the island and armed with twenty-three guns, and five batteries on the
main-land, armed with twenty-four guns. Battery No. 1, on the main-land,
called the Redan, armed with six guns, was three thousand yards in an
air-line above the point of the island. A line of infantry
intrenchments, _en cremaillere_, extended from the Redan to the water of
a bayou which connects with Reelfoot Lake. A floating battery, anchored
near the lower end of the island, added ten guns to its defence. Later,
a fifth battery was erected on the island, and the number of guns in
battery on the island and on the main-land, at the bend, was increased
to fifty-four, exclusive of the floating battery. On the Missouri shore
a bastioned redoubt, called Fort Thompson, with fourteen guns, stood
below the town, and an earthwork with seven guns, called Fort Bankhead,
just above the town. Infantry intrenchments extended these forts, and a
field-battery of six pieces was added to the armament of the upper fort.
Commodore Hollins, of the Confederate navy, aided the land-forces with
eight gunboats. General McCown, making an inspecting visit to the
position on February 25th, found there Colonel Gantt, of Arkansas, with
the Eleventh and Twelfth Arkansas, and two artillery companies, acting
as garrison to Fort Thompson, and at once, before returning to Columbus,
ordered Colonel L.M. Walker, with two regiments from Fort Pillow, to
guard the defences just above New Madrid.

General Pope having landed at Commerce with 140 men, regiments and
batteries rapidly arrived from Cairo, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. With
the assistance of able and experienced officers, Generals Schuyler
Hamilton, Stanley, Palmer, and Granger, the troops were brigaded,
divisions formed, and the command organized. Colonel Plummer being
promoted to brigadier-general after the arrival before New Madrid, the
organization was modified. As finally organized, it comprised five small
infantry divisions. First, commanded by General D.S. Stanley,
comprising First Brigade, Colonel John Groesbeck, Twenty-seventh and
Thirty-ninth Ohio; and Second Brigade, Colonel J.L.K. Smith, Forty-third
and Sixty-third Ohio. Second Division, General Schuyler Hamilton,
comprising First Brigade, Colonel W.H. Worthington, Fifth Iowa and
Fifty-ninth Indiana; and Second Brigade, Colonel N. Perczell,
Twenty-sixth Missouri Infantry and Sands' Eleventh Ohio Battery. Third
Division, General J.N. Palmer, comprising First Brigade, Col