The water rose in the canal so that it ran up into our camp in the night. It washed away the trees that were rooted up yesterday. The channel is smooth and a good boat could go through it. One year ago today we left Winchester, Virginia, on our march for Manasses Junction. Part of Providence was burned this afternoon. The few citizens and Negroes whom the raise of the water had overtaken, were wading in the streets, waist deep, trying to save what things they had left.
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. 47
