Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 4.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[396] by the examples of his chief Farragut, advances rapidly against the hostile battery, now unmasked, on the shore of the channel which he follows. He knows, in fact, that close cannonading with canister is the only expedient wooden vessels have to reduce landbatteries. But this one vessel alone cannot silence the enemy's fire. Soon a projectile disables the Clifton also by cutting the steam-pipes, and Crocker, finding himself at the mercy of the enemy, who might sink him with a few shots, is obliged to haul down his flag. The Sachem immediately does likewise, and the Arizona, striving to withdraw, also runs aground. If at this moment the Confederates, who have in the channel two steamvessels clad with cotton, would move them against the transport fleet, they might capture it all; and the more easily as a part of the transports have stranded near the shore, and the captain of the Granite City hastened to repair to the high seas with his ship. Fortunately, the Confederates, busy with the capture they have just made, allow night to come upon them, and the transports, protected by the Granite City, which has at last returned, recross the bar, followed by the Arizona, again released. The failure of the expedition was complete. The capture of the Sachem and Clifton gave the Southerners naval superiority in the waters of Sabine Pass, and any attempt at landing was henceforth impracticable. Franklin brought his troops back to New Orleans.

The great haste with which Banks had organized this expedition had brought him no success. It became necessary to find another place in Texas whereon he could raise the Federal flag according to the instructions he had received. The enemy keeping henceforth on his guard at Sabine Pass, and the mouth of the Rio Grande being too far distant, he decided in favor of the landroute. Franklin had landed at New Orleans on the 11th of September. On the following day he was on the way to Brashear City with the Nineteenth corps. The Thirteenth corps, commanded by Ord, was to follow closely, with the exception of the division of Herron, which, recently added to this army corps, had been sent to the upper Atchafalaya to watch, near Morganzia, the movements of the Southern general Green. Not being able to proceed by another route, Banks had decided to ascend Bayou Teche with all his available forces as far as Vermilionville, and to endeavor