Bed of River

THE RED RIVER DAM.

TREE DAM.

BAILEY'S DAM.

She steered directly for the opening in the dam, through which the water was rushing so furiously that it seemed as if nothing but destruction awaited her. Thousands with beating hearts looked on, anxious for the result. The silence was so great as the Lexington approached the dam that a pin might almost be heard to fall. She entered the gap with a full head of steam on, pitched down the roaring torrent, made two or three spasmodic rolls, hung for a moment on the rocks below, was then swept into deep water by the current, and rounded-to safely into the bank. Thirty thousand voices rose in one deafening cheer, and joy seemed to pervade the faces of all present. The Neosho followed next, all her hatches battened down and every precaution taken against accident. She did not fare as well as the Lexington, her pilot having become frightened as he approached the abyss and stopped her engine, when I had particularly ordered that a full head of steam be carried. For a moment her hull disappeared under the water. She rose, however, swept along over the rocks with the current, and escaped with only one hole in her bottom, which was stopped in the course of an hour.

On the twelfth day six large vessels passed the rapids without accident; and a few hours later the whole fleet was ready to go down the river, with the transports under convoy.

For this unique service Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey was made a full colonel and brevetted brigadier-general, and received the thanks of Congress, and the officers of the fleet presented him with a sword and a purse of three thousand dollars.

WHE

Grant's Overland Campaign

May-June, 1864

HEN the war had continued three years it was evident to everyone, as it had long been evident to experts, that something was faulty in its conduct. There had been great successes, as well as great failures; but it had consisted too much of disconnected campaigns; and this gave the Confederates a constant advantage; for with their interior lines they could shift their troops back and forth, thus presenting a strong front wherever a blow was to fall. Despite this, Lee at Antietam and Gettysburg had failed in his efforts to invade the North; while Grant had captured an army at Fort Donelson and another twice as large at Vicksburg, had turned defeat into victory at Shiloh, and had relieved the siege of Chattanooga by breaking up Bragg's army; Farragut had captured the largest and most important city in the Confederacy; and the National forces had obtained and kept a foothold somewhere in nearly every one of the seceding States. Even this process, if continued, would ultimately destroy the Confederacy; but to continue at that slow rate would increase the cost, and incur the risk of foreign interference on the one hand and of refused support at home on the other. There was a half-informed populace to be satisfied and a half-loyal party to be silenced,