The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-09-08

=. ~ AdAic1 uOOQ Clat daY at
uettysDurg, or no doubt the boys in blue
Woulu nave burned some powder either in
run or earnest to honor the occasion. As
u was che men IN gray got off without
parting salute. At Vicksburc. however
on that same day, the skies there being
brighter, there was some characteristic
Qualification over the surrender of Pember
tons Confederates, the evacuation of the
city and the occupation by Grants troops.
General Pemberton began his negotiations
for terms on the Sd, but the parley did not
terminate until the wee small hours of the
4th, and the contamination was set down
for the convenient hour of 10 a. m. Gen
eral Grant wrote of the event in very
familiar strain in his memoirs.
During the SIEGE" he said, there had
been good deal of friendly sparring be-
tween the soldiers of the two armies on
picket and where the lines were close to-
gether. All Confederates were known as
'Johnnies,' all Union troops as 'Yanks.'
Alter Johnny would call, We'll, Yank.
when are you coming into town?' the re-
ply was sometimes, We propose to cele-
brate the Fourth Of July there Sometimes
1t would be, We always treat our prisoners
with kindness and don't want to hurt
them;' or, We are holding you as prisoners
OF war while you are feeding yourselves
The garrison, from the commander down.
undoubtedly expected an assault on the
FOURTH. They knew from the temper of
their men 1t would be successful when
made, and that would be greater hui
initiation than to surrender Besides. it
would be attended with severe loss to
them.
1.-The Vlcksburg paper which we received
regularly through the courtesy of the enc
my's plckets said, prior to the Fourth, in
speaking OF the Yankee boast, that they
would take dinner in Vicksburg that day,
that the best receipt for cooking rabbit
was, First ketch your rabbit The paper
at this time, and for some time previously,
was printed on the plain side of wall paper.
Ihe last issue was printed on the Fourth
and announced that we had caught the
rabbit
II have no doubt that Pemberton COM
menced his correspondence on the Sd for
twofold purpose; first, to avoid an
assault. which he knew would be success
full, and second, to prevent the capture tax
ing place on the great national holiday
the anniversary Of the declaration of Ameri
can independence. Holding out for better
terms, as he did, he defeated his aim in
the latter particular
"On<the 4th, at the appointed hour, the
garrison of Vicksburg marched out of their
works and formed in line in front, stacked
arms and marched back in good order Our
whole army witnessed this scene without
cheering"
The Confederate general in his report of
the surrender, gave another reason for Sc
Letting July 4. eff it should be asked, !" he
wrote, ''why the Fourth of July was Sc
lected as the day for surrender, the answer
is obvious. l believed that upon that dav
could obtain better terms. Well aware of
the vanity of our foe l knew they would
attach vast Importance to the entrance on
the Fourth of July into the stronghold of
the great river, and that to crafty their
national vanity they would yield then what
could not.be eXtorted from them at any
other time" -<.
The days drama was not closed, how
ever, with the retreat of the Confederates
at Gettysburg nor with their surrender at
Vicksburg. They got the worst of it in
plucky but ill starred assault on the forti-
fed position at Helena, Ark, on the Mis-
sissippi, between Vicksburg and Memphis
1t was calling sight for the southerners
all through the months of May and June
w "loHess Iue unpToken tramp, tramp
tramp of Grants legions, closing around
their last great stronghold of the west 70
throw help into the doomed post by direct
method was out of the question, and the
next best thing was to assail some outlying
point and draw part of the besieging army
off from their hunt for the larger game to
the rescue of the smaller. Helena in the
control of the Confederates would have
been another Vicksburg, another obstruc-
ton to the free use of the Mississippi.
The Confederates in Arkansas the only
western army loose from the tolls at Vicks-
burg, were assembled at Little Rock, 100
miles inland from Helena, and in the clos
ing days Of june Gen. Sterling Prices