The distance across the lower promontory from the island to Tiptonville, along the border of Reelfoot Lake, is about five miles, but the distance from the island by the river to Tiptonville is over twenty miles.
On the 22d of February, General Pope, with several thousand men, left the little town of Commerce, which is above Cairo, on the Mississippi, for New Madrid, which is forty miles distant. It was a slow, toilsome march. The mud was very deep, and he could move scarcely five miles a day, but he reached New Madrid on the 3d of March, the day on which we raised the flag on the heights at Columbus.
Island No. 10.
| 1 | Commodore Foote’s fleet. | 4 | Rebel boats. |
| 2 | Island No. 10 and Rebel floating-battery. | 5 | 2 Forts at New Madrid. |
| 3 | Shore batteries. |
The Rebels had completed their forts. The one above the town mounted fourteen heavy guns, and the one below it seven. Both were strong works, with bastions and angles, and ditches that could be swept by an enfilading fire. There was a line of intrenchments between the two forts, enclosing the town.
There were five regiments of infantry and several batteries of artillery, commanded by General McCown, at New Madrid. General Mackall was sent up by Beauregard to direct the defence there and at Island No. 10. When he arrived, he issued an address to the soldiers. He said:—
“Soldiers: We are strangers, commander and commanded, each to the other. Let me tell you who I am. I am a General made by Beauregard,—a General selected by Beauregard and Bragg for this command, when they knew it was in peril.
“They have known me for twenty years; together we stood on the fields of Mexico. Give them your confidence now; give it to me when I have earned it.