Rumored Capture of Port Pemberton.
Special Dispatch to the Chicago Tribune
Washington, March 23, 1863.
A dispatch from Columbus, Ky., received from competent hands, reports, on the authority of a captain belonging to John Morgan’s staff, the capture of Ft. Pemberton, on the Tallahatchie river, by the Yazoo expedition, with a few prisoners.
Washington, March 23,—Admiral Porter in a dispatch says he has received information from Lieut. Commander Watson Smith, that on the 7th inst, the whole Yazoo expedition arrived in the Tallahatchie; which gives us the control of the head of the Mississippi. The vessels all got through in fighting condition, excepting the Petrel, which lost her wheel entirely. This movement of the fleet evidently alarmed the rebels, as they are energetically at work preparing themselves against all contingencies. There is much distress In Vicksburg. They have no meat, and are living almost exclusively on corn-meal.
Washington, March 23.—A letter from Rear Admiral Porter, dated March 14th, has been received, in which he speaks of the difficulty of navigating Yazoo Pass with safety to vessels of the expedition. The natural impediments are represented as similar to those heretofore reported. He says nothing as to any engagement with the enemy up to that date.
Chicago Daily Tribune, March 24, 1863