We have already published a telegraphic account of this battle.

 

The following further particulars are from a letter to the Chicago Tribune, dated the 2d inst.:

 

          "When the advance reached the ravine, at 11 o'clock Thursday night, they were greeted by a heavy fire of artillery from a battery on the opposite hill. At that hour, and in the darkness, they could do nothing to capture it, and so waited patiently until daylight. The fire was kept up all night long, without eliciting reply. There was skirmishing between the advance guard of both armies, lasting from daylight until 8 o'clock, when the Eighth and Eighteenth Indiana charged gallantly up the hill, cleared the suns at the point of the bayonet, took possession, and turned them upon the fleeing enemy. It was a most gallant affair, and those two regiments are deserving of great praise for their conduct. On the top of the hill is a plantation belonging to Judge BALDWIN, of Fort Gibson, surrounded by three or four out-houses and negro quarters. The surgeons took possession of these, and soon the horrid implements of their trade were displayed, and the poor fellows, whom their comrades and the ambulance corps brought in, were turned over to them. Just beyond the hospitals, the road turns to the right and left, one leading to Port Gibson and Rodney, and the other to Bayou Pierre. It was along the right hand road that the enemy retreated, and made a stand upon the elevation commanding the approach, near a small church, standing in an open field. The fight around this church was very severe, and the position was most gallantly contested. In the open green, I counted, two hours after, the dead bodies of not less than twenty men, all but two of whom were rebels. In one spot, not four feet square, were five dead bodies, and close behind them eight gray horses, belonging to a rebel battery, all of whom had been killed by the explosion of a single shell. Driven from this point, the enemy retreated to the next hill, which was near the junction of the Port Gibson and Rodney roads. Here was another stand, with another fight and another retreat, until the enemy were driven to the range of hills extending around, and a mile distant from BALDWIN's mansion. Here they had stationed their reserves, and here they evidently expected to make their great fight. The position was an excellent one. The country is a series of hill and ravines, and upon the tops of the former the enemy had placed his line of battle. This line was crescent-shaped, the right resting near and north of the Port Gibson road, and the left upon the Rodney road. Of course, their centre lay between these. Our first attack was upon his centre, and was composed of regiments from Gen. CARR's and Gen. HOVEY's divisions. The point of attack -- the centre -gave way under the impetuous gallantry of our boys, and the rebel General massed his forces on his left, from which, after a furious struggle, in which a large number of regiments were engaged, he was forced to retire with great loss. Later, he massed his troops on his right, and by their skillful disposition, aided by his intimate knowledge of the topography of this region, he compelled our boys to retire. Subsequently reinforcements were sent, and after a brilliant engagement, lasting for two hours, in which brigades from nearly every division of the army were more or less engaged, we succeeded in dislodging them, and compelled them to beat an uncondition retreat toward Port Gibson. In the charge opon the battery, Friday morning, the rebel Gen. G.F. TRACY was struck in the forehead by a minnie bullet, and instantly killed. His body was removed to Fort Gibson, where it was to-day interred by his personal friends. The dead on both sides still remain unburied, but from what I have seen, I should estimate his loss in killed, 200, and wounded, 500, and in prisoners, 500. The latter we have in corral. Besides the officers killed, we have as prisoners Lieut.-Col. PETTUS, of the Twentieth Alabama regiment, brother of Gov. PETTUS, of Mississippi, and Capt. PRATT, of the same regiment, but we have yet in hospital over a hundred whom he could not remove. I wish I could say that this brilliant victory has been obtained with little loss of life. I cannot. No one could listen to the loud roar of rebel cannon and see the heavy line of soldiers exposed to the murderous fire of rebel infantry, without having the conviction forced upon him that for all this exhibition of national wrath, some one must pay with life and blood. Our loss will reach 150 killed, and fully 300 wounded. We lost no prisoners. GRAND GULF, Miss., May 4, 1863. To His Excellency Gov. Hoffman: Our aims are gloriously triumphant. We have succeeded in winning a victory which in its results must be the most important of the war. The battle of May 1 lasted from 8 o'clock in the morning until night, during all which time the enemy was driven back on the right, left and centre. All day yesterday our army was in pursuit of the rebels, they giving us battle at almost every defensible point, and fighting with desperate valor. Last night a large force of the enemy was driven across Black River, and Gen. MCCLERNAND was driving another large force in the direction of Willow Springs. About 2 o'clock yesterday I left Gen. LOGAN, with his division, in pursuit of the enemy to join Gen. GRANT at Grand Gulf, which the enemy had evacuated in the morning, first blowing up their magazines, spiking their cannon, destroying tents. On my way to Grand Gulf I saw guns scattered all along the road, which the enemy had left in their retreat. The rebels were scattered through the woods in every direction. This army of the rebels was considered, as I now learn, invincible, but it quailed before the irresistible assaults of Northwestern valor. I consider Vicksburgh as ours in a short time, and the Mississippi River as destined to be open from its source to its mouth. I have been side by side with our boys in battle, and can bear witness to the unfaltering courage and prowess of our brave lllinoisans.

 

RICHARD YATES, Governor.

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THE BATTLE AT PORT GIBSON.; LETTER FROM GOV. YATES.

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          We have already published a telegraphic account of this battle. The following further particulars are from a letter to the Chicago Tribune, dated the 2d inst.:

 

          We have already published a telegraphic account of this battle. The following further particulars are from a letter to the Chicago Tribune, dated the 2d inst.:

          "When the advance reached the ravine, at 11 o'clock Thursday night, they were greeted by a heavy fire of artillery from a battery on the opposite hill. At that hour, and in the darkness, they could do nothing to capture it, and so waited patiently until daylight. The fire was kept up all night long, without eliciting reply. There was skirmishing between the advance guard of both armies, lasting from daylight until 8 o'clock, when the Eighth and Eighteenth Indiana charged gallantly up the hill, cleared the suns at the point of the bayonet, took possession, and turned them upon the fleeing enemy. It was a most gallant affair, and those two regiments are deserving of great praise for their conduct. On the top of the hill is a plantation belonging to Judge BALDWIN, of Fort Gibson, surrounded by three or four out-houses and negro quarters. The surgeons took possession of these, and soon the horrid implements of their trade were displayed, and the poor fellows, whom their comrades and the ambulance corps brought in, were turned over to them.

          Just beyond the hospitals, the road turns to the right and left, one leading to Port Gibson and Rodney, and the other to Bayou Pierre. It was along the right hand road that the enemy retreated, and made a stand upon the elevation commanding the approach, near a small church, standing in an open field. The fight around this church was very severe, and the position was most gallantly contested. In the open green, I counted, two hours after, the dead bodies of not less than twenty men, all but two of whom were rebels. In one spot, not four feet square, were five dead bodies, and close behind them eight gray horses, belonging to a rebel battery, all of whom had been killed by the explosion of a single shell. Driven from this point, the enemy retreated to the next hill, which was near the junction of the Port Gibson and Rodney roads. Here was another stand, with another fight and another retreat, until the enemy were driven to the range of hills extending around, and a mile distant from BALDWIN's mansion. Here they had stationed their reserves, and here they evidently expected to make their great fight.

          The position was an excellent one. The country is a series of hill and ravines, and upon the tops of the former the enemy had placed his line of battle. This line was crescent-shaped, the right resting near and north of the Port Gibson road, and the left upon the Rodney road. Of course, their centre lay between these.

          Our first attack was upon his centre, and was composed of regiments from Gen. CARR's and Gen. HOVEY's divisions. The point of attack -- the centre -gave way under the impetuous gallantry of our boys, and the rebel General massed his forces on his left, from which, after a furious struggle, in which a large number of regiments were engaged, he was forced to retire with great loss. Later, he massed his troops on his right, and by their skillful disposition, aided by his intimate knowledge of the topography of this region, he compelled our boys to retire. Subsequently reinforcements were sent, and after a brilliant engagement, lasting for two hours, in which brigades from nearly every division of the army were more or less engaged, we succeeded in dislodging them, and compelled them to beat an uncondition retreat toward Port Gibson.

          In the charge opon the battery, Friday morning, the rebel Gen. G.F. TRACY was struck in the forehead by a minnie bullet, and instantly killed. His body was removed to Fort Gibson, where it was to-day interred by his personal friends.

          The dead on both sides still remain unburied, but from what I have seen, I should estimate his loss in killed, 200, and wounded, 500, and in prisoners, 500. The latter we have in corral. Besides the officers killed, we have as prisoners Lieut.-Col. PETTUS, of the Twentieth Alabama regiment, brother of Gov. PETTUS, of Mississippi, and Capt. PRATT, of the same regiment, but we have yet in hospital over a hundred whom he could not remove.

          I wish I could say that this brilliant victory has been obtained with little loss of life. I cannot. No one could listen to the loud roar of rebel cannon and see the heavy line of soldiers exposed to the murderous fire of rebel infantry, without having the conviction forced upon him that for all this exhibition of national wrath, some one must pay with life and blood.

          Our loss will reach 150 killed, and fully 300 wounded. We lost no prisoners.

 

GRAND GULF, Miss., May 4, 1863.

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To His Excellency Gov. Hoffman:

 

          Our aims are gloriously triumphant. We have succeeded in winning a victory which in its results must be the most important of the war. The battle of May 1 lasted from 8 o'clock in the morning until night, during all which time the enemy was driven back on the right, left and centre. All day yesterday our army was in pursuit of the rebels, they giving us battle at almost every defensible point, and fighting with desperate valor. Last night a large force of the enemy was driven across Black River, and Gen. MCCLERNAND was driving another large force in the direction of Willow Springs. About 2 o'clock yesterday I left Gen. LOGAN, with his division, in pursuit of the enemy to join Gen. GRANT at Grand Gulf, which the enemy had evacuated in the morning, first blowing up their magazines, spiking their cannon, destroying tents, &c. On my way to Grand Gulf I saw guns scattered all along the road, which the enemy had left in their retreat. The rebels were scattered through the woods in every direction. This army of the rebels was considered, as I now learn, invincible, but it quailed before the irresistible assaults of Northwestern valor.

          I consider Vicksburgh as ours in a short time, and the Mississippi River as destined to be open from its source to its mouth.

          I have been side by side with our boys in battle, and can bear witness to the unfaltering courage and prowess of our brave lllinoisans.

 

RICHARD YATES, Governor

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