Vicksburg Campaign, Mississippi

Chapter 4: Confederates Dig In

Pemberton and his troops were trapped. Porter's boats blocked the river; Grant's soldiers blocked the roads. They couldn't get out of the 8-square-mile fortress unless they attempted a full-scale breakout - in which case they were more likely to be captured than to successfully slip away from the Yankees - or unless Johnston found a way to draw all or most of Grant's troops away from the city. Union Major General William T. Sherman recalled, "If we could prevent sallies, or relief from the outside, the fate of the garrison of Vicksburg was merely a question of time."

For the next six weeks, the soldiers worked in their ditches, as the Confederates called the trenches, keeping them in shape and repairing them from artillery hits, targeting Yankees who dared to show any part of their body for firing practice and expecting Johnston to show up. But Johnston was not coming. He just did not have enough Confederate troops to break Grant's stranglehold on Vicksburg. Johnston, who had originally ordered Pemberton to evacuate the city before he became trapped in it, now told him, through intrepid couriers who smuggled messages through Federal lines, to try to break out.

Confederate General Pemberton

Pemberton, concerned about his diminishing supplies, ordered that ammunition be used sparingly - be sure of your shot, use the bullet where it will do the most good. He had 102 artillery pieces, usually silent; Grant's 220 pieces were in constant use. His men devised simple but effective weapons. For instance they would roll thunder barrels, which were simply powder-filled hogsheads with a lit fuse, downhill into the Federal lines. If a tossed Federal hand grenade or an artillery round failed to explode, the Confederates would hurl it back.

It did not do much to stop the Federals, though. They dug closer and closer, until they were in shouting distance. The soldiers would pass the time taunting one another, trading coffee and tobacco, passing notes, gossiping, gambling and playing cards. There is a certain amount of courtesy in a siege. For instance, at one point some troops realized that the Federals had miscalculated and one set of the approach trenches would meet within Confederate lines. A cease fire was called while they decided how to handle the problem: the Confederates offered to pull back their line; the Federals suggested they redesign the trenches so as to avoid disturbing the Confederate sentries. The Confederates, however, appreciated the hard work of digging trenches and moved.

Eventually, though, things became more difficult for the Confederates. They could endure the rattlesnakes and the mosquitoes. But life in a trench is unhealthy; there is little relief from the hot sun, and the puddles of stagnant water and lack of fresh water can lay the healthiest man low. Fever and dysentery and measles felled one soldier after another until nearly half Pemberton's army was on the sick list.

Scurvy was another common health problem. As they had retreated toward the town following their sad confrontations in early May, Pemberton's men had driven what livestock they could find, as well as all foodstuffs, into town. Pemberton estimated that there was enough food to hold out for six weeks. His troops went to half rations, and by mid-June, quarter rations. When there was no more cattle, they roasted mules. When the flour ran out, they baked a bread of cornmeal and dried ground peas.

• Chapter 5: Citizens Take to the Hills
• Chapter 6: A Day Without Hope

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• Back to Chapter 3

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