n body of
his troops, leaving only 300 men, who could offer but slight
resistance. Eight heavy guns and two field-pieces were taken.

The detachment of vessels under Lieutenant-Commander Phelps were at
first delayed by the difficulty of piloting the Lafayette and Choctaw,
long vessels of heavy draft, through the narrow and crooked river. The
13th thus wore away slowly, and on the 14th they reached the
obstructions. Two rows of piles had been driven across the channel,
braced, and tied together; immediately below them was a raft well
secured to either bank and made of logs which did not float. Finally a
great many trees had been cut and floated down upon the piles from
above. The Fort Hindman removed a portion of the raft, and then the
Eastport got to work on the piles, dragging out some and starting
others by ramming. By four o'clock in the afternoon a large enough gap
had been made, and the Eastport, followed by the Hindman, Osage, and
Cricket, hastened up the river. Rapid artillery firing was heard as
they drew near the works, but being ignorant of the position of the
Union troops, few shots were fired for fear of injuring them. The
slight engagement was ended by the surrender, a few moments after the
boats came up. An order from the admiral to push on at once to
Alexandria was delayed five hours in transmission. When it was
received, the fastest vessels, the Ouachita and Lexington, were sent
on, followed by the Eastport, but got there just as the last of the
Confederate transports passed over the Falls. One of them grounded and
was burnt.

These advance vessels reached Alexandria on the evening of the 15th,
the admiral with the rest on the 16th; at which time there had also
come up from 7,000 to 8,000 of Smith's corps, the remainder being left
at Fort de Russy.

Alexandria was the highest point reached by the fleet the May before.
Shreveport, the object of the present expedition, is three hundred and
forty miles farther up the Red River. It was the principal depot of
the Confederates west of the Mississippi, had some machine-shops and
dockyards, and was fortified by a line of works of from two to three
miles radius, commanding the opposite bank. Between the two places the
river, which gets its name from the color of its water, flows through
a fertile and populous country, the banks in many places being high,
following in a very crooked channel a general southeasterly direction.
In this portion of its course it ha