By the 6th of April McClernand had reached New Carthage
with one division and its artillery, the latter ferried
through the woods by these boats. On the 17th
I visited New Carthage in person, and saw that the
process of getting troops through in the way we were
doing was so tedious that a better method must be devised.
The water was falling, and in a few days there would
not be depth enough to use boats; nor would the land
be dry enough to march over. McClernand had
already found a new route from Smith’s plantation
where the crevasse occurred, to Perkins’ plantation,
eight to twelve miles below New Carthage. This
increased the march from Milliken’s Bend from
twenty-seven to nearly forty miles. Four bridges
had to be built across bayous, two of them each over
six hundred feet long, making about two thousand feet
of bridging in all. The river falling made the
current in these bayous very rapid, increasing the
difficulty of building and permanently fastening these
bridges; but the ingenuity of the “Yankee soldier”
was equal to any emergency. The bridges were
soon built of such material as could be found near
by, and so substantial were they that not a single
mishap occurred in crossing all the army with artillery,
cavalry and wagon trains, except the loss of one siege
gun (a thirty-two pounder). This, if my memory
serves me correctly, broke through the only pontoon
bridge we had in all our march across the peninsula.
These bridges were all built by McClernand’s
command, under the supervision of Lieutenant Hains
of the Engineer Corps.
I returned to Milliken’s Bend on the 18th or
19th, and on the 20th issued the following final order
for the movement of troops:
Headquarters department of the
Tennessee, Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana,
April 20, 1863.
Special Orders, No. 110. * * *
* * * * VIII. The following orders
are published for the information and guidance of
the “Army in the Field,” in its present
movement to obtain a foothold on the east bank of
the Mississippi River, from which Vicksburg can be
approached by practicable roads.
First.—The Thirteenth army corps, Major-General
John A. McClernand commanding, will constitute the
right wing.
Second.—The Fifteenth army corps, Major-General
W. T. Sherman commanding, will constitute the left
wing.
Third.—The Seventeenth army corps, Major-General
James B. McPherson commanding, will constitute the
centre.
Fourth.—The order of march to New Carthage
will be from right to left.
Fifth.—Reserves will be formed by divisions
from each army corps; or, an entire army corps will
be held as a reserve, as necessity may require.
When the reserve is formed by divisions, each division
will remain under the immediate command of its respective
corps commander, unless otherwise specially ordered
for a particular emergency.