ARMY OPERATIONS. 



completion, it was evident that the assistance 

 of the gunboats would also be required to make 

 a successful landing of the troops across the 

 river. The enemy, to oppose any attempt that 

 might be made to cross the river, had planted 

 field pieces along the left bank for the distance 

 of several miles above and below New Madrid. 

 Gunboats were also needed to protect the trans- 

 ports from any gunboat of the enemy that might 

 appear during the passage across the river. 

 For these reasons the gunboat Carondelet, 

 C.ipt. Walke, undertook to run down past the 

 batteries of the island on the night of the 4th 

 of April. For this purpose her hull was pro- 

 tected in all weak places by additional covering, 

 and a barge laden above with hay was taken in 

 tow on her left side. Starting at ten o'clock on 

 the night of the 4th, amid the darkness of an 

 impending storm, she proceeded on in silence. 

 Twice as she approached the batteries of the 

 enemy the soot in the chimneys caught fire, 

 and a flame five feet high leaped out from their 

 tops, lighting brightly the upper deck of the 

 vessel, and everything around. It was seen by 

 the enemy, and the anxious listeners for the 

 signal of her safety in the fleet above now- 

 heard the long roll beat in the camps on the 

 island. At the same time five rockets were 

 sent up from the mainland and the island, and 

 were followed by a cannon shot from Fort No. 

 2. A full head of steam was now let on, to 

 make the greatest possible speed ; and while 

 vivid flashes of lightning lit up the hurried 

 preparations of the enemy, while peal after peal 

 of thunder reverberated along the river, and 

 the rain fell in torrents, the moment for cool- 

 ness and heroism came. For thirty minutes 

 the discharge of cannon and musket ball at the 

 dark and silent object, revealed on the waters 

 only by the lightning flash, was furious, but 

 no injury was done. Then stopping her ma- 

 chinery, her officers fired the signal guns to 

 inform their companions in the fleet that she 

 was safe. On the night of the 6th, the gun- 

 boat Pittsburg, Lieut. Thompson, also passed 

 the batteries. On the morning of the 7th the 

 transports were brought into the river from 

 the bayou where they had been kept concealed, 

 and while the division of Col. Paine was em- 

 barking, the gunboats ran down the river and 

 silenced the enemy's batteries at the place of 

 landing. Then the passage of the wide and 

 swift river commenced, and was completed at 

 the hour of midnight. 



As soon as the troops began to cross the river 

 the enemy began to evacuate the island and 

 his batteries along the Kentucky shore. The 

 divisions were pushed forward as fast as they 

 landed, that of Col. Paine leading. The Con- 

 federate force was driven before him, says Gen. 

 Pope ; and although it made several attempts 

 to form in line of battle and make a stand, Col. 

 Paine did not once deploy his columns. It was 

 pushed all night vigorously until, at four o'clock 

 A. M., it was driven back on the swamps and 

 forced to surrender. "Three generals, seven 



colonels, seven regiments, several battalions of 

 infantry, five companies of artillery, over one 

 hundred heavy siege guns, twenty-four pieces 

 of field artillery, an immense quantity of am- 

 munition and supplies, several thousand stand 

 of small arms, a great number of tents, horses, 

 and wagons were taken." The force that 

 surrendered was under the command of Gen. 

 Mackall. Before abandoning Island No. 10, 

 the Confederate officers sunk the gunboat 

 Grampus and six transports. The force sur- 

 rendered consisted of Tennessee, Arkansas, 

 Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana regiments, 

 and numbered about five thousand. At the isl- 

 and a large amount of commissary stores was 

 found with the tents and baggage of the enemy. 

 Besides there were eleven earthworks, with 

 seventy heavy cannon varying in caliber from 

 32 to 100-pounders, rifled. The works, erected 

 with the highest engineering skill, possessed 

 great strength. There appeared to he no concert 

 of action between the force on the island and that 

 on the shore. Gen. Pope did not lose a man 

 or meet with an accident in crossing the river 

 or afterward. The canal Avas made on the sug- 

 gestion of Gen. Schuyler Hamilton. A part of 

 the distance the route was through a bayou. 

 The cut made was about four miles, sufficient 

 for steamboats of moderate size, and about one 

 thousand trees, ranging from six inches to three 

 feet in diameter, were sawed off about four feet 

 under water by means of long saws worked by 

 hand. "\Vhen the canal was finished, the water 

 came through with such a current that the 

 boats had to be dropped by lines nearly the 

 whole distance. The work was done by an 

 engineer regiment, under the superintendence 

 of Col. Bissell. 



The position thus taken was regarded by the 

 Confederate officers as one of the highest im- 

 portance to the new line of defence proposed 

 by them. Upon their ability to hold it depend- 

 ed the safety of Memphis, and of the entire 

 Mississippi valley thereabout. This line was 

 adopted by the Confederate commander, with 

 his left resting on the Mississippi, his centre be- 

 tween Jackson, Tenn., and Corinth, Miss., and 

 his right between Florence and Decatur. 



On the 12th of April the gunboats under 

 Com. Foote, with the mortar boats, followed 

 by the transports, left New Madrid, and stood 

 down the river. The order of a line of battle 

 was observed. A part of Gen. Stanley's divi- 

 sion, and those of Gens. Hamilton and Palmer, 

 were on the transports. Their destination was 

 Fort Pillow or "Wright, which is situated on the 

 first Chickasaw Bluffs, near Islands Nos. 33 and 

 34, and about seventy miles above Memphis. 

 At Plum Point the Mississippi makes a sharp 

 bend, running for some distance eastwardly, and 

 at the first Chickasaw Bluffs turns off abruptly 

 south-southwest, which course it continues he- 

 low Island No. 34, where it again bends; the 

 convex side of the curve being to the Tennessee 

 shore. Here are the second Chickasaw Bluffs, 

 surmounted by Fort Randolph, some twelve 



