Thursday, 10th—It is pretty cold weather now, somewhat cloudy and windy. Our regiment furnished the patrol for the city today, composed of a captain, a lieutenant, two sergeants, eight corporals and forty privates.
Diary of Alexander G. Downing; Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry
Tuesday, 8th—Everything is marching along fine. The finishing touches are being put upon the outside forts and the heavy guns are mounted and ready for action. The floors of the forts and rifle pits are all laid with the lumber torn from the houses which were removed to make room for the forts, so when it rains while the men are occupying the forts, they will not need to tramp through the mud. News came that General Bragg was retreating with Grant after him. General Grant is the man for us yet. All are loud in their praise of Grant, and declare that he is the coming man of the time, that we will have him at the head of all of the United States armies before the war is ended.
Monday, 7th—I was relieved from patrol this morning. Thus far we have not succeeded in locating any of the reported spies. This patrol duty is quite hard, since when we have a few moments for rest the only place is a vacant room over a store, without fire; furthermore, lying down on the floor is not very inviting because of the graybacks running over the floor.
Sunday, 6th—I went on patrol guard in the city today, and shall be on guard off and on all night, looking for spies. I attended the evening services of the Baptist church while off duty after a two-hour shift. The weather is nice and warm, as it has been for many days.
Saturday, 5th—The re-enlisting of the men for three years is proceeding rapidly. Most of the boys are in favor of seeing the war brought to a close before they quit the job, while others say that they have seen enough of war, declaring that they have done their duty.
Friday, 4th—The rebels seldom show themselves near our front. The loss of Chattanooga and Knoxville is a staggering blow to them. News came today that General Grant had another engagement with Bragg, near Dalton, Georgia, and again whipped him.
Thursday, 3d—I went out on picket this morning. An order was read on parade this evening, announcing that all soldiers who will re-enlist for three years or during the war will be enrolled in the Veterans’ Corps, and receive a bounty of $400.00 and a thirty day furlough. Some of the boys signed their names at once.[1]
[1] I was not yet in from picket and so knew nothing of what was going on.—A. G. D.
Wednesday, 2d—We now have a good market house established here which has cut the cost of provisions; formerly the army sutlers had a corner on everything. I bought a barrel of potatoes for $4.00, which, without the market house, would have taken $12.00 out of my month’s pay. The provisions come from the North and are sold by retailers occupying stalls in the market house. They are usually at it as early as 3 o’clock in the morning.
Two brigades came up from Natchez this morning and went out to Black river bridge to reinforce the post there. A report reached camp to the effect that General Grant has raised the siege of Chattanooga and put Bragg’s army to rout, gaining a glorious victory. We threw up our hats and cheered for Grant. Sherman routed Longstreet from the siege of Knoxville, Tennessee. Everything seems to be coming our way again.
Tuesday, 1st—All is quiet. We had dress parade this afternoon at 5 o’clock. I wrote a letter home today.
Monday, 30th—The weather continues with pleasant days and very cool nights. I loaned $5.00 to Thomas R. McConnoll. No news of importance.
