Wednesday, 2nd September—Came on to Lafayette, camp one mile from town. Had a meeting of the Lodge this evening; I attended.
Monday, September 2, 2013
September 2 — We were relieved this evening by a section of Captain Moorman’s Lynchburg battery.
Wednesday, September 2.—Confederates have fallen back from Loudon; bridge burned.
2nd. Aroused at 2 A. M., in readiness for a fight. Got breakfast, fed and moved at 6 o’clock. General order from Burnside saying that any man guilty of stealing, robbing or pillaging should be stripped of clothes, flogged, head shaved, branded with letter T. and drummed out of service. Marched to Lenoir. Then artillery opened up at London and we took the trot for 5 miles. 2nd Tenn. attacked rebels. They burned the bridge and retreated. We too late. An order to scout. Alarm that rebels were crossing. Went swimming in Tenn. River. Half a mile wide. Current swift and water clear. Went to London bridge. Found 45th Ohio there. Took the company up there and showed the breastworks, good fortifications. Rifle pits and acres of trees cut down. Discovered nothing unusual.
Vicksburg, Wednesday, Sept. 2. On guard, third relief. As I did not go on until 12 M., E. W. E. and myself took a ride along the line to Fort Hill, which is about three miles distant, and took another look at the ditches, holes, abatis, and bastions, from behind which many savage little balls were hurled at us two months ago, but now they are empty and grass grown. Uncle Sam is fixing up all the important forts with gabions. Port Hill entirely built over, very pretty. Returned through the hollows. Two letters from home awaiting me.
Wednesday, 2d—We left Bayou Mason at midnight and marched through to the river, eighteen miles, without stopping, reaching Goodrich’s Landing at 7 o’clock this morning. General Stephenson planned our march so that we should pass through that terrible ten miles of hemp at night, thus avoiding the heat.[1] Our brigade led in the march all the way. The day is very hot and sultry. General Logan’s Division has taken the boats down the river for Vicksburg.
[1] All were thankful to him for it; for, if there is such a place as hell, this piece of road is a sample of the road leading to Satan’s residence. —A. G. D.
September 2.—Kingston, Tenn., was occupied by a portion of General Burnside’s army, under the command of General Minty.—The gunboats Satellite and Reliance, which were captured by the rebels on the twenty-second of August, were destroyed by the Union forces under the command of General Kilpatrick, at Port Conway, Va.—The guerrilla Hughes, with one hundred rebels, appeared in Burksville, Ky.
—A joint committee of the Alabama Legislature reported a resolution in favor of the proposition to employ slaves in the military service of the confederate States, which proposition was favored by many of the presses of Mississippi and Alabama. After discussion in the Alabama House, the resolution was adopted by a vote of sixty-eight yeas to twelve nays, after striking out the words “military” before service, and “soldiers” at the end of the resolution. The resolution was amended and reads as follows:
“That it is the duty of Congress to provide by law for the employment in the service of the confederate States of America, in such situations and in such numbers as may be found absolutely necessary, the able-bodied slaves of the country, whether as pioneers, sappers and miners, cooks, nurses and teamsters.”—Savannah News, September 2.
September 2—On a hunt to-day several of my comrades with myself came to a house, and the first thing we heard was, “Is there a Jew in your detachment that caught a deserter yesterday?” They would like to see him, etc. At last one of the boys told them that I was the Jew. After that I had a very good time there, and in fact wherever I went I was received very kindly, and was very sorry to see on the 4th that orders came for us to return to our brigade.
