hape, and on
the 23d of December Farragut received preparatory orders to take
command of the West Gulf Squadron and the naval portion of the
expedition destined for the reduction of New Orleans. Farragut
received his final orders on the 20th of January, 1862, and
immediately afterward hoisted his flag on the sloop-of-war
_Hartford_.

The land portion of the expedition was placed under the command of
Major-General Benjamin F. Butler. On the 10th and 12th of September,
1861, Butler had been authorized by the War Department to raise,
organize, arm, uniform, and equip, in the New England States, such
troops as he might judge fit for the purpose, to make an expedition
along the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia to Cape Charles;
but early in November, before Butler's forces were quite ready,
these objects were accomplished by a brigade under Lockwood, sent
from Baltimore by Dix. On the 23d of November the advance of
Butler's expedition sailed from Portland, Maine, for Ship Island,
in the steamer _Constitution_, and on the 2d of December, in
reporting the sailing, Butler submitted to the War Department his
plan for invading the coast of Texas and the ultimate capture of
New Orleans.

On the 24th of January, 1862, McClellan, then commanding all the
armies of the United States, was called on by the Secretary of War
to report whether the expedition proposed by General Butler should
be prosecuted, abandoned, or modified, and in what manner. McClellan
at once urged that the expedition be suspended. In his opinion,
"not less than 30,000 men, and it is believed 50,000, would be
required to insure success against New Orleans in a blow to be
struck from the Gulf." This suggestion did not meet the approval
of the government, now fully determined on the enterprise.

Brigadier-General J. G. Barnard, the chief engineer of the Army of
the Potomac, an engineer also of more than common ability, energy,
and experience, was now called into consultation. On the 28th of
January, 1862, he submitted to the Navy Department a memorandum
describing fully the defences of Forts Jackson and St. Philip and
outlining a plan for a combined attempt on these works by the army
and navy. The military force required for the purpose he estimated
at 20,000 men.

Meanwhile the work of transferring Butler's forces by sea to Ship
Island had been going on with vigor. He had raised thirteen
regiments of infantry, ten batteries of light artillery, a