in a hurry. Battle of Milliken's Bend Ordered down the Mississippi on 2 June to support final operations against Vicksburg, Lexington joined in defending Union troops at Milliken's Bend, Mississippi, from the assault of numerically superior Confederate soldiers on the 7th. For the next month she continued to operate against the mighty Confederate fortress until it fell on 4 July. After reconnaissance work and patrol duty in the Mississippi during the summer, Lexington was ordered back to the Tennessee River on 29 October to assist General Sherman at the beginning of his drive through the Confederate heartland. However, at the end of February 1864, she returned to the Mississippi for operations in support of the Red River Campaign. With paddle wheel monitor and four other gunboats she moved up the Black River to gather information about Confederate sharpshooters as they entered the Ouachita River and proceeded up the Bayou Louis where shallowing water compelled them to return, capturing Confederate artillery and large quantities of cotton before reaching the mouth of the Red River on 5 March. A week later the Mississippi Squadron moved up the Red River in force. Red River The Confederate defenders were driven off at Simmesport and Maj. Gen. A. J. Smith's troops marched on Fort De Russy, which was taken by the combined land and naval forces on 14 March 1864. The next day Lexington with gunboat Ouachita, followed by the Eastport, pushed on toward Alexandria, Louisiana, chasing Confederate steamers fleeing toward safety above the Alexandria rapids; but the Union ships arrived less than an hour too late to capture six steamers which had succeeding in getting over the falls. Confederate steamer Countess which grounded in flight and a barge left behind were burned to prevent capture. The army transports arrived the next day and troops were landed to occupy that town. On 7 April, Lexington and five other gunboats steamed over the falls toward Shreveport, Louisiana, to support General Nathaniel Prentiss Banks who was advancing up the valley. Three days later the hulk of steamer New Falls City, sunk in a narrow stretch of the river near Springfield Landing blocked the progress of the expedition. Before this obstruction could be removed, word arrived from Major General Banks of his defeat at the Battle of Sabine Crossroads near Grand Encore and retreat toward Pleasant Hill. The transports and troops of Brig. Gen. Thomas Kilby Smith were