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two other vessels, passed the rapids, and lay just above the dam. But the greater portion of the fleet was still, and evinced no disposition to move.
Banks inspected the work, and perceiving an immense pressure upon it, feared it might give way before the fleet could pass.
He rode up the shore to a point opposite the fleet, at midnight, and sent a note to
Porter, telling him of his fears, and urging him to put his vessels in condition, by lightening them, to pass over the rapids.
This was not done.
At five o'clock the next morning, a portion of the dam gave way. The three vessels went safely down through the sluice thus made, and the
Lexington, the only one ready, followed with equal safety.
Had all been ready, the whole fleet might have passed over in the course of a few hours, before the water became too shallow.
1 The damage to the dam was partially repaired.
It was also strengthened by wing dams, and, on the 12th of May, when it was completed, and the vessels above had been lightened, they all passed into the deeper water below with safety, before eight o'clock the next morning.
Then
Admiral Porter wrote
to the
Secretary of the Navy, saying: “There seems to have been an especial
Providence looking out for us, in providing a man [
Colonel Bailey] equal to the emergency. . . . This proposition looked like madness, and the best engineers ridiculed it, but
Colonel Bailey was so sanguine of success, that I requested
General Banks to have it done.”
While the army was detained at
Alexandria on account of the fleet, it was re-enforced
by a large portion of the troops that had been garrisoning ports in the vicinity of
Matagorda Bay, on the
Texan coast.
2 They were led by
General John A. McClernand, who left
General Fitz-Henry Warren in command of the remainder at
Matagorda.
These posts had been evacuated by order of
General Grant; and
McClernand was soon followed by
Warren, who likewise ascended the
Red River, until stopped by Confederate batteries, when he fell back to the remains of
Fort de Russy, and took post there.
Banks had also received a dispatch from
Halleck, in the name of
General Grant, which directed the modification of previous orders, so that no troops should “be withdrawn from operations against
Shreveport and on the
Red River.”
But it was too late, and when the fleet was all below the rapids, and found the back-water of the then brimful
Mississippi, one hundred and fifty miles distant, flowing up to
Alexandria, and thus insuring a safe passage over all bars below, orders were given
for the army to move.
The fleet moved like-wise, with the transports laden with cotton, which had been captured as prize for the navy.
3 Caution marked the advance, for the
Confederates were hovering near, and swarming on the banks below.
A week before the expedition moved, the gun-boats
Signal and
Covington, convoying the transport
Warren down the river, the three bearing about four hundred soldiers, were fired upon
at Dunn's Bayou, thirty miles
