MARCH 9, 1863:
General
Ulysses S. Grant sends a “Quaker” gunboat down the Mississippi River in front
of Vicksburg. The Confederate gunners pour a rain of shot at this vessel, but
do not sink her. She was made of logs, with stacked barrels for smokestacks.
Other barrels which had formerly contained rations, primarily pork, had black
circles painted on their lids to make them resemble mortars. As absurd as it
sounds, this illusion heralded the time when real gunboats would appear before
Vicksburg.
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