JUNE 2ND, 1864: Union gunboats convoying transports on the western rivers continued to be harassed by Confederate field artillery along the banks. The USS Louisville sustained severe damage in a exchange of fire at Columbia, Arkansas.
The next day, at Memphis, Lt. Cmdr. John G. Mitchell of the USS Carondelet, also observed: "Not a steamer arrives here from Cairo but what has been fired upon by gangs numbering from 12 to 100 men..
The Union warships could control the waterways, but troops on land were needed to prevent the buildup of Confederate batteries and guerrilla activity.
--Old B-R'er
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