Adam Badeau, Military history of Ulysses S. Grant from April 1861 to April 1865. Volume 1

‘ [199] past Grand Gulf and land at Rodney,. . . or, it may be expedient for the boats to run past, but not the men. In this case, then, the transports would have to be brought back to where the men could land, and move by forced marches to below Grand Gulf, reembark rapidly, and proceed to the latter place.’¹ With the exception of the march to Grand Gulf, this is what actually occurred, two days afterwards. On the same day, Grant instructed McClernand: ‘The amount of transportation being limited for the number of men it is desirable to take to Grand Gulf, I especially intended that no horses, except what was necessary for drawing the artillery, should be taken.’

At eight o'clock on the morning of the 29th, Porter began the bombardment with all his iron-clads, seven in number, and one ordinary gunboat. For five hours and twenty minutes, he kept up a vigorous fire, without intermission, running his vessels at times almost within pistol-shot of the batteries. The current of the Mississippi at this place is quite swift, and the stream too deep for anchorage, so that the gunboats were compelled to keep continually in motion; they were turned round and round in the eddies, exposed of course at every turn. The vessels were handled with skill and boldness, but the rebel batteries were too elevated for Porter to accomplish any thing; he was not able to dismount a solitary piece, and it would have been madness to attempt a landing, under unsilenced guns like these. No serious injury was sustained by any of the fleet, but, at twenty minutes past one o'clock, the admiral withdrew,