented to have at his command and in the absence of suitable defences and a competent body of troops at this place, his purposes might readily be accomplished. But, with proper vigilance and prompt action on the part of our authorities and the people, Grant will most assuredly be foiled in his designs. In advancing upon this place he must necessarily greatly expose his rear, and if he can be prevented from effecting a lodgment here, and his army kept out of the city, his discomfiture and defeat are inevitable, and the State is saved from subjugation and the people from ruin.