Had the attempt been made the garrison of Vicksburg would have been drowned, or made prisoners on the Louisiana side.

General Richard Taylor was expected on the west bank to co-operate in this movement, I believe, but he did not come, nor could he have done so with a force sufficient to be of service.

The Mississippi was now in our possession from its source to its mouth, except in the immediate front of Vicksburg and of Port Hudson.

We had nearly exhausted the country, along a line drawn from Lake Providence to opposite Bruinsburg.

The roads west were not of a character to draw supplies over for any considerable force.
By the 1st of July our approaches had reached the enemy's ditch at a number of places.