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GUNBOATS IN THE SWAMPS: THE YAZOO PASS EXPEDITION Richard S. West, Jr. At the end of January, 1863, General U. S. Grant found himself witii many thousands of troops confronting Vicksburg from the water side. The Mississippi River was at flood stage. Backwaters overflowed die Louisiana lowlands, leaving but little high ground, so tiiat large numbers of troops had to be quartered on die transports that had brought them down from Memphis. Eventually when the flood subsided Grant would march his men down die Lousiana shore. Protected by Admiral David D. Porter's fleet, he would ferry them across the river to the heights below Vicksburg, from whence they would wage a land campaign , closing in upon Vicksburg from the east while Porter's gunboats completed die investment of die Confederate stronghold from the water. In the interim Grant and his staff pondered what to do while waiting for the waters to recede. One idea which occurred to die Federals at this point was an encirclement of the right flank of Vicksburg, across the upper Yazoo Delta country. This area of drowned forest, swamplands , and cotton plantations lay north of Vicksburg and was bounded on die east by die Yazoo River and on die west by die Mississippi. Small streams, canals, and bayous crisscrossed it, connecting to form a network of waterways. The direct entrance into the region, via the Yazoo River itself, was blocked by rafts and pilings protected by Confederate batteries at Snyder's Bluff, where the Chickasaw HiUs overhung the Lower Yazoo. The Federal planwas to cut die Mississippi levee opposite Helena, Arkansas, flooding an abandoned cotton canal known as die Yazoo Pass, and to send an amphibious expedition across the northern part of the Yazoo Delta. Should a feasible route be opened, Grant's army might gain a foothold on the high ground around Vicksburg's right flank. In addition, General Grant and Admiral Porter also hoped tiiat the Yazoo Pass Expedition might cut railroad bridges, destroy steamboats which the Confederates were known to have hidden along RiCHARn S. West, Jr., professor of history and English at the U.S. Naval Academy, is the author of several books, among them biographies of David Porter and Gideon Welles. His most recent was Mr. Lincoln's Navy (1957). 157 158RICHARDS. WEST, JR. the Yazoo River, and put an end to the flow of cattle and grain supplies from the Yazoo country into Vicksburg. The forces originally involved were quite small, and centered around two river ironclads ( die Chillicothe and die Baron De KaIb ) widi five hundred troops on board such light vessels as the "tinclad" Rattler, which Porter boasted "could float on a heavy dew." The naval force was placed under Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith, one of Porter 's most energetic junior officers, and the five hundred soldiers to cut the levee were under Lieutenant Colonel James H. Wilson, of the Topographical Engineers. The expedition was expected to move with speed, to churn its zigzag path across the back country, and appear suddenly in the Yazoo River, taking the Confederates by surprise. Unfortunately, the headquarters tents of generals and the wardrooms of admirals seemed equipped with the eyes and ears of Richmond. Engineer Wilson reached Helena on February 1, took command of his men, and reached the levee opposite Yazoo Pass by noon on the 2nd. He dug his trenches and blew a gap in die levee by 7:00 p.m. of the 3rd. "By 11 p.m. the opening was 40 yards wide, and the water pouring tiirough like nothing else I ever saw except Niagara Falls," he reported. "Logs, trees, and great masses of earth were torn away with the greatest ease. The work is a perfect success." A successful engineering feat, yes, but it was scarcely a surprise to the Confederates. On January 29, before the first Federal spade had bitten into the levee, President Jefferson Davis sent a telegram to Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton at Jackson, asking, "Has anything or can anything be done to obstruct the navigation from Yazoo Pass down?" This communication preceded the cutting of the levee by five days. Three days after the levee was cut the...

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