We received marching orders on the 21st and at three o’clock we moved out in the direction of Vicksburg. We went by the way of Raymond. We lay here until the morning of the 22nd when we moved out for Black River Bridge. While on our way we were in a cloudburst. It came late in the evening and it was so dark and the rain fell so fast that we could see to travel only by the flashes of lightning.
At the end of an hour the storm ceased. We were wading water which was knee deep. Some of the regiments were sheltered by the heavy timber. Just as we came up to the river bottom, we were almost blinded by a flash of lightning. I saw many of the boys go to the ground and two of the 28th Iowa regiment were killed.
We waded for a distance of three miles before we came to the bridge. We crossed over and went into camp. We had the cold, wet, ground for our bed that night.
On the morning of the 23rd, we marched to Vicksburg. The weather was very warm that day and we were all almost played out by the time we had marched through the city and two miles down the river. Here we went into camp.
On the morning of the 25th, we got orders to furlough three men out of each company home for sixty days. While here we drew new zouave uniforms. They were sent to us from Indianapolis, Indiana. There was a hustling time at this place. Some troops were gathering up captured arms and ammunition. They were scooping up barrels of lead from the banks of the forts. The heavy rains had washed the dirt down, and had left a solid wall of blue lead and pieces of shell.
We found a great many wounded and sick here, but the most of them were rebel soldiers.
CHAPTER XII.
Our Vicksburg army was now being bursted up and transported to different departments. The 9th corps had gone East, and on the morning of the 1st of August, 1863 our 2nd brigade marched on the boats and started down the river to join General Banks’ army, or the Department of the Gulf. Port Hudson had fallen two days after the surrender of Vicksburg. The Mississippi was now open for transportation, and its powerful fortresses and blockades were wiped out forever. But the cost had been thousands of our young American heroes’ lives, and also many many thousand had been maimed for life.