and three transports were assigned for the effort; the plan was for the gun-boats to drift down at about a hundred yards from each other and engage the batteries as soon as they were discovered, but not before. The night of the 16th of April was selected for the undertaking. Under cover of the smoke of the cannonade the transports were to endeavor to slip through with a full head of steam.
The gun-boats were fairly in front of the city before there was any sign of life on shore. Suddenly two guns were fired from the extreme right of the Vicksburg batteries, and then the cannonade commenced along the whole line of the works. The fleet immediately replied, and a great cloud of smoke soon hid the boats from view. Then the transports started at full speed, in the cover of the smoke; the Forest Queen, the foremost transport, was disabled by a shot through her steam drum, and the Henry Clay, which followed, was set on fire by a shell. The Forest Queen drifted out of range, and was picked up by a gun-boat; the crew of the Henry Clay escaped in their yawl, all except the pilot, who remained at his post till the flames were around him, and finding that his signals to the engineer were not answered, he jumped overboard and was saved by one of the gun-boats. The Henry Clay was burned, and drifted down the river a mass of flames. The Silver Wave, the third transport, was not touched by the Confederate shot and shell.
The success of this enterprise encouraged a similar one, and on the night of the 22d of April, six transports were sent down with barges of forage fastened to their sides to protect them from artillery fire. Five of them got through somewhat damaged, and fully half the forage on the barges was saved. The damaged transports were repaired, and supplied the desired facilities for moving the army across the river and making ready for the attack on Vicksburg. But the number was limited, and General
