was needed to
insure the surrender of Port Hudson was a desire to attack it.
Even after the surrender, Halleck, in his annual report for 1863,
speaking of the position of affairs in March, said: "Had our land
forces invested Port Hudson at this time, it could have been easily
reduced, as its garrison was weak . . . but the strength of the
place was not then known." In truth, the place was never so strong,
before or after, as at this time; nor is it often in war that the
information tallies so nearly with the fact. The effective strength
of the garrison was more than 16,000. Gardner's monthly report
accounts for 1,366 officers and 14,921 men present for duty, together
16,287 out of a total present of 20,388. Besides the twenty-two
heavy guns in position, he had thirteen light batteries.

Morning found the army alone and in a bad position, either for
attack or defence. Nothing was to be gained by staying there, and
much was to be risked. As soon, therefore, as word came through
the ever-active and adventurous signal-officers that all was well
with what remained of the fleet, Banks once more took up the line
of march for Baton Rouge, and went into bivouac in great discomfort
on the soggy borders of the Bayou Montesanto, about eight miles
north of the town.

Meanwhile, what had become of Farragut? The last seen of the
_Hartford_ and _Albatross_ was on the morning of the 15th by the
signal officers at Springfield Landing. The two vessels then lay
at anchor beyond the bend above Port Hudson. Several attempts were
made to communicate with the Admiral across the intervening neck
of lowland. The first was on the 16th, by Parmele, with the 174th
New York and a squadron of the 2d Rhode Island cavalry. Next, on
the 18th, Banks, eager to advance the effort, took Dudley's brigade,
two sections of Rails's battery, and Magen's troop, and joined
Parmele. But for a time these efforts accomplished nothing, since
it was impossible to see far over the flat and wooded country; and
the Confederates having cut the great levee at Morganza, the whole
neighborhood was under water and the bridges gone. Finally, on
the 19th, Colonel Charles J. Paine went out with the 2d Louisiana,
the 174th New York, and a small squad of cavalry, and leaving first
the infantry and then most of the troopers behind, and riding on
almost alone, succeeded in crossing the bend and gained the levee
at the head of the old channel known as Fausse River, a