David Farragut, first admiral of the United States Navy, early in May
1862, headed his Western Gulf Squadron of oceangoing vessels up the
Mississippi. In a spectacular engagement he passed the forts protecting
New Orleans and captured the South's largest port city. Proceeding 400
miles up river, Farragut received the surrenders of Baton Rouge, capital
of Louisiana, and Natchez, Miss., arriving before Vicksburg on May 18,
just 1 year before Grant's army invested the city from the rear. At the
same time, Flag Officer C. H. Davis was moving down the Mississippi
River from the north, commanding a flotilla whose striking power was
largely provided by a ram fleet under Col. Charles Ellet, Jr., and the
seven "Pook Turtles"--ironclad gunboats, built on the Northern rivers,
which mounted 13 guns in an armored casemate resting on a flat-bottomed
hull.
After capturing Memphis in June 1862 and completely destroying the
Confederate fleet of converted river steamboats, Davis pushed southward
and on July 1 dropped anchor beside Farragut's fleet just north of
Vicksburg. All of the Mississippi River was now in Union possession,
except for a section at and below Vicksburg.
The batteries of Vicksburg had been passed for the first time on June
28. On that day Farragut blasted the city and its defenses with
broadsides from his ships and a devastating fire from Comdr. David Dixon
Porter's mortar boats in an unsuccessful attempt to reduce the city by
naval attack. It was clearly evident from this experience that a
powerful land force would be required to capture fortress Vicksburg.
Only 3,000 troops under Brig. Gen. Thomas Williams had accompanied the
expedition, and they were put to work with pick and shovel to dig a cut
off which might permit river traffic to bypass the Vicksburg batteries.
As the fleets idled above Vicksburg, the sweltering monotony was
spectacularly interrupted by the short but battle-filled career of the
Confederate ironclad ram _Arkansas_, which performed at Vicksburg one of
the great feats of arms on the Western waters.
The energy and skill of Lt. Isaac N. Brown, who commanded the
_Arkansas_, had enabled the ram to be readied for action despite almost
impossible handicaps in securing materials. Routing the Union vessels
sent to apprehend her, the venturesome man-of-war stood for the two
Federal fleets lying at anchor just above Vicksburg and, with guns
blazing, passed entirely through the massed flotillas to safety under
the Vicksburg batteries. Here the _Arkansas_ withstood all attempts to
destroy her and presented a formidable threat to Farragut's wooden
ships.
By the end of July, conditions indicated to Farragut that a withdrawal
from Vicksburg was necessary. In the hot, fetid atmosphere of the river
the disease rate had so increased that only 800 of Williams' 3,000 men
were fit for duty. At the same time, the steadily falling waters
threatened to maroon his deep-draught vessels. Farragut, with Williams'
troops aboard, moved down river to New Orleans, while Davis steamed up
river, leaving Vicksburg unopposed. The initial expedition against
Vicksburg had failed.
[Illustration: THE STRATEGIC SITUATION
JULY 1862]
[Illustration: _Scene of Sherman's assault against the Bluffs at
Chickasaw Bayou._ From _Battles and Leaders of the Civil War_.]
With the Union withdrawal, communications between the sections of the
Confederacy east and west of the Mississippi, which had been temporarily
curtailed, were resumed. From Vicksburg to Port Hudson, a distance of
250 miles by river, the Mississippi was now in Confederate hands. Into
the Mississippi, just above Port Hudson, emptied the Red River which
drained much of the trans-Mississippi South, and down which great stores
of food were being floated to supply the armies of the Confederacy. It
was imperative for the North to close off this important supply route.