The Yazoo Pass Expedition was a joint operation of Major General Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee and Rear Admiral David D. Porter's Mississippi River Squadron in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Grant's objective was to place his troops into a flanking position against the Rebel defenders of the heavily armed Confederate citadel Vicksburg, Mississippi, by using the backwaters of the Mississippi Delta to bypass the bluffs near the city and reach the Yazoo River.

The expedition began on February 3, 1863 with the breaching of a levee on the Mississippi River. This allowed water to flow into a former channel that connected with the Yazoo River through a series of other waterways. The Union Navy flotilla was led by Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith, who was in very poor health. The expedition's slow progress enabled the Confederate Army to create a fort near the town of Greenwood and block passage of the Federal fleet. The Union Army could not provide adequate support because so much of the surrounding area was under water. Smith's health forced him to turn over command to Lieutenant Commander James P. Foster, but the expedition was forced to retreat back to the Mississippi. No futher efforts were made when the new Army Commander, Brigadier General Isaac F. Quinby, decided that such efforts would be futile.

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