o lie with too low fires. To this doubtless contributed the more
powerful motive of the difficulty to the coal supply incurred by the
excessively long line of exposed communications, imposed upon both
squadrons by the stubborn persistence of the Navy Department in hurrying
the fleets far in advance of any support by the army. Beyond the reach
of their guns they could not control the river banks; and, unless they
could be present everywhere along the eight hundred miles which
separated Memphis from New Orleans, even the narrow strip on either side
swept by their cannon was safe at any point only while they were abreast
it. The moral effect of their promenade up and down and of their meeting
at Vicksburg was accurately weighed by the enemy; and, however it may
have imposed upon the Northern people, did nothing to insure the safety
of the unarmed vessels upon which supplies depended. This essentially
vicious military situation resulted necessarily in a degree of
insecurity which could have but one issue--a retreat by both squadrons
toward their respective bases, which soon after followed.

Convinced of the inutility of his own presence at Vicksburg, and
preoccupied with the risks threatening his squadron from the unguarded
state of the river and its dangerous navigation, it is not wonderful
that Farragut, who was the senior of the two flag-officers, thought
little of the single ironclad vessel in his neighborhood. He was not
prone to exaggerate danger, and his experience had not led him to
entertain any high opinion of the enemy's rams. To these circumstances
he owed one of the most mortifying incidents of his career.

On the 15th of July a reconnoitering expedition was sent into the Yazoo,
composed of two vessels of Davis's squadron, accompanied by one of the
rams which at that time formed an independent organization upon the
upper Mississippi under the command of Colonel Ellet. It was a fortunate
move, for to this circumstance was due that the squadrons had any notice
of the approach of the Arkansas. The detached vessels met her about six
miles within the Yazoo, when a running fight ensued between her and the
Carondelet, to the disadvantage of the United States vessel; but the
sustained cannonade attracted betimes the attention of the fleet, and
the Tyler, a small unarmored boat, after supporting the Carondelet to
the best of her ability through the action, preceded the combatants down
stream, bringing tidings of the ram