from a daring expedition up the Mississippi River to Vicksburg, Mississippi had received "stringent orders to send a large force up the river" to join forces with Admiral Charles Henry Davis' western flotilla in clearing the entire Mississippi Valley. He accordingly sent for Porter's mortar schooners to shell the heights of Vicksburg which could not be reached by his flotilla's guns. Miami reached New Orleans on June 7 and spent the following fortnight towing schooners upriver. She reached Vicksburg on June 21 for a week's service moving schooners in and out of firing positions and shelling the cliffside batteries herself. On June 28 her guns engaged the Confederate cannon while Farragut's ships ran by the Vicksburg batteries to join the armed riverboats of Admiral Davis' Western Flotilla. The joining of the salt water and fresh water squadrons buoyed morale throughout the North, but the strategic potential of the feat was largely nullified by a lack of ground forces to take and hold key points along the river. Farragut returned to the lower river on July 15. Miami departed Ship Island on September 1 and arrived at Fort Monroe on September 9. After two months devoted to reconnaissance duty up the James River, blockade duty in Hampton Roads, and refitting, Miami got underway from Norfolk, Virginia on November 9 and entered the North Carolina sounds the following day. There she helped enforce the blockade, deterred Confederate military activity and gathered intelligence. Action against CSS Albemarle In an effort to counter the effect of Union naval superiority in the sounds, the Confederacy constructed a number of ironclads in North Carolina. One, CSS Albemarle, built at Scotland Neck, North Carolina, afforded Miami the highlight of her service in the sounds. On April 17, 1864, Confederate troops launched a sustained attack on Plymouth, North Carolina. Union gunboats moved to support their troops ashore and were promptly taken under fire by the Southern batteries. Next day, the fighting at Plymouth intensified as the Confederates pressed the assault. Union Army steamer USS Bombshell was sunk during the engagement, but by 9:00 PM, the Southern advance had been halted. Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Flusser reported: "The and Miami took part and the general says our firing was admirable." The southern attack required naval support in order to achieve success, and Flusser added meaningfully: "The ram will be down tonight or tomorrow." Confederate ironclad Albemarle had departed Hamilton,