Meantime, while Grant was before Vicksburg the French troops were in Mexico, and on June 10, 1863, they entered Mexico City, the capital. The French Emperor, Napoleon III, had shown an unfriendly disposition toward the United States, and, as already intimated, had been trying, through his diplomatic agents, to get Texas to secede from the Confederacy and establish an independent government. The operations of the French led the Administration at Washington to send General Banks on an expedition that had Shreveport, on the Red River, near the boundary between Louisiana and Texas, and about 400 miles from the Mississippi River, for its destination. It may be briefly said that the expedition won some battles and accomplished nothing. Admiral Porter, with the following vessels, accompanied the expedition: _Essex_, Commander Robert Townsend; _Eastport_, Lieut.-commander S. L. Phelps; _Black Hawk_, Lieut-commander K. R. Breese; _Lafayette_, Lieut.-commander J. P. Foster; _Benton_, Lieut.-commander J. A. Greer; _Louisville_, Lieut.-commander E. K. Owen; _Carondelet_, Lieut.-commander J. G. Mitchell; _Osage_, Lieut.-commander T. O. Selfredge; _Ouachita_, Lieut.-commander Byron Wilson; _Lexington_, Lieut. G. M. Bache; _Chillicothe_, Lieut. S. P. Couthouy; _Pittsburg_, Lieut. W. R. Hoel; _Mound City_, Lieut A. R. Langthorne; _Neosho_, Lieut. Samuel Howard; _Ozark_, Lieut. G. W. Browne; _Fort Hindman_, Lieut. John Pearce; _Cricket_, Master H. H. Gorringe; _Gazelle_, Master Charles Thatcher. [Illustration: U. S. Ram _Lafayette_. _From a photograph._] [Illustration: U. S. Gunboat _Fort Hindman_. _From a photograph._] It was on March 12, 1863, that Porter’s command started up Red River. The advanced vessels of the fleet reached Alexandria on the 15th, and all the fleet was there on the 16th. It was an easy voyage so far, but above Alexandria were (and are) two rapids not to be passed during low water, and in the spring of 1863 the water was exceptionally low. However, the _Eastport_, _Mound City_, _Carondelet_, _Pittsburg_, _Louisville_, _Chillicothe_, _Ozark_, _Neosho_, _Lexington_, and _Hindman_ were dragged over with some thirty transports. These went up the river and rendered considerable aid to the army, but the real interest in the expedition lies in the backwoods scheme by which the whole squadron above the falls was saved from destruction. [Illustration: Joseph Bailey. _From a photograph._]