The Morning herald., 1878-04-22
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A MEAGRE BILL OF FA Re,

. ~
noo How the peopls'of Vicksburg subsisted
during tho siege was a wonder. % The straits
to which the garrison were reduced are
known, in fact. "After the tenth day of
the SIEGE" says the report Of General
Stephen D. Lee, ''the men lived on about
half rations,r and less than that toward the
close" The ration has been described to
consist Of one quarter pound Of bacon, one
half pound of beef,i fve-eishths quart of
'' meal, besides AN allowance 81 peas, rice,
sugar and molasses., OF this, anon. The
citizens must have had less, and where
they got that from was mystery. Busi-
ness, Of course, was suspended. There
;, were some stores that had supplies, and at
-, these prices climbed steadily, IND manner
= suggestive OF the prophecy of Jerusalem's
p a1undoing. A barrel Of -four at last came to
sell for $100-an immense figure then;
but worse than the figure were the two
later facts-that nobody had the money
and then nobody had the four somepeo-
. pie eked out their supplies by cooking the
e. tender sprouts of the common cane,. OF
+, which there was an immense "braks' Just
. below vicksburg. Ihave reason to believe
that few applications, and those only by
the poorest people, were made to the mill
tary powers for lhalp, throughout all this
trial. Sympathy and patriotism mustshave
,improyised . practical fcondrnupisn. The
cruise and barrel had little dust and unc-
tion TO the last. b9.dtnp' a7sw 17gas'.s4
a' How about the mule neat9 everybody
will inquire while rations are being treated
' Both horse and mule meat were 81 xtensively
sampled during the siege, though not in
the way that by many may be. imagined.
On account Of the want of provender,
nearly ill the horses Of the garrison were
turned, out Of the lines, and, as the other
side could not safely take them unless they
strayed within reach, many Of them were
killed by the cross fire. Early in the siege,
., when some Of the men. complained of the
! scanty, ration, General Smith, ] believe,
). who had seem tho thing done ontthe plains,
issued a. circular to his brigades, recon-
nending that the experiment of horse meat
be tried TO piece it out was on hand
that very evening when somebody, waiting
/, till dark, slid over the works and cut q
- steak out of horse that had been shot that
b day beneath them. It was cooked at Gen.
p, Ieral vaughn's fire, and everybody tasted
little = but the flesh was coarse and nobody
hungered for any more. Some Of the SOL
diers did like it and eat it; not to speak Of
rats and other small dear, which the Louisi-
anians, being Frenchmen, were said to pre-
: pare in many elegant styles for the table.
When Pembsrton was thinking about cut
ting his way out, he had half dozen fel-
n lows, men who looked like Mexicans or In
dians,' cutting mule meat at the old depot
of the Southern Railroad, and Jerking it
over slow fires, to make it handy and last
r ing. One morning, for trial. bought a
pound of mule meat at this market and had
1t served at breakfast for the mess. There
ra Was no aced to try again. On the day of
D the surrender, ard only then, a rsiion 'of
Su;s meas wSs actually issued; bp. ncoc:y
-~~S ess h, Is GSns.ai Grant issued abuna-
ant suppncso1 tHs iSs==s :hs. his army had.
'-PhiladslpAia Tines.