The Siege of Vicksburg: Pemberton and Johnston

Johnston had written to Pemberton on May 29 that he was too weak to save him without co-operation on his part. On June 14 he wrote him, "By fighting the enemy simultaneously at the same points of his line, you may be extricated: our joint forces cannot raise the siege of Vicksburg."

The garrison, meanwhile, was suffering for supplies. Pemberton was particularly short of percussion-caps, and his scouts contrived, occasionally, to elude the pickets of Grant and transmit this information to Johnston. Supplies, in consequence, were sent as far as Grant's lines, but were generally captured; in several instances, however, caps were successfully conveyed to the besieged, sometimes two hundred thousand at a time, canteens full of caps being carried by rebel scouts in the national uniform and suddenly thrown across the picket-line. After the assaults in May, the ammunition scattered in the trenches was collected by the rebels, and even the cartridge-boxes of the dead, in front of the works, were emptied.

The meat-ration was reduced by Pemberton at first to one-half, but that of sugar, rice, and beans, at the same time, largely increased. Tobacco for chewing was impressed, and issued to the troops. After a while, all the cattle in Vicksburg was impressed, and the chief commissary was instructed to sell only one ration a day to any officer. At last four ounces of rice and four of flour were issued for bread,--not half a ration. Still, on the 10th of June, Pemberton sent word to Johnston, "I shall endeavor to hold out as long as we have anything to eat. Can you not send me a verbal message by carrier, crossing the river above or below Vicksburg, and swimming across again, opposite Vicksburg? I have heard nothing of you or from you since the 25th of May." In the same despatch he said, "Enemy bombard night and day from seven mortars. He also keeps up constant fire on our lines with artillery and musketry." On the 15th, "We are living on greatly-reduced rations, but I think sufficient for twenty days yet.". .

The price of food in the town had by this time risen enormously. Flour was five dollars a pound, or a thousand dollars a barrel (rebel money); meal was one hundred and forty dollars a bushel; molasses, ten and twelve dollars a gallon; and beef (very often oxen killed by the national shells and picked up by the butchers) was sold at two dollars and two dollars and a half by the pound. Mule-meat sold at a dollar a pound, and was in great demand. Many families of wealth had eaten the last mouthful of food they possessed, and the poorer class of non-combatants was on the verge of starvation. There was scarcely a building that had not been struck by shells, and many were entirely demolished. A number of women and children had been killed or wounded by mortar-shells, or balls; and all who did not remain in the damp caves of the hill-sides were in danger. Even the hospitals where the wounded lay were sometimes struck, for it was found impossible to prevent occasional shells falling on the buildings, which of course would have been sacred from an intentional fire.

Fodder was exhausted, and the horses were compelled to subsist wholly on corn-tops, the corn being all ground into meal for the soldiers. In the conversations that nightly occurred between the pickets, the rebels were always threatened with starvation, even if another assault should fail. For the pickets of both armies were good-natured enough, and often sat down on the ground together, bragging of their ability to whip each other. . . . Incidents like these relieved the tedium of the siege to those outside, and lessened some of its horrors for the rebels. A favorite place for the meetings was at a well attached to a house between the lines: hither, after dark, the men from both sides repaired, slipping outside their pickets in search of the delicious draught; for water was scarce, and at this point there was none other within a mile. The house was unoccupied, having been riddled with shot from both besiegers and besieged, and over the broken cistern the rebel and national soldiers held their tacit truce, a truce which neither ever violated.

Mining and countermining were now attempted. Grant fired a heavy mine on the 25th of June. It made a deep crater, into which the troops rushed. But the Confederates had suspected the intention, and withdrawn to an inner line, and no important advantage was gained. On July 1 another mine was sprung. This blew up an entire redan, and injured the inner Confederate works. No assault, however, was made, the last having proved so ineffective.