(Click on image for larger version.)
Drawing by Alfred R. Waud, drawing on light brown paper : pencil and Chinese white ; 17.2 x 52.8 cm. (sheet).
Published in: Harper’s Weekly, May 23, 1863, p. 328-9
Library of Congress image.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
1st. Commenced moving across at 4 and all the regiments over by 9 A. M. Some fortifications on both sides of the river; Zollicoffer’s old huts still there. Moved on and overtook the 1st Battalion at Monticello. H, E, M in advance of column continually. Skirmishing. Four miles beyond M. found the rebels in force on two roads leading to Albany and Traversville. Howitzers, 1st. Ky., 45th O. V. I. on the Albany roads, 2nd O. V. C. on Traversville. In line near the woods. Co. D dismounted to fight on foot. Rebels broke. Pike fired 5 rounds at them, 500 or 600 yards, wounding some. Gave my canteen to one wounded man. Pursued two or three miles, ordered back. Several prisoners. Ate supper where one wounded 1st Tennessee man was, Andrew Johnson. Marched back to Monticello.
May 1—We left here this morning at thirty minutes after 4 for Kinston. Marched eleven miles without halting.
May 1—We left here this morning at thirty minutes after 4 for Kinston. Marched eleven miles without halting.
1st May (Friday).—I called on General Scurry, and found him suffering from severe ophthalmia. When I presented General Magruder’s letter, he insisted that I should come and live with him so long as I remained here. He also telegraphed to Galveston for a steamer to take me there and back.
We dined at 4 P.M.: the party consisted of Colonel and Judge Terrill (a clever and agreeable man), Colonel Pyron, Captain Wharton, Quartermaster-General, Major Watkins (a handsome fellow, and hero of the Sabine Pass affair), and Colonel Cook, commanding the artillery at Galveston (late of the U.S. navy, who enjoys the reputation of being a zealous Methodist preacher and a daring officer). The latter told me he could hardly understand how I could be an Englishman, as I pronounced my h’s all right. General Scurry himself is very amusing, and is an admirable mimic. His numerous anecdotes of the war were very interesting. In peace times he is a lawyer. He was a volunteer major in the Mexican war, and distinguished himself very much in the late campaigns in New Mexico and Arizona, and at the recapture of Galveston.
After dinner, the Queen’s health was proposed ; and the party expressed the greatest admiration for Her Majesty, and respect for the British Constitution. They all said that universal suffrage did not produce such deplorable results in the South as in the North; because the population in the South is so very scattered, and the whites being the superior race, they form a sort of aristocracy.
They all wanted me to put off going to Galveston till Monday, in order that some ladies might go; but I was inexorable, as it must now be my object to cross the Mississippi without delay.
All these officers despised sabres, and considered double-barrelled shot-guns and revolvers the best arms for cavalry.
May 1. — We travelled all night with our pontoon trains, reached Bank’s Ford at 6.15 A.M., and found that the enemy had not evacuated the ford. During the day we put the road leading to where our bridges were to be placed, in repair. General Hunt came up during the day, with orders to protect the ford, and keep the enemy from crossing. We were stampeded in fact, and the few men that we had with us in our brigade were ordered out on picket-duty at the ford. The day was pleasant, and reminded me very much of May Day at home. As we lunched in the woods, the presence of ladies was alone wanting to make one think that he was on a picnic. We had three tents with us. Captain Clapp and I slept in the ambulance. No alarm during the night.
Vicksburg, May 1st, 1863.—Ever since we were deprived of our cave, I had been dreading that H. would suggest sending me to the country, where his relatives live. As he could not leave his position and go also without being conscripted, and as I felt certain an army would get between us, it was no part of my plan to be obedient. A shell from one of the practicing mortars brought the point to an issue yesterday and settled it. Sitting at work as usual, listening to the distant sound of bursting shells, apparently aimed at the court-house, there suddenly came a nearer explosion; the house shook, and a tearing sound was followed by terrified screams from the kitchen. I rushed thither, but met in the hall the cook’s little girl America, bleeding from a wound in the forehead, and fairly dancing with fright and pain, while she uttered fearful yells. I stopped to examine the wound, and her mother bounded in, her black face ashy from terror. “Oh! Miss G., my child is killed and the kitchen tore up.” Seeing America was too lively to have been killed, I consoled Martha and hastened to the kitchen. Evidently a shell had exploded just outside, sending three or four pieces through. When order was restored I endeavored to impress on Martha’s mind the uselessness of such excitement. Looking round at the close of the lecture, there stood a group of Confederate soldiers laughing heartily at my sermon and the promising audience I had. They chimed in with a parting chorus:
“Yes, it’s no use hollerin’, old lady.”
“Oh! H.,” I exclaimed, as he entered soon after, “America is wounded.”
“That is no news; she has been wounded by traitors long ago.”
“Oh, this is real, living, little, black America. I am not talking in symbols. Here are the pieces of shell, the first bolt of the coming siege.”
“Now you see,” he replied, “that this house will be but paper to mortar-shells. You must go into the country.”
The argument was long, but when a woman is obstinate and eloquent, she generally conquers. I came off victorious, and we finished preparations for the siege to-day. Hiring a man to assist, we descended to the wine-cellar, where the accumulated bottles told of festive hours long since departed. To empty this cellar was the work of many hours. Then in the safest corner a platform was laid for our bed, and in another portion one arranged for Martha. The dungeon, as I call it, is lighted only by a trap-door, and is very damp. The next question was of supplies. I had nothing left but a sack of rice-flour, and no manner of cooking I had heard or invented contrived to make it eatable. A column of recipes for making delicious preparations of it had been going the rounds of Confederate papers. I tried them all; they resulted only in brick-bats, or sticky paste. H. sallied out on a hunt for provisions, and when he returned the disproportionate quantity of the different articles provoked a smile. There was a hogshead of sugar, a barrel of sirup, ten pounds of bacon and pease, four pounds of wheat-flour, and a small sack of corn-meal, a little vinegar, and actually some spice! The wheat-flour he purchased for ten dollars as a special favor from the sole remaining barrel for sale. We decided that must be kept for sickness. The sack of meal, he said, was a case of corruption, though a special providence to us. There is no more for sale at any price, but, said he, “a soldier who was hauling some of the Government sacks to the hospital offered me this for five dollars, if I could keep a secret. When the meal is exhausted, perhaps we can keep alive on sugar. Here are some wax candles; hoard them like gold.” He handed me a parcel containing about two pounds of candles, and left me to arrange my treasures. It would be hard for me to picture the memories those candles called up. The long years melted away, and I
“Trod again my childhood’s track
And felt its very gladness.”
In those childish days, whenever came dreams of household splendor or festal rooms or gay illuminations, the lights in my vision were always wax candles burning with a soft radiance that enchanted every scene…. And, lo! here on this spring day of ‘63, with war raging through the land, I was in a fine house, and had my wax candles sure enough, but, alas! they were neither cerulean blue nor rose-tinted, but dirty brown; and when I lighted one, it spluttered and wasted like any vulgar, tallow thing, and lighted only a desolate scene in the vast handsome room. They were not so good as the waxen rope we had made in Arkansas. So, with a long sigh for the dreams of youth, I return to the stern present in this besieged town, my only consolation to remember the old axiom, “A city besieged is a city taken,”—so if we live through it we shall be out of the Confederacy. H. is very tired of having to carry a pass around in his pocket and go every now and then to have it renewed. We have been so very free in America, these restrictions are irksome.
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Note: To protect Mrs. Miller’s job as a teacher in New Orleans, the diary was published anonymously, edited by G. W. Cable, names were changed and initials were often used instead of full names — and even the initials differed from the real person’s initials.
by John Beauchamp Jones
MAY 1ST.—Gov. Vance writes that Gen. Hill desires him to call out the militia, believing the enemy, balked in the attempt on Charleston, will concentrate their forces against North Carolina. But the Governor is reluctant to call the non-conscripts from the plow in the planting season. He thinks the defense of North Carolina has not been adequately provided for by the government, and that his State has been neglected for the benefit of others. He asks heavy guns; and says half the armament hurled against Charleston would suffice for the capture of Wilmington.
A protest, signed by the thousands of men taken at Arkansas Post, now exchanged, against being kept on this side of the Mississippi, has been received. The protest was also signed by the members of Congress from Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri.
Capt. Causey, of the Signal Corps, writes that there are only a few battalions of the enemy on the Peninsula; but that rations for 40,000 men are sent to Suffolk.
Gen. Lee announces the crossing of the Rappahannock at Port Royal (which the Yankees pillaged) and at places above Fredericksburg. Gen. Stuart is hovering on their flank. A great battle may happen any moment.
L. E. Harvey, president of Richmond and Danville Railroad, asks for details to repair locomotives, else daily trains (freight) must be reduced to tri-weekly trains—and then the army cannot be sustained in Virginia.
Hon. Mr. Garnett asked (and obtained) permission for a Mr. Hurst (Jew?) to pass our lines, and bring Northern merchandise to Richmond for sale. He vouches for his loyalty to Virginia. Congress has before it a bill rendering this traffic criminal.
MAY 1ST, 1863.— Logan’s Division, to which we belonged, embarked on transports, that had passed the batteries at Vicksburg and Grand Gulf, last night, about two miles below the latter place, where we had marched down the Louisiana levee to meet the boats. Crossing the Mississippi river, we landed at Bruinsburg, and left that place this forenoon at 10 o’clock, marching twelve 
miles over dusty roads and through a hilly and broken country. Although the boys were tired, their minds were diverted with the scenery of a new State. After crossing the great Mississippi, we bade farewell to Louisiana and its alligators, and are now inhaling the fragrance and delightful odors of Mississippi flowers. Arriving near Port Gibson about dark, found that the advance of McClernand’s corps had defeated the enemy, who had marched out from Vicksburg to check our army. The fight was quite spirited, and the rebels hotly and bravely contested every foot of ground, but they were overpowered, as they will be in every engagement they have with us. Having only two day’ rations in our haversacks, guess we will have to eat rather sparingly of them, for our wagon train is not on the road. Should rations run short, we will have to forage off the country; but even the supplies from that source will not feed Grant’s large army. We were well satisfied, however, that the stars and stripes were victorious, in this battle, without our assistance. We did not smell the battle afar off, but heard cannonading through the day, and fully expected to take a hand in it. When we stopped, as we supposed, for the night, our Colonel drew the regiment into line, and said Gen. McPherson had asked him if his regiment was too wearied to follow the retreating enemy. When the question was put to the men, every one wanted to go, and started on the trail with the swiftness of fresh troops, marching as rapidly as possible until 10 o’clock, then camped in a ravine for the night. During this rapid movement, we did some skirmishing. The Confederate army had retreated, and we made the tail of it fly over the road pretty lively.
“The battle was fought, and the victory won;
Three cheers for the Union! the work was well done.”
Porter’s Gunboats in front of Grand Gulf
May 1.—The battle of Port Gibson, Miss., was fought this day, between the National forces, under Major-General Grant, and the rebels, under General John S. Bowen.—(Doc. 180.)
—A fight took place at Monticello, Ky., between a force of five thousand Nationals, under the command of General Samuel P. Carter, and the rebels, commanded by Colonel Morrison, resulting in the defeat of the latter.—(Doc. 181.)
—The Committee of Thirteen, appointed at the last session of the rebel Congress to “collect and report outrages on persons and property committed by the public enemy in violation of the rules of civilized warfare,” reported in part, and asked leave to continue their labors.—See Supplement.
—The schooner Wanderer, while endeavoring to run the blockade of Wilmington, N. ft, was captured by the National steamer Sacramento.
—A skirmish took place near La Grange, Arkansas, between a detachment of the Third Iowa cavalry, under the command of Captain J. Q. A. De Huff, and a strong force of rebel cavalry, resulting in a retreat of the Unionists, with a loss of forty-one of their number in killed, wounded, and missing.
—A fight took place at the South-Quay bridge, on the river Nansemond, Va., between a detachment of the New-York Ninety-ninth regiment, under the command of Lieut.-Col. Richard Nixon, and a strong force of rebels, terminating, after an obstinate and bloody contest of more than two hours’ duration, in a retreat of the rebels with great loss. The Ninety-ninth had forty-one men killed and wounded.
—Colonel Montgomery, with a detachment of two hundred and fifty negro troops, left Beaufort, S. C, on a reconnoitring expedition up the Combahee River.
