Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in to episode number 288 of our Civil War podcast.

I'm Rich.

And I'm Tracy.

Hello y'all.

Welcome to the podcast.

As y'all recall, by the end of the last episode, the federal gun boats on April 29, 1863

had failed to completely silence the Confederate batteries at Grand Gauve.

So Grant decided to continue southward, looking for another spot where his army would be able

to cross the Mississippi River.

After arriving at Disharune plantation, Grant learned that a short distance downriver on

the east bank was a small landing named Bruinsburg.

Upon learning from a slave that one, a road led inland from Bruinsburg to the town of

Port Gibson, and two, that there were no Confederates anywhere even close to Bruinsburg,

Grant decided that was where he'd crossed the river.

All that mattered now was getting the army across the Mississippi as quickly as possible.

So Grant and 13th Corps Commander John McClernand worked through the night to ensure that everything

was ready for a crossing first thing in the morning.

Meanwhile aboard his flagship Benton, the Union Naval Commander David Dixon Porter,

sat in his cabin riding a letter to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells, telling Wells about

the ferocious battle at Grand Gauve.

Just before closing the letter, Porter wrote, we land the army in the morning on the other

side and march on Bixburg.

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