s
over.

In spite of all failures, however, Farragut still had the upper
hand along the Gulf, and up the Mississippi as far as New Orleans,
without which admirable base the River War of '69. could never
have prepared the way for Grant's magnificent victory in the River
War of '63.

CHAPTER IV

THE RIVER WAR: 1862

The military front stretched east and west across the border States
from the Mississippi Valley to the sea. This immense and fluctuating
front, under its various and often changed commanders, was never a
well cooerdinated whole. The Alleghany Mountains divided the eastern
or Virginian wing from the western or "River" wing. Yet there was
always more or less connection between these two main parts, and
the fortunes of one naturally affected those of the other. Most
eyes, both at home and abroad, were fixed on the Virginian wing,
where the Confederate capital stood little more than a hundred
miles from Washington, where the greatest rival armies fought,
and where decisive victory was bound to have the most momentous
consequences. But the River wing was hardly less important; for
there the Union Government actually hoped to reach these three
supreme objectives in this one campaign: the absolute possession of
the border States, the undisputed right of way along the Mississippi
from Cairo to the Gulf, and the triumphant invasion of the lower
South in conjunction with the final conquest of Virginia.

We have seen already how the Union navy, aided by the army, won
its way up the Mississippi from the Gulf to Baton Rouge, but failed
to secure a single point beyond. We shall now see how the Union
army, aided by the navy, won its way down the Mississippi from
Cairo to Memphis, and fairly attained the first objective--the
possession of the border States; but how it also failed from the
north, as the others had failed from the south, to gain a footing
on the crucial stretch between Vicksburg and Port Hudson. One more
year was required to win the Mississippi; two more to invade the
lower South; three to conquer Virginia.

Just after the fall of Fort Sumter the Union Government had the
foresight to warn James B. Eads, the well-known builder of Mississippi
jetties, that they would probably draw upon his "thorough knowledge
of our Western rivers and the use of steam on them." But it was
not till August that they gave him the contract for the regular
gunboat flotilla; and it was not till the following year that