st Vicksburg would require a volume. It was a protracted,
baffling, desperate undertaking to obtain possession of the
fortifications that commanded the Mississippi River at that point. Grant
was not unaware of the magnitude of the work, nor was he eager to
attempt it under the conditions existing. He believed that, in order to
their greatest efficiency, all the armies operating between the
Alleghanies and the Mississippi should be subject to one commander, and
he made this suggestion to the War Department, at the same time
testifying his disinterestedness by declining in advance to take the
supreme command himself. His suggestion was not immediately adopted. On
the 22d of December, 1862, General Grant, whose headquarters were then
at Holly Springs, reorganized his army into four corps, the 13th, 15th,
16th, and 17th, commanded respectively by Major-Generals John A.
McClernand, William T. Sherman, S. A. Hurlbut, and J. B. McPherson. Soon
afterwards he established his headquarters at Memphis, and in January
began the move on Vicksburg, which, after immense labors and various
failures of plans, resulted in the surrender of that fortress on July 4,
1863.

He first sent Sherman, in whose enterprise and ability to take care of
himself he had full confidence, giving him only general instructions.
Sherman landed his army on the east side of the river, above Vicksburg,
and made a direct assault, which proved unsuccessful, and he was
compelled to reembark his defeated troops. The impracticability of
successful assault on the north side was then accepted. General
McClernand's corps on the 11th of January, aided by the navy under
Admiral Porter, captured Arkansas Post on the White River, taking 6000
prisoners, 17 guns, and a large amount of military stores.

On the 17th, Grant went to the front and had a conference with Sherman,
McClernand, and Porter, the upshot of which was a direction to
rendezvous on the west bank in the vicinity of Vicksburg. McClernand was
disaffected, having sought at Washington the command of an expedition
against Vicksburg and been led to expect it. He wrote a letter to Grant
so insolent that the latter was advised to relieve him of all command
and send him to the rear. Instead of doing so, he gave him every
possible favor and opportunity; but months afterwards, in front of
Vicksburg, McClernand was guilty of a breach of discipline which could
not be overlooked, and he was deprived of his command.

Thro