Chillicothe, which received twenty shots, one of which, entering a port-hole, killed 3 men and wounded several. McPherson has advanced down 40 miles below the fort, and is some 25 miles from Yazoo City. That place has not been attacked, and no rebel transports have been captured. McPherson's army is in perfect condition and excellent health. Forces to re-enforce him are now moving down from Missouri under E. A. Carr, two regiments having passed here to-day.

C. A. DANA.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

MEMPHIS, TENN., March 23, 1863,

VIA BOAT TO CAIRO, March 25.

The report brought to Columbus by Rigby and telegraphed by me from there on the 20th was erroneous. The force on the Yazoo consisted originally of 4,500 men, under Ross. To this have been added 3,500 under Quinby, who now commands. McPherson with the remainder of the Thirteenth [SEVENTEENTH?] Corps is at Helena, and part of Carr's force is also there, waiting for boats to join the expedition; but large boats entering Yazoo Pass may go forward, but cannot return, and enough small boats cannot be found to convey the re-enforcements with any rapidity. The expedition is now arrested at Greenwood, at the junction of the Tallahatchee and Yalabusha, where a rebel earthwork named Fort Pemberton, situated on a knoll made inaccessible by a swamp and mounting heavy guns, commands the channel. This fort is of recent construction, built after the rebels discovered the plan of the expedition. The heavy pieces of a gunboat have been disembarked, and with some 24 pounder howitzers planted in a battery against this fort, but without serious effect, and the expedition is effectually checked for the present. The whole force under McPherson is in round numbers 25,000, while re-enforcements are being hurried forward by way of Yazoo Pass. General Grant is sending 6,000 men overland from Greenville, on the Mississippi, to move on Yazoo and co-operate with the expedition, but the country through which the Sunflower is the most considerable. General Gorman, at Helena, had on the 21st a report that this corps had effected a junction with Quinby, but it is scarcely possible.

With regard to details of operations before Vicksburg, it is impossible to procure them here. The cutting of Lake Providence is perfectly successful, but Bayou Macon is very full of snags, which must be got out before the Tensas will be accessible. The canal opposite Vicksburg has broken through at its upper end. The river, entering with great force, strikes the railroad embankment, built longitudinally across the peninsula, which diverts the current to the bottom in the rear, and floods the land without cutting the channel. A pile-driver was sent down from here ten days ago in order to bar the opening into the canal, so that the digging may be resumed, but by the time it is successfully completed the lower approaches to Vicksburg will no doubt be as strongly defended as from above. The health of General Grant's army has greatly improved, and at present the sick-list is no larger than usual. This is not so well informed a place as I hoped to find it.

C. A. DANA.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.