Weekly Trinity journal., 1869-08-07
vicksburg as 1t II.
A correspondent of the Boston Traveller writ
ing from Vicksburg, says:


A correspondent of the Boston Traveller writ
ing from Vicksburg, says:
vicksburg to-day.is quiet little town oksome
little commercial Importance, and IS MADE nVeiy
by the frequent arrivals of steamboats, from st.
Louis or New Orleans. The buildings show the
marks of the great siege, and in many places the
match work covers the greater part of the struc-
ture The hundreds of caves in the sides OF the
hills are still open, and bring to mind the ac-
counts we have read, and heard related OF tue
suffering there Many, however, have caved in,
and in some places, the whole sides of the hill
came dow a into the street at the same time.
One Of these caves, opened o few weeks ago,
was found 20 contain the bones of whole FAM
lily who had been suffocated there during the
siege. The canon have all been removed but the
rifle pits and earth forts still remain on the hill
tops. The spot where Grant and Pembertau con-
suited upon the terms of surrender, which was
then surrounded by trees and shaded by the
branches of a large oak, is now an open field,
cultivated by by negro who fought there. The
marble monument raised to mark the spot was
so hacked by relic seekers, that it has been re-
moved, and ten-inch Columbiad gun reared in
its place, upon which is engraved the words
I" The site where General U. S. Grant arranged
the terms of surrender with Lieutenant General
Peberton."
The graves of the Northern soldier, which
were thickly strewn over the hilsides and along
the ravines, have been opened and the bodies
taken to the cemetery, just above the city on the
| bank of the river. The Confederate graves are
plowed over and obi.erated, while the bones Of
many are exhumed by lead hunters and carried
into the city and sold for fertlizng purposes.
"Have you got a lot o. Yankee bones there,
Sambo? Well, pitch them in here; they are
just as good as mule BONES" greeted oar ears
as one of these bone-pickers deposited his load
at the shop of the purchaser. All, don't deceive
God they sleep in peace, thought
passed on down the street. The canal, which
took so much time and labor to excavate, is now
filled with sand and food-wood, deposited by
the overhowing Mississippi.
The Southern chivalry, either refusing to
hire a nigger," or unable to get them, are now
obliged to carry their own trails, drive their
or borrowed horses, and turn to the right when
they meet colored citizen of African descent.
Yankees are working into the trade and building
! some new stores while the negroes are indus
trious and happy, having homes and schools Of
their own. A combination of the landowners,
who will not sell foot of land to negro, at
present binders the full exercise of their enter
prsing spirit; but this cannot last long. The
junk shops full of old pieces of shell and tons
of bullets, which will soon be shipped away and
Tecast into stoves, roofing, or perhaps into plow-
shares and pruning hooks. The glorious old flag
floats proudly from the staff over the national
dead, and from the top of the barracks in the
city, where the garrison of soldiers now remain.
The seut, smooth old Mississippi moves majest-
icaly on, carrying up and down the commerce
of a mighty nation No batteries frown from its
banks, no rebel flags fly from the bluffs, all speaks
peace That peace which I" flows like river"
must soon come, and the nation become the
home Of the Free" which the soldier of tho
nation fought 10 make it. The fourth of July
was Gtrg day for rebels against the govern
ment founded that day, to surrender, and
may the nation founded in '76 and preserved in
'63 see many hundred years before another
| hand is raised against it.