Military Raids--Stuart's Narrow Escape--Stoneman's
Raid--Morgan's Raid in Indiana and Ohio.

There were now such immense armies in the field and military operations
were conducted on so vast a scale that the reader must carefully study
the situation in order to gain an intelligent idea of the progress of
the momentous events. We will give our attention first to operations in
the West.

THE SITUATION IN THE WEST.

There were four Union armies in that section. The first was the one
under Rosecrans, which, on the opening days of the year, won the victory
at Murfreesboro' or Stone River, an account of which is given in the
preceding chapter. The second was near Holly Springs, under General
Grant; a third was in New Orleans, under General Banks, who had
succeeded General Butler; and the fourth was in Arkansas. The main
object of all these armies was to open the Mississippi. When that should
be accomplished, the Confederacy would be split in two. Hundreds of
thousands of beeves were drawn from Texas and the country beyond the
Mississippi, and to shut off this supply would be one of the most
effective blows that could be struck against the rebellion.

GRANT BEFORE VICKSBURG.

General Sherman had failed to capture Vicksburg, and General Grant
assumed command of the forces besieging it. He saw that the defenses
facing the Mississippi and the lower part of the Yazoo were too powerful
to be taken by storm. He decided as a consequence to turn the rear of
the lines, and, securing an entrance into the upper part of the Yazoo,
reach the rear of the batteries at Haines' Bluff.

In this important work he received valuable help from the ironclads of
Admiral Porter. With one of them he opened communication with the
squadron in the lower part of the Mississippi and disabled a Confederate
steamer under the guns of Vicksburg. Two of the boats groped their way
through the swamps and wooded creeks, where nothing more than canoes and
dugouts had ventured before, obtained a great deal of cotton and burned
much more, disregarded the torpedoes and fought the rebels along the
banks, explored new routes, and in the end both were captured by the
enemy.

[Illustration: ADMIRAL PORTER.]

Several ingenious plans were tried to capture these formidable
fortifications. One was an attempt to force a passage into the Upper
Yazoo. Another was to open a new channel for the Mississippi. Both were
failures, but the levees along the Yazoo were cu