USA > Indiana > Greene County > Vicksburg > Indiana. Vicksburg National Military Park Commission. Indiana at Vicksburg > Part 33
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to him and filled with his enemies-a land with which they were familiar and where every denizen was an ally-a man who could keep two governments guessing for weeks both as to his purpose and his whereabouts-who could refuse to obey an order that had been so long in transmission as to be obsolete when it reached him, and ride away to victory and to fame-whose blows fell so thick and hard and fast that his foe had neither time nor rest nor food nor sleep-a man who was gentle and considerate enough when his foes surrendered to forbid his men to cheer lest they should wound the sensibilities of their captives-who, in the hour of supreme and final triumph could speak for peace and give back to his captured coun- trymen their horses, that crops might be put in and cultivated.
Time, place, scene, denouement and result, taken together, and all in all, have no parallel in all the six thousand years of human history.
It was, therefore, inevitable and in accord with man's nobler self, that this spot-the place where the great drama was staged and played-should become hallowed ground to those who struggled here to retain or to possess it; that it should be held forever sacred by the Blue and by the Gray-the victors and the vanquished-by the Blue, because of what was won; by the Gray, because of what was lost-by both, because of heroic effort and devoted sacrifice made and endured; because of the new national life begun, the new birth of freedom had, through their spilled blood.
Vicksburg was the most important point in the Confederacy, and its retention the most essential thing to the defense of the Con- federacy. And, after the safety of Washington, its capture was the first necessity of the Federal government. It commanded the Mississippi River, and "the valley of the Mississippi is America." The control of this great central artery of the continent was neces- sary to the perpetuation of the Confederacy and indispensable to the preservation of the Union. To lose it was death to the one; to gain it was life to the other. The campaign for its capture was therefore the most important enterprise of the Civil War. Its im- portance was understood and appreciated by the authorities at both capitals, and no one in authority in either capital understood it more clearly, or appreciated it more fully, than the commanders of the two opposing armies-Grant and Pemberton. Both knew the stake and its value, and both were conscious that the fight to possess it by the one and to retain it by the other would be waged to the last extremity. And each was resolved that the great issue would
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be with him. They commanded armies equally brave and well dis- ciplined, efficiently officered and equally devoted to them and to the respective cause for which they fought.
Strength of position, natural and artificial, was with Pemberton. llis task was defensive-to hold what he had. Grants' was offen- sive-to possess what he did not have. But the initiative was with him, and to genius that itself is an advantage.
Pemberton knew the ground-the scene of the campaign. Its every natural adaptation of advantage or defense was to him as a thing ingrained in his consciousness, and every denizen of the country about him was the friend of his army and his cause.
Grant was in a strange land, without accurate knowledge of its topography or of its natural difficulties of approach or opportun- ities of defense, and concerning which such knowledge could be acquired only by the exercise of infinite patience, by unremitting toil and constant investigation. Its inhabitants looked upon him as an invader come to despoil their country-to lay waste their homes. Among them all. his army had no friend, his cause no ad- vocate.
But, while position and natural advantage were with Pember- ton, the ability to command armies, the genius of concentration, to decide quickly and accurately, to design with daring boldness and to execute with celerity and rapidity, the tenacity of purpose that. come what will, cannot be bent or turned aside, and the grim deter- mination that rises in some men-God's chosen few "supreme over every let or hindrance"-were with Grant. And it was this ability to command, more than all other things, that finally enabled him to wrest the great prize from the hands of Pemberton and the Con- federacy and give it into the keeping of the Union.
The campaign was Grant's-his alone-in concept and in execu- tion, from the beginning to the end. Its details his government did not know. For a time even its immediate object was unknown in Washington. Its design was without successful military prece- dent. His most trusted general was opposed to it. But Grant saw and understood. The day he crossed his army at Bruinsburg he was "born again." He caught a vision that inspired him. He was transformed. There came to him a confidence that thence- forth was never shaken-a faith in which there was no flaw. Less than two years before he had doubtfully asked himself whether he might justly hope ever to command a division, and if so, whether he could hope to command it successfully. Now he knew he could command an army ; that he could plan campaigns, and that he could
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execute them with high skill and matchless vigor. He had found himself.
General Banks, with a substantial force, was at Port Hudson, 250 miles down the river. The two armies were expected by the authorities at Washington to co-operate with each other in an attack either upon Pittsburg or Port Hudson. Grant had heard from Banks that he could not come to him at Grand Gulf for weeks. In- stantly his purpose crystallized. His resolve was made. He would not go to Banks at Port Hudson, nor would he wait for him at Grand Gulf. Waiting meant delay. Delay meant strengthened fortifica- tions and a reinforced enemy. He would move independently of Banks. His army was inferior in numbers to the aggregate forces of the enemy, but he would invade Mississippi, fight and defeat whatever force he found east of Vicksburg and invest that city from the rear. And he would not wait a day. He would move at once. He would go now-go swiftly to Jackson, destroy or drive away any force in that direction, and then turn upon Pemberton and drive him into Vicksburg. He would keep his own army a compact force-round as a cannon ball, and he would fight and de- feat the enemy in detail before his forces could be concentrated. The concept was worthy of Napoleon in his best moments. It was remarkably brilliant, audaciously daring. It was the turning point in Grant's career-a momentous hour, big with destiny for him, his army and his country. In its chalice was Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Spottsylvania, Appomattox-deathless personal fame-national solidity. The decision was made without excitement, without a tremor of the pulse, in the calmness of conscious power. John Hay fancifully compares his action at this time "to that of the wild bee in the western woods, who, rising to the clear air, flies for a moment in a circle, and then darts with the speed of a rifle bullet to its des- tination."
A long established and universally accepted opinion of war --- one that ought in no case to be violated-required any great body of troops moving against an army to go forward only from an estab- lished base of supplies, which, together with the communications thereto, should be carefully covered and guarded as the one thing upon which the life of the movement depended. The idea of sup- porting a moving column in the enemy's country from the country itself was regarded as impractical and perilous, if not actually im- possible. The movement he had determined upon would uncover his base and imperil his communications. Defeat meant irreme- diable failure and disgrace. The hazard seemed so great, and the
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proposal so contrary to all the accepted maxims of war and military precedents, that Sherman, seeing the danger, urged Grant "to stop all troops till the army is partially supplied with wagons, and then act as quickly as possible, for this road will be jammed as sure as life."
Grant knew the difficulty and the peril, but he was not afraid. He knew the military and the political need of the country. He knew his officers. He knew the army he commanded. And, know- ing all, he assumed the responsibility and took the hazard; cut loose from his base, severed his communications, went where there was no way, and left a path that will shine while history lasts.
Having decided his course, he telegraphed the government at Washington : "I shall not bring my troops into this place (Grand Gulf), but immediately follow the enemy, and if all promises as favorably hereafter as it does now, not stop until Vicksburg is in our possession." Here was the first and the only intimation of his purpose given the government. The execution of his purpose was immediately begun and pressed with personal energy, attention and vigor without parallel in the life of a commanding general of an army. Sherman, who of all men had the best opportunity to know and the best qualified to weigh the extent and character of his work, declares : "No commanding general of an army ever gave more of his personal attention to detail, or wrote so many of his own orders, reports or letters. I still retain many of his letters and notes in his own handwriting, prescribing the route of march of divisions and detachments, specifying the amount of food and tools to be carried along."
Washburn wrote: "On this whole march of five days he has had neither a horse nor an orderly or servant, a blanket or overcoat, or clean shirt or even a sword. His entire baggage consists of a tooth brush."
John Hay says of him : "All his faculties seemed sharpened by the emergency. There was nothing too large for him to grasp; nothing small enough for him to overlook. He gave directions to generals, sea captains, quartermasters, commissaries, for every inci- dent of the opening of the campaign, then mounted his horse and rode to his troops." And then, for three weeks, in quick and dazzling succession, came staggering, stunning blows, one after the other-Raymond, Jackson, Champion's Hill, the Big Black-until he stood with his army at the very gate of Vicksburg.
The government, hearing that he had left Grand Gulf for the interior of Mississippi without supplies or provision for communi-
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cation with his base, telegraphed him in concern and alarm to turn back and join Banks at Port Hudson. This dispatch reached him days after at the Big Black Bridge, while the battle there was in progress. The message was handed him. He read it. Said it came too late. That Halleck would not give it now if he knew his position. As he spoke the cheering of his soldiers could be heard. Looking up he saw Lawler, in his shirt sleeves, leading a charge upon the enemy, in sight of the messenger who bore the dispatch. Wheeling his horse, he rode away to victory and to Vicksburg, leav- ing the officer to ruminate as long as he liked upon the obsolete message he brought.
I have spoken much of Grant. There is reason that I should. No campaign of the war is so insolubly linked with the personality of the commanding general as the Vicksburg campaign.
For three weeks he was the Army of the Tennessee. He domi- nated it absolutely. His personality, with its vigor and its action, was in all, through all, over all. His corps and divisions were com- manded by great men, but, with a single exception, they were loval and devoted, and reflected his will, and sought the achievement of his purpose in every act and movement. During these days Sher- man was his right arm, McPherson his left, and neither ever failed him. The whole army, officers and men, caught his spirit and shared his indomitable purpose. Nothing could daunt it or turn it aside. There was no service it did not perform, no need it did not meet. It had capacity for everything. Grant justly said: "There is nothing which men are called upon to do, mechanical or profes- sional, that accomplished adepts cannot be found for the duty re- quired in almost every regiment. Volunteers can be found in the ranks and among the commanding officers to meet any call." Every obstacle was overcome; every difficulty surmounted. When bridges were burned, new ones were built in a night, or the streams forded. In every event, the light of the morning found his soldiers on the same side of the river with the enemy. If rains descended and floods came, they marched on though the roads were afloat with water. They fought and marched, endured and toiled, but they did not complain or even murmur. They, as well as their officers, understood the value of the stake for which they struggled. They knew they were marching and toiling under the eye of a great com- mander, one who knew where he was going and how to go; that there was no hardship which he did not share, no task from which he shrunk. Weary from much marching, they marched on; worn from frequent fighting, they fought on, all but exhausted from in-
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cessant toil, they toiled on, in a hot elimate, exposed to all sorts of weather, through trying and terrible ordeals, watching by night and by day, until they stood in front of the rifle-pits and of the bat- teries of the city, and even here they would not be content until they were led in assault upon the enemy's works and had stood upon their parapets in vain but glorious struggle for their posses- sion.
What a story it is! How it stirs the blood ! How it inspires to love of country ! How it impels to high endeavor! And what a valorous foe they met; they were, and are, thank God, our country- men-besiegers and besieged. In their veins flow kindred blood- blood that leaps and burns in ours today. They differed, differed until at last the parliament of debate was closed, and then, like men, they fought their differences out, in open war-on the field of battle -sealing the settlement with their blood and giving the world a new concept of human valor.
There were wounds. There was suffering. There was heart- ache. There were asperities. There was death. There was be- reavement. These were inevitable. But there was a nobility about it all, that, seen through the intervening years, silenees discord, softens hate and makes forgiveness easy. Today we laugh and weep together. Wounds are healed; asperities are forgotten; the past is remembered without bitterness, glory hovers like a benedie- tion over this immortal field and guards with solemn round the bivouac of all the dead, giving no heed to the garb they wore. Their greatness is the legacy of all-the heritage of the Nation. Recon- ciliation has come with influences soft and holy. The birds build nests in yonder cannon. The songs of school children fill the air.
Indiana has come to Mississippi to dedicate monuments erected by her to the memory of her soldiers, living and dead, who strug- gled here, but she comes with malice toward none, with love for all. With you, sir, the Governor of this Commonwealth, and with your people, she would pour her tribute of tears upon these mounds where sleep sixteen thousand of our common dead. Her troops were here with Grant. One of her regiments, the 69th, sought ont the way for the army beyond the river vonder. They were the "entering wedge." They were in every battle. At Champion's Hill, Hovey's Division bore for hours the battle's brunt. Fighting under the eye of the great general himself, they captured a battery, lost it, and recaptured it. and at night slept upon the field wet with their blood,
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This gray-haired general here was with them. ( Indicating Gen. George F. McGinnis.) He is a member of the Commission that erected these granite tributes, and has in charge these ceremonies. He has come to lend the benediction of his presence to this occasion and to look again upon the ground where so many dramatic and tragic scenes were enacted-scenes in which he had honorable share -scenes that were burned into the very fibre of his young man- hood's memory, and which he would not forget if he could. His days have been long lengthened. We are glad and grateful that he is here. His associates on the Commission were here. And so were these battle-scarred veterans standing here around about you. They give character and purpose to this occasion and a benedietion to this service. Through them and their comrades, and the great army in gray with whom they eontended, both we and you are be- ginning to understand the message and the meaning of the war. They have taught us charity and forgiveness. We are coming "to know one another better, to love one another more." Here upon these hills and heights was lighted the torch of a national life, that today is blessing, enlightening and enriching the people of the earth. Our prayer-a prayer in which we are sure your hearts are joined with ours-is that this mighty nation, grown great and powerful, may know war no more forever; that it may walk up- rightly, deal justly with its own people and with all nations; that its purpose may be hallowed, its deeds ennobled, its glory sancti- fied, by the memories of the crucible through which it came, and that in the future, if war must come, its sword may be drawn only in freedom's cause, and that its soldiery in such case may acquit themselves as nobly as did those who struggled here.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Commission, in the name of the State of Indiana and on her behalf, I accept these splendid monuments and these markers you have erected and which you have so eloquently tendered me, and in the name of the State and on behalf of her people, Captain Rigby, I now present them to you, as the representative of the national government, and give them through yon into its keeping, to be held and kept forever as a sacred trust-a reminder to the countless thousands that in the gathering years may look upon them, of the share Indiana had in the great campaign that ended here July 4, 1863.
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Captain WILLIAM 'T. RIGBY, Chairman National Military Park Commission.
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CAPTAIN RIGBY'S SPEECH OF ACCEPTANCE.
In accepting the monuments and markers on behalf of the gov- ernment of the United States, Capt. W. T. Rigby, chairman of the Vicksburg National Military Park Commission, said :
GOVERNOR HANLY, VETERANS AND CITIZENS OF INDIANA: We are proud to have you with us today, are in fullest sympathy with your mission to this battlefield and join with yon in honoring your heroes. In recalling their valor and achievements we also honor the brave American soldiers opposed to them at Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, Champion's Hill, Big Black River Bridge, and on this battlefield. From 1861 to 1865 our country gave the noblest exam- ples of patriotism the world has ever known and on a scale un- dreamed of before. The heroic constancy of our soldiers, North and South alike, during those battle years, proves the moral sound- ness of American character, is the pledge and prohpesy of the great- ness of a united country. In commemorating their devotion, we are building for a nobler manhood and womanhood in every part of our broad land. This is the purpose and spirit of the National Military Park work. It makes no discrimination between Union and Con- federate and expects the example of each to be alike inspiring to all generous Americans.
Veterans of Indiana, yon have been well served by the Com- mission appointed by your Governor to commemorate on this battle- field park your glorious service in the campaign and siege of Vicks- burg. May I express my strong desire that the work so well begun by the monuments and markers you have seen and admired may be completed and crowned by a state memorial, second to none in beauty and attractiveness, erected on the commanding knoll where we are now assembled. No more appropriate site for an Indiana memorial can be found on this or any other battlefield. Of the State's sixty-nine monuments and markers in the park, thirty-five are south and thirty-four are north of the Baldwin's Ferry road at our left. To our front, on ground now included in the Jewish cen- etery, stood the Confederate lunette on this road. During the day of May 22, 1863, six Indiana regiments marched through the ravine at our right to assail that strong work. The story of their bravery and the record of their casualties are borne on the tablets and the Indiana markers that stand in and near the cemetery.
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Governor Hanly, by direction of the Secretary of War, for and on behalf of the United States. I accept from you the sixteen beauti- ful monuments (for twenty-eight commands) and the fifty-three massive markers placed by your State in the Vicksburg National Military Park.
Governor E. F. NOEL, Mississippi.
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ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR E. F. NOEL, OF MISSISSIPPI.
GOVERNOR HANLY AND OTHER DISTINGUISHED REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GRAND STATE OF INDIANA, SURVIVORS OF THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: The State which supplied the only President of the Confederacy and a considerable part of the soldiery which made this spot historic, and in which occurred the memorable scenes of the Vicksburg campaign, extends to you and to each one of you a most cordial welcome. Nothing could be more different from our coming and welcome now, and that of the representatives of our respective States, who, forty-five years ago, met in deadly conflict, in battle and in siege. Now we are all fellow citizens of a happily reunited country, the grandest and best of earth, and gladly exchange friendly greetings. Between these visits there were military demonstrations which forever removed from question the completeness of our Nation's reunion. In our war with Spain, Indiana, Mississippi and all other States vied with each other in promptly responding to our Nation's call for volunteers to uphold its flag, prestige and power. The 2d Mississippi, of which I was a member, with the 151st Indiana and 4th Nebraska, consti- tuted the 1st Brigade of the 3d Division of the 7th Army Corps. Our brigade and corps commanders had served in the Confederate, and our division commander in the Union army, and all were equally true and devoted to the cause in whose support they offered their lives.
Our common country seeks to blot out and to forget all that might excite or perpetuate bitterness on account of the late unpleas- antness, and, through its national parks, to commemorate the valor and heroism of officers and of men of each of the contending armies without reference to victory or defeat. Our Nation's work here is an embodiment of this patriotic sentiment. Pride of ancestry en- nobles individuals and nations. Without it neither is capable of highest manifestations of courage and of self-sacrifice for convic- tion, or for country. Gratitude, duty and enlightened self-interest impel us to use our best endeavors to transmit to our posterity, for their inspiration and emulation, enduring memorials of these who offered life and property in defense, as they viewed it, of the honor and welfare of their country. History tells us of no better soldiery than that engaged in the Vicksburg and other campaigns of the Civil War. In behalf of Mississippi, I cheerfully attest the skill, courage and fortitude of the troops of Indiana and of other North- ern and Western States and would not dim that glory which we
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have just heard so eloquently praised. Such acknowledgment takes nothing from, but adds much to the splendid achievements of the Confederate soldiers, and especially of the 30,000 who, for forty- seven days and nights, without reliefs and with short rations, arma- ment and ammunition, made successful defense, an alert and gallant foe of eight miles of entrenchment, besides a long river front, con- santly assailed by a strong, active and fearless fleet. In that con- fiet, on each side occurred so many instances of noble self-sacrifice, each worthy of the most splendid monument that could be designed, that to recall a few would be unjust to the omitted many.
The people of Indiana and of all other States, North and South. honor themselves by honoring the living and the dead who partici- pated in those marvelous exhibitions of courage and of patriot- ismn which characterized those death-dealing events which forever make sacred the park in which we are assembled. Many of those consecrated spirits then elosed their earthly career and quietly sleep in their beautiful nearby resting place, which should forever be the recipients of our Nation's loving care. Others have laid their bur- dens down and rejoined them from different and far-away spots and a small and honored remnant yet survive, having here appreci- ated representation. To the living and the dead, Mississippi joins Indiana in expressing the gratitude and appreciation of a fully re- united country. We rejoice in whatever adds to the luster of our American soldiers, in each army, and heartily unite in every effort to perpetuate their name and their fame for the guidance and in- spiration of all patriots of all lands, more especially those of our own, the best and greatest the world has ever known.
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