Sunday, 22d—Dress parade was dispensed with today on account of the smallpox scare. One case of smallpox was discovered in Company K. Instead of the regular inspection, the doctor vaccinated all who could not show a scar less than a year old.
Diary of Alexander G. Downing; Company E, Eleventh Iowa Infantry
Saturday, 21st—Yesterday was clear and warm, but today it rained all day. We have had full rations ever since leaving Memphis. Today we received eight days’ rations with an extra ration of desiccated potatoes. Orders came to clean up for inspection.
Friday, 20th—There is some talk of our having to move our camp again. News came that our gunboats were throwing shells into Vicksburg, one every fifteen minutes, driving the rebels back, and that our mortar boats were damaging some of their water batteries.
Thursday, 19th—I was off duty today and went to town to have my likeness taken.1
We now have five hundred negroes at work cutting the levee at Lake Providence, and Captain Elrod of the Thirteenth Iowa has about one hundred negroes at work picking cotton—last year’s crop left in the field.
1 Upon inquiring of Mr. Downing how he came to have his “likeness” taken twice so close together (see Feb. 7), he laughingly confessed that it was not because the first was not a good picture, but because it was not a proper picture. Said he, “To tell the truth, I had it taken dressed in a major’s uniform, and it wouldn’t have been safe to let it be seen.” He destroyed it and had another taken.—Ed.
Wednesday, 18th—We came in from picket this morning. The day is warm but cloudy. News came that another one of our gunboats accompanying a barge loaded with hay ran the blockade at Vicksburg.
Tuesday, 17th—Another all night rain, which continued all day today. Our camp is again becoming very muddy. Company E went on picket duty today. Our camp guard has been taken off.
Monday, 16th—It rained all night and some today. Our canvas tents are no good in shedding water. I was on guard today, but on account of the heavy rain and high wind all the guards were taken off duty.
Sunday, 15th—We had another all night rain, which again stopped work on the canal. We moved our tents a little distance, to get out of the mud, going onto higher ground, closer to the lake. We are still in the plantation lawn, however, which comprises about twenty acres and has a great variety of shrubbery and tropical trees.
Saturday, 14th—A heavy rain all night stopped our digging for a time, and the fatigue party did not begin work on the canal until 1 o’clock in the afternoon. It is terribly muddy and the water hinders our digging; we wheeled out more water than mud. The following strange epitaph I noticed on a tombstone in a cemetery located in a grove near the town of Lake Providence:
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“Remember man, as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I,
As I now am, so you must be,
Prepare for death and follow me.”
Friday, 13th—The mail today brought me a letter from Jason Sparks and the monotony of camp duties was broken with good news from home. The weather is quite warm and we no longer need fires in our tents. Things are growing very fast and the farmers in this locality are planting their corn.
