Lovell loaded his troops and supplies aboard the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern railroad and sent them to Camp Moore, north. All artillery and munitions were sent to Vicksburg. Lovell then sent a last message to the War Department in Richmond, “The enemy has passed the forts. It is too late to send any guns here; they had better go to Vicksburg.” Military stores, ships, and warehouses were then burned. Anything considered useful to the Union, including thousands of bales of cotton, were thrown into the river.