Battle of Chickasaw Bayou

Coordinates: 32°24′20″N 90°50′52″W / 32.40556°N 90.84778°W / 32.40556; -90.84778
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Battle of Chickasaw Bayou
Part of the American Civil War
The Photographic History of The Civil War Volume 02 Page 191.jpg

"Where Sherman failed" (from the Photographic History of The Civil War)
DateDecember 26–29, 1862
Location
Warren County, Mississippi
32°24′20″N 90°50′52″W / 32.40556°N 90.84778°W / 32.40556; -90.84778
Result Confederate victory
Belligerents
United States United States (Union) Confederate States of America CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
William T. Sherman John C. Pemberton
Stephen D. Lee
Units involved
Army of the Tennessee
Mississippi River Squadron		 Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana
Strength
30,720[1] 13,792[1]
Casualties and losses
1,776 (208 killed,
1,005 wounded,
563 captured/missing)[1]		 187 (57 killed,
120 wounded,
10 missing)[2]

The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, also called the Battle of Walnut Hills,

William T. Sherman that was intended to lead to the capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi
.

On December 26, three Union divisions under Sherman disembarked at Johnson's Plantation on the Yazoo River to approach the Vicksburg defenses from the northeast while a fourth landed farther upstream on December 27. On December 27, the Union army pushed their lines forward through the swamps toward the Walnut Hills, which were strongly defended. On December 28, several futile attempts were made to get around these defenses. On December 29, Sherman ordered a frontal assault, which was repulsed with heavy casualties, and then withdrew. This Confederate victory and the victory against Grant at Holly Springs frustrated Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's attempts to take Vicksburg by a direct approach.

Background

Operations against Vicksburg and Grant's Bayou Operations.
  Confederate
  Union

Starting in November 1862, Maj. Gen.

Brig. Gens. Andrew J. Smith, Morgan L. Smith, George W. Morgan, and Frederick Steele.[4]

Grant's wing marched south down the Mississippi Central Railroad, making a forward base at Holly Springs. He planned a two-pronged assault in the direction of Vicksburg. As Sherman advanced down the river, Grant would continue with the remaining forces (about 40,000) down the railroad line to Oxford, where he would wait for developments, hoping to lure the Confederate army out of the city to attack him in the vicinity of Grenada, Mississippi.[5]

The seven gunboats and fifty-nine troop transports commanded by Rear Adm.

USS Cairo was sunk.[6]

The Confederate forces opposing Sherman's advance were from the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, commanded by

Martin L. Smith, who commanded four brigades led by Brig. Gens. Seth M. Barton, John C. Vaughn, John Gregg, and Edward D. Tracy. Brig. Gen. Stephen D. Lee commanded a provisional division with brigades commanded by Cols. William T. Withers and Allen Thomas; Lee was the primary commander of the Confederate defense in the Walnut Hills until the arrival late on December 29 of Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson. Although the Union forces outnumbered the men to their front by two to one (30,720 to 13,792), they faced a formidable maze of both natural and man-made defenses. First was a thick entanglement of trees, which was broken intermittently by swampland. Chickasaw Bayou, a stream that was chest-deep, 50 yards wide, and choked with trees, also acted as a barrier to Sherman's men because it was parallel to the planned line of advance and hampers communication between units. Furthermore, the Confederates had formed dense barriers using felled trees for abatis.[7]

Opposing forces

Army Commanders at Chickasaw Bayou

Union

Further information:
Union order of battle

Confederate

Further information:
Confederate order of battle

Battle

On December 26, Sherman deployed the brigades of Col.

Francis P. Blair, Jr., to perform reconnaissance and find weaknesses in a Confederate defense. They moved slowly ahead through the difficult terrain, skirmishing with S.D. Lee's covering force that had been at Mrs. Lake's plantation. On December 28, Steele's division attempted to turn the Confederate right flank, but was repulsed by Confederate artillery fire as they advanced on a narrow front.[8]

On the morning of December 29, Sherman ordered an artillery bombardment of the Confederate defenses to weaken them before a general Federal advance. For almost four hours, an artillery duel took place all along the line of battle, but did little damage. At 11 a.m., the duel ceased, and the infantry deployed into their lines of battle. Understanding the formidable nature of the Confederate fortifications, Sherman remarked, "We will lose 5,000 men before we take Vicksburg, and may as well lose them here as anywhere else."[9]

Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.

At noon, Union troops advanced with a cheer. Blair's brigade moved on the left, DeCourcy's in the center, followed by Brig. Gen.

John M. Thayer's brigade on the right; all of Thayer's brigade except the 4th Iowa Infantry was ordered not to follow Thayer's orders by General George W. Morgan (the order conveyed by General Steele who was officially Thayer's superior.) Thus, instead of arriving before the Confederate lines with 3500 men, Thayer found himself with 500. Colonel James A. Williamson, commanding the 4th Iowa, was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that day. They crossed water barriers and abatis and carried the advance rifle pits on the weight of sheer numbers, but met stiff resistance when they came against the main Confederate line and began to crumble under the heavy fire. The survivors fell back across the bayou on a corduroy bridge. S.D. Lee ordered his men to make a counterattack, during which they captured 332 Union soldiers and four battle flags.[10]

The Chickasaw bluffs as seen from General M. L. Smith's position

Another assault ordered by Sherman was conducted by two divisions under A.J. Smith (his own division and that of M.L. Smith, who had been wounded the day before) advancing across Chickasaw Bayou to seize the Indian Mound that was in the center of the Confederate line, defended by Barton and Gregg. Skirmishers from the brigades of Cols.

pioneers, building a road on the far bank. Five attempts to carry the position at the Indian mound were repulsed.[11]

On the far Union right, an attack by Col. William J. Landram's brigade of A.J. Smith's division was easily repulsed by the Confederates of Vaughn's brigade.[12]

Aftermath

That evening, Sherman declared that he was "generally satisfied with the high spirit manifested" by his men although their attacks had failed in the face of strong Confederate positions on the high bluffs. The battle was a lopsided victory for the Confederates: Union casualties were 208 killed, 1,005 wounded, and 563 captured or missing, the majority among the 4th Iowa and the brigades of Blair and De Courcy. Confederate casualties were light at 57 killed, 120 wounded, and 10 missing.[2] Sherman conferred with Adm. Porter, whose naval gunfire had also failed to do any significant damage to the enemy. They decided to resume the attacks on the following day and Porter sent a boat to Memphis to get more small arms ammunition.[13]

By the morning of December 30, Sherman had concluded that resuming the attacks at the same location would be fruitless and he and Porter planned a joint army-navy attack on Drumgould's Bluff to the northeast, hoping that the steep bluffs would provide cover for his men as they advanced. It was imperative that such a movement be started in secrecy so that the Confederates would not shift their defensive forces. The movement commenced on December 31, but was called off in heavy fog on January 1, 1863.[14]

During this period, the overland half of Grant's offensive was also failing. His lines of communication were disrupted by raids by Brig. Gen.

Vicksburg Campaign did not begin again in earnest until April 1863.[15]

Battlefield Preservation

The American Battlefield Trust and its partners acquired and preserved more than three acres of the battlefield in 2022. [16] The Trust added almost four more acres with two additional acquisitions in 2023 for a total of 7.03 acres saved.[17]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Eicher, pp. 390–91.
  2. ^ a b Smith 2022, pp. 380–381.
  3. ^ The National Park Service battle description, Archived September 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, gives a second alternate name, Chickasaw Bluffs. Although this may be derived from a variation on "Bluffs over Chickasaw Bayou" (referring to Drumgould's Bluff), the geographic location known as Chickasaw Bluffs is distant from the battlefield. Other references to this article do not use this name.
  4. ^ Eicher, p. 390; Bearss, pp. 227–29.
  5. ^ Eicher, p. 390; Korn, p. 57.
  6. ^ Kennedy, pp. 154–55, Eicher, p. 390.
  7. ^ Eicher, p. 390; Bearss, pp. 224–26; Kennedy, p. 156; Ballard, pp. 131–33.
  8. ^ Bearss, pp. 159–91; Kennedy, p. 156; Ballard, pp. 133–41; Horn, p. 63.
  9. ^ Ballard, pp. 141–43; Bearss, p. 195; Kennedy, p. 156.
  10. ^ Kennedy, p. 156; Bearss, pp. 195–204; Eicher, p. 391; Ballard, p. 142.
  11. ^ Bearss, pp. 205–10; Kennedy, p. 156; Ballard, p. 143.
  12. ^ Ballard, p. 143; Bearss, pp. 205–06; Kennedy, p. 156.
  13. ^ Ballard, p. 144; Bearss, p. 211.
  14. ^ Eicher, p. 392; Ballard, pp. 145–47; Korn, p. 67; Bearss, pp. 213–24.
  15. ^ Bearss, pp. 222; Korn, p. 68; Ballard, pp. 149–49; Esposito, text for map 102.
  16. ^ "Battlefield Grant to Preserve Part of Chickasaw Bayou Battlefield" The Vicksburg (Miss.) Post, November 29, 2022. Accessed May 15, 2023. Archived 2023-05-15 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ [1] Archived 2023-05-15 at the Wayback Machine American Battlefield Trust "Chickasaw Bayou Battlefield" webpage. Accessed May 15, 2023.

References

Memoirs and primary sources

  • U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the
    Official Records
    of the Union and Confederate Armies    . Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901.

External links

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