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kets into the darkness, and indications of excitement were manifest everywhere. The boat had been discovered running the blockade, but no one knew where she was. Five minutes passed after the first gun was fired, and another had not followed. At last it became necessary to start the wheels in order to get steerage way on the steamer. The noise of the steam drew forth a second and third gun, and a discharge of musketry, and again all was still. The boat drifted on a few moments in silence, when the steam was again let on, and she dashed down the river, regardless of any noise that might be made. Battery after battery now opened upon her until twenty shots were fired, and she had passed uninjured beyond their reach. The steamer was under the command of Lieut.Com. Brown, and continued on down the river, until she met the Era as above stated. After pursuing the Webb, in vain, as far as the mouth of Red river, the Indianola proceeded up that stream in search of Confederate transports, and kept up a watch off the mouth of the Atchafalaya river. Here her commander learned that the Queen of the West had been repaired and might soon be down. As the narrowness of the Red river made it difficult to manœuvre a long boat like the Indianola, while the Queen was much shorter, Commander Brown determined to return to the mouth of the Big Black river, and attempt to pass up that stream, and reach if possible the bridge of the Vicksburg and Jackson railroad. This had been one of the objects for which the steamers had run the blockade. The Big Black river empties into the Mississippi at Grand Gulf, forty miles below Vicksburg. It rises in the northern part of the State of Mississippi, and flows southwesterly, passing about fifteen miles east of Vicksburg.

On Tuesday morning, Feb. 24th, the Indianola reached the mouth of the Big Black, and in the afternoon made preparations to move up the river, when two steamers were descried approaching. These proved to be the Confederate gunboat Webb and the Queen of the West. The Webb was a powerful boat and one of the swiftest on the river. They immediately attacked the Indianola, and, chiefly by striking her with their rams, so shattered her as to endanger her sinking, when she was surrendered and immediately run ashore.

A few days afterward a flatboat was fitted up by Admiral Porter to appear like a gunboat, and set adrift in the river without a pilot or crew. As it passed the batteries at Vicksburg, it was supposed to be a formidable ram, and they fired fiercely. It escaped uninjured however, and floated on down the river. Information of its approach was sent to the Queen of the West, lying under the batteries at Warrenton, eight miles below Vicksburg, and she immediately fled down stream. The Indianola was undergoing repairs near where she was taken, and the authorities at Vicksburg, thinking that she would be recaptured by the ram,

issued an order to burn her up. This order was sent down by a courier to the officer in charge of the boat. A few hours later, and another order was sent down countermanding the first, it having been ascertained that the monstrous craft was nothing else than a coalboat. But before it reached the Indianola she had been blown to atoms: not even a gun was saved.

Meanwhile, the work of cutting channels from the Mississippi to Providence Lake, on the west side, and to Moon Lake, on the east side, was progressing rapidly.

Lake Providence is a few miles south of the boundary line between Arkansas and Louisiana. It is situated in Carroll parish, Louisiana, about one mile west of the Mississippi river, and about seventy-five miles above Vicksburg. It is about six miles in length. Two streams flow out of the lake to the south, Moon bayou and Tensas river. The former, after running about a hundred miles, unites with the latter. The two continue south, and unite with the Washita, and are called after the junction Black river, which empties into the Red river, as is stated on a preceding page. By cutting a channel from the Mississippi to Lake Providence, Gen. Grant thought a communication might be had through that lake down the Tensas and Black into the Red river, and thence through the Atchafalaya, with Gen. Banks at New Orleans. This route avoided the batteries at Vicksburg and Port Hudson. The canal to the lake was finished so as to let in the water on the 16th of March. The flood was so great as to inundate a large district of country, some of which was fine land for growing cotton. Some boats passed into Lake Providence, but the uncertainty of the channel of the Tensas river, and the interest which was now excited by the Yazoo Pass expedition, together with the unimportant results to be anticipated by removing a large force to the Red river or below, caused a diversion from this route to others presenting more certain prospects of success against Vicksburg.

Eight miles below Helena, in Arkansas, and on the opposite side of the river, is a little lake, known as Moon Lake. The passage from the Mississippi across the lake to the mouth of the Yazoo Pass is about eight miles; thence through the Pass proper to the Coldwater river, twelve miles. The Coldwater, a narrow stream, runs south, empties into the Tallahatchie, which continues to flow south, and unites with the Yallobusha, forming the Yazoo river, which empties into the Mississippi, a few miles above Vicksburg. By opening a wider channel from the Mississippi into Moon Lake, it was the opinion that the inner streams would be rendered more easily navigable, in consequence of an increase of water, so that some smaller gunboats and a few troops could destroy the enemy's transports in the Yazoo, and their gunboats which were building. In ordinary stages of water, steamboats could ascend the

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Yazoo and Tallahatchie to the mouth of the Coldwater. The region of country through which these streams flow, especially the Yazoo, is very fertile, producing a large quantity of cotton, and furnishing considerable supplies to the rebel army at Vicksburg.

The expedition consisted of two of the largest and heaviest ironclad gunboats, one ram, six light-draft gunboats, three barges laden with coal, three steam tenders, and fifteen or eighteen transports. The passage from the Mississippi to the mouth of the Pass, after the im

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provement made upon it, was not attended with
much difficulty. On the morning of the 25th
of March it entered the mouth of the Pass. The
tortuous stream was a hundred feet wide, and
in some parts less. On its banks were cypress,
sycamore, and gigantic cottonwood trees, whose
branches formed a perfect arch over the stream.
At the upper end the current rushed with great
rapidity through the channel, and lower down
were strips of bottom land, which were over-
flowed, and gave to it greater width, and, con-
sequently, less rapidity. In the narrow and

crooked passage it was necessary to resist the
force of the current by the back revolution of
the wheels of the boats, and by lines fastened
from tree to tree as they moved along. Three
days were thus passed in making a distance of
about twelve miles, and reaching the Cold-
water. Smokestacks were swept away, and
much of the light upper works of several of the
boats. The principal difficulty in the Pass arose
from the activity of the enemy, who would close
one end while the Federal force was opening
the other. In this manner time was gained to
prepare to resist the progress of the expedition
by fortifying at the mouth of the Tallahatchie.
On the 2d of April the expedition proceeded
This stream was a little
down the Coldwater.
wider than the Pass, so that the branches of
the trees seldom met over head, but its current
was more sluggish, and its channel equally
tortuous. Two mortar boats now joined the
expedition, adding their force to the heavy guns
As it advanced it was fur-
on the other boats.
ther reënforced, until it consisted of eighteen
transports, five small gunboats, and two of a
large size, the Chillicothe and the De Kalb.
The advance consisted of one division of Gen.
McClernand's corps, which had been stationed
at Helena, under command of Brig.-Gen. L. F.
Ross, and the 12th and 17th Missouri regiments
from Gen. Sherman's corps, as sharpshooters,
on the gunboats. The mouth of the Coldwater
was reached with only some damage to the
light work, wheels, and rudders of the trans-
ports.

Proceeding down the Tallahatchie, the expe-
dition arrived within ten miles of Greenwood on
the 11th. Greenwood is a small village on the
Yazoo river, just below the junction of the Tal-
lahatchie with the Yallobusha, forming the Ya-
zoo. Just below the position of the Federal trans-
ports, the Tallahatchie turns to the eastward,
bending in the form of a horseshoe, and resumes
its southerly course at a point nearly south of
The base of
that where the transports were.
the peninsula formed by this bend, being the
narrowest part, and nearly a mile across, was
occupied by a Confederate fortification. It
consisted of a single line of breast works facing
westerly, and composed of cotton bales and
earth, and flanked on the right by a battery
of three heavy guns fronting the river. Other
field pieces were in position on the works. On
the right flank of the line, a defence or raft of
logs had been constructed, to serve as a block-
ade of the river. Directly in front of the breast-
works was a deep slough, extending across the
peninsula, and admirably serving the purpose
of a ditch. The slough was close to the base
of the works at the upper end, but gradually
receded from them at the lower, where it was
several hundred yards distant. Beyond the
slough there was an almost impenetrable
brake, backed by an extensive forest. Below
this fortification on the river, and in the are of
the bend, the Yallobusha flows in from the
northeast, and forms its junction with the Tal-

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lahatchio. The village of Greenwood is upon the Yazoo, four miles below. The object of the fortification at this location was not only to stop the fleet from passing below, but also to prevent its passing up the Yallobusha river, on which a number of the enemy's steamers had sought refuge, and on the bank of which also was the important town of Granada.

The Confederate force was estimated above five thousand men, under the command of Gen. Tilghman, who surrendered Fort Henry, in Kentucky. On the morning of the 11th a reconnoissance was made by the gunboat Chillicothe, Lieut.-Commander Foster. The boat approached within a short distance of the fortification, and fired several shots, and was hit four times in return by heavy shot from rifle pieces. At the same time detachments from the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Indiana regiments were sent out to feel the Confederate position on the land side. A considerable body of the enemy's skirmishers were encountered, who were driven across the slough and into the works, when the detachments were withdrawn. In the afternoon the Chillicothe was ordered to engage the fortification. After she had fired seven rounds, a 64-pound shell from the enemy passed through a half-open port, striking upon the muzzle of a gun, in which a shell had just been placed preparatory to cutting the fuse. Both shells exploded at once, by which three men were killed and eleven wounded. At this time orders were received to withdraw from the engagement. During the ensuing night a force was sent to throw up a battery facing the enemy's works, west of the slough, and in the edge of the timber. A single 30pound Parrott gun was mounted, and the work concealed by brash from the view of the enemy. Subsequently another gun was mounted. No attack was made on the 12th, in consequence of the absence of the mortar boats. After some delay, on the 13th, the engagement was commenced about half past ten A. M. by the land batteries. The gunboats Chillicothe and De Kalb soon after approached and opened their fire. It now appeared that the fortification mounted a rifled 64-Parrott and three 24-Dahlgrens, and a sinal field battery. These guns were protected by a parapet composed of seven tiers of cotton bales, covered on the outside with eight feet of earth. The contest was bravely maintained for some time, when the fire of the enemy was suspended, but no disposition to surrender was shown. The gunboats and battery kept up the fire, but without any success in redueing the works. The Chillicothe was struck thirty-four times, but not severely injured. The DeKalb suffered more, in consequence of some shot penetrating her casemates, by which one man was killed and five wounded.

The impracticable nature of the approach to the fort by foot soldiers on the west, in consequence of the overflow or slough, rendered it necessary that the gunboats should silence the guns of the enemy, and enable the transports

to run down and land troops immediately on the fort itself. But all attempts to silence the fort by the gunboats proved unsuccessful, and the guns of the battery were withdrawn, and the expedition put on the defensive. After a few days it began to retire.

Meantime, Gen. Grant had been led to believe, as the navigation proved better than was expected, that it was possible to make this the route for obtaining a foothold on high land above Haines's Bluff, and had sent forward a division of Gen. McPherson's corps, commanded by Brig.-Gen. J. F. Quimby, and had ordered some small-class steamers for transporting the army. The seventeenth corps, under Gen. McPherson, was also directed to be in readiness to move, and one division from the thirteenth and fifteenth corps each, was collected near the Pass. But it soon became evident that a sufficient number of boats of the right class, could not be obtained for the transportation of more than one division. On the 23d of March, therefore, orders were given to withdraw all the forces operating in that direction, for the purpose of concentrating at Milliken's Bend.

At this time another expedition had started under Admiral Porter, for the purpose of reaching the Yazoo below Fort Pemberton and Greenwood, and above Haines's Bluff. Such a movement, if successful, would leave Greenwood and Fort Pemberton to the rear of the Federal forces, and necessarily cause it to be abandoned. At the same time, about thirty Confederate steamers could be captured or destroyed. The route to be pursued by this expedition was up the Yazoo river to Cypress bayou, which enters that river at a point opposite the landing place of Gen. Sherman's troops when attacking the bluffs in the rear of Vicksburg, thence into Steele's bayou, and along that watercourse, and through Cypress Lake, to Little Black Fork, thence into Deer creek. Following this stream for some distance, the route branches off along Rolling Fork into the Big Sunflower river, which empties into the Yazoo above Haines's Bluff.

The expedition under Admiral Porter, consisted of the gunboats Pittsburg, Louisville, Mound City, Cincinnati, and Carondelet, with a number of small transports. Gen. Grant stated that the principal obstacles appeared to be the overhanging trees, and he sent forward a pioneer corps for their removal. Soon after, Admiral Porter sent back for a coöperating military force, and Gen. Sherman was promptly sent with one division of his corps. The number of steamers suitable for the navigation of these bayous being limited, most of the force was sent up the Mississippi to Eagle Bend, a point where the river runs within one mile of Steele's bayou, thus avoiding an important part of the difficult navigation. The cause of the failure of this expedition is thus explained by Gen. Grant:

"The expedition failed, probably, more from

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der it impracticable to open this water communication between Milliken's Bend and New Carthage. At the same time the roads between them became dry and passable, and thus made the water communication unneces

sary.

About this time, Admiral Farragut had sent to Admiral Porter for the assistance of ironclads and rams, to operate against a fleet of small, but dangerous boats, cruising in the Red river. The large vessel of Admiral Farragut, the Hartford, near Warrenton, might be useless against two or three small rams.

The

rams Switzerland, under Col. Chas. R. Ellet, and Lancaster, under Lieut.-Col. John A. Ellet, were ordered to go down the river. Every precaution was taken to make the run of the batteries as quietly as possible, but it was about daylight on the 25th of March when they turned the point and came in sight of Vicksburg. They were discovered by the enemy, and the Lancaster was sunk before she had reached halfway. All of her crew escaped but one man, who was drowned. The Switzerland was badly cut up, but arrived below.

The object of Gen. Grant now was to find a route by which he could place his army with its supplies below Vicksburg, so as to approach it in the rear, where alone it was supposed to be weak and assailable, with the hope of success. As soon, therefore, as he had directed a water communication to be opened from a point on the Mississippi, near Milliken's Bend, to New Carthage, he determined to occupy the latter place. It was the first point below Vicksburg that could be reached by land at the stage of water existing at that time, and the occupancy of which, while it secured a point on the Mississippi river, would also protect the main line of communication by water. MajorGen. McClernand, therefore, with the thirteenth army corps, was, on the 29th of March, ordered to move to New Carthage. The fifteenth and sixteenth corps were to follow, moving no faster than supplies and ammunition could be transported to them. The movement was necessarily slow, in consequence of the bad state of the roads. As the advance reached Smith's Plantation, two miles from New Carthage, it was found that the levee of Bayou Vidal was broken in several places; and

want of knowledge as to what would be required to open this route, than from any im-. practicability in the navigation of the streams and bayous through which it was proposed to pass: the want of this knowledge led the expedition on until difficulties were encountered, and then it would become necessary to send back to Young's Point for the means of removing them. This gave the enemy time to move forces to effectually checkmate further progress, and the expedition was withdrawn when within a few hundred yards of free and open navigation to the Yazoo."

In addition to these several routes, another was prospected by Capt. F. E. Prime, as Chief Engineer, and Col. G. G. Pride, through the bayous, which run from near Milliken's Bend and New Carthage on the south, through Roundaway bayou into the Tensas river. This route was found to be practicable, and work was commenced on it. With the aid of three dredge boats, it proceeded rapidly, and one small steamer and a number of barges were taken through the channel thus opened. About the middle of April, however, the river commenced falling so rapidly as to ren

in consequence of the overflow of water, New Carthage was made an island. All the boats in the different bayous in the vicinity were collected, and others were built, but the transportation of the army was exceedingly tedious. Another route was therefore found, by making a further march of twelve miles around Bayou Vidal, to a point called Perkins's Plantation. The whole distance to be marched from Milliken's Bend to reach water communication below was thirty-five miles. this distance it was necessary to transport by wagons, with bad roads, the supplies of ordnance stores and provisions with which to

Over

commence the campaign on the opposite side

of the river.

At the same time that the occupation of New Carthage was ordered, preparations were made for running transports and a gunboat fleet below the batteries of Vicksburg. The gunboats selected were the Benton, Capt. Greer; Lafayette, Capt. Henry Walke; Price, Capt. Woodworth; Louisville, Capt. Owens; Carondelet, Capt. McLeod Murphy; Pittsburg, Capt. Wm. Hoel; Tuscumbia, Capt. Shirk, and Mound City. All of these boats except the Price were ironclad. Each had taken, for additional protection, baled cotton, hay, railroad iron, timber, chains, or whatever else might be suitable. The transports which were selected were the Forest Queen, Capt. Dan. Conway; Henry Clay; and Silver Wave, Capt. McMillan. These boats took a quantity of supplies for the army, and bales of cotton and hay were placed around the most important parts of their machinery. The night of the 16th of April was fixed for the expedition to start. Everything was in readiness before dark. The plan decided upon was that the ironclads should pass down in single file, with intervals between the boats of a few hundred yards, and that when in front of the batteries they should engage them with their broadside guns, and, under cover of the smoke, the transports should endeavor to pass unseen. A spectator of the exciting scene has thus described it:

"Lights twinkled busily from the Vicksburg hillsides until about 10 o'clock, when they disappeared, and about the same moment song and laughter on our side were hushed, as a shapeless mass of what looked like a great fragment of darkness was discerned floating noiselessly down the river. It was the Benton. It passed and disappeared in the night, and was succeeded by another bank of darkness, the Lafayette, with the Price lashed to her starboard side. And thus they continued, as if huge shadows detached themselves from the darkness above, floated across the vision, and disappeared in the darkness below. Ten of these noiseless shapes revealed themselves and disappeared.

"Three quarters of an hour passed. People heard nothing save their own suppressed breathings; saw nothing save a long low bank of darkness, which, like a black fog, walled the view below, and joined the sky and river in the direction of Vicksburg. And all watched this gathering of darkness, for in it were thunders and lightnings and volcanoes, which at any instant might light up the night with fierce irruptions.

So long a time passed without anything occurring that people began to believe the enemy had determined, for some malevolent purpose, to allow the fleet to pass below without obstruction. However, this supposition was hardly broached ere it was contradicted most emphatically. At just a quarter before eleven,

VOL. III.-4 A

two bright sharp lines of flame flashed through the darkness, at the extreme right of the Vicksburg batteries; and, in an instant, the whole length of the bluffs was ablaze with fire. The fleet, which had rounded the Point, and now lay squarely before the city, at once responded by opening their ports, and pouring their full broadside of twenty-five heavy guns, charged with grape and shrapnel, directly against the city.

"A great cloud of smoke rolled heavily over the gunboats, and in this the three transports entered and made their 'best time' down the river. The Forest Queen, which was in the advance, received a shot in the hull and another through the steam drum, which disabled her instantly. The Henry Clay, that came next, was stopped, to prevent her running into the other, and at the same moment was struck by a shell that set her cotton on fire. The crew, demoralized by the stoppage and terrified by the fire, ran aimlessly around for a few moments, then launched the yawl, sprang into it, and pulled for the shore. The pilot, finding that no engineers obeyed the bells, stayed a short time until the fire began to seethe around him, when he seized a plank, jumped overboard, and was picked up by a gunboat. The Clay, in the mean time, became a great blazing mass, that floated down the river until it disappeared below Warrenton. Had she been manned by men of nerve, the fire would have been extinguished and the boat carried through safely. The fact of her floating so far shows that her hull was uninjured.

"The Forest Queen was taken in tow by a gunboat, and towed below without further damage. The Silver Wave did not receive a scratch.

"The Vicksburg batteries were passed in about an hour and a quarter. Upon reaching Warrenton batteries, the gunboats took the initiative by pouring in their broadsides on the instant they reached position; and so continuous and terrific was their fire that the enemy scarcely attempted a response."

No one on board either of the transports was injured, and Gen. Grant immediately ordered six more to be prepared in like manner for running the batteries. Accordingly the Tigress, Anglo-Saxon, Cheeseman, Empire City, Horizona, and Moderator left Milliken's Bend on the night of the 22d of April, and five of them got by, but in a somewhat damaged condition. The Tigress received a shot in her hull below the water line, and sunk on the Louisiana shore, after passing the last of the batteries. In tow of these transports, twelve barges loaded with forage were sent, one half of which got through in a condition to be used. The transports injured in running the blockade were repaired by order of Admiral Porter, and in a very short time five of them were in running order, and the remainder in a condition to be used as barges in the movement of troops.

As the number of transports below Vicks

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