746 



PORTER, DAVID DIXON. 



with his mortar fleet to Vicksburg by order of 

 the flag-officer, who had found the place strong- 

 ly fortified. The mortar boats again did splendid 

 service, and Farragut successfully passed the 

 batteries on June 28, 1862. In his official report 

 to the Secretary of the Navy the flag-officer 

 says : " Commodore D. D. Porter came up on our 

 starboard quarter with the ' Octarora,' ' West- 

 field,' 'Clifton,' 'Jackson,' ' Harriet Lane,' and 

 ' Owasco,' and opened fire in fine style on the en- 

 emy." And again: "The mortar flotilla have 

 never done better service than at Vicksburg, 

 notwithstanding the imperfection of their fuses. 

 I have no doubt they did the forts on the heights 

 great damage, and on the morning of the attack 

 did much to distract the fire from the fleet." 



In July Porter was ordered with the mortar 

 flotilla to operate against Port Darling, on James 

 river, just below Richmond. But the Secretary 

 changed his plans and Porter was detached 

 from the flotilla which he had made famous 

 and ordered to the command of the Mississippi 

 river squadron as acting rear-admiral. He took 

 command on Oct. 15, 1862, and at once began 

 active operations against the enemy. 



In November, Capt. H. Walke, in the " Caron- 

 delet," commanded an expedition of ironclads 

 and wooden gunboats up Yazoo river, during 

 which the ironclad " Cairo " was sunk by a tor- 

 pedo. A few days later Porter arrived at the 

 mouth of the Yazoo, and led an expedition up 

 the river to clear the channel of torpedoes and 

 to draw a portion of the enemy from Vicksburg 

 to the defense of the river. By Dec. 26 the 

 river was cleared of all obstructions up to the 

 place where the " Cairo " was sunk. On the 27th 

 the expedition arrived at a bend in the river 

 where a line of fortifications began, and the river 

 was obstructed by a heavy iron - plated raft. 

 While the boats were engaged in clearing the 

 river.the flag-ship " Benton," Lieut.-Com. Gwinn, 

 moved up to cover them. She was struck 30 

 times, and many of her crew were killed or 

 wounded, among the latter her commander, 

 mortally. The other vessels handsomely sup- 

 ported the flag-ship, and two of the guns were 

 silenced ; but the enemy's works could only have 

 been captured by a strong landing-party. 



On Jan. 4, 1863, Gen. McClernand having re- 

 quested the co-operation of Admiral Porter in 

 an attack upon Arkansas Post, the " Baron de 

 Kalb," Capt. Walke, " Louisville," Lieut.-Com. 

 Owen, and " Cincinnati," Lieut. - Com. Bache, 

 with several light-draft vessels, were detailed 

 for the purpose. Rear- Admiral Porter, in the 

 flag-ship " Black Hawk," accompanied the ex- 

 pedition: After a battle of two days Col. Dun- 

 nington. commander of the fort, surrendered to 

 the army and navy, yielding his sword to Admiral 

 Porter. Seventeen heavy guns and a large num- 

 ber of troops were captured. For his services 

 here Porter received the thanks of Congress. 



On the next day Capt. Walke, with a force of 

 gunboats, proceeded up White river. On the 

 14th the town of St. Charles was found evacuated. 

 At Duvall's Bluff he landed a party and took 

 possession of two fine 8-inch guns and about 200 

 stand of arms and accoutrements. At 4.30 A. M., 

 Feb. 2, the ram " Queen of the West," Col. 

 Charles E. Ellet, ran the Vicksburg batteries, 

 with orders from Porter to capture or destroy 



the enemy's transports between Vicksburg and 

 Port Hudson. Col. Ellet arrived at Red river, 

 capturing and destroying on his way several fine 

 transports. The " Queen of the West " then re- 

 turned to the vicinity of Vicksburg. A few 

 days later she steamed down and entered Red 

 river. On Feb. 13. Lieut.-Com. George Brown, 

 in the " Indianola," ran the batteries of Vicks- 

 burg with orders to join the " Queen of the 

 West." Shortly afterward intelligence was re- 

 ceived of the destruction of the " Queen of the 

 West" in Red river, and that the "Indianola" 

 had been 'sunk in the Mississippi. They had 

 destroyed a large amount of property. 



In March a daring and novel attempt was 

 made by Porter to get into the rear of Vicks- 

 burg. By ascending Steele's Bayou, which is 

 merely a ditch, he was hopeful, by cutting a 

 way through the woods and widening the chan- 

 nel, of finding an entrance into Yazoo river and 

 here effecting his object. When Porter arrived 

 within a short distance of Rolling Fork he 

 found the channel impracticable and was forced 

 to return. The expedition penetrated into the 

 heart of the enemy's country before being dis- 

 covered, and large quantities of cotton were de- 

 stroyed. An attempt was made by Lieut.-Com. 

 Watson Smith, with a detachment of gunboats, 

 to secure control of the Coldwater, Tallahatchee, 

 Yallabusha, and Yazoo rivers, which would have 

 opened the way to the capture of Vicksburg, as 

 most of the enemy's supplies were received 

 through these streams. Owing to the want of 

 troops to co-operate, the object of the expedition 

 failed, although several steamers and 5,000 bales 

 of cotton were destroyed. The " Switzerland " 

 and" Lancaster,'' in attempting to pass the Vicks- 

 burg batteries to join Farragut at Port Hudson, 

 were sunk, and many of their men disabled. 



On April 16, 1863. the fleet, led by Porter, 

 who had hoisted his flag on board the iron-clad 

 "Benton," ran past the Vicksburg batteries. 

 The vessels started in the following order, 50 

 yards apart: "Benton." Lieut.-Com. Greer; 

 " Lafayette," Capt. Walke, with the " Gen. 

 Price " lashed on the starboard side : " Louis- 

 ville," Lieut.-Com. Owen ; " Mound City," Lieut, 

 Wilson ; " Pittsburg." Acting Volunteer Lieut, 

 Hoel; " Carondolet," Acting Lieut. Murphy; 

 and " Tuscumbia," Lieut -Com. Shirk, with 9 

 army transports. Nearly all the vessels took in 

 tow barges containing each 10.000 bushels of 

 coal, and all passed the batteries in safety. On 

 April 29, Porter, with most of the armed vessels 

 that had passed the batteries, bombarded for six 

 hours the formidable works at Grand Gulf. At 

 6 P. M. the transports, containing a detachment 

 of Gen. Grant's command, passed down under 

 cover of the fire. On May 3, Porter, with four 

 ironclads, proceeded to Grand Gulf to attack 

 the forts, but found them evacuated : and before 

 leaving, the enemy had destroyed all the ammu- 

 nition and spiked the guns. Next to Vicksburg, 

 this was the strongest position on the Mississippi. 

 Its occupation greatly facilitated Grant's opera- 

 tions in reducing Vicksburg. 



-On April 29. Lieut.-Com. Breeze, with the 

 " De Kalb," " Choctaw," and " Tyler," made 

 a feigned attack upon Haines's Bluff, in co- 

 operation with a division of the army under 

 Gen. Blair, to prevent the enemy from sending 



