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Crocker, Hovey and Logan's Divisions driving the enemy
at
the point of the bayonet throught Champion Hills.
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We rolled out of bed this morning early, and had our
breakfast of slapjacks made of flour, salt and water, which lie on a man's
stomach like cakes of lead—for we are out of all rations but flour and salt,
though we hope soon for some variety. We heard heavy firing about eleven
o'clock. Our division reached Champion Hill about two P. M., and filed into a
field on the right of the road. We were drawn up in a line facing the woods
through which ran the road we had just left. It was by this road the rebels
came out of Vicksburg to whip us. We had orders to lie down. The command was
obeyed with alacrity, for bullets were already whizzing over our heads. I never
hugged Dixie's soil as close as I have to-day. We crowded together as tight as
we could, fairly plowing our faces into the ground. Occasionally a ball would
pick its man in spite of precaution, and he would have to slip to the rear.
Soon we got orders to rise up, and in an instant every man was on his feet. If
the former order was well obeyed, the latter was equally so. The enemy charged
out of the woods in front of us in a solid line, and as they were climbing the
fence between us, which separated the open field from the timber, DeGolier's battery,
stationed in our front, opened on them with grape and canister, and completely
annihilated men and fence, and forced the enemy to fall back. Such terrible
execution by a battery I never saw. It seemed as if every shell burst just as
it reached the fence, and rails and rebs flew into the air together. They,
finding our center too strong, renewed their charge on our left, and succeeded
in driving it a short distance, but their success was only for a moment, for
our boys rallied, and with reinforcements drove them in turn. We now charged
into the woods and drove them a little ways, and as we charged over the spot so
lately occupied by the foe, we saw the destruction caused by our battery, the
ground being covered thickly with rebel grey. When we reached the woods we were
exposed to a galling fire, and were at one time nearly surrounded, but we
fought there hard until our ammunition was exhausted, when we fixed bayonets
and prepared to hold our ground.. A fresh supply of ammunition soon came up,
when we felt all was well with us again. Meanwhile the right of our line
succeeded in getting around to their left, when the enemy retreated towards
Vicksburg, lest they should be cut off.
The battle to-day was commenced early in the morning by
McClernand's great fighting corps, and was a hot and severe contest, until
Logan's division approached the road on the Confederates' left, between them
and Vicksburg, when the foe wavered and began to break. This was a hard day's
fight, for the rebels, finding that they had been beaten in three battles about
Vicksburg, had no doubt resolved to make a desperate stand against our
conquering march; but alas! for them, this day's course of events was like the
rest. When the fight was over, Generals Grant, McClernand, Sherman, McPherson
and Logan rode over the victorious field, greeted with the wildest cheers. I
wonder if they love their men as we love them. We received our mail an hour or
two after the fight, and the fierce struggle through which we had just passed
was forgotten as we read the news from home. Our fingers fresh from the field
left powder marks on the white messengers that had come to cheer us.
Our forces captured eleven pieces of artillery and over one
thousand prisoners. The retreating army will make another stand, but we shall
move right on, undaunted. Several amusing incidents have occurred during the
battle to-day. Company A, of the 20th, was sent out to skirmish, and moved
forward till they could see the enemy. By this time General Logan made his
appearance, when one of the boys who wished to go into the fight without
impediments, approached Logan and said, "General, shall we not unsling knapsacks?"
"No," was the stern reply, "damn them, you can whip them with
your knapsacks on." This same company, in full view of a rebel battery,
had taken refuge in a deep ditch, and when afterward the rebel captain cried
out, "ready, take aim," Mit. Bryant, feeling secure in his position,
interrupted the order with a shout, "shoot away and be damned to
you."
We moved up through the woods to the road again after the
fight, where we halted an hour. Near the road was a farm house which was
immediately taken possession of for a hospital.
SOURCE: Osborn Hamiline Oldroyd, A Soldier's Story
of the Siege of Vicksburg, p. 22-5
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