Wisconsin, sent up the river overland by Colonel Paine,
succeeded in establishing a second communication with the _Monarch_,
believing it to be the first.

Farragut's fleet, now anchored below Vicksburg, comprised the
flagship _Hartford_, the sloops-of-war _Brooklyn_ and _Richmond_,
the corvettes _Iroquois_ and _Oneida_, and six gunboats. Porter
had joined with the _Octorara, Miami_, six other steamers, and
seventeen of the mortar schooners. The orders of the government
were peremptory that the Mississippi should be cleared. The
Confederates held the river by a single thread. The fall of Memphis
and the ruin of the famous river-defence fleet left between St.
Louis and the Gulf but a solitary obstruction. This was Vicksburg.

Vicksburg stand at an abrupt turn, where within ten miles the
winding river doubles upon itself, forming on the low ground opposite
a long finger of land, barely three quarters of a mile wide.
Opposite the extreme end of this peninsula, known as De Soto, the
bluff reaches the highest point attained along the whole course of
the river, the crest standing about 250 feet above the mean stage
of water. Sloping slowly toward the river, the bluff follows it
with a diminished altitude for two miles. Here stands the town of
Vicksburg, then a place of about ten thousand inhabitants. Below
the town the bluffs draw away from the river until, about four
miles beyond the bend, their height diminishes to about 150 feet.
For the defence of this line, as has been already seen, a formidable
series of batteries had been constructed, extending from the bluff
at the mouth of Chickasaw Bayou on the north to Warrenton on the
south. These batteries now mounted twenty-six heavy guns, served
by gunners comparatively well trained and instructed, and supported
against an attack by land by about 6,000 infantry under Lovell.
Almost simultaneously with the arrival of Farragut and Williams,
came Breckinridge with his division, augmenting the effective force
of the defenders to not less than 10,000. On the 30th of May
Beauregard evacuated Corinth and drew back to Tupelo; Halleck did
not follow; and so 35,000 Confederates were now set free to strengthen
Vicksburg. Thus defended and supported Vicksburg was obviously
impregnable to any attack by the combined forces of Farragut and
Williams. On the 28th of June, Van Dorn arrived and took command
of the Confederate forces.

After some preliminary bombarding and reconno