After spending two days devoted to the care of the wounded, and the burial of the dead, the fort was blown up and completely destroyed, the rifle pits levelled, and a hundred wagons which had been captured, were burnt. On the 18th, General McClernand embarked with the main body of his troops, and proceeded down the Arkansas river to Napoleon, where a conference was held with General Grant and Admiral Porter, and future operations were planned. Meantime an expedition of light-draught steamers, under Lieutenant-Commander J. G. Walker, and a body of troops led by General Gorman, had proceeded up the White river, and captured the towns of Des Arc and Duval’s Bluff. General McArthur’s corps of General Grant’s army, left Memphis on the 20th of January on transports, and landed at Young’s Point, on the west side of the river, about nine miles above Vicksburg. Here the greater part of the fleet was concentrated; and on the 2d of February, General Grant arrived, and assumed command of the army. At this point a canal had been commenced by General Williams, previous to the unsuccessful attack on Vicksburg the year before, for the purpose of effecting a passage for vessels across the peninsula in front of Vicksburg out of range of the enemy’s guns. The attack on Vicksburg, from up the river, had demonstrated the strength of its defensive works on the north, and convinced General Grant that they were too strong to be carried without a very heavy loss. The first step for him to accomplish, therefore, was the transportation of his army below the city, in order to make an attack from the south. The passage by the river was too hazardous to be attempted. The formidable batteries on the river front at Vicksburg were capable of destroying all the transports. Work was therefore recommenced on the canal. While this work was in progress, the river continued to rise rapidly, and great labor was required to keep the water out of the canal, and also out of the camps of the laborers and soldiers. In addition, the rain was incessant, and the magnitude of the work was, from these causes, greatly increased. The earth taken out of the excavation was placed on the west side, and thus formed an embankment or levee, which it was supposed would prevent the water from flooding the country. While a portion of General Grant’s forces were employed in cutting the canal at Young’s Point, their commander, firmly intent on accomplishing the great enterprise before him, was industriously employed in the prosecution of other plans, which might be consummated in the event of a failure in the canal at the peninsula. A channel was cut from the Mississippi into Lake Providence, on the west side of the Mississippi, and another into the Cold Water river on the eastern bank, by way of the Yazoo Pass.