John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

On April 5th he reached Helena, Arkansas, whence he sent a despatch to the Secretary of War containing the first information that the turning movement against Vicksburg had begun. The next day, at noon, he reported at Grant's headquarters a few miles above Vicksburg. He had been expected for a fortnight, and was soon perfectly at home and on friendly terms with all the generals and many of the staff and regimental officers. With amazing rapidity he became acquainted with the condition of the army, what it had been doing, the difficulties with which it had been contending, and why it had so far gained no substantial advantage. As stated before, he became specially intimate with Rawlins and myself. As I was in touch with the various parts of the army, all its projects and movements, I was constantly on the go, and it was but natural that Dana should become my companion. Through our daily rides and expeditions, and the conversations and conferences at which he was present, he was shortly informed, not only as to past operations, but as to those which were under way or yet to be undertaken. He got a clear understanding of the operations through the Yazoo Pass, Moon Lake, the Coldwater, and the Tallahatchee; with the efforts of Admiral Porter to reach the Yazoo with his gun-boats through the Rolling Fork, Deer Creek, and Sunflower bayous; with his rescue by a part of Sherman's corps; with the abortive effort to cut a canal across the point opposite Vicksburg; with the failure of the Lake Providence Canal, and the longer route through upper Louisiana, which it promised to open, and with the gradual but certain elimination of every other project to place the army on a firm footing on the highland of Mississippi back of Vicksburg. There was no