... Had he withstood this motive for retreat, another, still more controlling, would in time, have appeared: the Mississippi River, now open to the enemy to Vicksburg, offered them a base, parallel to General Beauregard 's line of communications from Corinth with his rear; so that it was practicable to assail that line by advancing from the water. The extravagant joy of the Federalists at the fall of Forts Henry...