Details
GRANT, ULYSSES S., President. Autograph letter signed ("U.S. Grant, Maj. Gen.") TO MAJOR GENERAL JAMES BIRDSEYE MCPHERSON, Commander of the XVIIth Corps, Head Quarters, Dept. of the Tennessee, "Before Vicksburg," 13 March 1863. 2 full pages, 4to, very slight fold separations at edge, otherwise in very good condition.
"BEFORE VICKSBURG": GRANT'S ORDERS TO MCPHERSON REGARDING THE YAZOO PASS EXPEDITION AND THE PROBLEM OF FREED SLAVES
A fine letter written in the final phases of Grant's dogged attempts to gain a position from which to attack the Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg. Since initiating his army's movements in December 1862, Grant had ordered the construction of canals, the dynamiting of river levees and the meticulous exploration of the labyrinth of bayous and lakes for miles about Vicksburg in search of a water route by which troops might be brought to a suitable point for an assault. All these elaborate attempts were doomed to failure. Major General McPherson, the young commander of the XVIIth Corps, was in readiness to support a troops under Generals Ross and Quinby proceeding on transports and overland along the Yazoo Pass, a bayou connecting the Mississippi to the Yazoo river below Vicksburg. Confederate General Pemberton, at Vicksburg, unknown to Grant, had learned of the Federal manoeuver and sent a division to hurriedly erect a fort on the Pass. The Federal gunboats were effectively blocked on 11 March (3 days prior to this letter) and the Yazoo Pass expedition abandoned on the 17th. Here, anxiously wondering about the progress of the expedition, Grant gives final orders to McPherson, from whose command the expeditionary force was drawn. On 13 March, McPherson had written Grant, informing him that the Union troops had encountered severe flooding, calling for more boats to transport men, and stating his apprehensions that Quinby might encounter "a stronger force than he can attend to" (that letter and another of March 15 in U.S. Grant, Papers, ed. John Y. Simon, 8:416-417 fn.
"[Lt. C.B.] Lagow [Grant's staff officer] has just returned and called my attention to several points that you want instructions on. As regards Quimby's going into the [Yazoo] pass with his present transports, he is the best judge of the practicality. Let him use a proper discretion. I have sent North for small class Steamers which should be expected to commence arriving soon.
"In regard to the contrabands [former slaves in Union-held territory] the question is a troublesome one. I am not permitted to send them out of the Department and such numbers as we have it is hard to keep them in. You have received my order with regard to the Pioneer Corps: This will enable you to use three hundred men to each Division. The balance will be left at Lake Providence [north of Vicksburg] as long as it is a Military post. When it is broken up they will have to be sent to Memphis or some other permanent post. Memphis will be the place in absence of other instructions.
"Exercise your own judgement about when the levee should be cut at Lake Providence. The object of having cotton brought in is to make some of our transports into rams. I will send up for what you have collected which with what we have, I think will be sufficient for the purpose.
"The Yazoo expedition seems to move slow. [Lt. Col. J.H.] Wilson thinks the ranking Naval Officer [Lt. Commander Watson Smith] is somewhat to blame. I am anxious to see [Brig. Gen. I. F.] Quinby in with his force. I have a great deal of confidence in his judgement and still more in the increased force there will be in the Yazoo when he gets there. My instructions may not have been plain on one point, but I want Quinby to move until he joins Ross as rapidly as possible and not wait for transports to take his whole Division. Have him go in just as rapidly as transports can take him....." For details on the remarkable career of McPherson, one of the highest ranking Union officers killed in the Civil War, see the notes to lot --. Grant's remarks on the problem of the "contrabands" are also of especial interest. On 7 March Grant's Headquarters had issued Special Order No.69, directing that 300 "contrabands" (freed black slaves), would be organized into squads, carried on the muster and quartermaster rolls of the Pioneer Corps as civilians employed by the army. "Rations and clothing will be issued to them on proper requisitions the same as to enlisted men [our italics]...These contrabands will be used for fatigue duty as far as practicable..." (text in Papers 8:417 fn.2). Grant's letter with extensive commentary published (from letterbook copies) in Papers, 8:415-417.
Provenance:
1. Probably among the papers of General McPherson left with his family after his death in the Battle of Atlanta, 22 July 1864.
2. A great-great-grandson, by descent
3. The present owner.
"BEFORE VICKSBURG": GRANT'S ORDERS TO MCPHERSON REGARDING THE YAZOO PASS EXPEDITION AND THE PROBLEM OF FREED SLAVES
A fine letter written in the final phases of Grant's dogged attempts to gain a position from which to attack the Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg. Since initiating his army's movements in December 1862, Grant had ordered the construction of canals, the dynamiting of river levees and the meticulous exploration of the labyrinth of bayous and lakes for miles about Vicksburg in search of a water route by which troops might be brought to a suitable point for an assault. All these elaborate attempts were doomed to failure. Major General McPherson, the young commander of the XVIIth Corps, was in readiness to support a troops under Generals Ross and Quinby proceeding on transports and overland along the Yazoo Pass, a bayou connecting the Mississippi to the Yazoo river below Vicksburg. Confederate General Pemberton, at Vicksburg, unknown to Grant, had learned of the Federal manoeuver and sent a division to hurriedly erect a fort on the Pass. The Federal gunboats were effectively blocked on 11 March (3 days prior to this letter) and the Yazoo Pass expedition abandoned on the 17th. Here, anxiously wondering about the progress of the expedition, Grant gives final orders to McPherson, from whose command the expeditionary force was drawn. On 13 March, McPherson had written Grant, informing him that the Union troops had encountered severe flooding, calling for more boats to transport men, and stating his apprehensions that Quinby might encounter "a stronger force than he can attend to" (that letter and another of March 15 in U.S. Grant, Papers, ed. John Y. Simon, 8:416-417 fn.
"[Lt. C.B.] Lagow [Grant's staff officer] has just returned and called my attention to several points that you want instructions on. As regards Quimby's going into the [Yazoo] pass with his present transports, he is the best judge of the practicality. Let him use a proper discretion. I have sent North for small class Steamers which should be expected to commence arriving soon.
"In regard to the contrabands [former slaves in Union-held territory] the question is a troublesome one. I am not permitted to send them out of the Department and such numbers as we have it is hard to keep them in. You have received my order with regard to the Pioneer Corps: This will enable you to use three hundred men to each Division. The balance will be left at Lake Providence [north of Vicksburg] as long as it is a Military post. When it is broken up they will have to be sent to Memphis or some other permanent post. Memphis will be the place in absence of other instructions.
"Exercise your own judgement about when the levee should be cut at Lake Providence. The object of having cotton brought in is to make some of our transports into rams. I will send up for what you have collected which with what we have, I think will be sufficient for the purpose.
"The Yazoo expedition seems to move slow. [Lt. Col. J.H.] Wilson thinks the ranking Naval Officer [Lt. Commander Watson Smith] is somewhat to blame. I am anxious to see [Brig. Gen. I. F.] Quinby in with his force. I have a great deal of confidence in his judgement and still more in the increased force there will be in the Yazoo when he gets there. My instructions may not have been plain on one point, but I want Quinby to move until he joins Ross as rapidly as possible and not wait for transports to take his whole Division. Have him go in just as rapidly as transports can take him....." For details on the remarkable career of McPherson, one of the highest ranking Union officers killed in the Civil War, see the notes to lot --. Grant's remarks on the problem of the "contrabands" are also of especial interest. On 7 March Grant's Headquarters had issued Special Order No.69, directing that 300 "contrabands" (freed black slaves), would be organized into squads, carried on the muster and quartermaster rolls of the Pioneer Corps as civilians employed by the army. "Rations and clothing will be issued to them on proper requisitions the same as to enlisted men [our italics]...These contrabands will be used for fatigue duty as far as practicable..." (text in Papers 8:417 fn.2). Grant's letter with extensive commentary published (from letterbook copies) in Papers, 8:415-417.
Provenance:
1. Probably among the papers of General McPherson left with his family after his death in the Battle of Atlanta, 22 July 1864.
2. A great-great-grandson, by descent
3. The present owner.