After the failure of the Williams Canal, attention was turned to the Lake Providence route. This route had been examined by engineers and thought to be practical. The canal would be completed on March 16th, connecting Lake Providence with the Mississippi River. But Grant would never use this route.
Grant believed the route via the Yazoo pass, the Coldwater and the Tallahatchie rivers was the best of the two remaining options. This route would allow Grant to gain the high ground on the Yazoo above Haines Bluff.
Yazoo pass was a bayou, connecting the Mississippi, through Moon Lake, with the Coldwater River. In earlier times it had been used by boats from Memphis to Yazoo City, but before the beginning of the war it had been closed by a strong levee to reclaim a large tract of land that frequently flooded.
This route had been under consideration for some time. Even before the failure of the Williams Canal, on February 3, 1863, the levee was blown up by a mine. Four days later, on February 7th a Union gunboat entered the pass.
Grant believed the route via the Yazoo pass, the Coldwater and the Tallahatchie rivers was the best of the two remaining options. This route would allow Grant to gain the high ground on the Yazoo above Haines Bluff.
Yazoo pass was a bayou, connecting the Mississippi, through Moon Lake, with the Coldwater River. In earlier times it had been used by boats from Memphis to Yazoo City, but before the beginning of the war it had been closed by a strong levee to reclaim a large tract of land that frequently flooded.
This route had been under consideration for some time. Even before the failure of the Williams Canal, on February 3, 1863, the levee was blown up by a mine. Four days later, on February 7th a Union gunboat entered the pass.
