APRIL 26, 1864:
The Red River Campaign
continues to degenerate into a tragicomedy of errors. The U.S.S. CRICKET,
Admiral Porter’s flagship, is stranded on a sandbar in the midst of the
low-running Red River. It cannot pick up troops and ferry them away; indeed, it
can’t move at all. Confederates onshore use the CRICKET for target practice,
hitting it 38 times. A massed attempt to take the ship and capture Admiral
Porter fails, when Union troops beat back a 1200-man Confederate force tasked
to seize the CRICKET.
