“See the smoke, George, rising above that line of trees along the river?” said Dick.
“Yes, Dick,” replied Warner, “and I notice that the smoke rises in puffs.”
“It has a right to go up that way, because it’s expelled violently from the smoke-stacks of steamers. And those steamers are ours, George, our warships. Our navy in this war hasn’t much chance to do the spectacular, but we can never give it enough credit.”
“That’s right, Dick. It keeps the enemy surrounded and cuts off his supplies, while our army fights him on land. Whatever happens the waters are ours.”
“And the Mississippi has become a Union river, splitting apart the Confederacy.”
“Right you are, Dick, and we’re already in touch with our fleet there. The boats do more than fight for us. They’re unloading supplies in vast quantities from Chickasaw Bayou. We’ll have good food, blankets, tents to shelter us from the rain, and unlimited ammunition to batter the enemy’s works.”
The investment of Vicksburg had been so rapid and complete that Johnston, the man whom Grant had the most cause to fear, could not unite with Pemberton, and he had retired toward Jackson, hoping to form a new army. Only three days after Champion Hill Grant had drawn his semicircle of steel around Vicksburg and its thirty thousand men, and the navy in the rivers completed the dead line.
Dick rode with Colonel Winchester and took the best view they could get of Vicksburg, the little city which had suddenly become of such vast military importance.
Now and then on the long, lower course of the Mississippi, bluffs rise, although at far intervals. Memphis stands on one group and hundreds of miles south Vicksburg stands on another. The Vicksburg plateau runs southward to the Big Bayou, which curves around them on the south and east, and the eastern slope of the uplift has been cut and gulleyed by many torrents. So strong has been the effect of the rushing water upon the soft soil that these cuts have become deep winding ravines, often with perpendicular banks. One of the ravines is ten miles long. Another cuts the plateau itself for six miles, and a permanent stream flows through it.
The colonel and Dick saw everywhere rivers, brooks, bayous, hills, marshes and thickets, the whole turned by the Southern engineers into a vast and most difficult line of intrenchments. Grant now had forty thousand men for the attack or siege, but he and his generals did not yet know that most of the scattered Confederate army had gathered together again, and was inside. They believed that Vicksburg was held by fifteen thousand men at the utmost.
“What do you think of it, Colonel?” asked Dick, as they sat horseback on one of the highest hills.
“It will be hard to take, despite the help of the navy. Did you ever see another country cut up so much by nature and offering such natural help to defenders?”
“I’ve heard a lot of Vicksburg. I remember, Colonel, that, despite its smallness, it is one of the great river towns of the South.”
“So it is, Dick. I was here once, when I was a boy before the Mexican war. Down on the bar, the low place between the bluffs and the river, was the dueling ground, and it was also the place for sudden fights. It and Natchez, I suppose, were rivals for the wild and violent life of the great river.”
“Well, sir, it has a bigger fight on its hands now than was ever dreamed of by any of those men.”
“I think you’re right, Dick, but the general means to attack at once. We may carry it by storm.”
Dick looked again at the vast entanglement of creeks, bayous, ravines, forests and thickets. Like other young officers, he had his opinion, but he had the good sense to keep it to himself. He and the colonel rejoined the regiment, and presently the trumpets were calling again for battle. The men of Champion Hill, sanguine of success, marched straight upon Vicksburg. All the officers of the Winchester regiment were dismounted, as their portion of the line was too difficult for horses.