CHAPTER XI.
At two o’clock in the evening we received marching orders to go to the rear after Johnson’s and Breckenridge’s army. There was a routine of work to do here, such as cleaning up and granting paroles to prisoners, but we had troops enough to see after all of this.
On the morning of the 5th, we moved out to Black River, which was twelve miles distant. We had some strong fortifications at this place. We lay here until the morning of the 7th when we moved out in the direction of Jackson.
We stopped at the battlefield of Champion Hill for an hour’s rest. There was hardly a living tree on the field. Those fine, large magnolias had been torn and shot up until the place looked like an old deadening. One could see the dead leaves for miles. We found several bodies off of which the rain had washed the dirt. Not much pains were taken in burying the dead rebels, while we were at this place.
We moved on twelve miles to Bolton’s Depot, and here ran into Breckenridge’s rear. After a few shots had been fired from our batteries the enemy fell back. We lay here until 5 p. m. on the 8th when we moved out against the rebels. They contended for every foot of ground. We drove them about six miles and then lay down for a short sleep.
On the 9th we marched to Clinton. On the morning of the 10th we moved out in the direction of Jackson. There was skirmishing all the way but this did not annoy us very much for we were used to skirmishing.
We went into camp near where Sherman was forming hislines. The rebels were keeping up a constant firing from their guns. Our cavalry cut off a train of ammunition belonging to the rebels, and then they blew up three carloads of their powder and fixed shell to keep us from capturing it. This made a terrible explosion.
On the morning of the 11th, General Hovey’s division had orders to take our position in the line of battle. Our regiment, the 24th Indiana, went in advance. After a march of three miles we ran into a body of rebels, posted in the edge of the timber, a mile from their fortifications. Part of our battalion moved out through the timber and looked for a road to move out and flank them. We drove their pickets in and returned to regiment to await reinforcements.
Soon a battery came up and unlimbered. They fired several shots at the rebels at the top of the hill. We then formed in line of battle and had quite a skirmish before the rebels fell back. We moved up to open field which was planted to corn, and just in good roasting ears. We could see the enemy going in double quick time for their fort as our batteries were pouring their shell into them. Our division moved down near the railroad and halted. At 5 p. m. the rebels opened fire on us with several large guns, making it pretty hot for us. This firing lasted until night. The shells cut through all parts of our lines. We lay here all night without any thing to eat and with no protection from shot and shell, as this was a comparatively level country.
On the morning of the 12th we again fell in line and moved up within two hundred and fifty yards of their main fortification. It was built of cotton bales and earth and made a strong fort. A deep ditch was on the outside.
Here we had some sharp fighting. We were in some black oak bushes and the bullets and shells, as they passed through, made all sorts of noises. At 2 p. m., General Lawman’s divisioncame up and formed on our right. General Lawman, without orders charged the enemy. He got within twenty yards of their strong works, but they were reinforced and drove Lawman’s brave boys back with a heavy loss of four hundred, the most of them killed outright. Lawman’s command was taken from him and the division was placed under our general, A. P. Hovey.
On the morning of the 13th, the rebel cavalry had captured our pioneer train. They tried to burn our tools, but our cavalry drove them off and saved part of them. They were soon brought up and distributed, a pick and two shovels to the company.
We soon got busy and fair earthworks were thrown up. You cannot find many lazy soldiers where the bullets are cutting as close as they did there. While one of the boys was lying on top of the pit, a piece of shell struck him some place in the rear and tore all the hind part of his pants off. Another boy in Company B was hit in the shoulder.
We had just finished our breastworks when all of the rebel batteries in front of us got range of us and shelled us like fury until darkness set in.
As we had had nothing to eat since the morning of the 12th, each company had three men detailed to go back one mile in the rear and pack up rations for the regiment. These men would come running back to our rifle pits, loaded down with camp kettles, filled with coffee and roasting ears. We were glad to see them coming for we all had good appetites.
On the morning of the 14th the smell of our dead comrades near the rebel works became so bad that they could bear it no longer. They sent a flag of truce and requested a few hours in which to cover the dead which fell in Lawman’s charge of the 12th. They had refused to let us get near their works to bury our dead. We had carried off a part of our wounded at night, but many of them had perished. They were in the troops from Illinois.
A few hours armistice was given. The rebels piled our dead in ditches and merely covered them to keep them from stinking them out of their fortifications. They didn’t get half of them covered before the firing was resumed.
All on both sides were busy and each man was trying to see how many shots he could fire.
I was on the picket line that evening, and while lying behind a good-sized pine tree, my eyes were almost knocked out by bark and splinters. Some of the best marksmanship which I ever saw was at this place.
On the morning of the 15th, our lines extended from the bank of Pearl River, above the town, to the river below, and we were crossing a division five miles above. The division on our left made a charge and gained the rebels’ works, but they could not hold them on account of the heavily masked batteries. The works here were almost as strong as the works at Vicksburg. The rebels made a counter charge, but were repulsed with great slaughter. Several charges were made later on in the evening, but none of them were successful.
On the 16th our division lost fifty men killed and wounded. Volley after volley was fired that night all around the line, and our heavy guns kept up a continual fire. The rebel bands played “Dixie” and “The Bonny Blue Flag.” Our troops were crossing the river above on pontoons. All was hustle and bustle until after twelve o’clock at night. The cars were running back and forth, and locomotives sent forth their screeching whistles, making this night one long to be remembered.
We knew that something was going to happen, but did not know what that something was. Some predicted that the rebels were getting reinforcements, but when we awoke from a short nap on the morning of the 17th of July, we found everything quiet and Breckenridge’s and Johnson’s army gone. The generals with forty thousand men had crawled out through a little gap back of town. They had taken all of their guns except three hundred stands of small arms and one large siege gun.
All of the fortifications, which were made of cotton, were soon on fire and many fine buildings in the city were burned to the ground. The soldiers were allowed to roam the town over. They carried off many valuable articles. I saw a safe in a bank blown up and several hundreds of dollars in gold and silver scattered. There was certainly some scratching and running over each other to get those bright pieces which were thrown all over the street by the explosion. Many fine pianos and much furniture was chopped down.
Our cavalry followed the retreating rebs and picked up several prisoners who had straggled behind, purposely to be caught.
On the morning of the 18th a regiment from each brigade was sent to tear up the Memphis and New Orleans Railroad. We tore up the track for ten miles in each direction. We piled the ties and set them on fire. We put bars of iron on the piles of ties until they were red hot, and then bent them double so that the track could not be put down again. We worked hard all day and at night enjoyed a good rest.
We received marching orders on the 21st and at three o’clock we moved out in the direction of Vicksburg. We went by the way of Raymond. We lay here until the morning of the 22nd when we moved out for Black River Bridge. While on our way we were in a cloudburst. It came late in the evening and it was so dark and the rain fell so fast that we could see to travel only by the flashes of lightning.
At the end of an hour the storm ceased. We were wading water which was knee deep. Some of the regiments were sheltered by the heavy timber. Just as we came up to the river bottom, we were almost blinded by a flash of lightning. I sawmany of the boys go to the ground and two of the 28th Iowa regiment were killed.
We waded for a distance of three miles before we came to the bridge. We crossed over and went into camp. We had the cold, wet, ground for our bed that night.
On the morning of the 23rd, we marched to Vicksburg. The weather was very warm that day and we were all almost played out by the time we had marched through the city and two miles down the river. Here we went into camp.
On the morning of the 25th, we got orders to furlough three men out of each company home for sixty days. While here we drew new zouave uniforms. They were sent to us from Indianapolis, Indiana. There was a hustling time at this place. Some troops were gathering up captured arms and ammunition. They were scooping up barrels of lead from the banks of the forts. The heavy rains had washed the dirt down, and had left a solid wall of blue lead and pieces of shell.
We found a great many wounded and sick here, but the most of them were rebel soldiers.