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CHAPTER XV. SIEGE AND FALL OF VICKSBURG—1863. the very outset of the civil war in America the importance of the possession of the Mississippi River was perceived by the leaders on both sides of the conflict. The Confederates sought to close the great water highway by the erection of powerful batteries at Columbus, Kentucky, twenty miles below the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi at Cairo, and at the same time they obstructed its mouth by seizing the forts below New Orleans. Immediately there arose throughout all the region drained by the mighty stream and its numerous tributaries a demand that this great artery of commerce should be opened. Never were a people moved by a stronger and more united impulse than were the dwellers in the great valley that the Father of Waters, should be restored to peaceful navigation. No more stirring prophecy was ever made than that of General Logan when he declared that "the men of the West will hew their way to the Gulf of Mexico with their swords." The earliest military movements of any magnitude in the Western States were undertaken with a view to opening the navigation of the Mississippi. While General Lyon was making efforts for retaining possession of Missouri on behalf of the nation, a military force was gathered at Cairo under command of General Prentiss, to protect that important point and prevent as far as possible the further descent of boats laden with supplies. Many of 260