The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1905-11-30

ali escape TO his army The next day,
; June II, Pemberton proposed to John
ston TO make strong attack north of
the railroad, of which he would take
advantage to cut his way out on the
dankinsons Ferry road to the south.
June Y Johnston wrote that he feared
he would be unable to accomplish any
thing with his small force and sug-
gested to Pemberton to try to get across
the river and join Dick Taylor and
Kirby Smith. He made this as a sug-
gestion merely and not as orders. This
was the last communication from John
ston which Pemberton received John
ston received another letter from Penn
berton of June %, suggesting that
Johnston propose to Grant the surren-
der of Vicksburg, but not of the troops
Johnston replied, but Pemberton did
not get his letter, that such a PROPOSE
ton could only come properly from
Pemberton. as it would be a showing
| of Johnston's hand.
| "Many Soldiers"
| June IS Pemberton received the fol-
lowing letter. which brought a chill to
his heart and those of his immediate
surrounding:
"Appeal for Help.
I'm Trenches near vicksburg, June
Gen. ]. c. Pemberton.
Sir: In accordance with my own
feelings and that of my fellows soldiers,
| with whom / have conferred, l submit
| to your consideration the following
note:
"""e as an army have as much con-
| fidence in you as a commanding Gen.
eral as We perhaps ought to have; we
believe you have displayed as much
generalship as any other man could
| have done under similar circumstances;
we give you great credit for the stern
patriotism you have evinced in the de-
| Tense of Vicksburg during a protracted
siege.
Il also feel proud of the gallant con-
duct of the soldiers under your COM
| mand in repulsing the enemy at every
assault and bearing with patient endur-
ance all the privations and hardships
incident to a siege of forty-odd days
duration.
Everybody admits that we have
covered ourselves with glory, but alas!
alas! Gen'l, a crisis has arrived in the
midst of our siege.
| Our rations have been cut down to
one biscuit and small bit of bacon
per day. not enough scarcely to keep
soul and body together. much less to
| stand the hardships we are called upon
to stand. We are actually on suffer-
| ance, and the consequence is, as far
as can hear, there is complaining and
general dissatisfaction throughout our
4
in the trenches day and night, not al
! lowed to forage any at all, and even
1 IL permitted there is nothing to be had
! among the citizens.
! Men don't want to starve and don't
/ intend to- but they call upon YOU for
| justice, if the Commissary Department
| can give it; if it can't you must adopt
some means to relieve us very soon.
The emergency of the case demands
prompt and decided action on your part.
IF you can't feed u.s. you had better
surrender us. horrible as the idea is,
than suffer this noble army to disgrace
| themselves by desertion. / tell you
plainly men are not going to lie here
and perish; if they do love their coun-
try, self-preServation is the first law Of
nature, and hunger will compel a man
to do almost anything. You had better
heed warning voice, though it is a
voice of private soldier.
| This army is now ripe for mutiny
| unless 1t can be fed.
| Just think of one small biscuit and
one or two mouthfuls of bacon per day
| Gen'l, please direct your inquiries in
the proper channel, and see il / have
not stated stubborn facts, which had
better be needed before we are dis
graced.
From Many Soldiers
Pemberton's Difficulties.
Pemberton suffered much in the es-
| timation of those around him from
the fact Of his having been born on
| Northern soil, and it was freely charged
| by the soldiers that he was not true to
the Confederate cause. This talk was
| SO loud and persistent that after he
| gained his first real success In the re-
pulse of the assault of May % he made
a speech to the soldiers, in which he
said:
You have heard that 1 am incom-
petent and a traitor, and that it is my
intention to sell Vicksburg. Follow me,
| and you will see the cost at which /
will sell Vicksbura. When the last
pound Of beef, bacon and fiour-the last
grain of corn, the last cow and hog.
and horse and dog shall have been con-
sumed. and the last man shall have
persisted in the trenches, then, and only
then, will l sell Vicksburg''
Getting to Close Quarters.
The besiegers were pushing forward
their saps unweariedly and without stop
day or night toward the enemy's works,
and everywhere were getting so close
that digging would soon have to stop
and the question be settled by hand-to-
hand fighting.
Logan's approach, starting from the
Jackson road, and from a point marked
by a large, white house, which became
one Of the prominent features Of the
siege, offered the most promising hone
lines. 1t was also marked by a pecu-
liar erection known as COonskin's Tow
er. lookout and perch for sharpshoot-
ers. This was the work Of Second
Lieut.. Henry c. Foster. Of Co. B, 23d
IEd, who wore coonskin cap and was
noted as an unerring shot. He was
known throughout the Seventeenth
Corps as COonskin. When the Seven
tenth Corps first took up its position
on both sides Of the Jackson road
Coonskin went out in the night crept
toward the Confederate lines until he
gained what seemed a good position
and there made burrow in the ground,
with a peep-hole from which he could
watch the enemy and fire with effect
upon them. He would stay there for
several days at a time. taking with him
provisions and ammunition enough to
last. His deadly shots from that covert
were a severe affiictiOn to the enemy,
who could not dislodge him. His next
step was to carry out to his position
railroad ties, with which he built a
regular log pen, after the manner Of
the pioneers. reinforcing 1t on the out
side so as to make it bullet-proof He
finally got 1T so high that he could