As Union soldiers labored on the canal across De Soto Point, opposite
Vicksburg, Grant's engineers investigated alternate water routes to reach Vicksburg. One
such route led through a 200-mile connecting chain of waterways from Lake Providence to
the mouth of Red River thence up the Mississippi River another 150 miles to Vicksburg. The
route could also be used to send reinforcements to assist Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks in
his operations against Port Hudson.
The route was examined by Lt. Col. William L. Duff of Grant's staff and
declared practicable, provided a short channel of five-foot depth was cut from the levee
to Lake Providence. A working party from Col. George W. Deitzler's brigade began
excavating the ditch in early February 1863. Once the ditch was completed the levee would
be blown permitting flood water from the Mississippi, then fifteen feet higher than the
level of the lake, to rush in and provide water of sufficient depth for vessels to cross
Lake Providence to Bayou Baxter and on into Bayou Macon from which there would be clear
passage over other streams to the Red River.
In early March, Grant personally examined the route and reported that
"there was scarcely a chance of this ever becoming a practicable route for moving
troops through an enemy's country." Despite his outlook, work on the canal continued
and on March 17 the levee was cut. By the 23d the water levels of the Mississippi and Lake
Providence were nearly equal, permitting vessels to be taken in. By the end of March,
however, Grant had determined to move his army south overland from Milliken's Bend and the
Lake Providence Expedition was abandoned.
Federal efforts at Lake Providence had the unforseen result of protecting
the right flank of Grant's column as it marched south from Milliken's Bend because the
flooded interior waterways of Louisiana provided an extensive water barrier against
Confederate raids. The flooded waterways also helped to shield Union enclaves at Lake
Providence, Milliken's Bend, and Young's Point.
|
