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Chapter 2:
Port Gibson.
BEFORE resuming the narrative of the campaign which Grant and Porter have just opened, we must, as we have intimated, cast a glance at the armies that are watching one another in the other sections of the immense basin of the Mississippi north-east and north-west of Vicksburg. They are feeling each other without daring to come in contact, each seeming to have no other object in view than to prevent its opponent from joining Grant or Pemberton without its knowledge. In Louisiana the Unionists are striving to capture Vicksburg from the rear; the Southerners are sparing no efforts to harass their march. We will continue the recital of these secondary operations till the early part of May, and resume it in the following chapter, when we shall reach that phase of the history when the surrender of Vicksburg shall change the entire face of the war in the West.Rosecrans, unwilling to acknowledge himself as vanquished on the borders of Stone River, has gathered the fruits of his obstinacy; he occupies Murfreesborough, which Bragg has abandoned to him by retiring as far as Tullahoma. He strongly intrenches himself, unable to do more in his new positions. Thomas, in the centre, is stationed above Murfreesborough along the routes leading straight to the enemy by way of Woodbury, Bradyville, Manchester, and Shelbyville; McCook on the right and Crittenden on the left each keeps his respective wing from being drawn into action, in order to surround Murfreesborough and form a junction on Stone River below this city. As the latter will not always enjoy this protection, the genius of the Federals conceives the idea of converting it into a stronghold which may serve as the basis of operations in an offensive campaign and a rallying-point in case of defeat, without being exposed to a sudden attack like
