A few hours armistice was given. The rebels piled our dead in ditches and merely covered them to keep them from stinking them out of their fortifications. They didn’t get half of them covered before the firing was resumed.
All on both sides were busy and each man was trying to see how many shots he could fire.
I was on the picket line that evening, and while lying behind a good-sized pine tree, my eyes were almost knocked out by bark and splinters. Some of the best marksmanship which I ever saw was at this place.
On the morning of the 15th, our lines extended from the bank of Pearl River, above the town, to the river below, and we were crossing a division five miles above. The division on our left made a charge and gained the rebels’ works, but they could not hold them on account of the heavily masked batteries. The works here were almost as strong as the works at Vicksburg. The rebels made a counter charge, but were repulsed with great slaughter. Several charges were made later on in the evening, but none of them were successful.
On the 16th our division lost fifty men killed and wounded. Volley after volley was fired that night all around the line, and our heavy guns kept up a continual fire. The rebel bands played “Dixie” and “The Bonny Blue Flag.” Our troops were crossing the river above on pontoons. All was hustle and bustle until after twelve o’clock at night. The cars were running back and forth, and locomotives sent forth their screeching whistles, making this night one long to be remembered.
We knew that something was going to happen, but did not know what that something was. Some predicted that the rebels were getting reinforcements, but when we awoke from a short nap on the morning of the 17th of July, we found everything quiet and Breckenridge’s and Johnson’s army gone. The generals with forty thousand men had crawled out through a little gap back of town. They had taken all of their guns except three hundred stands of small arms and one large siege gun.
All of the fortifications, which were made of cotton, were soon on fire and many fine buildings in the city were burned to the ground. The soldiers were allowed to roam the town over. They carried off many valuable articles. I saw a safe in a bank blown up and several hundreds of dollars in gold and silver scattered. There was certainly some scratching and running over each other to get those bright pieces which were thrown all over the street by the explosion. Many fine pianos and much furniture was chopped down.
Our cavalry followed the retreating rebs and picked up several prisoners who had straggled behind, purposely to be caught.
On the morning of the 18th a regiment from each brigade was sent to tear up the Memphis and New Orleans Railroad. We tore up the track for ten miles in each direction. We piled the ties and set them on fire. We put bars of iron on the piles of ties until they were red hot, and then bent them double so that the track could not be put down again. We worked hard all day and at night enjoyed a good rest.