NEAR VICKSBURG, MISS., May 23, 1863.
Rear-Admiral DAVID D. PORTER,
Commanding Mississippi Squadron:
Your note of this date is just received. I am satisfied that
you are doing all that can be done in aid of the reduction of Vicksburg. There
is no doubt of the fall of this place ultimately, but how long it will take is
a matter of doubt. I intend to lose no more men, but to force the enemy from
one position to another without exposing my troops.
I have information that the enemy under Johnston, who have
been threatening me, have gone back to Calhoun, on the Mississippi Central
Railroad. There is but about 8,000 of them, much demoralized.
A force is collecting at Yazoo City which numbers now about
2,000 men. Does this expose your boats now up the Yazoo? If so, I will send
Lauman to disperse them, although I do not like to detach any troops until this
job here is closed up. One week is as long as I think the enemy can possibly hold
out.
U.S. GRANT.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
24, Part 3 (Serial No. 38), p. 343
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