olidly
supported by the navy under Porter; whose co-operation, Grant avows, was
absolutely essential to the success--nay, even to the contemplation of
such an undertaking.[V] In this combined movement, identical in
principle with that of Farragut, Porter, in executing his part, had the
current with instead of against him. Had circumstances delayed or
prevented Grant's advance by the west bank of the Mississippi--had he,
for instance, been enabled by one of the abortive bayou expeditions to
penetrate north of Vicksburg--Farragut's action would have been no more
sound nor bold, but its merits would have been far more perceptible to
the common eye. Re-enforcements must have been sent him; and around his
flag-ship would have centered a force that would have choked the life
out of Vicksburg and Port Hudson.

[Footnote V: _Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant_, vol. i, p. 461.]

Because rightly aimed, this daring campaign was not frustrated even by
the disasters of the night action. It is distinguished from the unhappy
fiasco of the year before by all the difference between a fitting and an
unfitting time--by all that separates a clear appreciation of facts from
a confused impression of possibilities. In 1862 Farragut was driven up
the river against his own judgment, seeing no prospect of tangible or
permanent results. In 1863 he went on his own responsibility, because he
saw that in the then condition of affairs, with the armies gathering at
both ends of the line, the movement he made would not only be successful
in itself, but would materially conduce to the attainment of the common
end. It is significant of his true military insight that neither
depreciation nor disaster shook his clear convictions of the importance
of his work. "Whether my getting by Port Hudson was of consequence or
not," he wrote chaffingly in reference to some slighting comments in a
Southern newspaper, "if Pollard's stomach were as tightly pinched for
food as theirs at Port Hudson and Vicksburg have been since I shut up
Red River, he would know how to value a good dinner and a little peace."
In soberer style he wrote to his home: "We have done our part of the
work assigned to us, and all has worked well. _My last dash past Port
Hudson was the best thing I ever did_, except taking New Orleans. It
assisted materially in the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson."

Farragut remained but a short time in New Orleans, and was soon again at
the front; joining the