Monday, 25th–Fighting commenced this morning all along the line, but it proved to be mostly picket fighting. There was also some heavy cannonading and the mortar boats and the gunboats were in action. Our command, the Sixth Division, lay in bivouac all day. In the evening the rebels came out and captured some of our [...]

Sunday, 24th – The rebels tried to shell us again this morning, but could not get range of us. There was not much fighting today, our men having orders not to advance. Our siege guns, mortar boats and gunboats are throwing shells into the rebels day and night. We were relieved from picket this afternoon [...]

Saturday, 23d – We started this morning at daylight and marched five miles to General McPherson’s headquarters at the center of the army. Here we lay until 4 o’clock in the afternoon, when we marched back to our old place on the extreme left. The rebels again commenced to shell us, but the shells went [...]

Friday, 22d – This morning we moved out a short distance from our bivouac and formed a line of battle. The rebels commenced throwing shells at us, and continued it all day; but as their guns were aimed too high, our greatest danger was from the falling limbs of trees hit by their shells. Four [...]

Thursday, 21st – Early this morning, at 6 o’clock, we moved up the river and entering the Yazoo river we reached Haines’s Bluff, where we landed and stacked arms. Here we remained several hours awaiting orders. General Sherman has just taken Haines’s Bluff and now is uniting with General Grant’s forces in surrounding Vicksburg. At [...]

Wednesday, 20th – This morning found us going up the river, when about 10 o’clock we landed three miles below Vicksburg. The rebels commenced throwing shells our way and we dropped down the river to a point six miles below the city. But at 4 o’clock we returned to the place we had reached in [...]

Tuesday, 19th – All is quiet here at Grand Gulf. We heard some heavy cannonading up at Vicksburg. The Third Brigade of General Lauman’s Division arrived this afternoon, and about 10 o’clock our brigade (the Third of the Sixth Division) and the Third Brigade of Lauman’s received orders to embark at once for Vicksburg. The [...]

Monday, 18th – A despatch from the front informs us that General Grant has taken the railroad bridge across the Big Black river in the rear of Vicksburg. The troops also took some prisoners. The Eleventh Iowa, accompanied by a gunboat, went on a scout up the Big Black river to destroy a bridge which [...]

Sunday, 17th – There was some very heavy cannonading out at the front today, and word came that a battle was fought at a place called Champion Hills, with heavy loss on both sides. The rebels are falling back towards Vicksburg. The river is falling and troops are still arriving. General Lauman’s Division arrived last [...]

Saturday, 16th–The weather has been quite warm for several days. Troops are arriving every day and some of them are going to the front. It is reported that our men are shelling the rebels at Vicksburg and are getting no reply. We received a dispatch from General Grant this afternoon, saying that his head-quarters is [...]

Friday, 15th–News came again that Richmond has been taken, and that all of General Lee’s supplies are cut off. The Third Brigade of General Blair’s Division landed at this place today and went into bivouac. A gunboat came up the river from Port Hudson. Reports are coming in that General Grant is routing the rebels [...]

Thursday, 14th–News came today that Richmond was taken. I took a walk and reviewed the rebels’ works about here. They were strongly fortified with heavy ordnance on the high bluff, about two hundred feet above water, with the river for a distance of two miles running straight to the bluff. This made it a very [...]

Wednesday, 13th–After an early breakfast we left bivouac at 6 o’clock and took up our march. By noon we reached the Mississippi river, where we took boat, and going down about two miles landed on the east bank at Grand Gulf or Hard Times Landing—where the town once was. The town was destroyed just a [...]

Tuesday, 12th–We took up our march at 5 o’clock this morning and marched sixteen miles over very fine roads. This is a very rich country, and before the war, was prosperous, but now looks quite desolate, the buildings and fences having been burned by our troops. At the approach of our army the people fled, [...]

Monday, 11th–We started this morning at 5 o’clock and marched about eight miles, when we stacked our arms until 3 p. m. We continued our march to Perkins’s Landing about forty-five miles below Vicksburg as the river runs, or twenty miles as the crow flies. Here we bivouacked for the night. The country here is [...]

Sunday, 10th–Our brigade received orders to march at 5 o’clock tomorrow morning. Regimental inspection at 8 o’clock this evening showed the regiment to be in fine order. Companies D and E went out on picket this evening.

Saturday, 9th–It is quite pleasant. Had battalion drill this forenoon. The boys are all in fine spirits, expecting at any moment to receive marching orders. Our division teams returned from the landing with provisions and went on down to Carthage, where they will load them on boats for Grand Gulf.

Friday, 8th–General Blair’s Division, composed of Ohio and Illinois troops, went by today on their way to Grand Gulf. All day teams were returning to the river landing for provisions for the army at Grand Gulf. We received orders to send all the sick back to the hospital at Memphis, and prepare to march. Our [...]

Thursday, 7th–One hundred and fifty prisoners captured at Grand Gulf were taken past here this morning; they all looked quite downhearted. A large train of provisions passed here for the army below. The roads are drying fast, which is making the hauling and marching better. The boys are all anxious to leave this place and [...]

Wednesday, 6th–The Sixth Division trains all went to the landing this morning for ammunition. Wagon trains are passing back and forth all the time, hauling provisions and ammunition for the army at Grand Gulf. We had battalion drill this afternoon.

Tuesday, 5th–The Fourth Iowa Cavalry passed here this morning. It is a fine regiment of horse. Four hundred and forty-four rebel prisoners captured at Grand Gulf were taken by here this morning to be sent to our prisons in the North; they are a hard-looking set of men. News came today that our men have [...]

Monday, 4th–The Eighth, Twelfth and Thirty-fifth Iowa Regiments passed here today on their way to the front. They are all fine-looking men. I feel in hopes that Vicksburg will soon be in our hands. Our division is in the rear, most of the other troops having gone on ahead of us. Our army is in [...]

Sunday, 3d–News came that our army took five hundred prisoners at Grand Gulf. General Steele’s Division passed here today. There is an Iowa brigade in it, consisting of the Fourth, Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty-first Infantry. The men all look fine and there are none from the brigade in the hospital.

Saturday, 2d–The weather has been warm and quite pleasant for several days and the roads are drying fast. Things are very quiet here. Colonel Hall is now in command of our brigade. We have drill twice a day, though this afternoon there was none, in order to give the boys time to wash their clothes [...]