H—— was going to headquarters for the requisite pass, and he
saw General Pemberton crawling out of a cave, for the shelling has been as hot
as ever. He got the pass, but did not act with his usual caution, for the boat
he secured was a miserable, leaky one — a mere trough. Leaving Martha in
charge, we went to the river, had our trunks put in the boat, and embarked; but
the boat became utterly unmanageable, and began to fill with water rapidly. H
saw that we could not cross in it and turned to come back; yet in spite of that
the pickets at the battery fired on us. H—— raised the white flag he had, yet
they fired again, and I gave a cry of horror that none of these dreadful things
had wrung from me. I thought H—— was struck. When we landed H—— showed the
pass, and said that the officer had told him the battery would be notified we
were to cross. The officer apologized and said they were not notified. He
furnished a cart to get home, and to-day we are down in the cellar again,
shells flying as thick as ever. Provisions so nearly gone, except the hogshead
of sugar, that a few more days will bring us to starvation indeed. Martha says
rats are hanging dressed in the market for sale with mule meat, — there is
nothing else. The officer at the battery told me he had eaten one yesterday. We
have tried to leave this Tophet and failed, and if the siege continues I must
summon that higher kind of courage — moral bravery — to subdue my fears of
possible mutilation.
SOURCE: George W. Cable, “A Woman's Diary Of The Siege Of
Vicksburg”, The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXX, No.
5, September 1885, p. 773-4
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