209

The Vicksburg Problem

expedition, and had been entrusted with it by thePresident’s express desire. Grant simply referredthe protest to Lincoln and Halleck, and that wasthe last of it.

By this movement to the west bank of the Mis-sissippi Grant’s first plan for the capture of Vicks­ burg was definitely abandoned. It had His first plan,resulted in complete failure, owing thus aban '

doned, was

partly to the misconduct of the officer the correctwho surrendered Holly Springs, and one -partly to the unforeseen obstacles encountered bySherman at the Chickasaw bayou. But behindthese causes lay the McClernand affair, whichdiverted the attention of the authorities at Wash-ington from Grant’s requirements in November.Had he then been properly supported by the gov-ernment, he might have established his base atMemphis , and, receiving his supplies by the rail-road running thence through Grenada , might havemoved upon Vicksburg from the rear, pursuingthe same strategy which he had employed withsuch brilliant success in former campaigns. Theoccasion for dividing his army would not havecome up, and united it was far more than a matchfor any force that Pemberton could oppose to it.This first plan of Grant’s was no doubt the correctone, and could he have managed it in his own way,Vicksburg would probably have fallen before New