Reveille sounded
this morning a little after 2 o'clock. We filled our haversacks, got our breakfasts,
and by daylight were ready for the march. We fell into ranks, the regiment was
formed, and then we witnessed an unexpected ceremony which is disgusting to
every true soldier—the drumming out of a fellow soldier for disobedience and
disgraceful conduct. I should prefer death to being marched between two lines
of a regiment by a guard, at a charged bayonet, with an escort, the band
playing the Rogues March, and the remainder of the regiment standing at charged
bayonets; but it was soon over, the ranks were closed, and the regiment started
on the march. We crossed Wolf Creek, a fine stream one mile from LaGrange. We
passed over a fine country somewhat broken. The army has surely left its mark
here. Miles of fences and scores of houses have been burnt. From one place we
could count seven or eight ruins. The destruction of property is not
countenanced by a good soldier, but every regiment has its straggling, order
breaking reprobates that are a disgrace to the flag they fight under. We
reached Coldwater toward night and camped. I was on guard. I came across an old
cove who helped build dam No. 4, in Maryland, and knew all the citizens who
live there now.
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.
16-7
