Siege life for the Confederate soldier was a hazardous ordeal; nearly
3,500 were killed or wounded. Because of the limited number of effective
troops available to Pemberton, almost the entire Vicksburg Army had to
be placed in the trenches; sufficient numbers were not available to
rotate frontline duty as was done by the Federal Army. Never knowing
when an attempt might be made to assault the defense line, it was
necessary for them to be on guard at all times, enduring sun, rain, mud,
poor and inadequate food, as well as the bullets and shells of the Union
Army for 47 days and nights. The unending barrage of small arms and
artillery fire, one Confederate exclaimed, "can be compared to men
clearing land--the report of musketry is like the chopping of axes and
that of the cannon like the felling of trees."
Rations were generally prepared by details of soldiers behind the lines
and carried to the troops at the breastworks. Coffee, the soldier's
staple, was soon unobtainable and an ersatz beverage introduced, the
somewhat questionable ingredients of which included sweet potatoes,
blackberry leaves, and sassafras. To replace the exhausted flour supply,
a substitute was devised from ground peas and cornmeal. When this was
baked over a fire, one soldier complained, "it made a nauseous
composition, as the corn-meal cooked in half the time the peas-meal did,
so this stuff was half raw.... It had the properties of india-rubber and
was worse than leather to digest." Its effect on the digestive systems
of the Confederate soldiers was possibly the equivalent of a secret
Yankee weapon. A more famous, although not necessarily a more palatable,
item of the besieged soldiers' diet was the mule meat introduced late in
the siege. General Pemberton heartily approved of its appearance,
observing that mule proved "not only nutritious, but very palatable, in
every way preferable to poor beef."
[Illustration: _Bombproofs of the 45th Illinois in Union siege line.
Shirley House in background is only surviving wartime building in
the park._ From _Photographic History of the Civil War_.]
For protection against artillery fire, the Confederate troops dug
bombproofs in the reverse slope of their fortified ridge. From these
dugouts, bulwarked by heavy timbers, trenches connected with the
fortifications, affording the besieged some degree of relaxation in
reading or playing cards a few yards from the front line. To defend
against surprise night attacks, they were forced to sleep on their arms
in the trenches.
At night the unending bombardment from Porter's fleet provided the
troops of both armies with an awesome pyrotechnic display. Especially
popular with the pickets were the giant 13-inch mortar shells whose
sputtering fuses described a tremendously high arc in the blackness
before disappearing into the city. It was a "wonderful spectacle," one
soldier remembered, "to see the fuse from the shells--and you could see
them plainly--the comet or star-like streams of fire and then hear them
coming down into the doomed city. We used to watch them while on picket
at night."
[Illustration: _Fort Hill, on the Confederate left flank above
Vicksburg, commanding the bend of the Mississippi._]
[Illustration: _South Fort, on the Confederate right flank below
Vicksburg, overlooking the Mississippi._]
[Illustration: _Each of Porter's mortar boats carried one of these
giant 17,000-pound mortars which hurled 200-pound shells into
Vicksburg throughout the campaign and siege._ Courtesy National
Archives.]
[Illustration: _The _General Price_. This merchant steamer was
converted into a ram by the Confederate Navy, captured by the Union
Fleet at Memphis and used as a Federal gunboat against Vicksburg._
From _Photographic History of the Civil War_.]
Only when the Union trenches approached close to the defensive works
were determined efforts made to halt the Union threat. Then the Union
sap rollers (woven cane cylinders filled with earth or cotton rolled in
front of the open end of the trench to protect the work party) became
targets for destruction. Fuses were set on artillery shells which were
then rolled down against the sap rollers, or they were ignited by Minié
balls dipped in turpentine. Occasional night sallies succeeded
temporarily in driving off Union work parties and filling up trenches,
but no daylight forays were attempted by the Confederates.