Still another attempt was made to secure the position by entering the Yazoo, which our gunboats held near its mouth, passing through Steele's Bayou and several streams into the Big Sunflower, and thence into the Yazoo again. This attempt was made in conjunction with the Yazoo Pass movement, and while General Ross, in command of the military expedition connected with it, was shut up in the swamp. General Grant gave his personal attention to these enterprises; but all of them were impracticable in their nature, and had to be abandoned. All the troops and vessels were brought off in safety; and if nothing was gained, nothing was lost, even in time, for the country was so flooded with water, that operations, except in boats, were difficult, if not impossible. The nation had been watching these experiments with intense interest. When they failed the people began to be impatient. Demands were made for the removal of General Grant from his command. Again was he accused of incompetency, of drunkenness. Not a success of any importance had been obtained for the national cause since his own victories at Iuka and Corinth. Even the president appeared to be dissatisfied, and Grant knew that he was in imminent peril of being displaced. Some of his best friends deserted him, and one of them voluntarily demanded his removal; but the president replied, "I rather like the man. I think we'll try him a little longer." But Grant was still confident of ultimate success; he was approaching the mighty idea by which Vicksburg was to be brought down. CHAPTER XX. _Wherein Captain Galligasken illustrates the Temperance Principles of the illustrious Soldier, and proceeds with him on his conquering Path to the Capital of Mississippi._ I do not account it a great misfortune to the country, certainly not to Grant himself, that canal and side routes had failed; for success by any of them could hardly have been achieved any sooner than by the brilliant scheme finally adopted. But the people complained, the great generals complained, the president complained. There was a general murmur against Grant, and influence enough was brought to bear against him to have overwhelmed any common man. I pause in astonishment and wonder when I think that he did not turn in disgust from the grand enterprise. The people, the generals, the politicians were maligning him; even the good and patient president was dissatisfied, and put him on probation, rather than strengthened public confidence in him. Halleck, as generous now as he had been cynical before, mildly expressed his confidence that Grant would do all that was possible to open the Mississippi. Even the rebels, satisfied with the strength of their Gibraltar, contemptuously dared their persistent foe, and derided him for his failures. They jeeringly hoped he would not attempt to disturb the natural features of the globe.