Tuesday, 21st–Our brigade started for Vicksburg this afternoon. We covered five miles and went into bivouac. It is extremely hot, and having had no rain for so long, the roads are very dusty. Our entire army is falling back to Vicksburg.

Monday, 20th–We came in from picket this morning and this afternoon moved our regimental camp onto higher ground. Some of our boys are having a time with the ague and fever. The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Regiments were ordered out to Miller’s Creek to guard a wagon train. The Thirty-fifth Iowa passed us on their way [...]

Saturday, 18th–Our wagon trains now move unmolested back and forth from Vicksburg to Jackson, since there are few of the rebels’ cavalry left in this section. Our brigade is to remain here at Clinton as a reserve to escort wagon trains when needed. We hear that Sherman is still after Johnston. Our camp here is [...]

Friday, 17th–We heard that our wagon train went through to Jackson without attack, and that the rebels evacuated the place this morning, with Sherman’s forces in hot pursuit. We hear that Johnston, after crossing the Pearl river, burned the bridges behind him and is now in rapid retreat on the other side. News came that [...]

Thursday, 16th–We left our bivouac with the wagon train at an early hour and moved on quite rapidly, expecting to be attacked at any moment. We passed the place on the road where the train just ahead of us was attacked by the rebel cavalry, which captured and burned fifteen of the wagons, taking with [...]

Wednesday, 15th–A train of provisions and ammunition arrived from Vicksburg this morning. Late in the afternoon they finished loading the wagons with the provisions and ammunition for Jackson, and our regiment was ordered to accompany them. We started late and after marching six miles stopped for the night. We received orders to keep a sharp [...]

Tuesday, 14th–We lay here in bivouac at Black river bridge all day, and we are glad for the chance to rest and clean our clothes. The cars from Vicksburg can run only to the river, since the bridge is burned and the railroad track is torn up for five miles east of the river. A [...]

Monday, 13th–We left this morning at 3 o’clock on our return trip via Black river bridge, with a train of two hundred and fifty empty wagons. We took with us sixty-one prisoners, giving them the first free ride they have had for some time. We all rode on the wagons, standing, and in order to [...]

Sunday, 12th–We started this morning at sunup and arrived at General Sherman’s headquarters at 10 o’clock. Two regiments of Sherman’s army came out to reinforce our train guard. They feared that the rebels’ cavalry would make a raid on the train before we could reach the main army. We arrived safely without losing a single [...]

Saturday, 11th–The Eleventh Iowa started at sunup this morning for Jackson, Mississippi, as an escort for two hundred and forty-five wagons loaded with provisions and ammunition for General Sherman’s army. By night we were within one mile of Clinton, where we went into bivouac, closely corralling the wagons. We rode on the wagons a part [...]

Friday, 10th–News came that there was fighting at Jackson, Mississippi, General Sherman having pushed Johnston back to that point. Troops are passing on to the front to reinforce Sherman. News came also that General Lee was making a raid into Pennsylvania.[1] Colonel Chambers returned from Vicksburg today, and has again taken charge of our brigade. [...]

Thursday, 9th–There is no news of importance and we have had no chance yet for newspapers. We have scant news while out here in the woods, sometimes getting no mail for eight or ten days at a time. All our teams went to Vicksburg today for provisions. The forces of Sherman and Ord are still [...]

Wednesday, 8th–I came off guard duty this morning at 9 o’clock. There was a hailstorm last night and everything looks nice and green, notwithstanding the fact that there has been no rain for two months. But it is hot and the corn has suffered a great deal. All the fields are planted to corn, as [...]

Tuesday, 7th–A high wind today ended in rain tonight. Colonel Chambers of the Sixteenth Iowa, who has been commanding our brigade, left for Vicksburg this morning to obtain release from this command in order to return to the regular army. The boys of the brigade are glad to see him leave. Colonel Hall takes charge [...]

Monday, 6th–We have had very changeable weather for a week now—hot and sultry, then cool and pleasant, then warm and hazy. The Eleventh Iowa received two months’ pay today. I got $37.25; of this, $11.25 was allowed for clothing not drawn. The Thirteenth Iowa and the Tenth Ohio Battery went out on picket duty.

Sunday, 5th–We came in this morning at 10 o’clock from an all night picket along the Big Black river. We were relieved by General Tuttle’s Brigade. Our brigade then fell back a mile and went into bivouac in heavy timber. The rebels all left last night, it is thought, for Jackson, Mississippi, with the forces [...]

Saturday, 4th–A despatch came that Vicksburg has been taken and that Pemberton has made an unconditional surrender to General Grant. The terms include the surrender of his army of twenty-seven thousand men, one hundred siege guns, one hundred and twenty-eight field guns, and eighty thousand small arms.[1] Early in the day the rebels drove some [...]

Friday, 3d–We received orders to be ready to march at a moment’s warning. Getting the orders we started about 10 o’clock at night for Messenger’s ford on the lower Big Black river, about four miles from our bivouac, and reached the ford at midnight. We are to stop Johnston from crossing the river, as it [...]

Thursday, 2d–We loaded up our baggage and started at 8 o’clock to join our regiment and brigade in camp on the Big Black river, about ten miles distant. We found our command cutting away the trees which were cut down to keep General Johnston from coming in our rear after Vicksburg should surrender.[1] [1] It [...]

Wednesday, 1st–A detail of the Seventeenth Iowa came out this morning to relieve us, and a team came this afternoon to haul our baggage, but we have not yet received orders to leave. Captain McLoney went down to the headquarters of the picket officers to get an order to move. The report is that our [...]

Tuesday, 30th–Our company was mustered at 9 o’clock this morning by Captain McLoney. Major Foster came in today and made a demand upon the general picket officers that our company be relieved from picket duty at this place. We had a fine time at this place. Our work here has not been laborious, but we [...]

Monday, 29th–Fighting is still going on and our guns around Vicksburg seem to be making a new onslaught today. Our men blew up another rebel fort, but did not attempt to rush in, since the guns from the other forts are so arranged as to defend any other point along the fortifications. Everything on the [...]

Sunday, 28th–I was sent out on picket duty today and everything is quite (sic) still along the line. It is also quiet at the front, except along General Logan’s Division, where the rebel sharpshooters are trying to silence our batteries. News came that Port Hudson had not been taken, and that instead General Hooker was [...]

Saturday, 27th–Our company is still on picket here about five miles southeast of Vicksburg, while the other companies of the regiment are with our brigade out on the Big Black river. There is no telling when we shall be relieved from picket; yet our boys are pretty well satisfied, for we have plenty of blackberries [...]