After meeting for the first time in early December 1862, Major General Ulysses S. Grant and Acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter quickly formed a partnership that eventually led to the greatest Union victory of the war, the capture of Vicksburg. For Army and Navy commanders to work together smoothly and effectively was no easy feat in an era when there was no doctrine for combined operations—what are now called joint operations—and unity of command between service branches was virtually unheard of.
Grant and Porter’s partnership was largely built on mutual trust and respect. But back in Washington, the relationship between their superiors—Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, along with Army General-in-Chief Henry Halleck—was often less than harmonious. Excerpts from Welles’ private diary and his official dispatches during the first half of 1863 reveal the blunt and judgmental SecNav’s low opinion of Stanton and Halleck, as well as his frequent frustration with Porter and the pace of the Vicksburg campaign.1 News of it usually took a week or more to reach the nation’s capital.
The year 1863 began with Union victory and defeat in Tennessee. After withstanding Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s 31 December assaults southeast of Nashville at Murfreesboro, Major General William Rosecrans counterattacked on 2 January and won the Battle of Stones River. However, at the western end of the state on that day, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman gave up his attempts to seize Walnut Hills, along Chickasaw Bayou just north of Vicksburg, after Confederates had bloodily repulsed his assaults there in late December.
Earlier in 1862, a naval attempt to subdue Vicksburg also had failed. After steaming up the Mississippi, Flag Officer David G. Farragut’s West Gulf Blockading Squadron began shelling the then-lightly defended city in May. Flag Officer Charles Davis’ Mississippi Flotilla of gunboats dropped downriver and joined the bombardment in July. But their efforts were largely unsupported by the Army, and at the end of the month, low water forced Farragut’s ships to return downriver. Davis’ vessels steamed back upriver.
9 January 1863
The final accounts of the result at Murfreesborough are favorable. Rosecrans has done himself honor and the country service. From Vicksburg the intelligence is less satisfactory. There appears to have been good fighting but without results. A desperate stand will be made by the Rebels to hold this place. It is important to them to prevent the free navigation of the Mississippi; it is as important to us that it should be unobstructed. They wish to have communication with Texas; we want to cut it off. Had the army seconded Farragut and the Navy months ago, Vicksburg would have been in our possession. Halleck was good for nothing then, nor is he now.
The regiments commanded by Sherman at Chickasaw Bayou had been recruited by Major General John McClernand, a prewar Illinois politician. He intended to use them in his own expedition against Vicksburg. Sherman had launched his operation on 20 December while McClernand was still in the Midwest raising troops. In early January, McClernand had arrived downriver and assumed command of the forces with Sherman.
12 January
Accounts from Vicksburg are unfavorable and vague. I fear there has been mismanagement, but we must wait official reports. It is said Sherman has been superseded by McClernand. . . . At the commencement of this campaign, as early as last September, it was understood that McClernand was to have command of the army which was to go down the river and cooperate with our naval commander, Porter. The President had confidence in him, and designated the appointment, which was acceptable to Porter, who had a particular dislike of West-Pointers. For this I cared but little, because it was confessedly without knowledge of the officers individually and their merits, a close and a sweeping condemnation of all,—partly, I think, because he did not know them, and feared he should be compelled to play a subordinate part with them, while with a civilian general he would have superiority.
For three months, while Porter has been organizing the Squadron, nothing has been heard of McClernand until since the attack on Vicksburg, and now it is merely to tell us he has abandoned the place and withdrawn his forces.
Within days of his arrival, McClernand launched an expedition up the Arkansas River against Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post. Porter’s Mississippi Squadron, which had supported Sherman’s effort, escorted McClernand’s troop-laden transports up the Arkansas.
28 January
Welles to Porter
Sir: Your several dispatches of the 11th, 12th, and 13th instant, communicating the success attending your command at the Post of Arkansas, the reduction of that place, and the surrender by Colonel Dunnington, the commandant of its garrison, to our naval forces, have been duly received.2
It is a gratification that the efforts of yourself and the officers and sailors on the Western rivers indicate the same resolute energy and efficiency that characterized the movements of our gunboats one year ago; and the result at Arkansas Post is, I trust the harbinger of other achievements for the country and the Union by our naval forces.
On 22 January, Major General Ulysses S. Grant absorbed McClernand’s troops into his Army of the Tennessee. Grant and Porter soon began organizing attempts to bypass Vicksburg’s formidable defenses. The Yazoo Pass expedition began on 24 February, and the Steele’s Bayou expedition on 14 March.
Back in Washington, Secretary Welles was becoming increasingly frustrated with the campaign and his commander.
17 March
The accounts from Porter, above Vicksburg, are not satisfactory. He is fertile in expedients, some of which are costly without adequate results. His dispatches are full of verbosity of promises, and the mail which brings them also brings ludicrous letters and caricatures to [Gwinn H.] Heap, a clerk who is his brother-in-law, filled with laughable and burlesque accounts of amusing and ridiculous proceedings. These may be excusable as a means of amusement to keep up his spirits and those of his men, but I should be glad to witness, or hear of something more substantial and of energies employed in what is really useful. Porter has capabilities and I am expecting much of him, but he is by no means an Admiral [Andrew Hull] Foote.3
With the failure of the Steele’s Bayou expedition, Grant floated the idea to Porter to send some of his gunboats below Vicksburg to escort Union troops across the Mississippi to the east bank. Meanwhile, Welles was soon also urging Porter to run some gunboats past Vicksburg’s defenses.
2 April
The President spoke, as he always had done with me, doubtingly of Porter’s schemes on the Mississippi, or rather the side movements to the Yazoo on the east and Red River on the West.
Welles to Porter (Confidential)
Sir: The Department is acquainted with your withdrawal from the Yazoo, by telegraph from General Grant, under date of the 25th ultimo. Nothing definite or positive has been heard from the Yazoo Pass expedition since it started. . . .
Rear-Admiral Farragut is below Vicksburg, after a successful and gallant passage of the Port Hudson batteries.4 The occupation of the river between Vicksburg and Port Hudson is the severest blow that can be struck upon the enemy, is worth all the risk encountered by Rear-Admiral Farragut, and, in the opinion of this Department, is of far greater importance than the flanking expeditions which thus far have prevented the consummation of this most desirable object.
I desire that you will consult with Rear-Admiral Farragut and decide how this object can best be obtained.
The often reckless actions of the U.S. Ram Fleet and the Mississippi Marine Brigade caused continual headaches for Porter and Welles. Colonel Charles Ellet Jr. originally commanded the former, and Charles’ brother, Brigadier General Alfred Ellet, led the latter, which included the fleet. Both the fleet and brigade were part of the Army, but they theoretically fell under Porter’s command. However, according to Welles, the Ellets “refused to come under naval orders, or to recognize the Admiral in command of the Mississippi Squadron.”
14 April
Stanton is very laudatory of the Ellets, and violent in his denunciations of Porter, whom he ridicules as a “gas bag and fussy fellow, blowing his own trumpet and stealing credit which belongs to others.” There is some truth in what he says of the Elletts and also of Porter, but the latter with all his verbosity has courage and energy as well as the Elletts.
15 April
Welles to Porter (Telegram in cypher)
The Department wishes you to occupy the river below Vicksburg, so that Admiral Farragut can return to his station.
On the night of 16 April, part of Porter’s squadron passed Vicksburg’s batteries, but the news took a week to reach Welles.
17 April
Am in hopes that side issues and by-play on the Mississippi are about over and that there will be some concentrated action. Porter should go below Vicksburg and not remain above, thereby detaining Farragut, who is below, from great and responsible duties at New Orleans and on the Gulf. The weak and sensitive feeling of being outranked and made subordinate in command should never influence an officer in such an emergency. Porter has great vanity and great jealousy but knows his duty, and I am surprised he does not perform it. Wrote him a fortnight since a letter which he cannot misunderstand, and which will not, I hope, wound his pride.
23 April
My letter of the 2d and telegram of the 15th to Porter have been effective. The steamers have run past Vicksburg, and I hope we may soon have something favorable from that quarter.
On 29 April, Porter’s gunboats shelled Grand Gulf, where Grant hoped his troops would cross the river, but the Navy could not subdue the Confederate defenders. The next day, the vessels began escorting Army transports across the river downstream at Bruinsburg. The troops quickly moved inland, and the Confederates abandoned Grand Gulf on 3 May.
8 May
A telegraph dispatch this morning from Admiral Porter states he has possession of Grand Gulf. The news was highly gratifying to the President, who had not heard of it until I met him at the Cabinet-meeting.
Once Grant’s troops besieged Vicksburg, gunboats that Porter had left above the city were able to steam far up the Yazoo.
25 May
Received a long dispatch from Admiral Porter at Haines Bluff, Yazoo River, giving details of successful fights and operations for several preceding days in that vicinity.
But as the campaign dragged out into a protracted siege, frustration in Washington again increased.
27 May
No decisive news from Vicksburg. The public mind is uneasy at the delay, yet I am glad to see blame attaches to no one because the place was not taken at once. There have been strange evidences of an unreasonable people on many occasions during the War. Had Halleck shown half the earnestness and ability of Farragut, we should have had Vicksburg in our possession a year ago.
2 June
Chase, Blair, Bates, and myself were at the Cabinet-meeting.5 . . . Stanton, though absent, sent no representative. . . .
There was some discussion of affairs at Vicksburg. The importance of capturing that stronghold and opening the navigation of the river is appreciated by all, and confidence is expressed in Grant, but it seems that not enough was doing. The President said Halleck declares he can furnish no additional troops. As yet I have seen nothing to admire in the military management of General Halleck. . . . No one more fully realizes the magnitude of the occasion, and the vast consequences involved, than the President; he wishes all to be done that can be done, but yet in army operations will not move or do except by the consent of the dull, stolid, inefficient, and incompetent General-in-Chief.
Stanton does not attend one half of the Cabinet-meetings. When he comes, he communicates little of importance. Not unfrequently he has a private conference with the President in the corner of the room, or with [Secretary of State William H.] Seward in the library. Chase, Blair, and Bates have each expressed their mortification and chagrin that things were so conducted.
6 June
How far Halleck is sustaining Grant at Vicksburg I do not learn. . . . A further failure at V. will find no justification. . . . [Halleck] has suddenly broken out with zeal for Vicksburg, and is ready to withdraw most of the small force at Port Royal [South Carolina] and send it to the Mississippi. Before they could reach Grant, the fate of Vicksburg will be decided. If such a movement is necessary now, it was weeks ago, while we were in consultation for army work in South Carolina and Georgia.
Finally, four days after Union Major General George Meade led the Army of the Potomac to victory at the Battle of Gettysburg, Welles received word from Porter of the fall of Vicksburg.
7 July
When I returned from the Cabinet council I found a delegation from Maine at the Department, consisting of Vice-President [Hannibal] Hamlin, the two Senators from that State, and Senator [Henry] Wilson of Massachusetts. . . . At the moment of receiving this delegation I was handed a dispatch from Admiral Porter, communicating the fall of Vicksburg on the fourth of July. Excusing myself to the delegation, I immediately returned to the Executive Mansion. The President was detailing certain points relative to Grant’s movements on the map to Chase and two or three others, when I gave him the tidings. Putting down the map, he rose at once, said we would drop these topics, and “I myself will telegraph this news to General Meade.” He seized his hat, but suddenly stopped, his countenance beaming with joy; he caught my hand, and, throwing his arm around me, exclaimed: “What can we do for the Secretary of the Navy for this glorious intelligence? He is always giving us good news. I cannot, in words, tell you my joy over this result. It is great, Mr. Welles, it is great!”
We walked across the lawn together. “This,” said he, “will relieve Banks.6 It will inspire me.” The opportunity I thought a good one to request him to insist upon his own views, to enforce them, not only on Meade but on Halleck.
While annoyed by the seeming reluctance of the senior leadership of the Army to share credit for the Vicksburg victory with the Navy, Welles took pleasure in the fact that he, not Stanton, had first received and spread word of the triumph.
8 July
There was a serenade last night in honor of the success of our arms at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. The last has excited a degree of enthusiasm not excelled during the war. The serenade was got up for a purpose. As a matter of course the first music was at the President’s. Mr. Seward’s friend, General [John] Martindale, arranged matters, and a speech by Mr. Seward duly prepared was loudly delivered, but the music did not do him the honors. To Mr. Secretary Stanton and Major-General Halleck they discoursed sweet sounds, and each responded in characteristic remarks. No allusion was made by either of them to the Navy, or its services. General Halleck never by a scratch of his pen, or by a word from his mouth, ever awarded any credit to the Navy for anything. I am not aware that his sluggish mind has ever done good of any kind to the country.
The rejoicing in regard to Vicksburg is immense. Admiral Porter’s brief dispatch to me was promptly transmitted over the whole country, and led, everywhere, to spontaneous gatherings, firing of guns, ringing of bells, and general gratification and gladness. The price of gold, to use the perverted method of speech, fell ten or fifteen cents and the whole country is joyous. I am told, however, that Stanton is excessively angry because Admiral Porter heralded the news to me in advance of General Grant to the War Department. The telegraph office is in the War Department Building, which has a censorship over all that passes or is received. Everything goes under the Secretary’s eye, and he craves to announce all important information. In these matters of announcing news he takes as deep an interest as in army movements which decide the welfare of the country.
13 July
Welles to Porter
Sir: Your dispatch of the 4th instant, announcing the surrender of Vicksburg on the anniversary of the great historic day in our national annals, has been received. . . . By the herculean efforts of the Army under the admirable leadership of General Grant, and the persistent and powerful cooperation of the Navy, commanded by yourself, this great result, under the providence of Almighty God, has been achieved. . . .
To yourself, your officers, and the brave and gallant sailors who have been so fertile in resources, so persistent and enduring through many months of trial and hardship, and so daring under all circumstances, I tender, in the name of the President, the thanks and congratulation of the whole country on the fall of Vicksburg.
1. Diary of Gideon Welles: Secretary of the Navy under Lincoln and Johnson, vol. 1 (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin: 1911); Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, ser. 1, vols. 24, 25 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1911, 1912).
2. Colonel John Dunnington, a former U.S. Navy officer, commanded Ford Hindman’s river batteries. Brigadier General Thomas Churchill had overall command of Confederate forces at the Battle of Arkansas Post.
3. Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote commanded the Western Gunboat Flotilla at the February 1862 capture of Forts Henry and Donelson. After suffering a wound in the latter fight that was slow to heal, he was compelled to give up command of the flotilla. He died of Bright’s disease on 26 June 1862, ten days after he had been appointed rear admiral.
4. Port Hudson, Louisiana, is about 200 miles downriver from Vicksburg. On the night of 14 March, seven warships of Rear Admiral David G. Farragut’s West Gulf Blockading Squadron attempted to steam upriver past Port Hudson’s formidable Confederate batteries. Only two ships succeeded, one of which was Farragut’s flagship, the Hartford.
5. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, and Attorney General Edward Bates.
6. Major General Nathaniel Banks commanded the Union Army forces besieging Port Hudson, the final Confederate strongpoint on the Mississippi.