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OIF THE

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PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN,
A Paper Read Before the
OHIO COMMANDERY

OF THE

MILITARY ORDER

OF THE

LOYAL LEGllTiOlflTE]] STATES,

BY COMPANION

MANNING F. FORCE,
Late Brigadier General. Brevet Major
General U. S. Volunteers.

JANUARY 7,1885.

CIMCI.MNATI:
HIBiTXa-S- C. STIEX2ICK:,
1883.

1 SgSF
(UC)

PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS

OF THE

Vicksburg Campaign

On the 22d of February, 1863, Logan's Division em
barked at Memphis, and next day landed at Lake Providence,
above Millikin's Bend. I commanded the 20th Ohio, in
Leggett's Brigade, Logan's Division. Lake Providence is a
portion of a former bed of the river, left by a change in its
course. The bank of the lake was bordered by live-oaks,
trailing with gray moss and with gli.-^tening magnolias. We
camped in an old cotton-field. The ground was so wet that
every tent had a board floor, and most had an extension of
the floor in front, making a porch. The lake gave bathing
and fish, and at evenings the band, would play on a batteau
sailing on the water. It was an ideal camp.
About a week or less after their arrival a furious can
nonade was heard in the night in the direction of Vicksburg.
In a few days we learned the cause. On the night of the
2d of February the ram Queen of the West had run by the
batteries of Vicksburg and Warrenton ; but it shortly after
ran aground in the Red River, and was captured. On the
night of the 13th the iron-clad Indianola, with its heavy
armament of two ii-inch and two 9-inch guns, ran by. But,
on the night of the 24th, it was attacked by the Queen of
the West and another ram, aided by two smaller boats. The
Indianola, leaking from the blows of the rams, began to sink.

— 4—
surrendered, and was towed near the shore, a few miles be
low Vicksburg, and grounded in ten feet of water. The
enemy had control of the river below the city.
Some soldiers, taking an empty barge, placed on it
barrels, in the likeness of smokestacks, and a hogshead for
a turret, and set it afloat at 3 A. m. The semblance of a
monitor, in the gloom of night, slowly passed by the bat
teries. All the guns of Vicksburg opened upon it. It
could not sink, and placidly floated on. It rounded the
point at daybreak, just as the Queen of the West was
coming up stream. The appearance of a monitor in the
Mississippi was too much. The Queen of the West, with
its consort ram, turned down stream, took refuge in the
Red River, and never returned to the Mississippi. The
harmless barge, carried by an eddy to the lower mouth of
the canal, rested there, just two-and-a-half miles from the In
dianola. A working party, busied in raising the iron-clad,
watched uneasily the stranger. Some soldiers of the 15th
Corps pushed the barge out into the current. The working
party, seeing a monitor coming for them, set the Indianola
on fire and blew it up, and the river below the city was again
free. The 20th was not engaged in any of the bayou expedi
tions. But when Sherman was up Steele's Bayou extricating
Porter's gun-boats, we were sent from the Mississippi across
the country at a point where the bayou comes near to the
river, and had a slight taste of that service. We picked
and slopped our way over the submerged land to the bayou,
and to where we found little protruding hummocks of earth,
on which we could huddle in groups out of the water. There
we squatted two days, when news was brought that the gun
boats were released, and we returned.
About the 20th of April, I was sent, with the 20th Ohio
and the 30th Illinois seven miles out from Millikin's Bend to
build a road across a swamp. When the sun set the leaves
of the forest seemed to exude smoke, and the air became a
saturated solution of gnats. When my mess sat down to

— 5-
supper under a tree the gnats got into our mouths, noses,
eyes and ears. They swarmed upon our necks, seeming to
encircle them with bands of hot iron. Tortured and blinded,
we could neither eat nor see. We got a quantity of cotton
and made a circle around the group, and set it on fire. The
pungent smoke made water stream from our eyes, but drove
the gnats away. We then supped in anguish, but in peace.
I sent back to camp and got some musquito netting from a
suttler. Covering my head with many folds I slept, waking
at intervals to burn a wad of cotton. Many of the men set
by the fire all night fighting the gnats, and slept next day.
In the woods we found stray cattle, sheep and hogs. A
large pond was full of fish. We lived royally. Here the
men first saw alligators. A soldier, a farmer-boy, told his
first experience. He said he was standing by the pond when
he saw a long, monstrous mouth, lined with teeth, rise from
the water. Then the scaly monster appeared, saw him, came
ashore and made for him. Hechmbed a tree. The creature
crawled around the tree, snapping its jaws and beating the
earth with its tail, till, a group of soldiers coming up, it re
treated to the water.
On the night of April i6, the gunboats passed down,
under a cannonade that shook the earth. It was necessary
at least to attempt to send transports down with supplies.
The crews of the steamboats were unwilling to float their frail
vessels along the face of the batteries which lined the shore
for miles. Soldiers, mainly from Logan's division, volunteer
ed to serve as deck-hands, firemen, engineers, pilots and cap
tains. Six steamboats, and towing twelve barges, were so
manned and started on through the gauntlet of fire on the
night of the 22d. Bonfires along the shore lighted up the river.
Miles of artillery thundered at the helpless vessels. But
only one was sunk — the rest passed through.
On the 25th April, Logan's division marched. The 20th
Ohio had just drawn new clothing, but had to leave it behind.
Stacking spades and picks in the swamp, they took their
place in the column as it appeared, taking with them only the

-G-
scanty supplies they had there. Six days of plodding brought
them over nearly seventy miles to the shore of the river op
posite Bruinsburg. I find in one of my letters "we marched
six miles one day, and those six miles by evening were strewn
with wrecks of wagons and their loads, and half buried guns.
At a halt of some hours, the men stood in deep mud,, for
want of any means of sitting. Yet when we halted at night,
every man answered to his name and went laughing to bed
on the sloppy ground."
Troops were ferried across the river to a narrow strip of
bottom-land which intervened between the river and the lofty,
precipitous bluff. A roadway, walled in with high vertical
banks, cut through the bluff, led from the river bottom up to
the table land above. A small force could have held this pass
against an army; but it was left unguarded, and the army
marched up.
The 13th corps was in advance. Our brigade did not
reach the field of Port Gibson till the battle was over ; but
was sent in the dark of early night a few miles in pur
suit of the retreating force. All through the campaign, the
army always marched over and beyond the field of battle before
halting for the night.
The morning of 3d of May, the 17th corps marched north
towards Hankinson's Ferry. At Willow Springs, Lieut.
Maury of Gen. Bowen's staff was captured, and it appeared
there was a force in our front. The corps halted, deployed,
reconnoitred. Our brigade, commanded by Gen. Dennis,
Gen. Leggett being away on leave of absence, was detached
and marched west towards Grand Gulf Gen. Grant and Gen.
Rawlins as well as Gen Logan, accompanied the brigade.
About noon, we began to pick up stragglers of the enemy
and learned that Grand Gulf had been evacuated and the gar
rison was crossing the Big Black at Hankinson's Ferry.
Grant and Rawlins pushed on to Grand Gulf, to communicate
with the fleet and to establish a shorter line to his base. The
brigade, finding a road leading to the north of east, made
a sharp turn and pushed for the ferry. The men became ex-

hausted. The captain of the leading company told his men to
halt. I told him to move on, the General was unwilling to halt
yet. I heard a soldier think aloud, rather than say, "he must be
ahard-heartedman." When we halted for a short rest, though
the men were famished for water, not one had strength to go
to the bottom of the hill to a large spring. The mounted order
lies, and men mounted on officers' horses, gathered up can
teens and brought water. The march resumed, brought us
after our long detour back into the main road in front of the
corps which was cautiously feeling its way.
I was standing with McPherson, Logan and Dennis when
we reached the road, and McPherson said, "Gen Logan, you
will direct Gen. Dennis to send a regiment forward with
skirmishers well advanced, rapidly towards the Ferry."
Gen. Logan said, "Gen. Dennis, you will send a regiment
forward with skirmishers well advanced, rapidly towards the
Ferry." Gen. Dennis said, "Col. Force, you will take your reg
iment forward with skirmishers well advanced, rapidly towards
the Ferry. " The men forgot their fatigue, quickly pushed
over the few intervening miles and reached the Ferry just in
time to drive away a party of the enemy that was chopping
away the floating bridge a cross the river.
A few days later, all captured wagons were sent to the
rear to bring up rations, and all army wagons, except some
at brigade and superior headquarters, to bring up amunition.
The regiments had no transportation or tents. I used to try
to put the 20th in such position at night that there would be
a tree in the i-ear under which I could sleep. I impressed a
number of mules and mounted three squads of men, each un
der command of a sergeant. The surgeon was authorized to
dismount any man, and put in his place a man who was ex
hausted, or foot-sore — so there was no straggling. When
we halted on the march for rest, the squads gathered up can
teens and got water ; so no man left the ranks. And the mules
carried officers' blankets.
On the i2thof May, the 17th corps marched on the road
toward Raymond, Logan's division leading, Dennis' brigade

— 8—
in advance. The 30th Illinois was deployed with a skirmish
line in front, on the left of the road, the 20th Ohio in like
manner on the right. About noon we halted ; the 20th
Ohio in an open field, bounded by a fence to the front, be
yond which was forest and rising ground. An unseen bat
tery on some height beyond thfe timber began shelling the
field. The 20th advanced over the fence into the woods.
Another brigade came up and formed on our right.
All at once the woods rang with the shrill rebel yell, and
a deafening din of musketry. The 20th rushed forward to a
creek and used the farther bank as a breastwork. The timber
between the creek and the fence was free from undergrowth.
The 20th Illinois, tlie regiment next to the right of the 20th
Ohio, knelt down in place and returned the fire. The enemy
advanced into the creek in its front. I went to the lieutenant-
colonel, who was kneeling at the left flank, -and asked him
why he did not advance into the creek. He said "we have
no orders." In a few minutes the colonel of the regiment
was killed. It was too late to advance, it was murder to re
main ; and the lieutenant-colonel withdrew the regiment in
order back behind the fence. I cannot tell how long the
battle lasted. I remember noticing the forest leaves, cut by
rifle balls, falling in thick eddies, still as snow flakes. At
one time the enemy in our front advanced to the border of
the creek, and rifles of opposing lines crossed while firing.
Men who were shot were burned by the powder of the rifles
that sped the balls.
In time the fire in front slackened. We ceased fire and
advanced. The ground rose into a hill beyond the creek ;
dead and wounded were found where they had fallen or
crawled behind trees and logs. We emerged into open
ground upon a hill top, and were greeted by cheers of the
brigade at the crossing of the creek below. The enemy was
in retreat. A battery covering its rear opened fire upon us,
I made the men lie down behind a ridge, and the exploding
shells sprinkled them with earth while the first sergeants
were making out reports of casualties. Notwithstanding the

-9-
admirable protection of the bank of the creek, twenty per
cent, of the regiment were killed and wounded.
Soon the column advanced. We fell into place when it
came up, and were halted on the hither side of Raymond. In
a few minutes the earth was sparkling with fires, over which
coffee was making in tin cups and little chunks of salt pork
were broiling. The sweet savor told that supper was nearly
ready, when order came to march through the town and go
on picket on the farther side. Every man picked up his
smoking cup, and the stick which bore his sizzling bit of pork,
and we incensed the town with savory odor as we marched
through. I used often to hear it said that the western army could
fight, but had no discipline. It had so much of discipline as
is comprised in obedience to orders, and that is the cream of
discipline. On' the 14th of May, two days after the battle
of Raymond, was the battle of Jackson. The 20th Ohio
was assigned to the duty of defending the trains from some
apprehended attack. I was informed that a soldier had mis
behaved at the battle of Raymond — in a matter of no mo
ment, except that it was a breach of discipline. I consti
tuted myself a court martial, being the only field officer then
with the regiment. I heard the case and passed sentence
while the man stood beside my horse, and leaning over the
saddle to screen a bit of paper from the driving rain, wrote
the record in lead pencil. The orderly who at once took it
to brigade headquarters, brought it back approved.
Two days after, on the i6th, as we were marching to at
tack Pemberton's army on Champion's Hill, the 17th corps
found the road entirely blocked up with the train of Hovey's
division. An order removed the wagons out of the way,
jammed them against the trees that lined the road, and gave
free passage for troops.
Champion's Hill is a considerable eminence about a mile
across, I should think, from east to west. It is steep, its
sides are roughened by knobs, gullied by ravines, and cov
ered with forest. Low flat land encircles the north an west

—10-
faces. Hovey, following the road, attacked the north east
face; Logan's division, following, debouched upon the low
land north of the hill. The 20th Ohio, being in advance,
deployed, marched near to the base of the hill, and lay down
to wait till sucessive regiments should arrive and form the
line. A part of the enemy's force high up on the hill, just
in prolongation of the line of the regiment, kept up a drop
ping fire, and every few minutes a soldier would rise bleeding
and be ordered back to the hospital to have his wound dressed.
There was in front of the line a large and very tall stump.
The adjutant and I, sending our horses away, stood behind
this stump and observed that its shelter made a species of
shadow of the fire. We found we could pace to and fro fifty
yards, keeping in line with the stump, and while the rifle
balls rattled against the stump and whistled by our sides, we
were shielded.
By the time the line was formed, a hostile line advanced
from the timber at the base of the hill to confront us. We
charged, pushed them into the timber and up the slope, and
took position in a ravine parallel with a ravine in which the
enemy in our front halted. The firing was very heavy ; a
staff officer, who came to make some inquiries, all the time
he was talking to me, involuntarily and unconsciously,
screened his eyes with one hand, as one would shield his
eyes from a driving rain. When our ammunition was about
exhausted, a heavy force appeared in our front. The line
gave evidences of a readiness to recoil ; symptoms of waver
ing began to appear in one company of the 20th Ohio; but
an order to fix bayonets steadied the men, and the regiment
stood at support arms, with a line of steel bristling above the
edge of the ravine. Fortunately for us, the force we saw was
a fresh division, going to reinforce Pemberton's line where it
was shattered by Hovey's victorious assault.
McPherson kept extending his line to his right, till
Pemberton's line of retreat was endangered, and his army,
abandoning the field, pushed in disorder for Vicksburg, As
soon as We halted for the night bivouac, report of casual-

—11—
ties was called for. My report included two men missing.
The report had not long gone to brigade headquarters when
I learned that the two men had been sent with wounded to
the field hospital, and were temporarily detained there by the
commanding officer. I sent to brigade headquarters to cor
rect my report. It was too late ; it had already gone on to
division headquarters. It has always been a sore point that
this report of two missing remains in the records of the war;
for they are the only missing reported of the 20th Ohio at
any time in the Vicksburg campaign.
Next day, the 17th, Carr's Division of McClernand's
Corps, by a splendid charge, carried the fortified bridge-head
at the crossing of the Big Black River, and captured 1,751
men and fifteen guns. The bridges, saturated with combus
tibles, were burned, and the three corps spent the day Build
ing bridges across the river at different points. Sherman
began crosing in the night ; the rest of the army crossed next
day. Pemberton abandoned Haines' Bluff and withdrew his
entire force within the defenses of Vicksburg. Haines'
Bluff was seized, and we were once more in close commun'.
nication with the North.
In eighteen days Grant had marched 200 miles, won five
battles, four of them in six days, inflicted a loss of 5,000
killed, wounded, and missing, captured eighty-eight pieces of
artillery, compehed the abandonment of all outworks, and
cooped Pemberton's army within the lines of Vicksburg;
while he had opened for himself easy and safe communication
with the North. During these eighteen days the men had
been without shelter, and had subsisted on five days' rations.
The morning we crossed the Big Black I offered five dollars
for a small piece of cornbread, ;md could not get it. The
soldier said bread was worth more to him than money. Four
thousand five hundred prisoners, who had been gathered on
the way, were shipped north from Haines' Bluff, and the
army sat down to the siege. Stretched in a thin line, the
army lacked several miles of covering the front of the
besieged works.

—12—
We lost 4,000 killed and wounded in the assaults of the
19th and 22d of May. On the 22d of May the 20th Ohio
moved in support of the, first brigade of Logan's Divi
sion. The brigade reached the base of an earthwork, too
high and steep to be scaled, and could neither advance nor
retreat. The 20th was placed in a road-cut, which was enfil
aded by one of the enemy's infantry intrechments. But by
sitting with our backs pressed against the side of the cut
toward Vicksburg, the balls ^^'histled by just outside of our
knees. At sunset the company cooks were possessed to
come to us with hot coffee. They succeeded in running the
gauntlet, and the garrison could hear the jingling of tincups
and shouts of laughter as the cramped men ate their supper.
After dark we were recalled and placed on the slope of a
sharp ridge, with orders to remain in place, ready to move
at any moment, and with strict injunction not to allow any
man's head to appear above the ridge. There we lay two or
three days in line. Coffee was brought to us by the cooks
at meal times. Not a man those two or three da}-s left the
line so much as ten feet without a special order. The first
night the captain of the right company reported that the
slope was so steep where he was that the men, as soon as
they fell asleep, began to roll down hill. I had to give him
leave to shift his position.
When lying there it sometimes occurred to me, what a
transformation it was for these men, full of individuality and
self-reliance, accustomed always to act upon their own will,
to so completely subordinate their wills to the wills of other
men, many of them their neighbors and friends at home.
But their practical sense had told them that an army differs
from a mob only in discipline, and discipline was necessary
for their self-preservation. They had also soon perceived
that military obedience is a duty enjoined by law, and, in
obeying orders, they were obeying the law ; and, besides,
their enthusiasm and fire came from the feeling that, like the
crusaders of old, they were engaged in a sacred cause.
One day when there was a general bombardment, I was

—13-
told a soldier wished to see me. Under the canopy of ex
ploding shells and shrieking balls I found a youth, a boy,
lying on his back on the ground. He was pale and speech
less — there was a crimson hole in his breast. As I knelt
by his side he looked wistfully at me. I said: " We must
all die some time, and the man is happy who meets death in
the discharge of duty. You have dpne your whole duty
well." It was all he wanted. His eyes brightened, a smile
flickered on his lips, and I was kneeling beside a corpse.
In June, Gen, Blair was sent on a reconnoisance up be
tween the Big Black and the Yazoo, Leggett's Brigade (for
Gen. Leggett had returned from his absence and resumed
command of his brigade on the morning of the battle of
Champion's Hill) was in the expedition. One day, when the
20th Ohio was in advance, we came, at a turn in the road,
upon two old colored people, man and woman, plump and
sleek, riding mules and coming toward us. As they caught
sight of the long colum'n of blue coats the woman, crossing
her hands upon her bosom, rolled up her eyes and cried in
ccstacy, " Bress de Lord! Bress Almighty God! Our
friends is come, our friends is come!" On the return wc
crossed a plantation where the field-hands were ploughing.
The soldiers liked mules, and the negroes gladly unharnessed
them and helped the soldiers to mount. I said to one, "The
soldiers are taking your mules." The quick response was,
"An' dey is welcome to 'em, sar ; dey is welcome to 'em."
Men and women looked wistfully at the marching column,
and began to talk about joining us. They seemed to wait
the determination of a gray-headed darkey who was consid
ering. Presently there was a shout, " Uncle Pete 's a gwine,
an' I'm a gwine, too ! " As they flocked after us one tall, stern
woman strode along, carrying a wooden tray and a crockery
pitcher as all her effects, looking straight to the front. Some
one asked, "Auntie, where are you goings to?" She an
swered without looking, " I don't car whicher way I go so I
git away from dis yer place."
On returning to the lines Gen. Leggett was transferred

—14—
to command the First Brigade, and I was assigned to his
vacated place. The saps were made wide and deep enough
for the passage of artillery, and batteries were constructed
near the besieged works. Gen, Ransom had a battery so
close that the embrasures were kept covered by mantelets.
A gun would be loaded and pointed and then fired just as the
mantelet was removed. The first time a gun was fired from
it a storm of rifle balls poured through the embrasure. A
guimer jumped on the gun and shouted back, "Too late! "
When the working parties carried the saps to the base
of the works, the besieged used to light the'fuses of 6-pound
shells and toss them over the parapet. They would roll down
among the working parties and explode, sometimes doing
serious damage. A young soldier of Company C, 20th Ohio,
named Friend, on detached service in the division pioneer
corps, devised wooden mortars. A very small charge of
powder in one of these would just lift a shell over the enemy's
parapet and drop it within. These shells caused much per
plexity and annoyance. After the surrender there was much
inquiry from the garrison how they were contrived.
At night it was common practice for the pickets on both
sides to advance unarmed, and sitting together on the ground
between the lines pass the night in chat, banter and high dis
cussion, A watch was always left in the lines, and when an
officer on either side came along on his tour, warning was
given, the conference ceased and the men on both sides
slipped back to their places, VVhen day came work was
resumed. In the latter part of the siege there was little
desultory firing. The men lay with patient, scrutinizing gaze
and rifles aimed, and whenever any object appeared above
the works on either side a volley of balls whistled by or
through it. Private Ruggles of Company H, 20th Ohio,
who performed important service through the war as a spy,
was presented by Gen. Grant with a Henry rifle. Being de
tached from the regiment he spent his time along the lines
sharpshooting. He would sometimes visit the regiment to
tell of his exploits. But one day he came to me quite de-

—15—
jected, and said, in lugubrious tones, "Colonel, I aint had
no kind of luck to-day. I haint killed a feller."
There was much speculation and discussion about cer
tain small, explosive sounds that were heard. Gen. Ran
som and others maintained they were caused by explosive
bullets. Gen, Logan and others scouted the idea. One day,
one struck the ground and exploded at Ransom's feet. Pick
ing up the exploded shell of a rifle ball, he settled the ques
tion. After the siege, many such explosive rifle balls,
which had not been used were picked up on former camp
grounds of the enemy.
When Gen. Sherman was put in command of an army
of observation to guard our rear against Johnston, my bri
gade was temporarily attached to McArthur's division in
Sherman's command. The siege went on. Hundreds of
cannon ceaselessly roared. Small arms sheeted over the space
between the lines with lead. Rifle balls met in the air and
fell to the ground welded together One such pair was sent
by Gen. Grant to Washington; another picked up by a sol
dier of the 78th Ohio, is in the colletion of the Historical So
ciety in Cincinnati.
When Logan's second mine was sprung, the end of the
siege was obviously at hand. Negotiations silenced the com
bat on the 3d of July, The strange silence was oppressive.
It seemed a boding silence. On the 4th of July, the fortress
capitulated ; tlie garrison marched out and stacked arms.
31,000 men and 172 pieces of artillery were surrendered.
The same day Sherman moved against Johnston. In a
few days we heard that also on the 4th of July, Prentiss had
bloodily repulsed an assault on Helena, and Lee had with
drawn from the dread field of Gettysburg. A week after
Vicksburg, Port Hudson surrendered and the Mississippi was
open to the sea. The crisis of the war was over. The end
was in sight. To reach it required many days of toil, tri
bulation and endurance ; but victory was in the air; the tri
umph of the Nation was assured.

YALE

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