Thursday, April 16, 1863
The second day of the march took the men of the 130th to Holmes' plantation, a large tract of land belonging to General Holmes of the Confederate Army. This plantation was 900 acres, and the smallest of four belonging to Holmes. He also owned four steamboats on the Mississippi River.
The Union troops would end up spending several days camped here. However, the day was significant for other reasons.
All day long the Union fleet made final preparations to run downriver past the Vicksburg batteries. The operation began at 10 o’clock on the moonless night. Leaving the mouth of the Yazoo River with no lights showing and with as little noise as possible, the vessels dropped slowly down the river. Admiral Porter led off in the Benton and was followed at 200-yard intervals by five other gunboats: the Lafayette, Louisville, Mound City, Pittsburg and Carondelet. Next came three transports barricaded with cotton bales: the Forest Queen, Silver Wave and Henry Clay. They were all towing barges loaded with coal, while the gunboat Tuscumbia brought up the rear.
About 11 o’clock the first boats had already passed the upper fort when they were discovered. The Vicksburg batteries immediately opened a vigorous fire. The Confederates, who were holding a grand ball at Vicksburg, were startled to hear the hillside guns shattering the quiet night.
A detail of Confederate troops rowed across the river and quickly set fire to a railroad depot and nearby shacks. This was done to give the gunners on the hill a clear shot at the boats silhouetted by the fires.
The battle was an awesome spectacle for the dancers who left the Vicksburg ball. The view began to lose its appeal, however, as each Union gunboat delivered a broadside on the town as it passed, landing shells in the streets. The citizens were forced to flee the city or take refuge in caves.
General Grant didn't miss the show, either. His boat was anchored in the middle of the river, just out of range of the upper batteries. His wife and children, who recently joined him at Milliken's Bend, were also aboard.
And the Union troops marching across the peninsula, from Milliken's Bend to New Carthage, didn't miss it either. They could distinctly hear the thunder of the guns at Vicksburg.
The battle went on for over two hours. The batteries bombarded the slow-moving targets, and the aim of the Confederate gunners was fairly accurate, as every vessel was struck a number of times. But the only one seriously damaged was the Henry Clay: the cotton bales caught fire from a bursting shell, and the panic-stricken crew escaped to the other vessels or the shore. The Henry Clay then burned and sank at the water's edge.
The batteries at Warrenton were passed without difficulty and at 2 a m. on the the morning of the 17th, all of the transports except the Henry Clay safely reached New Carthage. No one had been killed, and only 14 had been wounded.
