In thus opening the Mississippi all the way to the Gulf the navy rendered invaluable assistance.

Porter's aid was so important and his conduct so gallant that he received the thanks of Congress and was created a full rear admiral, his commission dating from July 4, 1863.

In a public dispatch the Secretary of the Navy said, addressing Admiral Porter: "To yourself, your officers and the brave and gallant sailors who have been so fertile in resources, so persistent and so daring under all circumstances, I tender, in the name of the President, the thanks and congratulations of the whole country on the fall of Vicksburg." One of the most disastrous expeditions of the Civil War was that which was undertaken by General N.P.Banks, in the spring of 1864.

His ostensible purpose was to complete the conquest of Texas and Louisiana, but there is good reason to believe that the famous Red River expedition was little more than a huge cotton speculation.

Immense quantities were stored along the river and could it have been secured would have been worth many hundred thousand dollars to the captors.