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Prentiss, during a change of position of the Union forces, became detached from the rest of the troops, and was taken prisoner, together with 2,200 of his men. Gen. W.H.L. Wallace, division commander, was killed in the early part of the struggle. The hardest fighting during the first day was done in front of the divisions of Sherman and McClernand. "A casualty to Sherman," says Gen.
The transports were then moved out into the Mississippi, where they were joined by General McClernand, the senior general officer in the department under Grant himself. McClernand now decided to attack Arkansas Post, on the Arkansas River, which enters the Mississippi from the west about two hundred miles above Vicksburg.
The President could not, by any effort, meet their requirements. He wrote to McClernand after the battle of Belmont: "Much, very much, goes undone; but it is because we have not the power to do it faster than we do."
I sent word to the general that if he wished to see me he could have an opportunity by calling on board my flag-ship. A few moments after I had heard the news of McClernand'a arrival, I saw Sherman pulling about in a boat, and hailed him, informing him that McClernand was at the mouth of the Yazoo.
A work named Fort Heiman was begun on the bluff on the opposite side of the river, but was incomplete. General McClernand, commanding the advance, landed eight miles below the fort. General Grant made a reconnoissance in one of the gunboats to draw the fire of the fort and ascertain the range of its guns.
The expedition succeeded in this early in January, 1863, and was then recalled to join Grant. This was a mortification to McClernand, who had hoped for a command independent of Grant. In his subsequent conduct he seems to have shown incapacity; he was certainly insubordinate to Grant, and he busied himself in intrigues against him, with such result as will soon be seen.
At that time I supposed General McClernand would send me on this business, but he concluded to go himself, and to take his whole force. Orders were at once issued for the troops not to disembark at Milliken's Bend, but to remain as they were on board the transports.
"I don't care," said I; "he shall not treat you rudely in my cabin, and I was glad of the opportunity of letting him know my sentiments." By this time, General McClernand having bottled up his wrath, or cooled down, I went in to him and we discussed the matter. He consented that Sherman should go in command of the troops, and the interview ended pleasantly enough.
The Confederates lost nearly twelve thousand, half of whom were captured. The only real trouble, besides the failure to carry the lines by assault, was with the two bad generals, McClernand and Banks. McClernand had promulgated an order praising his own. corps to the skies and conveying the idea that he and it had won the battles.
A shot cut the tiller-ropes of the Louisville. The other boats were also considerably damaged, and after an action of an hour and a half, the entire fleet withdrew. But Grant's army had been re-enforced to 27,000. Three divisions, under Smith, Wallace, and McClernand, stretched in a semicircle about Donelson from north to south.
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