May 25. Monday. A good deal of firing and some cannonading up to 3 o’clock, when a flag of truce came out. I was over the hills after plums at the time. There was a cessation of firing along the whole line. Dispatches were sent to Gen. Grant. Logan went down to the Hollow where he met the Rebel Colonel Montgomery, a major and a number of other officers. Hostilities were suspended till 8 o’clock and we went over and buried our dead of the day of the charge. They had lain three days in the sun and had turned black. Firing had no sooner ceased along the line than the contending parties mingled like a flock of sheep. A great many found friends and relatives, and two or three found brothers. The Rebels were very anxious to exchange for coffee. They are, taken altogether, the finest looking lot of Confeds I have seen. We mingled to such an extent that their officers ordered them back, I think that they were afraid to trust them, for a good many did desert. When they turned back they bade us good-bye and said it was hard to open hostilities again. Frank is around. I got a letter from home.
May 26. Tuesday. Very little artillery firing this forenoon. I went down to Cook’s quarters, got some paper for Buck, and wrote home. They are connecting headquarters with telegraph wires. One man was wounded this afternoon. One brigade from each division is moving back to the rear. They moved about 11 o’clock at night, under the command of Gen. Frank Blair. Heavy details are at work entrenching.
May 27. Wednesday. Moved back to the next hollow in the night. This morning Brophy was wounded. The day was mostly spent in fixing up cane brake shanties or shades. Toward night, Wood of Co. A was killed.
May 28. Thursday. We were ordered sharpshooting this morning. Nothing extraordinary happened. Dick Stephens was killed this afternoon—shot through the head. I was on guard last night. They threw three or four shells over us. Were busy all the fore part of the night issuing rations, and bringing water from the river. Col. Smith came back today.
May 29. Friday. We were relieved and returned to camp early this morning. Jim Chesher was wounded. The ball passed through our shanty and over me. Our artillery along the whole line opened this morning and it was a grand sight. The Rebels dare not reply. They did not show a piece. We fired one hour this morning and one this evening—giving them their daily rations, also opened in the night pouring hundreds of shot and shell among them.
May 31. Sunday. Today ends one month of active campaign, which has so far been successful, and I do not see why it should not end more brilliantly than it has begun. I hope to Heaven it will. Bill Stafford brought over the news this morning that Joe Johnston is fortifying Jackson. Our knaps came in from Young’s Point today all right. The weather is hot and sultry. Some artillery firing. I went upon the hill this evening to see the mortars shell the town. The sight is beautiful, but it is sad to think of those deadly missiles so faithfully doing their work of destruction. Many a family tie has no doubt been severed. We hear that a great many women and children have been killed. Surely the instigators of war ought to suffer.
June 1. Monday. A terrific cannonading was opened and kept up a long time from our line last night. I think it must have awakened some of the Rebels from their slumbers. Rumors are afloat this morning that the Confeds tried to cut their way through but were driven back. We had inspection of arms this morning, by Reynolds, at 10 o’clock. The artillery are getting a heavy supply of ammunition ready at their batteries and are preparing for operations. The weather is hot. We have a well dug in the quarters, which furnishes good water.
June 2. The mortar boats were unusually active last night, and part of the town was burned. It made a grand illumination. Towards morning infantry firing opened, also artillery. We were immediately formed for action, not knowing what was coming, but we thought it was the Rebs. It finally died down and we lay ready to fall in at a moment’s notice, but were not disturbed until morning. We were up before the sun, preparing to be out sharpshooting. Our artillery opened the middle of the afternoon and poured a perfect torrent of shot and shell over us. A good many burst among us. One man was wounded and we thought ourselves very lucky that no more were hurt. At night our boys tried to strike up a confab with the enemy, but not a word could be drawn from them. They were as silent as their works.
June 3. Wednesday. We were relieved early and returned to camp. Quiet during the day. Siege guns are coming up and heavy details are at work, entrenching and fortifying. About 8 o’clock, just as I had gone to bed and gotten to sleep, after a good wash, we were awakened by the boom of musketry, and ordered to form our line of battle immediately. We did so. Co. K and one or two others were held in reserve while the others were at work digging rifle pits. The firing gradually died away as it did the night before, and we lay down at 2 o’clock in the morning, dressed and equipped so as to be ready to fall in at a moment’s warning. It was rumored that the Rebs were making a desperate effort to cut their way through the net Grant completely enclosed them in, but the rumor proved false.
June 4. Thursday. All quiet. Heavy details were made to work on fortifications. One detail was at work digging a magazine which caved in and killed one man and wounded another from our regiment. I was on the detail that worked on the big fork of the road. I worked for over an hour in plain view of the Rebel sharpshooters on the right. They were not more than one hundred and fifty or two hundred yards distant. I expected a ball every minute, but for some reason they didn’t fire until our relief came on and then they sent a volley over. The work we are constructing here is on an eminence not more than twenty rods from the main Rebel fort. From here one can see the river, town, and a large hospital camp, also three lines of works, mostly rifle pits. We have heard that the fire in town the other night was their commissary depot and that the citizens set it on fire to end their sufferings, which were beyond their power of patriotism and fortitude to endure. It is rumored that they first requested Pemberton to cut out or surrender. The Rebels called over the line the other night for us to look out as they had a new General. We asked who it was and they replied: “General Starvation.� Blair’s expedition is returning from the rear; they went within sixteen miles of Yazoo City, but old Joe was nowhere to be found. A division has just come down from above. I wrote home today.