MY CAVE LIFE
IN
VICKSBURG.
WITH
LETTERS OF TRIAL AND TRAVEL.
BY A LADY.
NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
443 & 445 BROADWAY.
LONDON: 16 LITTLE BRITAIN.
1864.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.
TO ONE
WHO, THOUGH ABSENT, IS EVER PRESENT,
THIS LITTLE WAIF
IS TENDERLY AND AFFECTIONATELY
Dedicated.
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| [I.] | Our Party set out for Vicksburg—The Ride and Scenery—Scenes during the first Bombardment—View of the City and River—Opening of a Battery—The Enemy, | [9] |
| [II.] | At Night the Signal Gun sounds—The Gunboats are coming down—The Town Awake—Shell Music—The Boats near us—Rapid Descent to the Cave—They have passed safely—Why the Confederate Guns do not fire—The Burning Transport, | [15] |
| [III.] | Masked Battery on the Opposite Shore—Taking the Cars—Fright of the Negro Porters—Major Watts’s Party—Stampede of Ladies, | [20] |
| [IV.] | Jackson threatened—Colonel Grierson—General Pemberton departs—My Mind is made up to go also—Ride on the Cars—Vicksburg again, | [25] |
| [V.] | To Vicksburg again—Aspirations—Troops passing to Black River—General Pemberton orders all Non-Combatants to leave the City, | [29] |
| [VI.] | Rumors of the Federal Advance on Black River—Gunboats on the River—Cannonading and Fire at Warrenton—General Pemberton’s Forces engaged at Black River, | [35] |
| [VII.] | Sunday, the 17th—After Church—The Demoralized Army—Soldiers’ Stories, | [40] |
| [VIII.] | Fresh Troops from Warrenton for the Intrenchments—“We’ll Protect You”—Fears, | [46] |
| [IX.] | The Ball in Motion—View from the Court House—Federal Prisoners sent across the River—Movements of Gunboats, | [49] |
| [X.] | Groundless Fear of an Attack by Gunboats—Shells fall—The Bombardment begins—Cave Shelter—Garrison Force—Cave and Cave Life, | [55] |
| [XI.] | Buried Alive—House Breaking—Appearance of Shell at Night—Under the Root of a Fig Tree, | [63] |
| [XII.] | Fire at Night—A Narrow Escape—Moonlight—Shells from the Battle Field—Employment and Traffic, | [69] |
| [XIII.] | Shells from the Rear of the City—Providential Deliverance—Pantomime—Pea Meal—Hospital Accident, | [73] |
| [XIV.] | Dogs—Horses—Descent of a Shell through a Cave—A Mother’s Cries—Deserted Homes—Silence, | [78] |
| [XV.] | An Excitement—Sinking of the Cincinnati—Sky Parlor Hill—Moving Prospects, | [84] |
| [XVI.] | Fall of a Shell at the Corner of my Cave—Music—Casualties of the Day, | [89] |
| [XVII.] | Ride to the Fortifications—Number of Caves along the Road—Appearance of the New Home—Change of Missiles, | [94] |
| [XVIII.] | Morning—Charge of General Burbridge—Horrors of War—An Important Discovery, | [99] |
| [XIX.] | An Acceptable Present—Hunger—Half Rations—In the Rifle Pits, | [105] |
| [XX.] | A Rainy Morning—A Waterspout—Dismal Experience—Brighter Prospects—An Unfortunate Sleeper, | [109] |
| [XXI.] | Weary—The Couriers from General Johnston—Dangerous Pasturage—Mule Meat—Local Songs—Missed by a Minié Ball, | [114] |
| [XXII.] | A Wounded Horse—Shrapnell Shells—Charge on the Intrenchments—Fearful Firing, | [122] |
| [XXIII.] | An Unhappy Accident—The Unfortunate Ladies of Vicksburg—Approach of Mortar Shells near the Intrenchments, | [128] |
| [XXIV.] | Death of a Faithful Servant—Blowing up of a Fort—Loss of Prominent Officers—Surrender of Vicksburg, | [135] |
| [XXV.] | A Fright—George my Protector—A Polite Soldier gets the Tent Fly, | [143] |
| [Letters of Trial and Travel], | [147] |