And moving the army by boat past the city to attack from below would have been suicidal: the Rebels had placed dozens of cannons along the Vicksburg bluff.
They struck before dawn on Tuesday and were heavily armed, the government said in a statement, but the army, using boats and a helicopter, quickly repelled the attack.
At the end of last season, the Dany contingent — Tyrion, Varys, the Unsullied, Dothraki soldiers, the whole ragtag lot — dramatically set sail for Westeros, having found a way to get a horse-riding army onto boats, and the Greyjoys set sail, too.
The army patrol boats chugging up and down the river that runs along the eastern flank of Riosucio — the only obvious state presence in the town — also fuel rumors that the former paramilitaries turned drug gang members have maintained their old ties with the military.
Instead of charmingly crammed-together shotgun homes, Chalmations live in regular middle-class houses on double lots with army-green boats round back.
I've spent nearly 30 years travelling in luxury coaches, dodgy taxis, Dolmus buses, army helicopters, by boat and on foot and never fail to be thrown by the sheer diversity of a country that's more like a continent.
Seery, an American expat who has spent 30 years in Indonesia, crafted the tropical-hardwood vessel herself, supervising a small army of Sulawesi boat builders.
(It's like the army but with boats).
In their raid of 31 May, the Israeli army stormed the boats on the flotilla and, as well as money and goods destined for the Palestinian relief effort in Gaza, the bulk of which have yet to be returned, took away most of the personal possessions of the activists when taking them into custody.
Meanwhile, the army is using boats and helicopters for evacuations and rescue operations.
