In his After Action Report to Admiral Lee of , Lieutenant Commander Flusser described his losses as heavy and opined that it was "folly to fight these people on the banks, where they have every advantage", and that he could not be of any further service to the Army forces. In the aftermath of the failed mission, both Navy and Army flag officers implied that the cause was attempting to cooperate with the respective sister service. Admiral Lee wrote to Naval Secretary Gideon Welles that "where the situation does not allow [...] gunboats to take care of themselves, they can not assist the army." Further, General Peck wrote to General Dix saying, "there is great uncertainty in operations with gunboats."