CHAPTER XV. THE SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF VICKSBURG. General Grant falls Back.-The slower work of a Siege.-The Troops Ready for it.-Anecdotes of General Grant.-Amusing Scenes.-Various Movements.The Sapping and Mining.-Mine Exploded.-An Exciting Struggle.-The Siege goes on. The Rebels begin to feel the Death-grasp of General Grant.-General Pemberton opens Correspondence.-The Surrender of the City. AFTER the failure of the assault, General Grant determined to resort to the slow, but certain method of a regular siege. The troops, having seen the necessity of it, performed their part with cheerfulness. The advance of each corps was pushed up as close as possible to the rebel works, which were nearly invested by the troops already under General Grant's command. But still there were points at which portions of the rebel garrison would slip out, and supplies be taken into their fortress. The communication between General Johnston, who was at Canton, Miss., and General Pemberton, at Vicksburg, was but partially interrupted; and, while this leak existed, it was impossible to reduce the place by siege. General Herron's command was, therefore, withdrawn from northwestern Arkansas, and added to the force at the extreme left of the Union lines. This secured the complete investment of the fortified city. The position of the army at the end of May was as follows: General Grant was well up to the rebel fortifications, and was daily enlarging and strengthening his own. The extreme left, occupied by General Herron, was so situated topographically as to require less formidable opposing works than at any other point; but even there they were on a scale sufficiently important to meet successfully any demonstration the rebels might make in that direction. The Thirteenth Army Corps had the perfect range of the MOVEMENTS AROUND VICKSBURG. 295 forts opposite their position, and kept down the rebel sharpshooters, and prevented the successful working of their artillery. The Seventeenth Corps planted a heavy battery of siegeguns within a hundred yards of the fort, and expected to do excellent service in battering down the earthworks. Advantage had been taken of the topographical peculiarities of the ground, and a covered pathway constructed, through which the cannoneers could pass to and fro without danger from the sharpshooters. The Fifteenth Corps, on the extreme right, was equally busy. General Tuttle had built a fort, the guns of which enfiladed one of the enemy's most important, and, to us, destructive positions. This, of course, rendered it practically useless, and, had it not been for the line of rifle-pits on the Vicksburg side, which commanded the interior, it might have been stormed and carried any time. General Blair held Haines's Bluff, and the country between the Yazoo and the Big Black River. There the fated city stands, in the ring of Union cannon and bayonets, while the unyielding, taciturn, patient commander settles down, the last of May, for a summer residence there. If he can continue his visit to Pemberton longer than the latter wishes him to, or can stay at home himself, then he will have to leave his castle, and let his outdoor and unwelcome visitor go in and help himself to what may remain. Subterranean pathways are dug for the gunners, and other troops, who thus escape the bullets of the sharpshooters. Around Vicksburg, our men took what rations they could, and then tried to live on the country, which had little to offer. At one time, their movements were so rapid that there was no time to cook, if they had food. A hard bread or a corn pone would command a dollar at any moment. Some one found a negro with a half peck of meal, and six men, with bayonets, mounted guard over the fire while the bread was baking for General Grant's luxurious repast. After these privations, one of the officers, who was coming down, brought a basket of ale to the general and his staff. General Grant expressed his thanks appreciated the kindness, and would just taste it, in acknowledgment; but he drank none-not even ale. In repeating some anecdote of General Grant which he had heard, a gentleman said :-— "Grant's answer was, with an oath, 'I don't believe it. It is one of the rebel lies.' An officer replied: 'No, I do not think he said that. I never heard him utter one profane word.'" The same officer was speaking of the difference between Rosecrans and Grant, in the matter of generalship. On one occasion, during a fight, Rosecrans was standing in a commanding position, and giving his orders. Suddenly he started, and made toward a regiment, to chase back one man who was running, and spent some little time, in the height of the battle, sending him back to his place. Grant, in the midst of fighting, was watching intently, and working earnestly, when he was accosted by a surgeon. He had taken a fine house for a hospital, and had his wounded gathered in and about it, when, in the turn of the fight, shot and shell began to fall among the poor fellows. "General," said he, "what shall I do? Some of my poor men are getting wounded a second time." "Don't come to me," said General Grant, mildly, but earnestly; "I have this battle to fight; that is your business. I can't attend to your wounded, nor think of them now. Don't interrupt me!" waving his hand; "I have this fighting to attend to." A cloud passed over the "Confederacy," with the incredible, astounding fact, that General Grant had completely outwitted the traitors-gone across their soil, and set himself down coolly to watch the boasted Sebastopol, making a fearful prison of his enemy's fortress. How fearful it soon became, you can guess from the thousands of horses and mules turned out of it because they could not be fed. General Grant secured and used many of them. Singular scenes occur across the lines of the hostile armies. Just after Vicksburg was invested, a sharpshooter, from the works, politely asked of one in ours: "Can you give a fellow a drink of coffee, if he goes there?" "Plenty of it." THE REBEL VISITOR. "Well, comrades," says reb., "shall I go?" 297 The rifleman did go, and, for the first time in a year, drank a cup of coffee. He lingered, and was evidently in no haste to return. "Come back!" shouted his friends. Good-by." "Think not; this coffee won't let me. And the soldier of Vicksburg remained where he found "enough and to spare," while his disloyal brethren, of a common heritage, were "in want." It became apparent to the commanding general that it was Johnston's purpose to advance and fall upon his rear, The mode of getting the intelligence was novel, and is related by an officer of the army: "General Pemberton was anxious to indicate to General Johnston his exact situation, and sent a trusty fellow named Douglas-son of a prominent citizen of Illinois, who, several years before, migrated to Texas, and there joined the rebel service-through his lines, with instructions to make his way by night past the Union pickets, and, seizing the first horse he met, to ride to General Johnston, at Jackson. On the night of May 27th, at dark, he started, and, holding a pass from Pemberton, was allowed to leave the inclosure in the rear of Vicksburg. Young Douglas had, unknown to his superiors, for a long time meditated escape, and he could not neglect this golden opportunity. Instead of trying to avoid our pickets, therefore, he marched boldly up to them, and surrendered himself a prisoner. General Lauman conversed with him long enough to discover that there was meat in that shell, and sent him to General Grant. To him he delivered the message he was instructed to deliver to Johnston. It was, in effect, as follows: "I have 15,000 men in Vicksburg, and rations for thirty days-one meal a day. Come to my aid with an army of 30,000 men. Attack Grant in his rear. If you cannot do this within ten days, you had better retreat. Ammunition is almost exhausted, particularly percussion caps.' This is the substance of the message, although not its exact terms. Douglas volunteered, also, other valuable information, which leaves no doubt of the ultimate capture of the rebel army." General Pemberton saw that the siege might be a long one, and as his supplies had been cut off, he, for the sake of economizing rations, ordered every horse and mule, except those used by field and staff officers, to be turned outside his lines. Of these the Union troops secured several thousand. When General Grant first opened a concentrated fire upon Vicksburg from his lines of circumvallation, the herd of beef cattle was exposed, and a large number killed. The rebels soon removed these animals to a place of greater safety. To prevent Johnston's forces from getting to the rear, General Osterhaus, with his division, was sent to the Big Black River to guard the crossings, and to resist any attempt of the enemy to force a passage. A reconnoissance was also sent out, under General Blair, to ascertain the position of Johnston's army, and reported no enemy within striking distance. The facts collected concerning the enemy were, that Johnston had at his call twenty thousand men at Canton, and a similar number at Jackson. This force was composed of very old and young men, all conscripted for the occasion, and were without arms. His serviceable force did not number more than fifteen thousand, though by the inhabitants it is estimated much higher. The expedition returned, confident that no fears should be entertained of serious difficulty from the Big Black, at any rate for some time. His last experience had so intimidated the rebel general that there was little danger of great boldness on his part, and, so long as he remained on the other side of the river, General Grant was informed that he need have no concern about him. Our cavalry was always in movement in that direction, and kept close watch on all his plans. The captures made during the expedition amounted to five hundred head of cattle, five hundred horses and mules, one hundred bales of cotton, and ten thousand pounds of bacon. All bridges were either burned or demolished, and |