views, was as frankly disgusted. Finally, when not one
foothold but many footholds had been gained along the coast of
Texas, Halleck wound up the long correspondence (1) by renewing
his instructions of the previous summer, looking to a combined
naval and military operation on the Red River upon a scale even
greater than that originally contemplated; for now, besides the
great fleet of ironclads under Porter, the project was to absorb
the available strength of three armies. Banks was to move northward
by the Atchafalaya; Steele was to advance from the line of the
Arkansas; and from Vicksburg Grant was to send Sherman, with such
troops as he could spare. Grant, Banks, Sherman, and Steele, as
well as Admiral Porter, received corresponding instructions at the
same time, and, understanding them in the same sense, the Red River
expedition was fairly launched.

Once committed to the scheme, Banks devoted himself loyally to the
arrangements necessary for prosecuting it on a scale at least
commensurate with the magnitude of the undertaking and with the
expectations of the government, as he understood them. Texas was
to be his objective, and he was the lead his army up the Red River,
as the shortest and best way to Texas. From the outset he was
committed to the use of a large body of cavalry able to operate on
the plains that lie beyond the Sabine, as well as to overcome the
opposition of the mounted forces of the Confederacy in that region.
Not only was forage scarce in the Red River country, but Shreveport
once taken and passed, the march would lie for three hundred miles
across a desert; an immense forage train was therefore indispensable.
It was also reasonable to suppose that, before passing Shreveport,
the combined armies of the Confederacy in the trans-Mississippi
would have to be met and beaten, and for this end a large force of
infantry and artillery must also form part of the expedition, at
least as far as Shreveport. The co-operation of the Navy was
necessary, in its turn, if only to keep open the long line of supply
by the Red River. Finally the usual time of the highest water in
the upper Red River fixed the date of the movement.

Sherman came from Vicksburg to New Orleans on the 1st of March,
and within a few hours reached a distinct agreement with Banks as
to the aid expected from the Army of the Tennessee. Admiral Porter
had already arranged to be at the mouth of the Red River with a
large fleet of gunb