First sharp-shooting at Vicksburg—Silences two guns—The rifle-pit—Shoots a Carolinian—The Carolinian's comrade—Outshoots a squad of sixteen—The defiant rebel—Shoots for General McPherson and General Logan—Beats the Parrot rifles—Joke on the Adjutant-General—Visit to Admiral Porter—The French spy—The disclosures—Capture of a rebel dispatch—The fate of the spy.
I shall not attempt to give the reader a detailed history of the siege of Vicksburg, but shall confine myself to incidents in my own experience during the siege.
The country lying about the city of Vicksburg is of a very peculiar formation—very hilly and extremely broken. It consists of threads, or narrow ridges, with deep ravines between, running in every direction, with spurs or smaller ridges putting out from them.
The lines occupied by the two contending armies were a succession of those ridges, with a general course nearly parallel, but at unequal distances apart, forming an irregular circuit about the city from the river above to the river below.
The next day after the regiment to which I belong moved into its position at the rear of Vicksburg, two pieces of the enemy's artillery opened a very annoying fire upon it with shell. The men were under the necessity of laying flat on the ground, behind the ridge, for protection, and even then were in great danger from the explosion of the shells. I went to Colonel Force and asked him if I might go and try my hand at silencing the guns with my rifle.
He said, "Yes; but you must be very careful, for the shells are coming very low."
I started out, and made my way along under cover of the ridge on which we lay, until I came to one of the spurs mentioned, that approached much nearer to the enemy's works than did the ridge occupied by the regiment. From that I succeeded in getting a good view of the guns that were shelling us. In front of me was a dry oak log, and underneath it I dug out a hole that enabled me to shoot under it, and the log prevented the enemy from seeing me.
As soon as I had become fixed in my position, I commenced to pick off the gunners. I succeeded so well that only two shells were fired after I took my position. Several ineffectual attempts were made to load the guns, but the moment a gunner stepped up to fill the place of his fallen comrade, I picked him off, and, finally, the guns were abandoned, and the bodies of those that had fallen left where they fell.
My success seemed incredible. To put it beyond a doubt, I concluded to go back and get some officer to come and see what execution I had done. I went back to the regiment, where I found Colonel Force. I said to him, "Colonel, I have silenced those two guns that were shelling us."