Porter bombarded Grand Gulf without success, but he ran by its batteries, and was in readiness to protect the transports, in which the army was to be conveyed across the river. The troops were embarked, and it was intended to proceed down the river until high ground should be found for the landing. A negro gave information that a good road led from Bruinsburg, ten miles below Grand Gulf, to the interior. At this point, therefore, the troops were landed April 30. The army was in the State of Mississippi, with only very scanty means of obtaining supplies from above Vicksburg. Three days' rations were served out to the men, upon which they were required to subsist for five days. The movement was intended in the beginning as a surprise to the enemy, and was fully proved to be such. There were two rebel armies to be dealt with--that of Pemberton, in and around Vicksburg, and that of Joe Johnston, at Jackson, the capital of the state, fifty miles distant. The object was to get between these two forces, and prevent them from effecting a junction. The national army was in hot haste, and Grant's struggles to gain a moment of time are full of interest. Red tape was cut, forms were dispensed with, and the meagre supplies of the army were hurried forward with the utmost despatch. On the 1st of May, Grant attacked and defeated the enemy at Port Gibson, the first point which disputed his passage to the interior, before reënforcements could be sent from Grand Gulf, capturing six guns and six hundred and fifty prisoners. While these operations were in progress, General Grant had organized the celebrated raid of Grierson, which passed through the rebel country from La Grange to Baton Rouge, spreading consternation on every side. Sherman, who had not yet come down from Milliken's Bend, also made a demonstration in favor of the movement at Haines's Bluff, which prevented troops from being sent down to Grand Gulf. In this desperate enterprise, hardly more than wagons enough to transport the ammunition could be allowed. No tents or baggage could be carried, but the men submitted without a murmur to the hardships and privations incident to a hurried march in an enemy's country. Grant stood on the same level in this respect as the humblest soldier. His entire baggage for six days was a tooth-brush! He had neither a clean shirt, an overcoat, nor a blanket; no horse, orderly, or camp chest. He slept upon the ground, with no covering but the sky and the stars, and lived on soldier's rations.