by the Federals that the navy alone should
undertake the task of reducing the fortifications,--a decision that
was of benefit to the Confederates, for their strongest position was
along the river-front. Four of the guns held a raking position up and
down the long stretch of muddy water that swirled and eddied by with a
current of seven miles an hour.

While the fort had the advantage of position, the gunboats were much
stronger in their armament; and the contest was looked forward to as
one bound to be desperate. The position of every gun in the batteries,
and the size of the garrison, were well known to every commander of a
Union vessel; and they made the most careful preparations for the
assault.

The Confederates knew that the result of that day's battle would
decide the ownership of Vicksburg, and they were prepared to offer the
most desperate resistance. The orders at every battery were to use
shell alone; and the men were instructed to fire carefully, and only
after taking deadly aim. In a high tree just outside the fort a
lookout was stationed; and at early daylight, on the morning of the
29th of April, 1863, he signalled that the fleet of gunboats was
bearing down upon the works.

Men who were in the fort that morning saw a strange panorama. The
stillness was most profound on the shore and on the river. The boats
moved slowly and grandly down, not a man in sight, and with no sign of
life. The trees up the river were black with Federal spectators; and
the chirp of birds was all about the men who stood waiting beside the
huge cannon.

Porter went at his work with a vim which made the forest tremble and
the river bubble. For the first few minutes the Confederates were
appalled by the fierceness of the fire, which stands on record as the
fastest in the war; but, when the forts did get down to their work,
they went in with a roar that almost deafened the Federal soldiers
three miles away. Great shells burst over the gunboats, or, falling
into the water close by their sides, threw up columns of water that
deluged the decks. The vessels found the greatest difficulty in
getting good positions for the swift-eddying current. One moment they
were bow on, the next headed down stream, or up, or whirling around in
circles. Of course this greatly hurt the aim of the gunners, but it
likewise made the vessels poor targets for the Confederates.

Three gunboats--the "Benton," "Tuscumbia," and "Lafayette"-- engaged
the uppe