The handwriting is that of Surgeon Bixby, of the Union hospital ship "Red
Rover." In his album he pasted this unique photograph from the western
shore of the river where the Federal guns and mortars threw a thousand
shells into Vicksburg during the siege. The prominent building is the
courthouse, the chief landmark during the investment. Here at Vicksburg
the Confederates were making their last brave stand for the possession of
the Mississippi River, that great artery of traffic. If it were wrested
from them the main source of their supplies would be cut off. Pemberton, a
brave and capable officer and a Pennsylvanian by birth, worked
unremittingly for the cause he had espoused. Warned by the early attacks
of General Williams and Admiral Farragut, he had left no stone unturned to
render Vicksburg strongly defended. It had proved impregnable to attack on
the north and east, and the powerful batteries planted on the river-front
could not be silenced by the fleet nor by the guns of the Federals on the
opposite shore. But Grant's masterful maneuver of cutting loose from his
base and advancing from the south had at last out-generaled both Pemberton
and Johnston. Nevertheless, Pemberton stoutly held his defenses. His high
river-battery is photographed below, as it frowned upon the Federals
opposite.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: THE WELL-DEFENDED CITADEL