Diary of Private Seth J. Wells, January 21, 1863

The boat shoved off at daylight and started down at 10 o'clock. We arrived at Helena, a small town, where we stopped about three hours, and then went on down the river. It is thickly timbered on both sides most of the way. There are a few farm houses scattered along. At sundown we tied up to the Arkansas shore just forty miles above Napoleon, at the mouth of the Arkansas river. As soon as we halted the "Silver Moon" played several tunes on her calliope. I went back to a little town of Nig quarters just over the levee, about one-half a mile from the river and tried to get something to eat, but they had nothing to sell or give. Everything was eaten up and the levees were all breaking away and they could not repair them as the able bodied had run away. Most of the Whites that are not in the Rebel service have left. One of our boats was fired on today. We passed Napoleon about 9 o'clock. At sundown we tied up at the Mississippi shore, eighty miles above the mouth of the Yazoo, and opposite the state of Mississippi.

SOURCE: Seth James Wells, The Siege of Vicksburg: From the Diary of Seth J. Wells, Including Weeks of Preparation and of Occupation After the Surrender, p. 30-1