Diary of Major Joseph Stockton, June 8-16, 1863

The usual cannonading; trench work and mining going on. Had a splendid rain on the 10th which was enjoyed by all. Weather cool and pleasant.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 18

Diary of Major Joseph Stockton, June 20, 1863

Drawn up in line of battle at 4 o'clock this morning. Heavy cannonading along our whole line of works. I presume if there had been any chance for a charge we could have had it. Firing continued about an hour. A rebel deserter was brought into our lines yesterday and gave some information which may have caused the firing.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 18

Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Saturday, April 19, 1862

A brisk cannonade, kept up since daylight from our side, without response from the enemy. By six o'clock P. M. the enemy fired three times at Carlile's battery. Heavy picket firing at ten o'clock in the night.

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, pp. 39-40

Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Thursday, April 24, 1862

At the front. We were relieved at nine o'clock A. M., by Battery B. News arrived of McDowell's occupation of Fredericksburg. Heavy cannonade in the night.

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 40

Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Wednesday, April 30, 1862

Battery No. 8. We were relieved in the morning by Battery B. Heavy cannonading in the night.

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 41

Diary of Corporal John W. Dennett, July 1, 1863

Mustered for three months' pay. Started from Myersville at ten A.M. Marched to Hanover, and went into camp at half-past four, where we saw a lot of dead horses. There had been a cavalry fight. Marched ten miles. Started again at half-past seven, and marched to within three miles of Gettysburg, Penn., and went into camp at twelve o'clock at night. Heard cannonading all day.

SOURCE: John Lord Parker, Henry Wilson's Regiment: History of the Twenty-second Massachusetts Infantry, the Second Company Sharpshooters and the Third Light Battery, in the War of the Rebellion, p. 277

Diary of Private John C. West, Tuesday, June 9, 1863

This morning about six o'clock there was heavy cannonading towards the Rappahanock. It is now after nine o'clock and the firing still continues. We have just received orders to form and are now resting in line ready to move at the word of command. Perhaps I may see my first battle today or to-morrow—will it be the last?

SOURCE: John Camden West, A Texan in Search of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood’s Texas Brigade, p. 59

Diary of Private Seth J. Wells, January 29, 1863

This is a beautiful day. I am quite stiff and sore from the effects of my walk. There was a detail from the sixth division this morning, mounted on mules and sent out in the northwestern direction upon a scout. Corp. Si. Livingston and Privates Briton and Schultz represented Co. K, 17th Ill. They went about sixteen miles to a little town called Richmond, where they found a detachment of the enemy, but owing to a large bayou, our boys could not get at them, and had to leave them in possession of the place. We heard heavy cannonading this morning. The Rebs had undertaken to cross with about five hundred head of cattle, but slipped up on it, and they fell into our hands.

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, pp. 34-5

Diary of Major Joseph Stockton, May 28, 1863

Heavy cannonading all along the whole line. The Rebs reply but feebly; they will not have much chance to rest.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 17

Diary of Major Joseph Stockton, May 30, 1863

Tremendous cannonading early this morning. I have never heard anything to equal it. It seems to be Grant's tactics to keep the Rebs busy all the time. There must have been over a hundred guns firing at once.

SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 17

Diary of Private Theodore Reichardt, Saturday, April 5, 1862

Marched at daybreak. Cannonading going on in front of Yorktown. General McClellan passed the line amidst great cheering of the troops. Strong intrenchments were found near Howard's Mills. At six o'clock P. М. we went to camp three miles from Yorktown.

SOURCE: Theodore Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, First Regiment Rhode Island Light Artillery, p. 37

Diary of Corporal John W. Dennett, June 9, 1863

Cannonading heard toward Warrenton, in the afternoon.

SOURCE: John Lord Parker, Henry Wilson's Regiment: History of the Twenty-second Massachusetts Infantry, the Second Company Sharpshooters and the Third Light Battery, in the War of the Rebellion, p. 275

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone: November 10, 1862

was a pritty one indeed and thar was a very hevy canonading cept up all day sum whar between Culpeper and Windchester and we had orders to cook rashions and expected to be cauld on evry minnet but was not

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 26

Diary of 4th Corporal Bartlett Yancey Malone: December 12, 1862

we was marched around to the left of our armey and was expecting to have to fight every minnet but did not for thar was no fiting don except the pickets and cannonading

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 26

Diary of Private Bartlett Yancey Malone, January 23, 1862

was cloudy and cool but no rain And thir was hevy canonading down on the Potomac to day

SOURCE: Bartlett Yancey Malone, The Diary of Bartlett Yancey Malone, p. 13

Diary of Private Louis Leon: November 26, 1863

When we had marched seven miles we heard cannonading. The enemy is trying to cross the river at Jacob's Ford, but our boys kept them back. We laid in breastworks of our own make until the 27th.

SOURCE: Louis Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 52

Diary of Private Louis Leon: November 29, 1863

Ours again to-day, but not as hard as before, but heavy enough. The cannonading is getting heavier.

SOURCE: Louis Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 54

Diary of Private Louis Leon: March 14, 1863

This morning, at daybreak, cannonading was heard by us from General Pettigrew's line, which is on our left flank. We immediately fell into line of battle, our artillery opened fire, then we infantry advanced our line on the Yankees. We halted in an old field and had for a breastwork a rail fence. We fought for four hours—hot at times. We had a number killed and wounded. The enemy fell back on their stronghold-Newbern. This battle is called the Battle of Deep Gully, as it was fought on that stream. We then took up our march again for Kinston. We got eleven miles and halted for the night. Our company was the rear guard of the brigade.

SOURCE: Louis Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 19

Diary of 5th Sergeant Osborn H. Oldroyd: June 20, 1863

Fighting over the enemy's fortifications.

This morning our whole line of artillery—seven miles long-opened on the doomed city and fortifications at six o'clock, and kept up the firing for four hours, during which time the smoke was so thick we could see nothing but the flash of the guns. No fog could have so completely hid from view objects around, both close and familiar. Had the rebs made a dash for liberty then, they could not have been discovered until they were right upon us. But they did not do it. Our infantry was all called out in line of battle, and we stacked arms till the firing ceased. O, what a calm after that terrific bellowing. There was every variety of tone to-day from the dogs of war—from the squeak of a little fiste to the roar of a bull dog. The sound of some brass pieces was so loud as to drown the reverberations of the larger guns, and not a return shot was fired. Poor fellows, how tamely they took it! They had nothing to say—at least that we could hear. Several of our boys laid down and slept during the firing as soundly as if they had been on their mothers' feather beds at home. When the clouds cleared away I thought the stars and stripes never looked so beautiful. Even if the defenceless women and children in Vicksburg are protected, or feel as if they were, such a screeching of shot and shell must prove a terror to them, and my heart has not yet grown so hardened that I can not feel for them.

There is a good deal of complaint, in our company at least, about the coffee we get. It seems not quite so good as that we have had, and I suspect it has been adulterated by somebody who is willing to get rich at the expense of the poor soldier, whose curses will be heaped strong and heavy on anybody who deteriorates any of his rations, and particularly his coffee. The only time a soldier can not drink his coffee is when the use of that ration is suspended. In fact, there is nothing so refreshing as a cup of hot coffee, and no sooner has a marching column halted, than out from each haversack comes a little paper sack of ground coffee, and a tin cup or tin can, with a wire bale, to be filled from the canteen and set upon a fire to boil. The coffee should not be put in the water before it boils. At first I was green enough to do so, but soon learned better, being compelled to march before the water boiled, and consequently lost my coffee. I lost both the water and the coffee. It takes but about five minutes to boil a cup of water, and then if you have to march you can put your coffee in and carry it till it is cool enough to sip as you go. Even if we halt a dozen times a day, that many times will a soldier make and drink his coffee, for when the commissary is full and plenty, we may drink coffee and nibble crackers from morning till night. The aroma of the first cup of coffee soon sets the whole army to boiling; and the best vessel in which to boil coffee for a soldier is a common cove oyster can, with a bit of bent wire for a bale, by which you can hold it on a stick over the fire, and thus avoid its tipping over by the burning away of its supports.

SOURCE: Osborn Hamiline Oldroyd, A Soldier's Story of the Siege of Vicksburg, p. 59-61

Diary of 5th Sergeant Osborn H. Oldroyd: June 25, 1863

We have orders to stay in camp, ready to move at a moment's notice. Our marching orders are still delayed, so we have enjoyed a good rest. We are now out of hearing of the guns at Vicksburg, and it seems very still around us, indeed.

The term of the enlistment of some members of our regiment has now expired, and they seem to want to get home again to see their mamas; but go they can not until our “rabbit is caught.” Shame on them for wanting to leave before the flag flies over Vicksburg. Many of them have had letters from friends at the North, urging them not to stay after their time is out. But they may as well make up their minds that Grant will hold them till Vicksburg is taken.

SOURCE: Osborn Hamiline Oldroyd, A Soldier's Story of the Siege of Vicksburg, p. 65