Landed at Milliken's
Bend. General Grant's army is here encamped under the immediate command of
General Grant, and under him commanding corps are Generals Sherman, McClernand
and McPherson. We are assigned to the latter corps. The camp grounds here are
on the plantation, which are only protected by the levees and in the slightest
rain are flooded with water. A great deal of sickness among the men, and
numerous deaths. The only burial ground is the levee, and you can at almost any
hour hear the drum and fife, whose simple music is the only dirge of some poor,
brave soldier. I was permitted to go down on the commissary boat on which was
General Grant and his staff to witness the running of the Vicksburg batteries
of our gunboats. The night was a favorable one, but owing to everything not
being ready they did not start. Volunteers were called for to man the
transport, and several from our regiment volunteered, but Sergeant Simpson was
the only one accepted; there were so many offered.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 12
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