Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 3.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

---

[181] and powerful fleet. This moat is not separated from the heights except in the lower part of the Yazoo: the Federals, having control of the pass at this point, had learned to their cost that the obstacle of Chickasaw Bayou and the neighboring swamps rendered this control useless to them. It was impossible to make an attack from the front, between Haines' Bluff and Warrenton, upon this range of cliffs bristling with redoubts and cannon: it was therefore necessary to turn it at either extremity; but this operation, which was to be initiated by the crossing of the Yazoo above Haines' Bluff, or the Mississippi below Vicksburg, could only be accomplished by the aid of naval vessels, and the latter were not in a condition to penetrate into those parts of these two rivers where their co-operation would have been necessary. On one side rafts of timber and torpedoes obstructed the navigation of the Yazoo in the vicinity of Haines' Bluff even more effectively than at the end of December, and on the other Pemberton was completing the armament of the earthworks, which threatened any vessel attempting to force the passage of Vicksburg with almost certain destruction. Instead of erecting batteries at the water's edge, which would have been exposed to the converging fire of the men-of-war, he had placed his guns on the summit of the cliff, so as to give them a plunging fire and protect them from the naval guns, which could not attain sufficient elevation to reach them. In short, he had spaced and isolated them in such a manner that they scarcely presented a mark in case of bombardment. It is true that this arrangement had been strongly condemned by Johnston. He had told the Confederate engineers that these batteries had been constructed rather with the view of protecting all the approaches of the city than to intercept the passage of the enemy's vessels: if placed closer, they would undoubtedly have been more exposed, but they would also have been able to concentrate a destructive fire upon those vessels; whereas, placed as they were, they could not support each other. The Federal fleet had thus a chance of avoiding their fire by passing successively in front of them. These wise suggestions were not heeded, Pemberton thinking that he had not time to replace his large gulls before the attack of the Federals. Besides, notwithstanding their defects, the Vicksburg batteries were yet sufficiently