t weren't they vexed afterward when they
learned that the boat that scared them was only a dummy which Porter's
men had sent down the river in a frolic.

After that, the river batteries did not give the ships much trouble.
When the right time came Porter's fleet ran down the river through the
fire of all the forts. One boat caught fire and sank, but all the rest
passed safely through. This was done to help General Grant, who was
marching his army down, to get below Vicksburg.

I suppose all readers of American history know about the great event of
the 4th of July, 1863. On that day Vicksburg was given up to the Union
forces, with all its forts and all its men. Five days afterward Port
Hudson surrendered. Porter and his boats now held the great river
through all its length.

But there is something more to tell about Admiral Porter, who was a
rear-admiral now.

In the spring of 1864 General Banks was sent with an army up the Red
River. He was going to Shreveport, which is about four hundred miles
above where the Red River runs into the Mississippi. Porter went along
with his river fleet to help.

Now, no more need be said about Banks and his army, except that the
whole expedition was only a waste of time, for it did no good; and there
would be nothing to say about Porter and his fleet, if they had not
gotten into a bad scrape which gave them hard work to get out.

The boats went up the river easily enough, but when they tried to come
down they found themselves in a trap. For after they had gone up, the
river began to fall and the water came to be very low.

There are two rapids, or small falls, on this part of the Red River,
which show only at low water. They showed plainly enough now; and there
were twelve of the boats above them, caught fast.

What was to be done? If they tried to run down the falls they would be
smashed into kindling wood. It looked very much as if they would have to
be left for the Confederates, or set on fire and burned.

By good luck there was one man there who knew what to do. He was a
lieutenant-colonel from Wisconsin, named Joseph Baily. He had been a
log-driver before the war and knew what was done when logs got jammed in
a stream.

When he told his plan he was laughed at by some who thought it very
foolish, but Porter told him to go ahead. So, with 2,000 soldiers from
Maine, who knew all about logging, he went into the woods, chopped down
trees, and built a dam below the falls.

T