May 27, 1863, The New York Herald
There is no official account as yet of the capture of Vicksburg. The latest reliable news is up to Friday evening, the whole details of which we have already published. At the time Vicksburg was not taken. All the facts in connection with the battles fought during the advance of General Grant’s army upon the city are fully confirmed in the despatches which we give today. Rebel accounts from Mobile state that our troops were repulsed at Vicksburg three times on Wednesday last, and admit that Yazoo City was taken by Admiral Porter, the navy yard at that place being destroyed by the rebels. Our maps of the operations around Vicksburg, including all the localities of General Grant’s three weeks’ campaign, and of the enemy works in and around the city, showing the great strength of the place, will illustrate the difficult undertaking which General Grant has in hand. We give, also, another map of the Yazoo river, showing the operations of Admiral Porter.
The latest intelligence from Washington up to ten o’clock last night is that the President has received no later news, and that it is not believed by the government that General Grant himself has recently sent any telegrams to the government respecting his movements.
The President, Secretary of War, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Gen. Halleck and Gen. Hooker held a council at the White House yesterday of several hours’ duration. It was stated that important intelligence had been received to the effect that another line of defences in the rear of Vicksburg has been discovered, which it will be necessary to take by storm before the city can be captured.
A despatch from Murfreesboro dated yesterday confirms the previous reports that the rebels are falling back all along their lines, and that only a very small force was between that city and Duck river. The rebel cavalry General Forrest, had gone with his command to Mississippi. The rebel force at Tullahoma is said to number 5,300 men, cavalry and infantry.
A despatch from Cincinnati yesterday states that the enemy crossed the Cumberland river on Monday at Fishing Creek and Hartford, Ky., and, after some skirmishing with our troops, were driven back.
Our correspondence from Arkansas describes in detail the recent expedition of Colonel Clayton, of the Fifth Kansas cavalry, to encounter the guerillas and ascertain the position of the rebel Generals Marmaduke and Price, in which he was remarkably successful. The map which accompanies the story of Colonel Clayton’s adventure will be found of considerable value in following up his dashing raid through the enemy’s country.