r in the department, but was not
formally assigned to the command until October. The intermediate time
was spent, for the most part, in defensive operations in the enemy's
country, the great army that entered Corinth having been scattered east,
north, and west to various points. Two important battles were fought, by
one of which an attempt to retake Corinth was defeated. The other was
at Iuka, in Mississippi, where a considerable Confederate force was
defeated.

In this period the energy and resourcefulness of General Grant were
conspicuous, although nothing that occurred added largely to his
reputation. He was, however, gathering stores of useful experience while
operating in the heart of the enemy's country, where every inhabitant,
except the negroes, was hostile. Both of the battles mentioned above
were nearly lost by failure of his subordinates to render expected
service according to orders; but he suffered no defeat. The service was
wearing, but he was equal to all demands made upon him.

CHAPTER X

VICKSBURG

Vicksburg had long been the hard military problem of the Southwest. The
city, which had been made a fortress, was at the summit of a range of
high bluffs, two hundred and fifty feet above the east bank of the
Mississippi River, near the mouth of the Yazoo. It was provided with
batteries along the river front and on the bank of the Yazoo to Haines's
Bluff. A continuous line of fortifications surrounded the city on the
crest of the hill. This hill, the slopes of which were cut by deep
ravines, was difficult of ascent in any part in the face of hostile
defenders. The back country was swampy bottom land, covered with a rank
growth of timber, intersected with lagoons and almost impassable except
by a few rude roads. The opposite side of the river was an extensive
wooded morass.

In May, 1862, flag officer Farragut, coming up the Mississippi from New
Orleans, had demanded the surrender of the city and been refused. In the
latter part of June he returned with flag officer Porter's mortar
flotilla and bombarded the city for four weeks without gaining his end.
In November, 1862, General Grant started with an army from Grand
Junction, intending to approach Vicksburg by the way of the Yazoo River
and attack it in the rear. But General Van Dorn captured Holly Springs,
his depot of supplies, and the project was abandoned.

The narration, with any approach to completeness, of the story of the
campaign again