colors over the city hall. On the first of May a garrison of
Federal troops took charge of New Orleans and kept it till the
war was over.


New Orleans was a most pregnant Federal victory; for it
established a Union base at the great strategic point where
sea-power and land-power could meet most effectively in
Mississippi waters.

But it was followed by a perfect anti-climax; for the Federal
Government, having planned a naval concentration at Vicksburg,
determined to put the plan in operation; though all the naval and
military means concerned made such a plan impossible of execution
in 1862. Amphibious forces--fleets and armies combined--were
essential. There was no use in parading up and down the river,
however triumphantly, so long as the force employed could only
hold the part of the channel within actual range of its guns. The
Confederates could be driven off the Mississippi at any given
point. But there was nothing to prevent them from coming back
again when once the ships had passed. An army to seize and hold
strategic points ashore was absolutely indispensable. Then, and
only then, Farragut's long line of communication with his base at
New Orleans would be safe, and the land in which the Mississippi
was the principal highway could itself be conquered.

"If the Mississippi expedition from Cairo shall not have
descended the river, you will take advantage of the panic to push
a strong force up the river to take all their defenses in rear."
These were the orders Farragut had to obey if he succeeded in