V.
Turning the Enemy’s Right
Another option was to give the navy a shot at taking Vicksburg. Above Hayne’s Bluffs, the Valley Wall turns to the northeast and the floodplain follows it, creating a huge gap eastward into the State’s interior. This region is known as the Mississippi Delta, a world of swamps, bayous and rivers, a terrain suitable for Porter’s brown water navy — at least theoretically. If so, it could provide Porter with access into the rear of Vicksburg via the Yazoo River, thus flanking the Rebels out of the city.
But the plan would change the character of Grant’s army drastically, essentially making it an armed security force protecting army transports and navy gunboats plying the complex waterways of the Delta. Accordingly, throughout February and much of March Grant would rely upon the cooperation of the navy to turn Pemberton’s right or to find ways to bypass the city by means other than Lincoln’s canal.
It was a disaster. He attempted to get boats into the Delta region through Yazoo Pass, but met stiff resistance at Fort Pemberton. To get into the rear of Fort Pemberton, he attempted to move gunboats up Steele’s Bayou, where Admiral Porter nearly lost his squadron in the process. In addition to the canal across De Soto Point, he attempted to bypass Vicksburg with projects at Lake Providence, Louisiana, 60 miles above the city, where he hoped to connect boat traffic to the Red River via Tensas Bayou, Ouachita and Black Rivers, thereby cutting off “the enemy’s commerce with the west bank of the river.” It, too, proved a failure.