General M. L. Smith, who had been ordered to report to General Sherman at Meridian, had in the mean time, left Memphis on the 11th of February. On the 13th the National forces reached the Tallahatchie, and on the same day crossed the river at New Albany, without encountering any opposition from the enemy. Pushing forward with all possible speed, General Smith encountered the enemy, in force, near Houston. The Unionists, not being strong enough to engage the rebels, then moved eastward, and surprised and entered Okalona. Advancing along the railroad, and tearing up the track as he went, General Smith next reached West Point, having destroyed on the way two thousand bales of cotton, and one million bushels of corn. Two miles north of West Point Station, the enemy was encountered, and a short skirmish ensued, in which the rebels were driven back. The enemy were next discovered to be in strong force in front, holding all the crossings over a swamp to the right of the town, and also on the line of the Octibbieha in front, and that of the Tombigbee river on the left. An attack was necessary; and General Smith, encumbered with pack trains and captured cattle, determined to make his demonstration for battle in front, in order to give his main body and trains an opportunity to fall back on Okalona. This movement was successfully accomplished, notwithstanding that the enemy, under the command of Generals Lee, Forrest and Chalmers, pressed very hard upon the retreating Union line. Subsequently, on the 22nd, General Smith was attacked at Okalona, and defeated with severe loss. That night he retreated, with all possible secrecy and speed. A correspondent thus describes his retreat: “Picture to yourself, if you can, a living, moving mass of men, negroes, mules, and horses, of four thousand or five thousand, all _en masse_, literally jammed, huddled, and crowded into the smallest possible space; night setting in; artillery and small arms booming behind us; cavalry all around and ahead, moving on, on, on, over fences, through fields and brush, over hills and across mud-holes, streams, and bridges, and still on, on into the night, until the moon rises on the scene and shows us some of the outlines of this living panorama. I forgot to say that in this crowd were a lot of prisoners, too, once or twice attempting to escape, followed by the swift report of the revolver, once with bitter consequences to the escaping prisoners.” On the night of the 23d General Smith succeeded in crossing the Tallahatchie at New Albany, and on the 25th, at about noon, his forces reached Memphis, with all their trains and spoils of war. The loss was less than two hundred killed and captured. Thus it happened that the expedition failed to make a junction with General Sherman, at Meridian. THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION. MARCH 10-MAY 16, 1864.