At night a heavy picket was placed around the battlefield, for fear that the rebel general, Loring, who had cut through our lines, would come back and make a night attack on our little worn-out force that had been left on the field of battle.
No person except those who were pickets on that field, that dark night, can imagine the horrors of that awful bloody field of death and destruction. The groans of hundreds of wounded and dying could be heard on the still night air, and one could imagine that they saw them in their mangled condition, begging for water and calling on God for help. “War is hell.”
The rebel loss at Champion Hill had been as heavy as our own, and we also captured 4,000 of their men as prisoners, and took twenty-two pieces of their artillery.
On the morning of the 17th, the still air was disturbed by the belching cannon at Black River Bridge. Osterhos and Logan charged the works at daylight, driving the rebels out and putting them to fight in the direction of Vicksburg, their last stronghold. Several prisoners and four pieces of artillery were taken. The enemy set the bridge on fire, thus checking the advance of the union forces. But they were not to be hindered in that way, for they were soon crossing on pontoons. On the morning of the 18th General Grant was forming his lines around Vicksburg.
May 19th, 1863, having cared for the wounded and buried the dead, our little shattered brigade took up our line of march. After a march of ten miles we came to Black River Bridge.
General Sherman crossed Black River some distance above here on his return from the capture of Jackson, Mississippi. On the night of the 19th, he charged the enemy at Haines Bluffs, where he had been defeated about the 23rd of December, the year before. This time he was successful in capturing the fort. He then established his lines on our extreme right. The capturing of Haines Bluffs connected us with our base of supplies above Pittsburg. We had been on less than quarter rations for twenty days.
At Haines Bluffs, Sherman captured several prisoners and took some heavy guns. He also forced the enemy back to their main defenses at Vicksburg.
On the morning of the 20th, we took up our line of march. We left Black River Bridge at 4 p. m. We marched until twelve o’clock at night. We moved up near our troops which were establishing their lines around Vicksburg.