We were ready to continue our march, but were not ordered
out. Some white citizens came into camp to see the "Yankees," as they
call us. Of course they do not know the meaning of the term, but apply it to
all Union soldiers. They will think there are plenty of Yankees on this road if
they watch it. The country here looks desolate. The owners of the plantations
are "dun gone," and the fortunes of war have cleared away the fences.
One of the boys foraged to-day and brought into camp, in his blanket, a variety
of vegetables—and nothing is so palatable to us now as a vegetable meal, for we
have been living a little too long on nothing but bacon. Pickles taste
first-rate. I always write home for pickles, and I've a lady friend who makes
and sends me, when she can, the best kind of "ketchup." There is
nothing else I eat that makes me catch up so quick. There is another
article we learn to appreciate in camp, and that is newspapers—something fresh
to read. The boys frequently bring in reading matter with their forage. Almost
anything in print is better than nothing. A novel was brought in to-day, and as
soon as it was caught sight of a score or more had engaged in turn the reading
of it. It will soon be read to pieces, though handled as carefully as possible,
under the circumstances. We can not get reading supplies from home down here. I
know papers have been sent to me, but I never got them. The health of our boys
is good, and they are brimful of spirits (not "commissary"). We are
generally better on the march than in camp, where we are too apt to get lazy,
and grumble; but when moving we digest almost anything. When soldiers get
bilious, they can not be satisfied until they are set in motion.
SOURCE: Osborn Hamiline Oldroyd, A Soldier's Story
of the Siege of Vicksburg, p. 10-11
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