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1862] Position of Vicksburg. 501 the other generals. This status became so irksome to him that he asked to be relieved, but he only received permission to change his headquarters to Memphis. When therefore Halleck went to Washington, Grant remained in command of the district of western Tennessee ; but, as Buell with his army had previously been ordered to march eastward towards Chattanooga, the forces left under Grant's command at Corinth and other points were so tied up in guarding railroads and performing garrison duty, as to leave no surplus for active campaigning. Practically Grant was placed on the defensive; and the two considerable battles which occurred in his district during the autumn, that of luka on September 19, and that of Corinth on October 4, were merely defensive engagements in which the Confederates were handsomely repulsed. (4) THE FALL OF VICKSBURG. It was not until the beginning of November, 1862, that Grant set on foot the initiatory movements which gradually assumed the character of a formidable campaign against Vicksburg, ending in the capture of that stronghold. It can hardly be called one continuous campaign, but was rather a succession of experimental movements, having in view from the first the ultimate object, but changing from one line to another as insurmountable obstacles successively presented themselves, which compelled an abandonment of the old, and a resort to new efforts and expedients. At Vicksburg, the Mississippi river in its general course from the north-west strikes the line of bluffs, having a general trend from the north-east, that form the eastern limit of the wide, almost level alluvial plain through which it runs. The river is so tortuous that in its im- mediate approach to the hills, it runs for a distance of nearly five miles directly to the north-east, almost parallel to the trend of the bluffs; then turning abruptly, it doubles completely upon its course, and runs to the south-west, again parallel to the bluffs, leaving a tongue of land a mile wide and three or four miles long, extending in a north-easterly direction past the city. The Mississippi thus washes the very foot of the hills on which Vicksburg stands ; and the city batteries, 200 feet high above the water, command both the approach and departure of vessels, whether they go up or down the stream. A direct attack upon the front of the city either by cannonade or storming assault is therefore practically impossible; and, for twenty miles below, the nearness of the stream to the hills presents the same difficulties. Similar conditions prevail also for twenty miles above, where the same line of hills, continuing to the north-east, is washed or approached by the Yazoo river; while innumerable affluents and bayous intersect the alluvial level between it and the Mississippi. It must CH. XV.