the fire from the upper forts only "for a short time." Meanwhile, Army transports passed safely below the batteries. Though Benton, , and were "pretty much cut up" in the engagement, the expedition was successful, and the net result was summed up by Porter, "We are now in a position to make a landing where the general [Grant] pleases." The following night Ulysses S. Grant took advantage of this mobility and ferried his troops across the Mississippi and landed them at Bruinsburg for lightning operations to isolate Vicksburg from reinforcements. On 3 May Porter once again moved his gunboats against the Confederate batteries, but the southerners, finding their position totally untenable after Grant had taken his army into the country back of Grand Gulf, had evacuated. The great land-sea pincer could now close on Vicksburg. As Porter reported to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, "...the Navy holds the door to Vicksburg." Porter departed Grand Gulf with his gunboat squadron and rendezvoused that evening with the Farragut fleet at the mouth of the Red River. He preceded up the river the next day with Benton, Lafayette, Pittsburg, General Sterling Price, rams , and . and joined en route. The evening of 5 May the ships arrived at Fort DeRussy, "a powerful casemated work" which the Confederates had recently evacuated in the face of the naval threat. Porter pushed past a heavy obstruction in the river and proceeded to Alexandria, Louisiana, which he occupied on the morning of the 7th. Subsequently, turning the town over to Army troops and unable to continue upriver because of the low water, Porter's force returned to Fort DeRussy and partially destroyed it. As the Union noose around Vicksburg tightened, Lafayette steamed up and down the river gathering information and dispersing Confederate defensive works. With Pittsburg she shelled Simmesport, Louisiana, 4 June, forcing the defenders to abandon strong riverside positions. The gunboats then returned to the mouth of the Red River to resume blockade duty. Exactly a month later, on Independence Day, Vicksburg surrendered, ending a long and valiant siege. Summer 1863 During the summer and fall Lafayette, with other Union ships, patrolled the river protecting Federal communications. On 29 September she and arrived at Morganza, Louisiana, on Bayou Fordeche, to support troops under Major General Napoleon J. T. Dana. There more than 400 Union troops recently had been captured in an engagement with Confederates under