GRANT BEFORE VICKSBURG.
General Sherman had failed to capture Vicksburg, and General Grant assumed command of the forces besieging it. He saw that the defenses facing the Mississippi and the lower part of the Yazoo were too powerful to be taken by storm. He decided as a consequence to turn the rear of the lines, and, securing an entrance into the upper part of the Yazoo, reach the rear of the batteries at Haines' Bluff.
In this important work he received valuable help from the ironclads of Admiral Porter. With one of them he opened communication with the squadron in the lower part of the Mississippi and disabled a Confederate steamer under the guns of Vicksburg. Two of the boats groped their way through the swamps and wooded creeks, where nothing more than canoes and dugouts had ventured before, obtained a great deal of cotton and burned much more, disregarded the torpedoes and fought the rebels along the banks, explored new routes, and in the end both were captured by the enemy.
ADMIRAL PORTER.
Several ingenious plans were tried to capture these formidable fortifications. One was an attempt to force a passage into the Upper Yazoo. Another was to open a new channel for the Mississippi. Both were failures, but the levees along the Yazoo were cut and many acres in the rear of Vicksburg overflowed, while a great deal of Arkansas and Louisiana was flooded. The object of all this was to shut off the supplies of Vicksburg. Admiral Farragut now strove to pass from the lower Mississippi by the Port Hudson batteries to Vicksburg. The effort was made on the night of March 14th, which was of inky darkness. The approach was discovered by the enemy, who kindled large bonfires on the bank which revealed the passing vessels. The latter opened on the batteries with great effect, but only two, including the flagship, were able to get past, the thirteen being forced to turn back. The Mississippi ran aground and was set on fire and abandoned. With the two vessels in hand, Farragut blockaded the mouth of the Red River and gave valuable help to General Grant, but the land forces advancing from Baton Rouge to aid in the attack on Vicksburg turned back upon learning of the failure of Farragut's fleet to run past the batteries.
General Grant had set out to capture Vicksburg and nothing could turn him from his purpose. His aim was to sever the Confederate communications with the east by turning the defenses of the Yazoo and the Mississippi. General McClernand was sent in the latter part of March to occupy New Carthage to the south, while General Banks, by advancing from New Orleans, threatened Port Hudson in conjunction with the fleet lying near.
Banks' force was so large that the most the enemy could do was to delay his advance by burning bridges and obstructing the river. In the latter part of April, he established himself at Simmsport, near the junction of the Atchafalaya and the Mississippi. Admiral Porter, who was lying with his fleet above Vicksburg, now made the attempt to join Farragut below, and it proved one of the most exciting experiences of the war.
RUNNING THE BATTERIES.