terminus of the Mobile and Ohio railroad, which it was important to
keep unobstructed, as the only land communication to Memphis and the
interior, should the river navigation be interrupted below Columbus.
On the river side were the heaviest batteries. A sand-bag battery
mounting six heavy guns, was constructed at the upper end of the
town, just in front of General Pillow's head-quarters. This battery
was constructed by filling corn-sacks with sand, and piling them up
in tiers, leaving embrasures for the guns. These tiers were carried
several feet above the heads of the men employed in working the
guns, so that they were comparatively safe; for if a ball struck the
battery, it was merely buried in the sand and no damage done. These
guns were thirty-two and sixty-four pounders, brought up from New
Orleans. About a mile north of the town, where the bluff juts out
flush with the river, a shelf had been formed by a landslide about
half way between the level of the river and the summit of the bluff.
This shelf was enlarged and leveled, and a battery constructed upon
it which completely commanded the river in the direction of Cairo.
This battery was large enough to mount ten or twelve heavy guns. On
the summit of the bluff was placed a large Whitworth rifled gun,
carrying a round shot weighing one hundred and twenty-eight pounds.
Minie shot of much heavier weight were also used in this gun. This
was one of four which ran the blockade in the Bermuda into
Charleston, South Carolina, in the early autumn.

All these works were constructed under the direction of competent
engineers, the chief of whom was Captain E.D. Pickett, since
adjutant-general to Major-general Hardee.

Torpedoes and other obstructions were placed in the river; but all
this kind of work was done secretly by the engineer corps, and the