June 12, 1863, The New York Herald
Our latest advices from Vicksburg are to the 8th inst. They come from General Grant himself to official persons in Washington. Up to that date the siege was progressing satisfactorily. On the 4th inst. General Grant and General Banks were in communication, Port Hudson at that time, which is the latest date we have, being closely invested. General Grant expresses no fear either of the army in his front or rear, and regards the capture of Vicksburg as certain. The rebels are said to have made an attack on the 6th inst. at Millikin’s Bend and Young’s Point, and were repulsed.
The despatch which was sent to General Johnston by General Pemberton from Vicksburg, asking for reinforcements, was dated on the 28th of May. That despatch, it will be remembered, was intrusted to Green S. Douglas, and by him taken to General Grant. The letter stated, in effect, that if Johnston could not send thirty thousand men to the relief of the garrison at Vicksburg within ten days the game would be up, and Johnston had better retreat with what forces he had. As our dates from Vicksburg direct are to the 8th inst., the ten days had then nearly expired.
The success of General Kimball’s expedition up the Yazoo is now confirmed. He went up as far as Sataria with a force of 3,000 men, thirty miles below Yazoo City, and arrived there on the 4th inst. He learned that a rebel force under General Wirt Adams, 2,000 strong, was not far off, and he immediately marched to meet him. At ten A.M. on Thursday, the 4th inst., he came up with the pickets of the enemy, when a brisk fight ensued, lasting thirty minutes. The enemy gave way and a total rout ensued. Our loss was one killed and seventeen wounded. Their loss in killed and wounded was considerable. We captured a hundred prisoners.
We give today a most interesting description of Port Hudson and the state of things there, derived from a Confederate prisoner. It will be seen by this account and the very accurate map which accompanies it, that the defences of the place are immensely strong, consisting not only of fortifications and heavy artillery around the town, but of outer works composed of intrenched abatis, stretching out for nearly ten miles in a semi-circle, bristling with cannon of heavy calibre.
The water defences consist of ten batteries, numbering between thirty and forty guns, some of them being eleven inches and others thirteen inches bore. One of these batteries is stationed on a bluff eighty feet high. The strength of the garrison is between four and five thousand, but their provisions and ammunition are said to be giving out. The post is commanded by General Franklin Gardner, a graduate of West Point, and formerly an officer in the United States Army.
Affairs in the Army of the Potomac remain unchanged. The enemy’s cavalry, about 250 strong, crossed the Potomac near Poolesville yesterday morning at daybreak, and drove the patrols of the Sixth Michigan cavalry back to within three miles of that town. The enemy then retreated to Seneca, burned the camp of the Michigan company, returned down the towpath and recrossed the river. We lost four men killed and one badly wounded. The enemy left on the field one lieutenant and one private killed.
General Lee is in the vicinity of Culpepper with a large body of infantry, and a heavy force remains near Fredericksburg. Troops from the Blackwater, North and South Carolina and elsewhere have been hurried up to the army of Northern Virginia, and there can be no doubt that Lee contemplates a grand and desperate effort for the annihilation of Hooker’s army.
Another privateer, the brig Coquette, has been doing some mischief on the ocean. On the 6th inst. she came across the bark Whistling Wind, bound for New Orleans with a valuable cargo of coal from Philadelphia, and burned her. The crew were put on board a Bremen brig bound to Antwerp, and were subsequently transferred to the bark Almena, coming to New York, and arrived in this city yesterday.