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News of the Day

June 2, 1863, The New York Herald

When General Hooker was before the Congressional committee sundry questions were put to him which accomplished what they were intended to do, and brought out, not the truth, but General Hooker. He was purposely given an opportunity to say to the country, from a high standpoint, whatever he had to say about the war. He was asked about Yorktown. Upon that subject his opinions were positive, and after some preliminary queries he was squarely requested to state what he would have done at Yorktown had he then been in command of the army. He cited the battle of Williamsburg as the indication of what he would have done. He invited the country to judge of his abilities by that battle. There, he said, he had advanced with his single division against a line of works stronger than the line at Yorktown. Here is a military opinion of the relative strength of those two line. Can it be credited that the finest army in the United States is now under the command of a man who is such a tyro in military matters as not to know which of those two lines was the stronger, and not to know that this statement was absurdly false? Well, Gen. Hooker advanced, and this is what came of it: he fought all day, lost seventeen hundred men, and failed – disastrously, miserably failed – to carry the position. That is what he would have done at Yorktown – that is the battle he desires to be known by. With all deference to those who are wise in war, we are of the opinion that any one could do that. Yet such was in reality Gen. Hooker’s part in the great battle by which he first became widely known. Moreover, his battle had been fought in defiance of orders. Now, when a general fights in violation of orders, loses heavily, and does not accomplish his object, it is, or ought to be, a serious mater. Charges were accordingly made out against Gen. Hooker by the [continue reading…]

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News of the Day
1860s newsprint

June 2, 1863, Savannah Republican (Georgia)

                      The body of a white man, aged about twenty-five years, wearing a striped shirt and pants of homespun, corresponding with the clothing worn by the Confederate marines of this post, was discovered floating in the Savannah river yesterday morning about Fort Jackson, having being drowned.  Coroner Eden held an inquest–verdict in accordance with the above.

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News of the Day

June 2, 1863, The New York Herald

Our Baltimore Correspondence.

BALTIMORE, May 31, 1863.

I have come into possession today of the following facts in regard to the present actual condition of the Southern railroads and the rolling stock on them, which have an important bearing on the present military operations both at the West and in the East.

When the war broke out the Southern railroads were in perfect order, and their equipment in rolling stock was enormous in amount and of the best possible construction. With a few trifling and unimportant exceptions, none of this equipment has been lost or destroyed during the progress of the war. On the other hand, it has been considerably increased. At Macon and Atlanta, in Georgia; at Fayetteville, in North Carolina; at Knoxville and at one other point, there are extensive shops where both locomotives and cars are built, and where they are taken for repairs. The railroad from Memphis to Chattanooga, running along the north of Mississippi and Alabama, is very much broken up and damaged, except the fifty-one miles between Chattanooga and Bellefonte, which are in a perfect state. But the railroad from Tullahoma to Vicksburg, by the way of Stevenson, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Montgomery Meridian and Jackson – a distance of 673 miles – is in perfect order and has abundance of rolling stock. The same may be said of the great Southern railroad from Gordonsville to Chattanooga, by the way of Lynchburg and Knoxville – a distance of 526 miles; and of the two railroads from Charleston to Vicksburg, one by the way of Atlanta and Opelika, and the other by the way of Savannah [continue reading…]

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News of the Day
1860s newsprint

June 2, 1863, Dawsons Daily Times and Union (Fort Wayne, Indiana)

Dates from Vicksburg are  to the 28th ult.  There had been no fighting of consequence since the 24th.  The most formidable forts remain to be taken.  The rebels seem to think their positon impregnable.– Johnson, with 20,000 men, was reported to be moving to attack Grant’s rear; but Grant was confident of his ability to to repel any such demonstration.  The gunboat Cincinnati was sunk by the fire of the rebel batteries on the 26th.  Banks, it is said, was rapidly advancing towards the theatre of hostilities.  There is a rumor at Cincinnati that Gen. Grant has raised the siege and thrown his whole force back upon Johnson.

The rebels on the Rappahannock are shifting their position.  A large force has been sent in the direction of Culpepper, and the opinion is expressed that the plains of Manassas may soon witness another sanquinary struggle.

Gen. Forey captured Puebla on the 17th ult., taking about 18,000 prisoners, including 24 generals.  One division of the French army started for the City of Mexico on the 20th.

Many members of the Legislature have arrived at Springfield, but no quorum is expected before Thursday. [continue reading…]

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News of the Day
1860s newsprint

June 2, 1863, Savannah Republican (Georgia)

                      On Thursday morning last, about the hour of seven o’clock, Mrs. Mena Landgraff, wife of Charles A. Landgraff, who is now a member of Company D, First Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters, left her residence, situated at the corner of Broughton and West Broad streets, for the purpose of going to the market house and returning.  At the time she left she had about her somewhere in the neighborhood of one hundred and fifty dollars, and wore a lilac calico dress, light plaid silk apron with a frill; the sleeves of her dress was trimmed with a different colored calico than that of her dress; a white straw hat trimmed with red ribbon, and a thick pair of shoes–black silk mantilla and white collar, and carried a basket of reddish color.  At the time she left I had every reason to believe that she would shortly return home to breakfast, but from that hour she has never been seen by me.  She was seen in the market by several purchasing her meats.

                      I make this statement known to the public in as much as I was living with her, and feel confident that some foul play has been done.  I call upon the public officers and citizens to use their honest efforts in ferriting out this thing in order that the guilty may be brought to that punishment so much deserved.

                      Miss Ellen Kennedy.

                      Savannah, May 30th, 1863.
                      Any information given will be thankfully received.

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News of the Day

June 2, 1863, The New York Herald

The latest reports from the scene of operations around Vicksburg are to the 27th, by way of Cincinnati, to the effect that three assaults had been made by our forces on the rebel stronghold, in all of which we were repulsed. The last assault was made by General Sherman, with twenty thousand men, in which we lost six hundred killed and a large number wounded. Our outer line is within one hundred yards of the rebel works. Our sharpshooters prevent the rebels from working their guns. The rebel works in the rear of the city are far more formidable than those in front.

General Joe Johnston is in the neighborhood of Jackson with about fifteen thousand men, and is reported to be short of provisions and ammunition.

General Grant has taken 8,400 prisoners and 84 pieces of artillery.

The main fortifications of Vicksburg consist of a chain of forts, about eight hundred yards apart, connected by deep intrenchments, and extending for seven miles.

Despatches from headquarters in the battle field near Vicksburg, dated on the 23d, which we publish today, give some thrilling accounts of the progress of the siege up to that time. The fight was evidently a fierce and sanguinary one, involving heavy loss on both sides. At one time, while attacking the outer works, our troops were within twenty-five feet of the enemy.

Telegrams from the headquarters of General Hooker state that a flag of truce was sent [continue reading…]

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News of the Day
1860s newsprint

June 2, 1863, Dawsons Daily Times and Union (Fort Wayne, Indiana)

The President, it is reported, means to have Ge. McClellan mustered out of the United States’ service and to give Gen. Grant the Major Generalship in the regular army thus made vacant.

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News of the Day
1860s newsprint

June 2, 1863, Weekly Columbus Enquirer (Georgia)

From the Knoxville Register.

                      After a visit to the Rappahannock army, the writer of this made a parting call on General Jackson, in his tent.  As we stood exchanging the last words, some reference was made to what our ladies were doing.  “Yes,” said he, “but they must not entice the men away from the army.  You must tell them so for me.  We are fighting for principle, for honor, for everything we hold dear.  If we fail we must lose everything.  We shall then be slaves–we shall be worse than slaves–we shall have nothing worth living for.”

                      I am sure the women of the Confederacy will give these words of the now lamented hero a place in their hearts.  Let them not be impatient even about their friends in the army coming on visits home.  Let them encourage and cheer them in staying at their posts whenever and so long as may be necessary.

                      But, whether there may have been much occasion for such a suggestion to them or not, the words which Jackson spoke in connection with it, are words alike noble and solemn, to which every man, as well as every woman, in the Confederate States ought to listen.  Let our soldiers inscribe them on their banners.  Let our citizens at home keep them before their eyes.  Let those who are mad in the pursuit of gain, amid the sufferings of their country, aid their fellow-citizens, and give ear to the tones of warning which these words convey.

L.

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Robert M. McGill

Robert M. Magill – Personal Reminiscences of a Confederate Soldier Boy, 39th Georgia Regiment of Infantry

Tuesday, 2d.—3:30 A. M., ordered back to our brigade. Lying in reserve behind 57th Georgia. 3 P. M., ordered into ditches between 39th and 56th Georgia regiments; very dangerous place, as can be raked by artillery.


(Note: picture is of an unidentified Confederate soldier.)

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Downing’s Civil War Diary.–Alexander G. Downing.

Diary of Alexander G. Downing; Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry

Monday, 1st–We lay over here below Haines’s Bluff all day, the boys being very tired after their long march. We ran out of provisions last night and could not draw any today. Some of the boys went out into the country to see what they could forage. We heard the roar of cannon at Vicksburg all day.

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Diary of a Southern Refugee, Judith White McGuire.

Diary of a Southern Refugee During the War by Judith White McGuire

June 1.—L. and B. went up to Mr. Marye’s near Fredericksburg to-day, to visit their brother’s grave. They took flowers with which to adorn it. It is a sweet, though sad office, to plant flowers on a Christian’s grave. They saw my sister, who is there, nursing her wounded son.

News from Vicksburg cheering.

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War Diary of Luman Harris Tenney.

War Diary of Luman Harris Tenney.

Monday, 1st. Ration day. After breakfast and morning work, we went at it. Hereafter to have fresh beef every day. Pontoon train arrived in P. M. indicating a forward move. Talk of pay; order reducing of baggage to 30 Ib. Capt. Nettleton sick. Commenced a letter to Fannie.

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Cruise of the U.S. Flag-Ship Hartford -Wm. C. Holton

June 1st. Commences calm and pleasant; firing of musketry this morning heard at Port Hudson; in fact no day has passed since the investment of this rebel stronghold and siege of same commenced, but what more or less bombarding of it has been going on by our army and naval forces, and skirmishing with their pickets, &c.; at nine o’clock this morning inspected crew at quarters; this duty is performed every day at this hour, unless engaged in combat with the enemy, or important work is going on in the ship, calling all hands to perform their share of the labor; from eight P. M., to midnight, mortar vessels, or bombers, below, shelling the batteries at Port Hudson.

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A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary

A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary at the Confederate States Capital, By John Beauchamp Jones
A likeness of Jones when he was editor and majority owner of the Daily Madisonian during President John Tyler’s administration.

JUNE 1st.—Nothing decisive from Vicksburg. It is said North­ern papers have been received, of the 29th May, stating that their Gen. Grant had been killed, and Vicksburg (though at first pre ­maturely announced) captured. We are not ready to believe the latter announcement.

Mr. Lyons has been beaten for Congress by Mr. Wickham.

It is said the brigade commanded by Gen. Barton, in the battle near Vicksburg, broke and ran twice. If that be so, and their conduct be imitated by other brigades, good-by to the Mississippi Valley.

Our people everywhere are alive to the expected raid of the enemy’s cavalry, and are organizing the men of non-conscript age for defense.

One of our pickets whistled a horse, drinking in the Rappahan­nock, and belonging to Hooker’s army, over to our side of the river. It was a very fine horse, and the Federal Gen. Patrick sent a flag demanding him, as he was not captured in battle. Our officer sent back word he would do so with pleasure, if the Yankees would send back the slaves and other property of the South not taken in battle. There it ended—but we shall probably soon have stirring news from that quarter.

The Baltimore American contains the proceedings of the City Council, justifying the arrest of Vallandigham.

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A Soldier’s Story of the Siege of Vicksburg

From the diary of Osborn H. Oldroyd

JUNE 1ST.–We stayed in camp all day, much to the enjoyment of the boys. Sergeant Hoover and I got a horse and mule, and rode down to Chickasaw Bayou, where the supplies for our army around Vicksburg are received. I have complained a little of being overmarched, but the trotting of my mule to-day was the hardest exercise I have had for some time.

2007-00710.jpgIf our poor foes in Vicksburg could see our piles of provisions on the river landing, they might hunger for defeat. Around Vicksburg the country is quite hilly and broken, with narrow ridges, between which are deep ravines. These ridges are occupied by the opposing forces at irregular distances. At some points the lines of the Union and Confederate armies are but fifty yards apart.

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News of the Day

June 1, 1863, The New York Herald

THE BOMBARDMENT OF VICKSBURG.

Correspondence of Mr. A.H. Bodman.

NEAR VICKSBURG, May 22, 1863.

AROUND THE REBEL WORKS.

This is the fourth day the army of General Grant has lain around the intrenchments of Vicksburg. Within that time there have been daily battles and continual cannonade. At least two thousand of our soldiers have been placed hors de combat, killed and wounded, in the several charges ordered against the earthworks.

A BOMBARDMENT ORDERED AND CARRIED OUT.

It was rumored yesterday that this morning General Grant would order a charge simultaneously along the entire line of works. Late in the evening the commanders of the different corps, divisions and brigades received their orders and prepared to execute them. The order contemplated a fierce cannonade from daylight until ten o’clock, but for some unexplained reason it was not opened until after eight.

During the night, however, the gunboats and mortars lying in front of Vicksburg kept up continual fire, and dropped their fiery messengers right and left without distinction. [continue reading…]

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News of the Day

June 1, 1863, The Charleston Mercury

IMPORTANT FROM THE RAPPAHANNOCK.

RICHMOND, May 30. The Fredericksburg correspondent of the Examiner says that the indications and intelligence from the enemy’s camps on the Rappahannock, favor the conclusion that the Yankee forces are evacuating the position they have so long held in Stafford county, but their destination is unknown. The Examiner, editorially, says: ‘There is no longer any room for doubt that HOOKER is making some important movement. A gentleman who left Fredericksburg yesterday assures us that he saw upwards 20,000 Yankee troops moving down in the direction of Port Royal.’

The Army of Northern Virginia is to be disbanded into three corps d, commanded respectively by LONGSTREET, EWELL and A. P. HILL.

LATEST FROM VICKSBURG.

JACKSON, May 28. The enemy has retired from the immediate front of the fortifications at Vicksburg, and is reported to be fortifying his present position. It is expected that want of water will force him back to the Big Black. WIRT ADAM’S cavalry have had a spirited skirmish on the Yazoo, killing and wounding some twenty of the enemy.

(Private Despatch.)

MERIDIAN, May 27. News has been received from Vicksburg up to Sunday evening. Fighting has taken place every day. On Saturday a tremendous assault was made by concentrating most of the enemy’s cannon upon one point. Our breast works were broken, and the enemy entered in considerable numbers. They were terribly [continue reading…]

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News of the Day

June 1, 1863, The Charleston Mercury

Our telegrams inform us that GRANT, after making seven bloody but fruitless assaults upon our entrenched positions at Vicksburg, has gone to […..] in the rear of the Hilled City. This says the Mobile Advertiser, means regular siege operations and an attempt to starve a garrison that he cannot whip. Meantime he leaves his dead Yankees unburied under our works, without any proffer under flag of truce to give them the decent interment which they are entitled to, at least, at his hands. GRANT evidently thinks that the carcasses of the poor wretches he has sent to slaughter will be no more serviceable to the […..] Government the world ever saw,’ on top of the ground, than under it. Can he starve out Vicksburg? Not in a hurry, certainly. It is well provisioned for some months, and half provisions for double the number. GRANT’S possession of Snyder’s Bluff gives him large advantages in his proposed siege. It enables him to shorten his line of communication with his base of supplies, and avoids the danger of running the batteries on the river front, or the expense and delay of a long transportation around Vicksburg on the Louisiana shore. Meantime the interest of the situation deepens, and the eyes and energies of both the belligerents will, in all probability, be turned and concentrated upon this point. It is not unlikely that the great battle of the war – perhaps, the decisive battle – will be fought within cannon hearing of the Hill City. From the death-like quietude on ROSECRANS’ lines, it is premised that GRANT has been reinforced from the Tennessee army. The Yankees will need great numbers for the work before them, and they will send them. We shall want them, and they are gone and going.

General JOHNSTON is quietly massing a powerful army in GRANT’S rear. Information just received, leads the Advertiser to believe that his numbers are already greater than we have supposed. Confederate will be ready to dispute the sovereignty of the lower Mississippi, and, if victorious, re-establish the freedom of Louisiana.

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News of the Day

June 1, 1863, Charleston Mercury

                      With deep regret we announce the destruction, by fire, on the night of the 25th inst., of the paper mill of Messrs. John W. Grady & Co., near this place.  The above mill was used exclusively for the manufacture of writing paper, and its destruction will prove a serious loss and inconvenience to the country.  The loss to the proprietors is estimated at about $30,000, on which there was no insurance.  Messrs. Grady & Co. have, with commendable zeal and industry, already commenced removing the debris of the late fire, for the purpose of rebuilding the mill and resuming operations.  This they hope to be able to do in the course of the next sixty days.  Whilst the machinery has been damaged to a considerable extent, it will not prove a total loss, and can, it is thought, be put again in running order.–Greenville Enterprise.

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News of the Day

June 1, 1863, The New York Herald

A despatch received at the Navy Department yesterday from Admiral Porter, near Vicksburg, reports that in the recent attack at Haines’ Bluff three powerful steamers and a ram were destroyed at Yazoo City. The ram was a monster, three hundred and ten feet long, seventy feet beam, to be covered with four inch iron plates. Also that a fine navy yard, with machine shops of all kinds, sawmills, blacksmiths’ shops, &c., were burned up. The property destroyed and captured amounted in all to over two millions of dollars. Unofficial despatches were also received at Washington yesterday from General Grant army, dated on Tuesday last, the 26th ult., which state that no material change had occurred in the condition of affairs there since the day before. The news of that day we have already published, and it will be remembered that it did not report much progress since the Friday previous. On Monday evening, the 25th ult., it is said that General Pemberton asked for and obtained from General Grant a truce of two and a half hours to bury the rebel dead. The fight was renewed on Tuesday, but we have no particulars. Rebel accounts contain various rumors relative to the condition of things at Vicksburg. The Chattanooga Rebel of Friday reports from below Vicksburg that General Banks has crossed the Mississippi with his army at Bayou Sara, that General Grant sent in a flag of truce about his sick and wounded, and that the slaughter of the Union troops was far greater in the assault upon Vicksburg than in any battle during the war. The Mississippian of Tuesday says that Saturday’s battle at Vicksburg was the most stubborn of all.

The Memphis Appeal reports another splendid cavalry raid of Colonel Grierson from [continue reading…]

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Downing’s Civil War Diary.–Alexander G. Downing.

Diary of Alexander G. Downing; Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry

Sunday, 31st–We camped by the river last night, and early this morning started for Haines’s Bluff. We marched along some fine cornfields. We reached Haines’s Bluff in the afternoon, and went into bivouac to the south of that place. We were as far east as Mechanicsville, forty-two miles from Vicksburg. On this raid we burned some fine plantation houses and other improvements. I saw only one residence left standing, and that was where the family had the courage to remain at home. The weather has been hot and the roads dusty.

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War Diary of Luman Harris Tenney.

War Diary of Luman Harris Tenney.

31st. Felt better and got up to breakfast. Cleaned up and rode to water with Thede. Capt. N. has been quite sick for several days, bowel complaint principally. Thede called on him. C. G. came over. Walked a little. Wrote a few lines to Fred. Read the Congregationalist. Chaplain preached in the evening. Frequent thunder showers.

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Cruise of the U.S. Flag-Ship Hartford -Wm. C. Holton

May 31st. At three A. M., mortar vessels below still firing upon the rebel batteries at Port Hudson; at 10 o’clock called all hands to muster on the quarter-deck, and performed Divine service; nothing of importance occurred during the remainder of this day. The weather continues pleasant, and occasional guns were heard at Port Hudson and in rear of same.

 

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A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary

A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary at the Confederate States Capital, By John Beauchamp Jones
A likeness of Jones when he was editor and majority owner of the Daily Madisonian during President John Tyler’s administration.

MAY 31st.—The commissioners, appointed for the purpose, have agreed upon the following schedule of prices for the State of Virginia, under the recent impressment act of Congress; and if a large amount of suppliess be furnished at these prices—which are fifty, sometimes one hundred per cent. lower than the rates private individuals are paying—it will be good proof that all patriotism is not yet extinct :

“Wheat, white, per bushel of 60 pounds, $1.50; flour, superfine, per barrel of 196 pounds, $22.50; corn, white, per bushel of 56 pounds, $4; unshelled corn, white, per bushel of 56 pounds, $3.95; corn-meal, per bushel of 50 pounds, $1.20; rye, per bushel of 56 pounds, $3.20; cleaned oats, per bushel of 32 pounds, $2; wheat-bran, per bushel of 17 pounds, 50 cents; shorts, per bushel of 22 pounds, 70 cents; brown stuff, per bushel of 28 pounds, 90 cents; ship stuff, per bushel of 37 pounds, $1.40; bacon, hoground, per pound, $1; salt pork, per pound, $1 ; lard, per pound, $ ; horses, first class, artillery, etc., average price per head, $350; wool, per pound, $3; peas, per bushel of 60 pounds, $4; beans, per bushel of 69 pounds, $4; potatoes, Irish, per bushel of 69 pounds, $4; potatoes, sweet, per bushel of 69 pounds, $5; onions, per bushel of 60 pounds, $5; dried peaches, peeled, per bushel of 38 pounds, $8; dried peaches, unpeeled, per bushel of 38 pounds, $4.50; dried apples, peeled, per bushel of 28 pounds, $3.”

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A Soldier’s Story of the Siege of Vicksburg

From the diary of Osborn H. Oldroyd

MAY 31ST.–We were aroused by the bugle call, and in a few minutes on the march again. Halted at noon on a large planta ­tion. This is a capital place to stop, for the negroes are quite busy baking corn-bread and sweet potatoes for us. We have had a grand dinner at the expense of a rich planter now serving in the southern army. Some of the negroes wanted to come with us, but we persuaded them to remain, telling them they would see hard times if they followed us. They showed indications of good treatment, and I presume their master is one of the few who treat their slaves like human beings.

I must say–whether right or wrong–plantation life has had a sort of fascination for me ever since I came south, especially when I visit one like that where we took dinner to-day, and some, also, I visited in Tennessee. I know I should treat my slaves well, and, while giving them a good living, I should buy, but never sell.

We left at three o’clock P. M., and just as the boys were ordered to take with them some of the mules working in the field, where there was a large crop being cultivated, to be used, when gathered, for the maintenance of our enemies. As our boys, ac ­cordingly, were unhitching the mules, some “dutchy” in an officer’s uniform rode up, yelling, “mens! you left dem schackasses alone!” I doubt whether he had authority to give such an order, but whether he had or not he was not obeyed. When we marched off with our corn-bread and “schackasses,” some of the darkies insist ­ed on following. We passed through some rebel works at Haines’ Bluffs, which were built to protect the approach to Vicksburg by way of the Yazoo river. Sherman had taken them on the nine ­teenth instant, when our boats came up the river and delivered rations.

May has now passed, with all its hardships and privations to the army of the west–the absence of camp comforts; open fields for dwelling places; the bare ground for beds; cartridge boxes for pillows, and all the other tribulations of an active campaign. Enduring these troubles, we have given our country willing service. We have passed through some hard-fought battles, where many of our comrades fell, now suffering in hospitals or sleeping, perhaps, in unmarked graves. Well they did their part, and much do we miss them. Their noble deeds shall still incite our emulation, that their proud record may not be sullied by any act of ours.

Camped at dark, tired, dirty and ragged–having had no chance to draw clothes for two months.

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