Saturday, 6th—We were relieved this morning by Companies B and G and arrived in camp at 11 o’clock. All are glad to get back to tent for a good rest, after having been on duty for forty-eight hours.
Diary of Alexander G. Downing; Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry
Friday, 5th—We are still on guard at the big cut, with cartridge boxes on and muskets by our sides. It was reported that the rebels were coming to attack us last night and there was no sleep for us. They did not come, but I hope that they will not deceive us any more.
Thursday, 4th—Companies E and K went out on railroad guard at the deep cut, to relieve Companies C and H. We are guarding the road for a distance of seven miles. We have some very strict orders on guard; every man has to be on guard all the time, as the rebels may come out of the brush at any moment, and if we should be caught napping, some of us would surely be killed.
Wednesday, 3d—Our regiment had to fall in line of battle this morning at 2 o’clock so that if the rebels should attack us they would not find us in our beds. The rebels did not appear and a big detail was put to work on the fortifications. When these works are completed a small force can hold them against a force five times the size.
Tuesday, 2d—There was some fighting south of town this morning and there is still some skirmishing. Old Patrick and several other citizens left, for they were afraid that the rebels would catch them and hang them. They had violated their oaths to support the Confederacy and then when the Union army took this section they had sworn to support the United States, and now thinking that this place would be retaken, they got out so as not to fall into the hands of the rebels.
Monday, 1st—We were expecting to be attacked today and so were in line of battle most of the time. Our pickets to the south of town are still skirmishing.[1] The weather is very hot.
[1] It was the belief in camp that there was only a small force of the enemy in the locality of Bolivar, but that they were quite active to make our commanders think that they were here in large force to take the place, and so make us keep a large force there while their real objective was Corinth. We had then but a small force at Corinth while the Confederates had their main army in the vicinity of Iuka, Mississippi, with the view of capturing Corinth.—A. G. D.
Sunday, 31st—Our pickets at the south edge of town were driven in by the rebels, and expecting to be attacked, the right wing of our detachment was in line of battle all day. We have now been in camp at this place all month and the work which we have been called upon to do has been very strenuous. I was on picket half the time, patrolling the railroad, and I spent the other half on special picket and on fortifications. I have been in good health.
Saturday, 30th—We are on guard every other day now. I am on picket post again on the main road out east from our camp. There are thirty of us with a captain in command. I stood on vedette for eight hours. Our reserve post is close by a farm house owned by a man named Patrick. He has a great many slaves who are out in the fields picking cotton, and they have a colored foreman, a slave at that, over them. But Patrick himself is the “driver,” though he seems to be kind to his slaves, who are mostly women and children. Patrick had been forced into the army of the Confederacy, but he escaped, and returning to his plantation, he hopes now to remain within the Union lines.
Friday, 29th—No news of importance. We are all on fatigue duty today, building rifle-pits and a fort. Our fortifications are not on high ground, but in case of an attack upon our camp, they would give us ample protection.
Thursday, 28th—Nothing of importance. We are enjoying a well-earned rest in camp today, after having been without sleep for forty-eight hours. Our camp ground is getting dryer and more settled, and the weather is more pleasant.
