Two days later the expedition arrived at Point de Soto, three miles below Vicksburg, where the battery was first under fire and had its first lesson in real fighting. The occasion for this was incidental to the passage of Farragut's fleet up the river. Farragut had received most urgent Letters from the Navy Department urging upon him the clearing of the Mississippi, Vicksburg being then the only point in the possession of the Confederates. Although he felt that it was impossible to take the city without a large land force, he prepared at once to make the attempt. Sending on in advance a flotilla of mortar boats under Commander D. D. Porter he followed with his fleet of three ships and seven gunboats accompanied by ten transports carrying General Williams' Brigade of four regiments and two batteries—the 2d and the 6th Massachusetts.
To quote from J. S. Knowlton's diary: "Our mortar boats commenced bombarding the city of Vicksburg at 4 P. M. We were ordered around the backside of the woods so as to get unperceived to the nearest point to Vicksburg. We marched over five miles and came to a halt on the railroad about three quarters of a mile from the point where we were to go into action. Here we dismounted and slept by our horses until the mortar boats began firing which was a signal for us to start. The firing soon became very severe, which indicated that the fleet had started. We pushed down the railroad, shot and shell falling thick and fast all around us, cutting off trees and plowing the soil at an enormous rate. We soon reached the shore and concentrated our whole fire upon three batteries of the enemy's right wing. Their batteries could be seen blazing from all points of the city. We made some good shots, putting our shell plumb within the enemy's works. They kept up a continual firing on our fleets sending their shots with great rapidity. At 5 P. M., the fleet having passed, we were ordered back to camp, having been engaged an hour and a half. Not a man in our company was injured in the whole engagement and only one horse was hit."
Another member of the battery writes: "Probably few grander sights were to be had during the war than we saw that morning as Farragut in the Hartford, just going enough to prevent the current getting the better of him, led his fleet of wooden vessels through that deluge of shot and shell." S. P. Skilton.
At an inspection the next afternoon, Captain Nims said that Commodore Farragut expressed much pleasure at the performance of the battery and the aid it had rendered and stated that it was the hottest fire he was ever under. The only part taken by the land forces in this expedition was by the two Massachusetts batteries.
A few days later the fleet passed back down the river under a heavy fire from Vicksburg and remained for some time in the vicinity of the city.
Before Vicksburg the river made one of those gigantic bends for which it is famous.[[2]] For three miles it flowed directly toward the city and then bending suddenly flowed in an exactly opposite direction. Between these lines lay a peninsula scarcely a mile wide. When following the course of the stream, a vessel going up or down the river was under fire of the batteries for a distance of six miles. It was thought that if a canal be dug across this peninsula the current of the river might wear a channel by which boats could pass leaving them exposed for only one mile. Accordingly General Williams was commissioned to gather a force of negroes from the surrounding plantations to carry out this enterprise. Some 1500 were brought in and set to work, but the plan did not succeed. The position was not well chosen and before the work was completed the river rose suddenly and destroyed all that had been accomplished.
It was now evident that while it was possible to send a fleet up the river if necessary, Vicksburg could not be taken without a land force of 12,000 to 15,000 men. Accordingly, on July 24, Farragut's fleet, together with the transports bearing General Williams' Brigade, started down the river leaving Vicksburg entirely free. General Williams and his troops debarked at Baton Rouge for the purpose of permanently occupying it.
Of this entire movement Irwin says: "No casualties occurred but the troops returned July 26 to Baton Rouge after having for more than three months undergone hardships such as have seldom fallen to the lot of soldiers in a campaign whose existence is scarcely known and whose name is well nigh forgotten.
During the stay near Vicksburg many of the men contracted fever and on July 19 occurred the first death among the members of the battery—that of Theodore H. Price of Boston. Others followed in quick succession until by August 8, six of the battery had fallen victims to the soldier's worst foe, disease. These were: Theodore H. Price, died July 19; J. S. Haven, died July 31; Alvin Lovejoy, died August 2; Cyrus Davidson, died August 5; E. L. Leavitt, died August 5; M. F. Tate, died August 8.
Nor was this all, for at the grand review and inspection by General Williams on July 31, of the 140 members of the battery only 21 were present for duty, the remainder, including Captain Nims himself, being in the hospital. The same condition naturally prevailed among the other members of the brigade, one regiment (the 7th Vermont) mustering but 48 men and other regiments averaging 150; so that not one half of the entire number was reported as ready for service.