nchments between the two
forts, enclosing the town.

There were five regiments of infantry and several batteries of
artillery, commanded by General McCown, at New Madrid. General Mackall
was sent up by Beauregard to direct the defence there and at Island No.
10. When he arrived, he issued an address to the soldiers. He said:--

"Soldiers: We are strangers, commander and commanded, each to the other.
Let me tell you who I am. I am a General made by Beauregard,--a General
selected by Beauregard and Bragg for this command, when they knew it was
in peril.

"They have known me for twenty years; together we stood on the fields of
Mexico. Give them your confidence now; give it to me when I have earned
it.

"Soldiers: The Mississippi Valley is intrusted to your courage, to your
discipline, to your patience; exhibit the coolness and vigilance you
have heretofore, and hold it."[23]

[Footnote 23: Rebellion Record.]

They thought they could hold the place. A Rebel officer wrote, on the
11th of March, to his friends thus: "General Mackall has put the rear in
effective defence. The forts are impregnable. All are hopeful and ready.
We will make this an American Thermopylae, if necessary."[24]

[Footnote 24: Memphis Appeal.]

By this he intended to say that they would all die before they would
surrender the place, and would make New Madrid as famous in history as
that narrow mountain-pass in Greece, where the immortal three hundred
under Leonidas fought the Persian host.

The Rebels had several gunboats on the river, each carrying three or
four guns. The river was very high, and its banks overflowed. The
country is level for miles around, and it was an easy matter for the
gunboats to throw shells over the town into the woods upon General
Pope's army. The Rebels had over sixty pieces of heavy artillery, while
General Pope had only his light field artillery; but he sent to Cairo
for siege-guns, meanwhile driving in the enemy's pickets and investing
the place.

He detached Colonel Plummer, of the Eleventh Missouri, with three
regiments and a battery of rifled Parrott guns, to take possession of
Point Pleasant, ten miles farther down. The order was admirably
executed. Colonel Plummer planted his guns, threw up intrenchments, and
astonished the Rebels by sending his shells into a steamboat which was
passing up with supplies.

Commodore Hollins, commanding the Rebel gunboats, made all haste down to
find out what was going on.