vessels of his squadron lying near, but below,
Port Hudson. After entering Alexandria on the 7th of May, General Banks
moved down with his army to the Mississippi, which he crossed five or
six miles above Port Hudson. General Augur, of his command, at the same
time moved up from Baton Rouge, the two divisions meeting on the 23d of
May, and immediately investing Port Hudson. An assault was made on the
27th; but proving unsuccessful, regular siege operations were begun. The
mortar schooners and the Essex supported them by constant bombardment,
and the navy furnished and manned a battery of four nine-inch Dahlgren
guns.

While contributing thus conspicuously to the immediate furtherance of
the siege, the most essential work of the navy, here as in the upper
Mississippi, was in the maintenance of the communications, which were
wholly by the river, as well as in assuring the safety of New Orleans,
then stripped of all the troops that could be spared. The danger of two
points like Vicksburg and Port Hudson, both of such vital importance,
and both being besieged at the same time, aroused every latent energy of
the Confederacy, and set in motion every armed man of whom it could
dispose. To divert and distract the attention of the Union generals, to
induce them to abandon their efforts or diminish the forces at the
front, no means were so ready nor so sure as an attack upon their
communications, or a threat directed against their base. To make these
insecure, is like mining the foundations of a building. Here the navy
removed every substantial cause of anxiety by its firm support, and by
the rapidity with which its heavy guns were brought to sustain every
point attacked. Under such diligent guardianship the barrier of the
Mississippi remained impassable; and although a transport might now and
again be arrested and forced to surrender, such an occasional annoyance
could not by the most uneasy general be magnified into a serious menace
to his communications. The active Confederate general, Richard Taylor,
in command of the district west of the river, stripped all his posts to
concentrate an effort along the right bank, which, by disturbing Banks,
might make a favorable diversion for Port Hudson; and loud talk was made
of an attack upon New Orleans itself, favored by a rising among the
citizens, still heartily attached to the Southern cause. The powerful
vessels kept before the city by Farragut effectually disposed of any
chance o