Rebs on our front were very shy. I only caught an occasional glimpse
of them, but fired fifty rounds, mostly at their port holes and works.
A good many shells and pieces came among us, but no one was hurt. Our
boys at the fort had warmer work and finally fell back.
JUNE 27. Saturday. There were a number wounded this morning and
ambulances continually passed through camp. The day is hot and sultry.
At dusk Doty and I went within a few feet of the Rebels’ fort. We have
sunk another shaft and are again undermining their works. We climbed
the observatory and took a good look at Vicksburg, the river, and its
surrounding works.
JUNE 28. Sunday. Hot and sultry. Went after blackberries alone this
morning and picked four quarts. Had a good wash and returned to camp.
Johnston gradually closing up.
JUNE 29. Monday. Hot and sultry, and very dusty. Rebels unusually
quiet. News from the east very meager. Hooker has ordered a seal to
be put on the press, but from what we can hear a terrible battle is
imminent. May the great Ruler of the Universe grant us success.
JUNE 30. Tuesday. Hot and sultry. Our regiment was paid this morning.
I received twenty-three dollars. A stoppage of three dollars for the
premium which Phelps paid me at Memphis was detached. Co. L, 2nd Ill.
Vol. Artillery came in this evening with rifles and James guns, direct
from Memphis. It is the same battery which was sunk in the river this
side of Grand Gulf while crossing over. They had occasion to stop below
Lake Providence and shell a squad of Rebs. Our regiment is not in as
good health as a week ago. This evening we were ordered out for picket.
JULY 1. Wednesday. Regiment out on picket, but I worked at pay rolls.
The brigade was formed and preparations were made to blow up the fort.
I went over the hill and up the hollow to watch for the explosion. I
waited a moment before the shock of the explosion was felt, and it
looked as if the whole inside of the fort was torn out. It threw out
several people, one Negro was thrown a hundred and fifty feet, lighting
on his head and shoulders, scarcely hurting him. He attempted to run
back, but a half dozen leveled muskets brought him back. He and others
were digging on the inside to weaken the blast, which it did to a
considerable extent. No charge was attempted and all resumed the old
quiet again. The regiment returned from picket after dusk.
JULY 2. Thursday. Mail came in late last evening. Got a letter from
Father, Mother and Rosalie. I went after blackberries and picked a
gallon. I had a good wash. Nothing of interest, but a good many shells
which the Rebs threw over.
JULY 3. Friday. There was a brisk skirmish on our left last night. The
Rebs came out of their works and attempted to drive in our picket, but
were driven back with a loss of nearly one hundred men whom they left
on the field. At 10 o’clock a flag of truce came out and the bearer was
escorted to Gen. Grant’s headquarters. As to the object, every one has
his own opinion. I hope to Heaven it is to propose terms of surrender.
Most of the boys think it is to bury the killed of last night. Neut.
Davis and I took advantage of the cessation of hostilities and crossed
the hill to the old fort. We slipped the guard and reached the far end
of the works within a few yards of those of the Rebels, who lined their
parapets as far as the eye could see. We stood face to face with them,
almost near enough to shake hands, yet not a word was spoken on either
side until their officers ordered us down as we were inspecting their
works too closely. Gen. Leggitt ordered us to go outside the guard and
their officers drew off their men. Hostilities were suspended until
2:30, when a few shells came over and burst, banishing for a while our
fond illusions. But at 3 o’clock! Hail Columbia, Happy Land! Vicksburg
is ours! General rejoicing along the line. Gen. Grant and his cavalry
are to go in and capitulation commences. Thus ends one of the most
brilliant campaigns the world has known since the days of Austerlitz.
No one but Napoleon has equalled it. It has resulted in the complete
destruction of the Rebel army at Vicksburg. They have lost without
doubt about forty thousand men. The boys are beginning to think Grant
is a Napoleon. He has completely wiped out his Shiloh affair. Papers
of the 29th in camp show very discouraging news from the East. The
Rebs are throwing heavy columns into Pennsylvania, and are threatening
Pittsburg, Harrisburg and Baltimore. Northern papers give no account of
the army movements. Hooker has been superseded by Gen. Meade of the 5th
Army Corps.
JULY 4. Saturday. The sun rose bright and clear to usher in this most
eventful day to the American people, but a sad accident happened early
in the morning, which served to mar in no slight degree our rejoicing.
A shell which had been lying around the quarters for two weeks with
the cap taken off and most of the powder knocked out, and some of the
time filled with water, was put in a post fire with the intention of
scaring a certain shaky individual, and had been forgotten. Dreggs of
Co. E lit it and watched the post fire burn for a while and then he
picked it up and carried it and threw it over into the quarters. It
no sooner touched the ground than it burst, and as good luck would
have it, only one man was hurt. Brown, of Co. E, a fine fellow and a
good soldier, was hit in the side, it going through and tearing off
part of the lung. He lived but a short time. At 10 o’clock terms were
concluded. The Rebs are to be paroled and the officers are to retain
their side arms and personal property. Between 10 and 11 o’clock the
Rebs marched outside and stacked their arms, after which they returned
to camp. At 2 o’clock the troops on the left began marching in. At 3 we
formed, and after marching a while in the broiling sun and suffocating
dust, our division moved in and up to the courthouse. We passed a large
number of Confeds. They are as good a looking set of Reb. troops as
we have seen. Most of them are glad they have surrendered. Only a few
look sober and sullen. They had holes dug into the side hill to protect
them from our shells. They look as if it were a sorry 4th of July for
them. Their burial grounds in the different hollows testify to the
number they have had killed. The ground back of their camps is badly
torn up by our mortars, the trees are all marked up, and the limbs cut
off by our shot and shell. Minnie balls, whole shells and pieces, and
solid shot cover the ground. They have defended the place bravely and
I say “All honor to them.” We marched around the courthouse, stacked
arms, and lay there about three hours. Citizens had nice little caves
dug into the banks where they took their families and lived during the
siege. The mortars have nearly destroyed the town. Large buildings
were torn to pieces, each by a single shell. Some went straight
through, and some exploded inside and tore them. A few citizens were
killed. Citizens are moving back to their ruined dwellings. They look
down-hearted and sad, I suppose that in their hearts they wish that
the ordinance of secession had never been passed. Two shells struck
the courthouse. One took a pillar from the observatory and just nicked
the roof as it descended. The other passed down the roof, burst, and
killed eighteen. Some of the boys, together with several Confeds,
broke into a store and stole a large quantity of tobacco and some
other things before the guard came around. A number of gaily dressed
Confed officers passed us, among them being Col. Montgomery, chief of
Pemberton’s staff. The Confeds and our boys mingle together like old
friends and have apparently forgotten that but a short time ago they
were engaged in deadly strife. About 6 o’clock we were formed and
marched back and camped inside the works, close behind where their
old mortar had been fired. Also where their big siege gun had been
planted and was afterward dismounted. The ground around the two pieces
is all torn up by our shot and shell. I went up to the right and saw
a beautiful English gun which our boys used to call “Whistling Dick.”
It is a Whitworth and some of the Confeds told us it was the gun they
had at Fort Pemberton, that sunk the Chillicothe. The works are full of
artillery, most of which they never fired. I saw between the Whitworth
and the fort, a distance of three-quarters of a mile, twenty-eight
guns. Just at dark I was detailed to go over to camp and help fetch the
supper. The Rebs have been living on one-fifth rations and are nearly
starved. They mingled with us freely and we have divided our rations
with them. They tell us they hope we may never know want while life
lasts. Some of their regiments actually had mule meat issued to them on
the morning of the 3rd, and it was in market at fifty cents a pound.
We saw a shoulder of it dressed. Details are at work picking up small
arms and accoutrements, of which they had a large number. Each man had
two guns, one new Enfield (drawn since coming here) for long range
and sharpshooting, and the other loaded with cartridges of their own
make and fifteen buckshot, of which each man had forty rounds. If we
had charged we should have lost heavily. We found glass bottles filled
with powder and balls, with fuses in the ends, which were used as hand
grenades. Grant dispatched Sherman’s and part of Ord’s corps to the
rear this evening.
JULY 5. Sunday. Buck and I took a stroll over the works to the fort
that was blown up this morning, returning about noon. While we were
gone the regiment moved camp down to the hollows. We walked around the
works with the Rebs. They told us where their best shots were fired,
also where the most annoying ones came from. They are very friendly and
our boys treat them well. I believe they will hate to fight us again.
They are very anxious to get home. Frank and I went out and got a fly
to put over our cook shed this afternoon. The boys are gathering tents,
flies and cooking utensils from the different camps. Our tents and
dishes came up from the river this afternoon, and the evening was spent
once more in arranging a camp and digging a well.
JULY 6. Monday. I wrote home this morning. At 9 o’clock our regiment
was ordered out on picket. We have a strong picket guard around the
works to keep the Rebs in. Our company was out at the big fort which
was blown up. My post was on the parapet beside it. This fort commands
a view of the works on either side as far as the eye can reach. In
the afternoon Boggs and I went over to our old camp and took a good
wash. Nothing of importance happened until about 5 o’clock, when a
thunderstorm passed over. It was preceded by an awful wind which nearly
blew me off the parapet. Rebs drew rations.
JULY 7. Tuesday. We were relieved about 9 o’clock and returned to camp.
The day was very hot and sultry. The Rebs are very anxiously awaiting
their parole so they can go home. We had news of a skirmish in our
rear; there were about two hundred prisoners brought in. I saw the
Reb today who fired the grape and canister at us when we were behind
the log on the 22nd. He is a fine fellow and gave our boys credit for
making some good shots. He was anxious to know if he had hurt any of
us. He said we had actually dismounted some of their pieces with our
musketry. It weakened the spokes so that they would not stand the
reaction when fired. The pieces are all dented up by Minnie balls. The
top of his gun had been knocked off. He is from Tennessee. He gave
me the name and rank of each of the generals we had captured at this
place. They are: Gen. Pemberton, Tenn.; Maj. Gen. Smith, Va.; Forney,
Ala.; Brigadier Generals Hober, La., Lee, Va., Green, Mo. (killed),
Reynolds, Ga., Taylor, Ky., More, Ky., Wauld, La., Bowen, Mo., Vann,
Tenn., Barton, Ala.
JULY 8. We had quite a rainstorm last night and today it is cool and
pleasant. The Rebs are around trading the company sugar for coffee and
preparing to leave. Just after tattoo, orders came around to be ready
at 4 o’clock tomorrow morning, armed and equipped.
JULY 9. We were up and stacked arms early this morning and awaited
orders but none came. News came into camp this evening of a fight in
Helena. Gen. Price attacked the place with sixteen thousand troops and
came very near taking it, but with the assistance of the old wooden
gunboats the Rebs saved the day and drove him back, taking over a
thousand prisoners. Price left his killed and wounded on the field. The
Negro troops are said to have fought like tigers. The news from the
East is fair. Meade met the enemy at Gettysburg on the 3rd and they are
still fighting. It is reported that he repulsed two of the grand army
corps under Longstreet and Hill. Rosencrans has advanced and occupies
Tallahoma, Bragg’s stronghold.
JULY 10. Friday. We had another rain last night, and the water ran into
our tent. Doty and I ran the blockades this morning and went over to
see our blackberry patch. I stopped at our old camp on the way back and
took a wash. We had our berries baked into pies. Capt. Wheeler bought
a keg of beer this afternoon for the boys to celebrate the victory.
Nearly all of Co. K are drunk. Columbus Patterson started home on his
furlough today.
JULY 11. Saturday. We were aroused from our slumbers at an early hour
this morning, (between 3 and 4 o’clock) with orders to be ready to move
at 5 o’clock. Breakfast was over and we had our canteens filled and
accoutrements on at the required time. The brigade moved up the road to
the main entrance and deployed in line. The Rebs were formed in their
different camps and marched between our lines, were halted, brought
to a front, and ordered to unstring their knapsacks. Our commissioned
officers, except one to a company, were set to work examining paroles
to see if they were genuine, and the baggage to see that it contained
nothing contraband. A number, when they saw this, slipped out from the
ranks and threw away packages of powder. Our company picked out of
the ravine a dozen packages or more. Our company was on guard along
the line. We had a guard to stop Negroes. It was a touching sight to
see some of them part from their masters--they loved them sincerely.
Very few besides the officers had them. A few women passed out. The
officers carried their swords and revolvers slung by their sides. I
saw Gen. Pemberton, Maj. Gen. Bowen, Brig.-Gen. Hebay, of the C. S. A.
pass out. We passed out some four or five thousand on this road. The
weather is hot and sultry. A sick surgeon came out and while they were
examining the regiment he became worse. I brought him some fresh water
and he asked me to call on him, as he was carried back to a small tent
on the hill in plain sight. I did so after we were relieved, and took
his Nig to camp with me and sent him back with warm cakes and tea.
About 3 o’clock I was on a detail which was sent up the road to relieve
a guard who had been out since morning. We had been on post but a few
moments when we were relieved, and I returned to my protegee. He had
been in all the eastern engagements, from the battle of Winchester
to that of Antietam, he having been with Stonewall Jackson. He was
perfectly familiar with all the country around Winchester, Bunker Hill,
Martinsburg, Williamsport, and Harper’s Ferry. He was an assistant
surgeon in Gen. Ewell’s division hospital, and helped amputate Gen.
Ewell’s leg above the knee, at the second battle of Bull Run. He
complimented our eastern troops quite highly, and also Gen. McClellan.
He said he heard Jackson and Lee say that McClellan was the man they
feared most. He was speaking of what a cruel thing this war was and
remarked that most of his friends and relatives were in the North, his
mother was in Warsaw, Ind. There I halted him, as a matter of course,
and let him know our Indiana company was raised in that identical
place. He made a good many anxious inquiries, but I was not enough
acquainted in that city to give him any satisfactory information. He
afterwards spoke of Havana, Ill., and said he had practiced medicine
in that town. He was greatly surprised when I told him our company was
from Havana, Mason County, Ill., and he was acquainted with a good
many of the boys as I named them over. I bolted off for the company
and sent up Boggs, who was much surprised to hear that his father’s
old partner was a prisoner in our hands. Papers of the 7th came in
this evening, bringing enthusiastic accounts of a great battle and
victory of Gen. Meade’s army over the Rebs under their gallant General
at Gettysburg. Gen. Meade’s dispatches proclaim a great victory and
the utter rout of the Rebs, with heavy losses of prisoners and colors.
A boat came up from Port Hudson this evening, bringing news of the
surrender of the place and garrison. Hurrah for Banks!
JULY 12. Sunday. After dinner, roll call. I mounted a mule which
the boys had caught and saddled, and started for town. The place is
very quiet. At the wharf you can see transports as far as the eye
can reach in either direction. The river is quite low. I came around
the Rebel works and in coming back was surprised to see so little
artillery commanding the river. Only four guns and one mortar, and a
one hundred and twenty-eight pounder, manufactured in Richmond, Va. In
the land defenses from the river to the English Whitworth gun there
are twenty-six pieces, making in all from Fort Hill around to town
fifty-nine guns. Most of the troops have gone to the rear and there is
less than an army corps here at the present.
JULY 13. Monday. Our forces in the rear are gradually closing up and
skirmishing near Jackson.
JULY 14. Tuesday. The paymaster is here, working on the pay rolls and
quarterly returns.
JULY 15. Wednesday. A heavy detail from our regiment was dispatched to
work on Fort Hill today. They are gradually changing the looks of that
once important fort, from a rude, unshapely mass of dirt to large neat
and substantial works. This afternoon our boys, in filling up the hole
made by the blast, dug out a number of bodies. They had been crowded
into the hole and covered up. Heavy details are at work repairing the
old line of Reb works, also in filling up and destroying our old ones.
The famous covered way from the White House to Fort Hill is nearly
destroyed. It seems too bad to destroy the works that we spent weeks of
hard labor and exposure to construct. It seems to us that they should
stand as monuments for future generations to look upon, but still we
have implicit confidence in the good judgment of Gen. Grant.
JULY 16. Thursday. I am on duty again today. The duty is very heavy
now as all the troops excepting two divisions have gone to the war. I
helped unload ammunition today without any relief and was tired out
when night came. They are running a large supply of ammunition back to
the rear as rapidly as possible.
JULY 17. Friday. Early this morning we moved our camp over about one
mile nearer town. We tore down some houses to get boards for our table
and to fire up our mess quarters. About 1 or 2 o’clock we were paid
again. I received forty-five dollars and fifty-five cents. Frank and I
expressed home fifty dollars each. Stafford was around and gave me a
Secesh song written in the ditches.
JULY 18. Saturday. On duty at Fort Hill carrying gabion baskets. Our
old covered way is nearly destroyed. I got some peaches and apples
today and we had some pies. I also had an ear of corn, but it was too
hard to be good. Couriers came in today with the news that Joe Johnston
had cut through our lines and was retreating. We get no late news from
the East, and are on the tiptoe of anxiety. I wish Grant was on the
Virginia side of that river for a short campaign. Papers on the 11th
are here but no news only that Meade is concentrating.
JULY 19. Sunday. Hot and sultry. Had inspection at 10 o’clock. The
order has come for granting furloughs, two go from our company--G. Ross
and A. J. Van Auken. Got a Free Press but no letters from home. Dress
parade this evening. A funny incident took place. One of the poor,
half-starved horses that overrun the camp, preceded the band as it led
the regiment, just in good kicking distance. We got the New Orleans
Sun the evening of the 15th. It has the particulars of the surrender
and occupation of Port Hudson with five or six thousand prisoners.
JULY 20. Monday. Very hot and sultry. On fatigue, digging a well for
headquarters. Got a number of papers which I culled from a cartload
of them. Two months ago today the siege of Vicksburg began and was
continued through forty-seven long, dreary days, and ended that
glorious old day, the 4th of July.
JULY 21. Tuesday. Boats came in last night and brought Northern papers
of the 14th. No particular news from the East, only Meade concentrating
at Hayes. John Morgan is making a raid into Indiana. I hope he will
succeed in arousing the people and then get himself captured. No news
today from the rear. Jim Chesher came in this morning.
JULY 22. Wednesday. The furloughs have come this evening, approved. I
send this north to be mailed by D. D. Ross. Our regiment registered two
hundred and ninety men at the beginning of the siege. The day of the
charge and other days while skirmishing and sharpshooting, our loss,
killed and dead from wounds, was fourteen, forty wounded, making an
aggregate of fifty-four, over seventeen per cent.
The order of the different divisions of Grant’s army besieging
Vicksburg from the right to the left, June 28, 1863.
Under the command of Gen. Ord--Herron’s, Lammaris’, Hovey’s, Osterhaus’
(gone to the rear) Carris’, A. J. Smith’s.
Gen. McPherson’s Corps--J. E. Smith’s, Logan’s, one brigade of
McArthur’s.
Gen. W. T. Sherman’s Corps--Blair’s, Tuttle’s, Steele’s.
Rear--Herron, Lammaris, Hovey, Osterhaus, Covy, A. J. Smith, J. E.
Smith, Logan, McArthur, Blair, Tuttle and Steele.
JULY 7. The Generals captured are: Lieut.-Gen. Pemberton, Maj.-Gen.
Stevenson, Tenn.; Smith, Va.; Forney, Ala., and Bowen, Mo. Brig.-Gen.
Hebert, La.; Lee, Va.; Green, Mo.; (killed inside works), Reynolds,
Ga.; Taylor, Ky.; More, Ky.; Wauld, La.; Vann, Tenn.; Barton, Ala.
Different army corps and commanders:
1st--Maj.-Gen. Reynolds.
3rd--Maj.-Gen. D. Sickles.
5th--Maj.-Gen. Meade.
6th--Maj.-Gen. Sedgwick.
9th--Maj.-Gen. Burnside.
11th--Maj.-Gen. Howard (formerly Siegel).
12th--Gen. Stoneman (cavalry).
13th--Maj.-Gen. O. E. Ord.
14th--Maj.-Gen. G. H. Thomas.
15th--Maj.-Gen. Sherman.
16th--Maj.-Gen. Hurlburt.
17th--Maj.-Gen. McPherson.
20th--Maj.-Gen. McDowell McCook.
21st--Maj.-Gen. Thos. Crittenden.
[Illustration]
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.