Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-06-11
How the Red River Fleet was Saved,
High Praise Of Col. Bailey by Admiral Porter.

the heu river, MAY 10, 6l'S1 " 'i'A0 oS~S--
of the ingenious devices by which the iron
clad feet accompanying Banks expedition
was saved from destruction. The following
is the material part of the report:
"The water had fallen so low that l had
no hope or expectation of getting the vessels
out this season and as the army had made
ARRANGEMENTS to evacuate the country, saw
nothing before me but the destruction of the
best part of the Mississippi squadron. There
seems to have been an especial Providence
looking out for US in providing a man equal
TO the emergency. aforementioned Bal
lev. acting engineer of the Nineteenth army
corps, proposed plan of building series of
dams across the rocks at the falls and raising
the water high enough to let the vessels pass
over This proposition looked like madness,
and the best engineers ridiculed it. but Colo
mel Bailey was so sanguine OF success that
requested General Banks to have 1T done, and
he entered heartily in the work. He placed
at the disposal of Colonel Bailey all the force
he required, consisting OF some three thou
sand men and two or three hundred wagons.
All the neighboring steam mills were torn
down for material, two or three regiments OF
Maine men were set to work telling trees,
and on the second day after my arrival in
Alexandria from Grand Ecore the work had
fairly begun. Trees were falling with great
rapidly; teams were moving in all directions
bringing in brick and stone quarries were
opened; fiat boats were built to bring stone
stone down from above; and every man
seemed to be working with vigor | have
seldom seen equalled, while perhaps not one
| in fifty believed in the success of the under
| taking. These falls are about mile in length
filed with rugged rocks, over which, at the
present stage of water, it seemed to be i'm
possible to make channel
"The work was commenced by running
| out from the left bank of the river tree
dam, made of the bodies of very large trees,
| brush, bricks and stone, cross-tied with other
| heavy timber, and strengthened in every way
which ingenuity could devise. This was run
out about three hundred feet into the river;
| four large coal barges were then filled with
bricks and sunk at the end of it. From the
right bank of the river cribs filled with stone
| were built out to meet the barges. All Of
| which was successfully accomplished, not
| withstandng there was a current running
| nine miles an hour, which threatened to
sweep everything before it. 1t will take toe
much time to enter into details of this won
| derful work. Suffice it to say, that the dan
had nearly reached completion in eight days
| working time, and water had risen sufficient
| ly on the upper falls to allow the Fort Hind
| man, Usage and NeoSho to get down and be
ready to pass the dam. In another day il
/ would have been high enough to enable al
| the other vessels to pass the other falls. I'm
fortunately, on the morning of the 9th inst.
the pressure of water became so great that
| it swept away two of the stone barges, which
swung in below the dam on one side. Seeing
this unfortunate accident, l jumped on a
horse and rode up to where the upper yes
| sells were anchored and ordered the Lexington
to pass the upper falls, if possible, and i'm
mediately attempt to go through the dam.
| thought l might be able to save the four YES
sells below, not knowing whether the persons
employed on the work would ever have the
heart to renew their enterprise.
"The Lexington succeeded in getting over
the upper falls just in time-the water rap
| idly falling as she was passing over She
then steered directly for the opening in the
| dam, through which the water was rushing 81
| furiously that it seemed as if nothing but de
| struction awaited her. Thousands of beating
| hearts looked on anxious for the result. The
/ silence was so great as the Lexington approach
| ed the dam that pin might almost be heard
| to fall. She entered the gap with a full heaC
/ of steam on, pitched down the roaring torrent
made two or three spasmodic rolls, hung fol
a moment on the rocks below, was ther
swept into deep water by the current, anC
rounded to safety in to the bank. Thirty
| thousand voices rose in one deafening cheer
and universal joy seemed to pervade the face
| of every man present. The AeOSh0 followed
next, all her matches battened down, anC
every precaution taken against accident She
| did not fare as we'll as the Lexington, her pi
lot having become frightened as he approach
1 al thn oh nd hap xxbo
particularly ordered full head of steam tC
| be carried; the result was that for a moment
her hull disappeared from sight under the
water. Every one thought she was lost. She
rose, however, swept along over the rocks
! with the current, and fortunately escaped
| with one hole in her bottom, which was stop.
| ped in the cours of an hour The HIsdnlda
and Usage both came through beautifully,
without touching thing, and thought that
| if | was only fortunate enough to get my
large vessels as well over the falls, my feet
once more would do good service on the Mis-
sissippi.
''The accident to the dam, instead of dis
heartening Col. Bailey, only induced him to
| renew his exertions after he had seen the
success of getting four vessels through. The
noble hearted soldiers seeing their labor of
the last eight days swept away in moment,
cheerfully went to work to repair damages,
being confident now that all the gunboats
would be finally brought over. These men
had been working for eight days and nights
up to their necks in water in the boiling sun
cutting trees and wheeling bricks-and
nothing but good humor prevailed amongst
them. On the whole it was very fortunate
the dam was carried away, as the two barges
that were swept away from the center swung
around against the rocks on the left, and
made fine cushion for the vessels, and pre-
vented them, as it afterwards appeared, from
running on certain destruction.
"The force of the water and the current
being too great to construct continuous
dam of six hundred feet across the river in
so short time, Col. Bailey determined to
leave a gap of fifty-five feet in the dam and
build series of wing dams on the upper
falls: This was accomplished in three days
time, and on the II It'll instant the hound Citv,
Carondetet and PttSbarg came over the upper
falls, good deal of labor having been ex-
pended in hauling them through, the channel
being very crooked, scarcely wide enough
for them. Next day the Ozark, Louisville,
CHilicotbe and two tugs also succeeded in
passing the upper falls. Immediately after
ward the Mound City, Carondelet and Pits
burg started in succession to pass the dam, all
their matches battened down, and every pre-
caution taken to prevent accident.
The passage of the vessels was a most
beautiful sight, only to be realized when
seen. They passed over without an accident,
excepting the unshipping of one or two rud-
ders. This was witnessed by all the troops,
and the vessels were heartily cheered as they
passed over. Next morning, at 10 o'clock