The last and most extraordinary of Grant's unsuccessful attempts to
reach Vicksburg was the Steele's Bayou expedition through 200 miles of
narrow, twisting bayous north of Vicksburg. Like the Yazoo Pass
operation, it was an effort to turn the city's right flank. This shorter
route had been originally scouted in order to send aid to the Yazoo Pass
expedition when that column seemed in great danger of being cut off and
captured. Further exploration suggested the route to the bluffs by way
of Steele's Bayou might prove the best of all possible approaches to
Vicksburg, and Porter himself commanded the squadron of 11 vessels which
entered Steele's Bayou from the Yazoo River on March 16.
The route was heavily obstructed by natural hazards, but Porter, warned
by apprehensive officers who feared that superstructures would be
carried away in crashing through the closely overhung waterways,
answered with the declaration, "All I need is an engine, guns, and a
hull to float them." Progress was slow through winding streams barely
wide enough to admit passage of the gunboats. This time alert
Confederates, aided by treacherous obstructions in the mouth of the
Rolling Fork, nearly succeeded in shutting up and capturing the entire
fleet by felling huge trees across the bayou to block Porter's retreat.
[Illustration: _Skirmishing in the heavily wooded and flooded bottom
lands during the bayou expeditions._ From a wartime sketch.]
Sherman, following behind the fleet with infantry, received word of
Porter's danger, and an eerie night march ensued. By the flaring light
of candles held in the muzzles of their rifles, the Federal soldiers
splashed through the canebrake hip deep in water and arrived in time to
drive off the Confederates who had moved in behind the Union fleet.
Three days were required to back the fleet to safety on the Mississippi,
which was reached late in March. Grant had now tested all possible
approaches to Vicksburg as he attempted to swing wide around its flanks
to the north and south. Every effort had failed. In April, the Union
Army was no closer to Vicksburg than it had been in December. The
Southern bastion on the Mississippi had successfully withstood Union
land and naval attacks for almost a year.
_The Vicksburg Campaign: Grant Moves Against Vicksburg--and Succeeds_
In the eyes of many in the North, Grant's Army had floundered in the
swamps for months with nothing to show for it except a steadily mounting
death list from disease. Criticism of the Union commander mounted. "I
don't know what to make of Grant, he's such a quiet little fellow," said
Lincoln, thinking of the more flamboyant leaders who had led his Eastern
armies, "The only way I know he's around is by the way he makes things
_git_." Lincoln had grown increasingly fond of Grant, whose army, while
ineffective, had never been inactive. Now he declared to Grant's
critics, "I think we'll try him a little longer."
Although Grant had made every effort to navigate the bayous and reach
Vicksburg, he was later to record that little hope had been entertained
that success would greet these ventures. While waiting for the dry
season which would permit land operations, however, he had determined to
exhaust every possibility and to retain the fighting edge of his army by
keeping it constantly on the move. As April arrived and the roads began
to emerge from the slowly receding waters, Grant prepared to execute the
movement which he had believed from the first to be the logical approach
against Vicksburg--marching down the west bank of the Mississippi
through Louisiana, crossing the river south of the city, and laying
siege to it from the rear.