Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 132, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 June 1914 — MAY 30 FIFTY YEARS AGO [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MAY 30 FIFTY YEARS AGO

S THE ranks —piteously thinner ranks this year than they were last —of veterans file through the crowded streets of hundreds of American cities on Memorial day, the minds of those who fought beneath the blue or for the gray will om turn to a May 30 of 51 years ago, I when ashore and afloat men were doing those deeds which will be commemorated by Memorial day. Memorial day was not dreamed of then. North and South were busy with the grim business of war. The land shook with the tramp of armed forces and the rumble of artillery, and America was the scene of some of the mightiest battles which history records. The news which came to the North in. those

stirring days was not all rose-tinted by any means. Lee was threatening the second invasion of the North and the Shenandoah and Cumberland valleys were threatened with becoming seats of war and being ravaged by hostile armies. The little town of Gettysburg had not yet awakened to the fact that it was to be the center of the most colossal struggle of the war, and in Arkansas and Virginia the Union successes had not been all that they might have been.

From the Mississippi campaign came the brightest reports of progress. The eyes of North and South alike were upon Grant and Pemberton at Vicksburg, the almost impregnable stronghold of the Confederacy in the Mississippi valley. Farragut had run past the batteries of New Orleans and Porter was assisting Grant in the reduction of the works around Vicksburg. Newspapers dally printed glowing accounts of the progress of the siege, but the city did not fall. Still it was from Grant that the encouraging, heartening news of the day came. On May 29, the day before the date now set for Memorial day, certain New York newspapers printed dispatches stating that Vicksburg had fallen; that Pemberton had escaped from the city with the loss of his artillery. This report, however, was promptly denied. On the same day authentic accounts and pictures of an engagement at Champion’s Hill, near Vicksburg, were received. About five o'clock in the morning of May 15 General Grant had received information from two men who had been

employed on the Jackson and Vicksburg railroad and who had passed through Pemberton’s army in the night, that the Confederate general was marching east with 80 regiments of infantry and ten batteries, in all about twenty-five thousand men.

Grant Immediately recalled Sherman from Jackson and directed him to send one division with an ammunition train to Join his own "force. Within an hour after sending this dispatch Steele’s division was under way. The Union forces moved cautiously, with pickets thrown in advance, -by several roads. Smith’s division on the isouthernmost road was the first to encounter the enemy’s pickets. They were driven in, as were the pickets confronting Osterhaus on the middle road and Hovey on the northernmost road. By the time Grant arrived Hovey’s skirmish had assumed almost the proportions of a battle. Pemberton selected a position on Champion’S Hill to meet the Union forces. General Grant at once realized that the posi-

tion was a strong one. The hill commanded a of the surrounding country and was protected by a ravine and heavy shrubbery. The battle of Cham-, pion’s Hill lasted about four hours, during which time every man of Hovey’s division and McPherson’s two divisions was engaged. General Grant drove Pemberton from his position and the city of Vicksburg was nearer to its doom. Had it not been for neglect on the part of subordinates to promptly obey, General Grant felt that he could have almost completely diso r g a n 1 z e d Pemberton's force. Tempering this bit of hopeful news was the sad-

denlng report of those killed in the engagement Full lists were being published about the Memorial day season. The Union loss at Champion’s Hill was, according to General Grant’s memoirs, 410 killed, 1,844 wounded and 187 missing. Hovey alone lost 1,200 killed, wounded and missing—onethird of his command. It was estimated that the Confederates lost about 3,000 killed and wounded and 3,000 captured in pursuit and battler Loring’s division, which was the right of Pemberton’s line, never got back into Vicksburg, and Pemberton fell back to Big Black river. The most cheerful part of this Memorial day news was the fact that it meant Grant had a firm position between Johnston and Pemberton. Close on the news from Champion’s Hill came dispatches describing a fight at Big Black river.

where the Confederates were again driven from their position, and fled across the stream, burning the bridges. Pontoons were constructed and the Union army continued In pursuit of P e m b es to n. After the engagements at Champion’s Hill and Big Black river the Investment of Vicksburg was as complete as Grant’s limited number of troops could make it. For days the newspapers were filled with the progress of the work of constructing roads

through the bayous and swamps back of the city. Dispatches printed on May 30 gave rise to considerable anxiety over Grant’s safety. Johnston was not more than fifty miles in his rear with an army about the size of his own, and Pemberton had the advantage of the fortifies-

tions and outworks about Vicksburg. A day or two after May 30, 1863, reports were received in the North of desperate hand to hand fighting outside of Vicksburg and general assaults on the works. Several fortifications fell, but Were retaken by the Confederates. In the end of May the marine divisions under Porter did some excellent work at Hayne’s Bluffs under Grant’s, direction. News of this was printed shortly after the date which is now set apart for Memorial day. There had been much criticism of the administration in the North and the Union arms had come in for their share of popular opprobrium and the news of Grant’s successes in the West was sorely needed. It heartened the trootfs serving in other campaigns and It heartened those at home. ;•/ It was not long before what is now Memorial day that New York, in 1868, received news of the gallant charge of the Eighth Pennsylvania cavalry at Hasel Grove, where "Stonewall” Jackson turned the Union right. Infantry, artillery and cavalry lost heavily in this engagement in Hooker's Chancellorsville campaign.