driven into headlong panic, leaving their
artillery behind, and not stopping their flight until under the
protection of the guns of the Nineteenth Corps. Then a stand was made,
and Banks fell back to his old camping ground at Pleasant Hill. His
intention was to remain there, but his command was so disorganized that
he continued his flight. The Confederates had already chased them so
long that they were worn out, while Banks continued retreating until he
reached Grand Echore, where he breathed freely for the first time, since
he had the protection of the gunboats.

Disgraceful as was the overthrow of the land forces, a still greater
disaster threatened the fleet. Porter had gone further up the river, but
returned to Grand Echore upon learning of the defeat of Banks. He had to
sweep the shores continually with grapeshot, to clear it of the
Confederate sharpshooters, who succeeded in capturing two of the
transports and blowing up another with a torpedo. The Red River was low,
with the water falling hourly. The retreating army reached Alexandria on
the 27th of April, but the fleet was stopped by the shallowness of the
water above the falls, and the officers despaired of saving it. The only
possible recourse seemed to destroy all the vessels to prevent their
falling into the hands of the enemy.

HOW THE UNION FLEET WAS SAVED.

In this crisis, Colonel Joseph Bailey, of Wisconsin, submitted a plan
for a series of wing dams above the falls, believing they would raise
the water high enough to float all the vessels. The other engineers
scoffed at the project, but Porter placed 3,000 men and all that Bailey
needed at his command.

The task was a prodigious one, for the falls, as they were termed, were
a mile in length and it was necessary to swell the current sufficiently
to carry the vessels past the rocks for the whole distance. The large
force of men worked incessantly for nearly two weeks, by which time the
task was accomplished and the fleet plunged through unharmed to the
deeper water below the falls. The genius of a single man had saved the
Union fleet.

Banks, having retreated to Alexandria, paused only long enough to burn
the town, when he kept on to New Orleans, where some time later he was
relieved of his command. The Red River expedition was the crowning
disgrace of the year.

THE CAPTURE OF MOBILE.

After the fall of New Orleans, in April, 1862, Mobile was the leading
port of the Southern Confederacy. It