GROUNDLESS FEAR OF AN ATTACK BY GUNBOATS--SHELLS FALL--THE BOMBARDMENT
BEGINS--CAVE SHELTER--GARRISON FORCE--CAVES AND CAVE LIFE.
From gentlemen who called on the evening of the attack in the rear of the
town, we learned that it was quite likely, judging from the movements on
the river, that the gunboats would make an attack that night. We remained
dressed during the night; once or twice we sprang to our feet, startled by
the report of a cannon; but after waiting in the darkness of the veranda
for some time, the perfect quiet of the city convinced us that our alarm
was needless.
Next day, two or three shells were thrown from the battle field, exploding
near the house. This was our first shock, and a severe one. We did not
dare to go in the back part of the house all day.
Some of the servants came and got down by us for protection, while others
kept on with their work as if feeling a perfect contempt for the shells.
In the evening we were terrified and much excited by the loud rush and
scream of mortar shells; we ran to the small cave near the house, and were
in it during the night, by this time wearied and almost stupefied by the
loss of sleep.
The caves were plainly becoming a necessity, as some persons had been
killed on the street by fragments of shells. The room that I had so lately
slept in had been struck by a fragment of a shell during the first night,
and a large hole made in the ceiling. I shall never forget my extreme fear
during the night, and my utter hopelessness of ever seeing the morning
light. Terror stricken, we remained crouched in the cave, while shell
after shell followed each other in quick succession. I endeavored by
constant prayer to prepare myself for the sudden death I was almost
certain awaited me. My heart stood still as we would hear the reports from
the guns, and the rushing and fearful sound of the shell as it came toward
us. As it neared, the noise became more deafening; the air was full of the
rushing sound; pains darted through my temples; my ears were full of the
confusing noise; and, as it exploded, the report flashed through my head
like an electric shock, leaving me in a quiet state of terror the most
painful that I can imagine--cowering in a corner, holding my child to my
heart--the only feeling of my life being the choking throbs of my heart,
that rendered me almost breathless. As singly they fell short, or beyond
the cave, I was aroused by a feeling of thankfulness that was of short
duration. Again and again the terrible fright came over us in that night.
I saw one fall in the road without the mouth of the cave, like a flame of
fire, making the earth tremble, and, with a low, singing sound, the
fragments sped on in their work of death.
Morning found us more dead than alive, with blanched faces and trembling
lips. We were not reassured on hearing, from a man who took refuge in the
cave, that a mortar shell in falling would not consider the thickness of
earth above us a circumstance.
Some of the ladies, more courageous by daylight, asked him what he was in
there for, if that was the case. He was silenced for an hour, when he
left. As the day wore on, and we were still preserved, though the shells
came as ever, we were somewhat encouraged.
The next morning we heard that Vicksburg would not in all probability hold
out more than a week or two, as the garrison was poorly provisioned; and
one of General Pemberton's staff officers told us that the effective force
of the garrison, upon being estimated, was found to be fifteen thousand
men; General Loring having been cut off after the battle of Black River,
with probably ten thousand.
The ladies all cried, "Oh, never surrender!" but after the experience of
the night, I really could not tell what I wanted, or what my opinions
were.
How often I thought of M---- upon the battle field, and his anxiety for us
in the midst of this unanticipated danger, wherein the safety lay entirely
on the side of the belligerent gentlemen, who were shelling us so
furiously, at least two miles from the city, in the bend of the river near
the canal.
[Illustration]
So constantly dropped the shells around the city, that the inhabitants all
made preparations to live under the ground during the siege. M---- sent
over and had a cave made in a hill near by. We seized the opportunity one
evening, when the gunners were probably at their supper, for we had a
few moments of quiet, to go over and take possession. We were under the
care of a friend of M----, who was paymaster on the staff of the same
General with whom M---- was Adjutant. We had neighbors on both sides of
us; and it would have been an amusing sight to a spectator to witness the
domestic scenes presented without by the number of servants preparing the
meals under the high bank containing the caves.
Our dining, breakfasting, and supper hours were quite irregular. When the
shells were falling fast, the servants came in for safety, and our meals
waited for completion some little time; again they would fall slowly, with
the lapse of many minutes between, and out would start the cooks to their
work.
Some families had light bread made in large quantities, and subsisted on
it with milk (provided their cows were not killed from one milking time to
another), without any more cooking, until called on to replenish. Though
most of us lived on corn bread and bacon, served three times a day, the
only luxury of the meal consisting in its warmth, I had some flour, and
frequently had some hard, tough biscuit made from it, there being no soda
or yeast to be procured. At this time we could, also, procure beef. A
gentleman friend was kind enough to offer me his camp bed, a narrow spring
mattress, which fitted within the contracted cave very comfortably;
another had his tent fly stretched over the mouth of our residence to
shield us from the sun; and thus I was the recipient of many favors, and
under obligations to many gentlemen of the army for delicate and kind
attentions; and, in looking back to my trials at that time, I shall ever
remember with gratitude the kindness with which they strove to ward off
every deprivation. And so I went regularly to work, keeping house under
ground. Our new habitation was an excavation made in the earth, and
branching six feet from the entrance, forming a cave in the shape of a T.
In one of the wings my bed fitted; the other I used as a kind of a
dressing room; in this the earth had been cut down a foot or two below the
floor of the main cave; I could stand erect here; and when tired of
sitting in other portions of my residence, I bowed myself into it, and
stood impassively resting at full height--one of the variations in the
still shell-expectant life. M----'s servant cooked for us under
protection of the hill. Our quarters were close, indeed; yet I was more
comfortable than I expected I could have been made under the earth in that
fashion.
We were safe at least from fragments of shell--and they were flying in all
directions; though no one seemed to think our cave any protection, should
a mortar shell happen to fall directly on top of the ground above us. We
had our roof arched and braced, the supports of the bracing taking up much
room in our confined quarters. The earth was about five feet thick above,
and seemed hard and compact; yet, poor M----, every time he came in,
examined it, fearing, amid some of the shocks it sustained, that it might
crack and fall upon us.