Thursday, 28th—Came to Montgomery’s. Lamb left us. We came on to Widow Ballou’s. Yanks close at hand. We staid in bushes to-night.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
May 28.—Vicksburg has not yet fallen, but all think it is a matter of time, and it would not surprise us to hear of its capture at any moment, as the enemy have surrounded it with an overwhelming force; but our troops are holding it manfully. Every attack on it is repulsed with great loss to the enemy. It is said that lately the enemy attacked it with bravery and determination; advancing right on our breastworks, and were mowed down by thousands. The people in the place are suffering terribly.
I went with a party to visit a very large cave, called Nick-o’-Jack; it is some sixty miles from here, on the Nashville road, and about half a mile from the railroad. It was well worth going to see. The entrance has a magnificent arch. There is a lake running through it, which reminded me of a picture I had seen of the valley of the shadow of death. We went a great distance through it, and crept through many a small crevice, and came out with a few shades of the Ethiopian on us. Having no soap with which to remove it, we made use of clay, which we found a very good substitute. The party was a very pleasant one. We had a nice collation set on some boards for tables, and more good things than I thought were in the Confederacy.
We have received two boxes from Mobile, one filled with medicines from the military aid society; the other with cans of oysters bought with money given by Mr. Sibley.
I have just paid a visit to the Foard Hospital. It is the receiving one, and is now in a nice new building. On going in I was stopped by a guard, and had to wait till Dr. Thornton came to my rescue. The latter kindly gave me a pass to go and come whenever I please. We have many strange things to do in these war times.
May 28—Morris came to see me to-day. We are both in the same division and corps. Our corps is commanded by General Ewell.
Before Vicksburg, Thursday, May 28. Windy and cloudy. Spent the day in eating mulberries, writing and sleeping. Mail came. Brisk cannonading in the evening. Mortars working all day.
May 28th. At three o’clock this morning hostilities commenced again between the two contending armies, with all its former ferocity, and the loud booming of cannon was in great contrast and bold relief to the low but quick mutterings of numerous volleys of musketry. The rumor of yesterday in regard to several thousand of our men being in their entrenchments we have since learned was untrue. Although the fortifications in and around Port Hudson are very formidable, and of such a nature as hard to be overcome, making this rebel stronghold almost another Gibraltar, still great confidence is put in General Banks that he will be able to surmount all these in time, and reduce the place. Admiral Farragut, on board the staunch and new sloop-of-war Monongahela, below Port Hudson, is aiding the army by all the means in his power towards the consummation of the reduction of this place. He has the sloops-of-war Richmond, Genesee, and iron-clad Essex at his command, with six mortar schooners, and I assure you he does not allow them long to remain idle, but whenever he thinks some execution can be done by the sending of a few shot or shell, grape or canister, among the rebels, they all go to work with a will to perform this duty. They are more or less engaged every day with the enemy; the rebels admit that it is not Banks they fear, but the ships, and if they were not around close to hand, Banks would have to look out for himself; without us their supplies would not be entirely cut off, and the blockade would therefore not be effective; they could not be reinforced by Kirby Smith’s band of guerrillas, or some other party, by crossing the river, or cutting their way through Banks’ handful of men. I give all praise, though, to Banks doing as well as he has with the forces (and quality) at his command; and although he has been repulsed, and has to fall back to his old position, in the late engagement with the Confederates, still we will not say he did not fight well and attempt to carry everything before him; but, although defeated, we look forward to the time when our arms will be successful, and that soon. Although we lost many men in these two days’ fighting, yet the enemy must admit of being much cut up, and his men demoralized, which weakens him for an early renewal of hostilities.
May 28 — Sharp shooters as usual opened fire at daylight. A few can be seen in sight of our line again this morning . The gun boats that attacked us yesterday are about two miles below on the opposite side of the river lying still. W. R. Clack
May 28th. The brigade has been drilling on the parade ground in every known tactical movement. We can execute the most difficult movements with never a blunder nor the least hesitation. Horse racing, bayonet exercises, some fencing, and some gardening; many of the flowers now in full bloom.
General Zook has applied for and received a twenty day leave of absence and goes home to-morrow. Broom and I go with him. This is one of the sweets of staff positions: we are to do as we please after reaching Washington and all our traveling expenses are paid. The command of the brigade was turned over to Colonel Morris of the Sixty-sixth New York, a gallant and accomplished officer and gentleman and one of my very good friends.
May 28th, 1863.—Since that day the regular siege has continued. We are utterly cut off from the world, surrounded by a circle of fire. The fiery shower of shells goes on day and night. H.’s occupation, of course, is gone, his office closed. Every man has to carry a pass in his pocket. People do nothing but eat what they can get, sleep when they can, and dodge the shells. There are three intervals when the shelling stops, either for the guns to cool or for the gunners’ meals, I suppose,—about eight in the morning, the same in the evening, and at noon. In that time we have both to prepare and eat ours. Clothing cannot be washed or anything else done. On the 19th and 22d, when the assaults were made on the lines, I watched the soldiers cooking on the green opposite. The half-spent balls coming all the way from those lines were flying so thick that they were obliged to dodge at every turn. At all the caves I could see from my high perch, people were sitting, eating their poor suppers at the cave doors, ready to plunge in again. As the first shell again flew they dived, and not a human being was visible. The sharp crackle of the musketry-firing was a strong contrast to the scream of the bombs. I think all the dogs and cats must be killed or starved, we don’t see any more pitiful animals prowling around…. The cellar is so damp and musty the bedding has to be carried out and laid in the sun every day, with the forecast that it may be demolished at any moment. The confinement is dreadful. To sit and listen as if waiting for death in a horrible manner would drive me insane. I don’t know what others do, but we read when I am not scribbling in this. H. borrowed somewhere a lot of Dickens’s novels, and we reread them by the dim light in the cellar. When the shelling abates H. goes to walk about a little or get the “Daily Citizen,” which is still issuing a tiny sheet at twenty-five and fifty cents a copy. It is, of course, but a rehash of speculations which amuses half an hour. To-day we heard while out that expert swimmers are crossing the Mississippi on logs at night to bring and carry news to Johnston. I am so tired of corn-bread, which I never liked, that I eat it with tears in my eyes. We are lucky to get a quart of milk daily from a family near who have a cow they hourly expect to be killed. I send five dollars to market each morning, and it buys a small piece of mule-meat. Rice and milk is my main food; I can’t eat the mule-meat. We boil the rice and eat it cold with milk for supper. Martha runs the gauntlet to buy the meat and milk once a day in a perfect terror. The shells seem to have many different names; I hear the soldiers say, “That’s a mortar-shell. There goes a Parrott. That’s a rifle-shell.” They are all equally terrible. A pair of chimney-swallows have built in the parlor chimney. The concussion of the house often sends down parts of their nest, which they patiently pick up and reascend with.
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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.
May 28.—The Eighth Illinois cavalry, under the command of Col. D. R. Clendenin, returned to the headquarters of the army of the Potomac, after a raid along the banks of the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers below Fredericksburgh, Va. The regiment were on the scout for eleven days, during which time they captured five hundred horses and mules, destroyed twenty thousand pounds of bacon, and a large quantity of flour; burned one hundred sloops, yawls, ferry-boats, etc., laden with contraband goods, intended for the use of the rebels, and valued at one million dollars; and brought into camp eight hundred and ten negro men, women, and children, with a great deal of “personal” property, consisting of horses, mules, carts, clothing, etc., and also one hundred rebel prisoners, several of whom were officers of the rebel army.
—There was much excitement in Boston, on the occasion of the departure of the Fifty-fourth regiment, colored Massachusetts troops, for South Carolina. This was the first negro regiment sent from the North.—A party of two hundred rebel cavalry made a descent in Kentucky, near Somerset, and captured a small number of Nationals belonging to Wolford’s cavalry. — Elections in Norfolk and Portsmouth, Va., took place, resulting in the success of the Unionists.
—The rebel steamer Banshee, ran the blockade of Wilmington, N. C.—Richmond Examiner.
—To-day a severe skirmish took place on the Little Black River, in the vicinity of Doniphan, Mo., between a force of National troops, under the command of Major Lippert, of the Thirteenth Illinois cavalry, and a numerically superior body of rebels, terminating, after a desperate contest of half an hour’s duration, in the defeat of the Union force, with the loss of eighty of their number in killed, wounded, and missing.
by John Beauchamp Jones
MAY 28TH.—There is some animation at the polls, this being election day. It is said Mr. Wickham, who for a long time, in the Convention, voted against the secession of Virginia, is leading Mr. Lyons, an original secessionist, and will probably beat him. And Flournoy, an old Whig politician, will probably be elected governor.
A dispatch from Gen. Johnston, dated yesterday, says in every fight, so far, around Vicksburg, our forces have been successful, and that our soldiers are in fine spirits.
Papers from the North have, in great headings, the word VICTORY, and announce that the Stars and Stripes are floating over the City of Vicksburg ! They likewise said their flag was floating over the Capitol in this city. If Vicksburg falls, it will be a sad day for us; if it does not fall, it will be a sad day for the war party of the United States. It may be decisive, one way or the other. If we beat them, we may have peace. If they beat us—although the war will not and cannot terminate—it may degenerate into a guerrilla warfare, relentless and terrible!
