The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-09-02
The Beginning Of the Siege of
Vicksburg.

We had no siege-guns except six
thirty-two Founders, and there were
none at the West to draw from. Admiral
Porter, however, supplied us with
battery of navy-guns of large caliber,
and with these and the field-artillery
used in the campaign, the siege began.
The first thing to do was to get the
artillery in batteries where they would
occupy commanding positions; then to
establish the camps, under cover from
the fire of the enemy but as near up as
possible; and then to construct rifle
pits and covered ways, to connect the
entire command by the shortest route.
The enemy did not harass us much
while we were constructing our batter
les. Probably their artillery ammuni-
ton was short, and their infantry was
kept down by our sharp-shooters, who
were always on the alert and ready to
fire at head whenever it showed itself
above the rebel works. In no place
were our lines more than six hundred
yards from the enemy. 1t was necessary,
therefore, to cover our men by some
thing more than the ordinary parapet.
To give additional protection, sand
bags, bullet-proof, were placed along
the tops of the parapets, far enough
apart to make loopholes for musketry.
On top of these logs were put. BY
these means the men were enabled to
walk about erect when off duty, with
out fear of annoyance from sharp
shooters. The enemy used in their de-
Tense explosive musket-balls, thinking,
no doubt, that, bursting over our men
in the trenches, they would do some
execution. / do not remember a single
case where a man was injured by a
piece of one of these shells. When
they were hit, and the ball exploded,
the wound was terrible. In these cases
a solid ball would have hit as well. Their
use is barbarous, because they produce
increased suffering without any cores
ponding advantage to those using them.
The enemy could not resort to our
method to protect their men, because
we had an ineXhaustible supply of
ammunition to draw upon and used
it freely. Splinters from the timber
would have made havoc among the
men behind. There were no mortars
with the besiegers, except those that
the navy had in front of the city; but
wooden ones were made by taking logs
of the toughest wood that could be
found, boring them out for six or twelve
FOUNDER shells and binding them with
strong iron bands. These answered as
coehorns, and shells were successfully
thrown from them into the trenches of
the enemy. The labor of building the
batteries and of intrenching was largely
done by the pioneers, assisted by
negroes who came within our lines and
who were paid for their work; but de-
tails from the line had often to be made.
The work was pushed forward as
rapidly as possible, and when an adj
vanced position was secured and
covered from the fire of the enemy
the batteries were advanced. BY the
Both of June there were two hundred
and twenty guns in position, mostly
light field-pieces, besides battery of
heavy guns belonging to, and manned
and commanded by, the navy. We
were now as strong for defence against
the garrison of Vicksburg as they were
against us; but | knew that Johnson
was in our rear, and was receiving con-
slant re-enforcements from the East.
He had at this time larger force than
/ had had at any time prior to the battle
of Champions Hill.-General Grant,
Paper, an September Century.