On April 3 the fire from the enemy's rifled cannon forced the floating battery from its moorings. On the 4th, a note, signed "One of Jeff. Thompson's men," and dated April 1, gave notice that the canal would be completed the next day, the 2d. On the same night, during a violent storm, the first gunboat ran past all the batteries above New Madrid unharmed; it was early discovered, and every gun was opened on it. On the 6th, this boat engaged the lower batteries and silenced some. Supposing that an attempt to land would be made the next morning, I left the artillery to man the forts on and near the island and a regiment of infantry to guard the island. I moved at night with Stewart's light battery and the infantry stationed in that part of the bend, in all about 1,000 men, to a central point of the peninsula, 6 miles distant, ordering the remaining infantry, about 1,500 men, of whom 400 were unarmed, to join me at that point, with the intention of attacking the enemy, should an opportunity present itself on his landing. The storm of this night enabled a second gunboat to pass uninjured, and before the detachments of infantry had assembled from the different posts in the wide circuit of the bend the enemy were landing under the protection of the heavy batteries of their boats. I now determined to save, if possible, my infantry and light artillery by a retreat. But one way was open, through Tiptonville (distance 6 miles), a sluice, which here emptied into the river, and then by the bank of the river, under the fire of the enemy's battery on the opposite side of the river, the overflow covering this bank, and by its depth forbidding any movement farther inland. This was practicable, if the gunboats did not interfere. I accordingly put my command in motion, first sending my engineer to superintend the destruction of everything at the forts. He was intercepted by the enemy and forced to return. My arrival at Tiptonville was preceded by the gunboats, and the infantry, artillery, and cavalry of the enemy were on me. In my judgment resistance and escape were alike hopeless, and the next morning I surrendered the column under my immediate command. I make this report entirely from memory. Copies of all letters to the commanding general were destroyed, to prevent their falling into the enemy's hands. I make the report now, because on yesterday I received information that the President expected it. I did not make it earlier because I did not know that it was expected. I had reported the condition of the command and each movement of the enemy fully to the commanding general, and had assured him that the result would be as it proved, the fall of the place twelve hours after the enemy crossed. I hope you will do me the justice, with His Excellency the President, to inform him that when I asked when I might expect orders, you told me that you could give me no information; that you suggested that there was no objection to my leaving the city of Richmond in the mean time; and, above all, that there was no suggestion made of any report or other act of mine as necessary or proper before leaving, or requisite as an antecedent to my return to the field. I hope to reach Richmond the day after the reception of this report, that I may more promptly and conveniently give any further information which you may require. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, W. W. MACKALL, Brigadier-General. Adjutant and Inspector General. General S. COOPER, [Indorsements.] ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, Respectfully forwarded to the Secretary of War for information of Congress. JASPER S. WHITING, Major and Assistant Adjutant-General. Read. Unsatisfactory. J. D. CULLUM'S SPRINGS, Bladen, Ala., August 22, 1862. Brig. Gen. W. W. MACKALL, Macon, Ga.: MY DEAR GENERAL: I have just received your kind favor of the 8th instant.* I am happy to hear of your safe return to the Confederacy, and hope you will soon receive a command commensurate with your merit. I hope you are aware that immediately after the battle of Shiloh I made an effort to have you and the whole force under your orders at Madrid Bend exchanged for a like number of prisoners taken from the enemy, but "Proclamation Pope" refused to do so. I always intended, as soon as practicable, to renew again my application, but I found Halleck not more disposed to make an exchange of prisoners than his worthy lieutenant. I am delighted that at last you are out of their hands. I can see no necessity for a court of inquiry relative to the loss of Madrid Bend, for, if you recollect, when I sent you there General Bragg and myself told you that we considered matters there in a most desperate condition, and that you were going, as it were, on a forlorn hope, so that we were not at all surprised to hear of its fall. I only regretted that I had been unable to send you there several weeks earlier, to enable you to make your own preparations for its prolonged defense. Should you, however, at any time desire a court of inquiry to relieve you from any blame for the surrender of that position, which was considered by me only as an outpost to Fort Pillow (not then entirely completed), I will gladly give you any assistance in my power to obtain one. I hope to report for duty on or about the 1st proximo, when I would be most happy to have you under my orders, should you desire to serve under me again. Sincerely, your friend, G. T. BEAUREGARD. RICHMOND, VA., September 13, 1862. GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note, informing me that my report had been laid before the President, and that he had returned it to you indorsed, "Read. Unsatisfactory. May I ask the favor that you likewise lay before the President this my respectful application, to be informed wherein my report is unsatis *Not found. factory, that I may avail myself of an early opportunity of supplying, if in my power, such further information as may be desired by him? I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. W. MACKALL, I do not understand from this report whether all the force was cap. tured or why it was impossible to have effected a retreat. JEFFERSON DAVIS. MOBILE, ALA., November 26, 1862. GENERAL: Your letter of November 13 was received by me yesterday as I was going on board a steamer to visit Fort Morgan, and I was obliged to postpone my answer until to-day. I did not pass the slough; I was prevented by the gunboats from reaching it. Had I added to the words underscored by you, viz, "after I passed on the other side," the words "of Tiptonville," the passage would have been free from all ambiguity, and would have read thus: "The enemy's gunboats preceded me to Tiptonville, and took a position opposite the slough mentioned above. Their troops passed along the river road to the slough shortly after I passed on the other side of Tiptonville." Going from Madrid Bend down the river the road divides before you reach Tiptonville, the one keeping along the bank of the river in front of the village, the other passing through the wood-land back of the village. They come together below the village and there follow the bank of the river to the crossing of the slough. I pursued the latter road; the enemy the former. The presence of the gunboats obliged me to halt under cover of the timber before reaching the junction of the roads below Tiptonville, and it was while so halted that the enemy's land forces, passing along the river road, took a position between my troops and the slough. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, General S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General. W. W. MACKALL, Brigadier-General. No. 27. Report of Lieut. Col. E. D. Blake, C. S. Army, Acting Inspector-General. CORINTH, MISS., April 10, 1862. GENERAL: Agreeably to your orders, I left Corinth on March 24 and Memphis on the following day by steamboat for Island No. 10. In company with Major Meriwether and others we were landed about i miles below Tiptonville, on the Tennessee shore of the Mississippi River. There were four gunboats lying at the same point, under the command of Commodore Hollins. On presenting myself to that officer and informing him of my mission, he courteously offered our party the use of a gunboat, which under cover of the night safely passed the enemy's battery at Riddle's Point, and was landed safely at Tiptonville before dawn. Early in the morning I commenced an examination of the defenses in Madrid Bend and on Island No. 10. Rucker's battery (No. 1), about 2 miles above the settlements, composed of rifled 32-pounders, defends the right flank of the position; but, owing to the high water, it cannot be now manned, and is only accessible in boats. A guard, however, is always kept there to deceive the enemy as to utility. Two miles lower down are four fine batteries of 32 rifled 6-inch and 8-inch guns and howitzers. These, with a few isolated heavy guns, three batteries ou Island No. 10, together with the floating battery there, constitute the defenses against the gunboats of the enemy, which would seem quite adequate for this purpose should he attempt to reduce the batteries before passing them. But it is not impossible that the frequent success which has attended our gunboats in their passage across his batteries may suggest to the enemy the propriety of a similar essay in front of our batteries in the obscurity of some stormy night. Unless he can do this, the high water must prove a successful barrier against the enemy's efforts to obtain a foothold in the bend. On the east Reelfoot Lake is impassable to either flats or rafts. Between the batteries and the point marked A on the annexed map it is impossible for him to cross with steam power. Between A and B the country is submerged, and does not admit of a landing. Between B and Tiptonville flats may be landed; but a few batteries judiciously planted on the shore could effectually prevent a disembarkation. An iron-clad gunboat running between these points could answer the same purpose. The country below Tiptonville is under water, and no landing can be made there. It seems to be certain, then, that unless the enemy can put boats below the Madrid batteries the forces at Island No. 10 and Madrid Bend are secure against assault until the water falls at least 5 feet, and even then a few guns could prevent a landing. The garrison was supplied with ammunition, although I regret to say the most of it was very much exposed, being kept in tents on the island, which was daily bombarded from the enemy's mortar boats above. The commanding officer had promised to have it magazined as soon as possible. There were at the post about 2,000 effective men and about 1,557 on the sick report. These last were scattered over the bend and in private houses. The sickness was abating; the principal disease bowel complaint and fever, resulting from exposure. There was at the post flour enough to last twenty-one days, bacon enough for thirty days, 18 sacks of coffee (165 pounds each), 100 bushels of rye, and about three months' supply of the small rations. In the bend could have been obtained about 50,000 pounds of bacon and about 250,000 bushels of corn. A grist-mill was employed, and furnished about 70 bushels of meal per day. Some of the commissary stores were without shelter. My examination of the lake satisfied me that it was impossible to get a steamboat into it, and that it afforded no means of re-enforcing or retiring an army. I regret, general, that my report is so incomplete; but necessarily so, all my notes and papers connected with my inspection having been stolen. All the statements in reference to the evacuation of New Madrid were lost with the others; but I derived from them the impression that our disastrous losses during that unfortunate night were owing principally to the want of proper system and the want of discipline among the troops. I am, general, respectfully, yours, E. D. BLAKE, Lieutenant-Colonel, Acting Inspector-General, C. S. Army. Maj. Gen. LEONIDAS POLK, Commanding First Corps, Army of the Mississippi. |