Returned to our old quarters, the cotton being all teamed into Natchez and safely received. I had a pleasant time and met some very pleasant people in the country. Heard of the death of my partner in business, John Bennett, which will necessitate my going home for a while. Have made application for a leave of absence.
SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 21
Leaving Natchez for Chicago. I will not attempt to write anything of my visit home as it cannot be of any interest to any one.
SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 21
Arrived last night "at home," I may say, for where the 72d Illinois is, there is my home for the present. Found the regiment encamped on the bluffs at Natchez and the rumor is that we will move back to Vicksburg. I regret this as I have made several pleasant acquaintances among the people of Natchez and have been the recipient of a great deal of their hospitality. Many pleasant reminiscences will ever be connected with my stay here, but they will do to tell and not to write.
SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 22
Left Nachez this afternoon for Vicksburg. Had the band play "The girl I left behind me" and many personal regrets were expressed by citizens that we had to leave, although they were candid enough to say that they wished all Union troops would leave.
SOURCE: Joseph Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph Stockton, p. 22
Received orders
today to embark for Natchez. Ransom's brigade is ordered there. March to levee
and embark on board steamer "Lancaster No. 4."
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 20
Left for Natchez at
4 a. m. Quite a fleet of boats. I understand our object is to capture large
droves of cattle that the Confederates have been moving across the country from
Texas and crossing Natchez. Arrived about 4 o'clock p. m. Our trip down was a
pleasant one, the plantations along the river not being destroyed like those
above Vicksburg. We disembarked immediately upon our arrival and marched on to
the bluff were we bivouacked for the night. The good people of this place were
very much surprised and disgusted at the idea of their city being occupied by
the Federals. It is a beautiful place and as yet there has been no distructions
of property. I received orders to take four companies of the regiment and cross
the river at midnight.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 20
Returned to Natchez
and reported to General Ransom, who was delighted with the result of our
expedition.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 21
Visited some
relatives I knew were living here in Natchez. Some met me kindly and some
coldly. We could not find a more delightful place to be encamped. All are
delighted with our quarters; vegetables, fruits and such things as a soldier
longs for can be found here and the people are ready to exchange for our army
rations.
SOURCE: Joseph
Stockton, War Diary (1862-5) of Brevet Brigadier General Joseph
Stockton, p. 21
Had a good run during the night A. M. Passed Natchez but did not get to see any of the city except "Natchez under the hill." boat stopping but a few minutes. At 11.30 at the mouth of Red River where are stationed 8 gunboats & Monitors to guard the river. here had a sight of the formidable Rebel Ram Tenesee. She is a formidable looking vessel. at 1.45. landed at Murgauge. Saw Warren Alney, & took on board 1 battalion of 2 NY. Cav. Place defended by 7 negro Regts & battery. Rebs close. Start down at 6.30
SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, Thirty-Third Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, Vol. XIII, No. 8, Third Series, Des Moines, April 1923, p. 574
Traveled all night
Saturday night, having left Minden at dark, and all day Sunday; reached Vianna
about 10 o'clock Sunday morning; the road was pretty rough, lying mainly
through a hilly country, covered with large pines and red and white oak;
reached the dinner stand about 4 o'clock and found it a very neat and
comfortable place; was waited upon at the table by two young ladies. Had a
tedious and disagreeable ride from this place to Monroe, which place we reached
at 12 o'clock last night; took possession of the flatboat and rowed ourselves
across the river; found the hotel crowded and could not get a room; spread
down my blanket and slept on the piazza; got up this morning and wrote a letter
to my dear wife before breakfast; after breakfast walked down to see the Anna,
the boat we expected to go down the river in; found her a dirty little craft;
went to the quartermaster's office to find out when the boat would leave; he
could not tell for two or three hours yet; returned to the hotel; met Ormsby;
he is in the postoffice department; he has a thousand pounds of postage stamps and
is on his way to Texas.
I saw a very
interesting game of poker between Captain R——— and a professional gambler; it
was twenty dollars ante, and the pile grew fast and soon reached twenty-five
hundred dollars, and everybody went out of the game except Captain R——— and the
professional, who was a very rough looking customer, reminding me of
descriptions I have read of pirates in yellow covered novels; he was
weather-beaten and fierce looking; Capt. R——— was only about twenty years of
age, with a beardless face as smooth as a woman's. A dispute arose and each man
seized the pile (paper money) with his left hand and drew his pistol with his
right; they rose at arm's length and stood glaring at each other like tigers;
one looked like a black wolf, the other like a spotted leopard; the crowd
retired from the table; it was one of the most fearful and magnificent pictures
I ever saw. They were finally persuaded to lay their pistols and the money on
the table in charge of chosen friends; the door was locked and a messenger
was dispatched five miles in the country to bring Colonel ———, a noted local
celebrity—a planter who stood high in social as well as sporting circles. We
waited three hours; he came, and after hearing the testimony gave the pile to
"old rough and ready," and Captain Ryielded gracefully, a wiser but a
poorer man.
After dinner a
stranger named Peck gave me a letter to carry across the river and also enough
tobacco to smoke me to Natchez. I loafed about until the steamboat started at 5
o'clock in the afternoon; took passage in her to Trinity, costing me $15
besides transportation furnished by the Confederate States. I am now on boat
enjoying the beautiful scenery on the river; wish my dear wife was here to
participate in my pleasure; such a sunset! it is a vision for a poet.
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. 31-3
Yesterday evening
there were heavy clouds and a good deal of lightning in the North; after supper
laid down on the deck and slept very comfortable until awakened by a heavy
rain; gathered up my blanket and crowded into the state room, which proved to
be almost suffocating. I was very sleepy, so went down in the engine room and
slept until morning, crosswise on two barrels of rum; waked up quite refreshed
to enjoy the beautiful scenery on the banks of the Ouachita, among the most
picturesque of which was a high bluff on which was a single grave; a romantic
lady, the wife of a pilot, was buried there by her request, where her gentle
spirit might keep vigil over the destinies of her husband. We stopped during
the morning to take an old rail fence for fuel; a soldier shot a hog, which
gave us fresh pork for dinner; found some very nice mulberries on shore and
wished my children, little Stark and Mary, had some of them. Had a very
pleasant trip on to Hamburg; went ashore there and got transportation to
Trinity; after supper proceeded down to the river and met the steamer, Tucker;
stopped and had a talk and got the Natchez Courier.
Forgot to say above
that I met Dr. Rock on this steamer; learned from him that Lieutenant Brandon
was at Pine Bluff on the 8th of April, and was going to Virginia. Dr. Rock is
on his way to Richmond. We reached Trinity about 12 o'clock at night, on
Tuesday, the 5th, and have not stopped long enough during the day to write up
this diary, and at night had no light; left the Trinity in a skiff with five
others; proceeded up the Ouachita for about six miles; then into Brushy Bayou;
after following this for about two miles the thorns and bushes were so
troublesome that we had to get to land and walk about four miles, while the
negroes worked the skiff through. In this walk I got far enough ahead of the
skiff to take a nap; laid down on the ground and slept gloriously for an hour;
would have enjoyed it more with a blanket to lie on. At the end of this walk we
had a very good breakfast by paying five dollars a dozen for some eggs and
furnishing our own coffee, and then paying two dollars a piece for breakfast.
After breakfast pulled the skiff overland into Cane Bayou, and proceeded up
this for six miles to Turtle Lake, a beautiful sheet of water three miles long;
from this we entered Cocoda Bayou, which we followed for eight miles into
Concordia Lake, up which we rowed for seven or eight miles, which landed us
about three miles from Natchez. All this skiff trip is through just such a
country as an alligator would thrive in; affording fine facilities for fishing
and duck shooting; no one but a Newfoundland dog would enjoy it. We procured a
cart to take our baggage to the Mississippi river; crossed in a skiff to Natchez;
remained there all night and left Thursday morning for Brookhaven; stopped at
Dr. Holden's and got the second good dinner I have had since I left home;
reached McDaniel's at dark and found it quite a nice place, and met here that
rare creature of the West an old maid; she seems to be quite a nice person and
I think has been doomed to this state of single felicity by circumstances for
which she is not responsible. We got a good breakfast at 4 o'clock in the
morning, which enabled us to reach Brockhaven (where I am now writing) by 10
o'clock. On the road to this place I passed a bridge which Grierson's Cavalry
had destroyed, and here I see the remains of the depot which they burned. These
are the first practical examples of Yankee vandalism I have seen during the
war. I expect to leave here to-day at 2 o'clock.
Reached Jackson at 6
o'clock and found the train for Meridian about to start and had no time to get
transportation, and so have to remain here against my will until to-morrow evening.
All these days which I have been delayed I had hoped to spend in Columbia,
South Carolina.
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. 33-6
To the First
Mississippi Regiment:
The undersigned, a
committee, appointed at a meeting of the citizens of the city of Natchez and
county of Adams, to tender to the First Mississippi Regiment an invitation to
partake of the hospitalities of their city and county, have the honor to
discharge that pleasing and grateful office.
In the name of the
city and county, the committee present their most respectful and pressing
invitation to their gallant fellow-citizens of the First Mississippi Regiment
to visit them upon their return to their homes, and to allow them an
opportunity to express in some degree the warm gratitude, admiration of pride,
which fills all hearts for those brave men who have so nobly sustained and
increased the glory of our beloved State by courage, constancy and gallantry,
unsurpassed in the history of any country.
SOURCE: Dunbar
Rowland, Editor, Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters,
Papers and Speeches, Volume 1, p. 84
New Orleans, June 11th, 1847.
Gentlemen,—From the
hands of R. M. Gaines, Esq., I had the honor to receive your invitation to the
1st Mississippi Rifles, to partake of the hospitalities of the City of Natchez
and County of Adams.
On the part of the
Regiment, allow me through you, gentlemen, to offer the sincerest thanks to our
fellow citizens, whom you represent, for this manifestation of their regard and
kind appreciation. In the resolutions passed at your public meeting, we found,
not the measure of our merit, but the extent of Mississippians' fraternal
affection and received most gratefully this over-approbation of those whose
censure we could not have borne.
On Monday, the 14th
inst., we hope to have the pleasure of meeting you at Natchez.
To you, gentlemen of
the committee, for the very pleasing manner in which you have conveyed to us
the flattering intentions of our fellow citizens, I offer our most thankful
acknowledgments.
With the highest
personal regard, please accept the best wishes of your friend and fellow
citizen.
To Messrs. A. L.
Bingaman, J. S. B. Thacher, J. T. McMurran, C. L. Dubuisson, Wm. P. Mellen, R.
M. Gaines, and Wm. Stanton
SOURCE: Dunbar
Rowland, Editor, Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters,
Papers and Speeches, Volume 1, p. 85
We are steaming up the river in search of the enemy, and have just passed the place where he lay-to last night; so that we are now in full chase, though not in sight. We are some distance below Natchez at this writing, and the probability is that we will overtake him there. Our decks were cleared for action this morning, but the alarm proved false, and was occasioned by the Grand Era mistaking the smoke of a sugar factory for the gun-boat. Yesterday evening the Queen of the West, in reconnoitering in Old river, ran aground, and had to signal the Era to come and tow her off; after which we entered the Mississippi again and ran all night without accident or incident. The weather has been quite cool since 12 o'clock yesterday.
SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 67
We have just had some sport. Five negroes hailed us, and on being asked if they wished to come aboard, answered "yes" with every demonstration of joy, as they supposed us to be Yankees. The shout that went up when they were safely aboard made the welkin ring. They never found out their mistake until Colonel Brend told the mate to take them below and pay them for their loyalty, which he knew how to do from long practice. They had been working on the fortifications at Vicksburg, and said they had "been trying to get with us for several months." One yellow rascal shouted for Lincoln as he stepped aboard. We are now in sight of Natchez, and have not found the Indianola yet.
SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 67
We stopped at Natchez for nearly an hour, and in that short space of time nearly every officer and man got decently drunk. Some of our crew went aboard other boats, not being sober enough to distinguish the difference. We got back the missing men at the wood-yard this morning. The ladies were out in full force on the bluffs, and during our stay presented us with a flag, in return for which we fired a salute of two guns. 12 o'clock. We have just come in sight of the Yankee boat, and the excitement of the chase or the terrible conflict will soon begin.
SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 67-8
Last night at ten o'clock we got under way for Port Hudson, La., and the motion of the boat lulled me to sleep in a few moments. I have no distinct recollection of what occurred during the night. I awoke this morning at a wood-yard above Natchez, and, as the day was breaking, I concluded to keep awake and enjoy the scenery and the spring-like morning. Mississippi scenery has been described as a "line and a pine," and I will not attempt a better description of the lowest, flattest, and most dreary landscape in my memory. The only thing to relieve the monotony of the scenery and dullness of the journey was the bluffs at Natchez and the landing of the boat at the wharf. It was refreshing to see the natives running from their 8x10 groceries, and bringing whisky to our boys. Being on the upper deck, and stopped by a guard at each hatchway, I failed to get a supply of the "cretur," for which I am most heartily thankful. The boys on the lower deck were more (un)fortunate, and procured a plentiful supply.
SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 18
GENERAL: It is with
pleasure I congratulate you upon your removal of the last obstacle to the free
navigation of the Mississippi. This will prove a death to Copperheadism in the
Northwest, besides serving to demoralize the enemy. Like arming the negroes, it
will act as a two-edged sword, cutting both ways.
Immediately on
receipt of your dispatches I forwarded them by Colonel Riggin, of my staff, who
will take them as far as Cairo. I ordered the boats and other articles you
required at once, and as many of the boats as can be got ready will go down at
the same time with this. I also ordered, on the strength of Colonel Smith's
report, about 1,000 men to Natchez, to hold that place for a few days, and to
collect the cattle that have been crossing there for the rebel army. I am also
sending a force to Yazoo City, to gather the heavy guns the rebels have there,
and to capture, if possible, the steamers the enemy have in Yazoo River.
Sherman is still out
with a very large force after Joe Johnston, and cannot well be back under six
or seven days. It will be impossible, therefore, for me to send you the forces
asked for in your letter until the expiration of that time. I telegraphed to
Washington, however, the substance of your request and the reason for it. So
far as anything I know of being expected from my force, I can spare you an army
corps of as good troops as ever trod American soil. No better are found on any
other. It will afford me pleasure to send them if I am not required to do some
duty requiring them. When the news of success reached me, I had General
Herron's division on board transports, ready to start for Port Hudson. That
news induced me to change their direction to Yazoo City.
SOURCES: The
War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and
Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 24, Part 3 (Serial No. 38), p. 499-500;
John Y. Simon, Editor, The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant, Volume 9, p.
31-2
