Given the success he had in running past Vicksburg’s defenses, Admiral Porter expected to take Port Gibson if not with ease then with celerity. But on the morning of the first of May, when his gunboats and troop transports came within range, they found that the Confederates had withstood the bombardment rather well. It turned out that earthworks resisted the Union bombardment better than wood, or even stone, would have done. Porter’s losses were not heavy—only a few dozen men—but it was clear that another landing spot had to be found.