Before Vicksburg, Friday, May 29. The day was opened with a general cannonading all along the line for thirty minutes, with as much rapidity as possible. It was a sublime and terrible scene, the powder smoke gathering in a dark heavy cloud overhead, with the shells exploding with a continual flash over their forts, and now and then a mortar (shell) high in air could be seen. A gentle rain fell in the afternoon. Received twenty-five new horses from the landing. A repetition at sundown of the morning’s work, then all was quiet. Wrote to John.
