Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

28o ANNALS OF OUR ANCESTORS
Railroad, which we did with only a slight skirmish. We then
returned to the boats and were carried to the rear of Vicksburg,
to join the main army preparatory to the first great battle for
the possession of Vicksburg. This took place December 29th.
"We attempted to storm the rebel forts on the Chickasaw
Bluffs in the rear of Vicksburg. We were badly defeated; our
loss was very heavy and we were driven back to our boats
again. The rebels had a fort up the Arkansas River known as
Arkansas Post; it was defended by about five thousand men.
Our fleet immediately moved to that point, when the army
surrounded the fort and, after a very bloody battle of three
hours, captured it. The loss of our regiment in this fight, killed
and wounded, was eighty-nine, or about one eighth of those
present. We were then taken to Young's Point, across the
river from Vicksburg, where we spent the winter.
"In April, 1863, we began our march down the west side
of the river to get in the rear of Vicksburg. Our fleet of gunboats
and transports ran the blockade of the Vicksburg
batteries, and on the loth of May we were carried across to
the Vicksburg side of the river at Bruensburgh, about fifty
miles below Vicksburg, and our brigade landed at perhaps four
o'clock in the afternoon. We were then ordered to take six
days' rations in our haversacks, which would hold but half
that amount, so we threw away our clothing and filled the
balance of our rations in our knapsacks. We commenced our
march into the interior about five o'clock that night. We
marched on until three o'clock in the morning, when we struck
the rebel army. We lay down in line of battle until daylight,
then fought the battle of Port Gibson, a battle which lasted
all day. This was May i, 1863.
"When we went into battle we were ordered to divest
ourselves of our knapsacks, so we piled them up and went into
the fight, and never saw them again. This left us with only
the three days' rations in our haversacks. Nearly a month
went by before regular rations were received again, and we
lived off the country. It was not high, being a quart of corn
meal daily, ground up cob and all, from which we made mush.
We also had a little beef occasionally, which the cavalry drove