My Cave Life in Vicksburg Part 1

My Cave Life in Vicksburg.

by Mary Ann Loughborough.

CHAPTER 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.

It has been said that the peasants of the Campagna, in their semi-annual visits to the Pontine marshes, arrive piping and dancing; but it is seldom they return in the same merry mood, the malaria fever being sure to affect them more or less. Although I did not leave Jackson on the night of the 15th piping and dancing, yet it was with a very happy heart and very little foreboding of evil that I set off with a party of friends for a pleasant visit to Vicksburg. Like the peasants, I returned more serious and with a dismal experience. How little do we know with what rapidity our feelings may change! We had been planning a visit to Vicksburg for some weeks, and antic.i.p.ating pleasure in meeting our friends. How gladly, in a few days, we left it, with the explosions of bombs still sounding in our ears! How beautiful was this evening: the sun glowed and warmed into mellow tints over the rough forest trees; over the long moss that swung in slow and stately dignity, like old-time dancers, scorning the quick and tripping movements of the present day! Glowing and warming over all, this evening sun, this mellow, pleasant light, breaking in warm tints over the rugged ground of the plantation, showed us the home scenes as we pa.s.sed; the sober and motherly cows going home for the evening's milking through the long lanes between the fields, where the fences threw shadows across the road; making strange, weird figures of the young colts' shadows, lean and long-limbed and distorted; the mothers, tired of eating the gra.s.s that grew so profusely, were standing in quiet contentment, or drank from the clear runs of water. And so we pa.s.sed on by the houses, where the planter sat on his veranda, listening to the voice of his daughter reading the latest paper, while round her fair head, like a halo, the lingering beams of the sun played.

And on to Black River, "Big Black," with its slow, sluggish tide! Dark, like the Stygian stream, it flowed in the mist of the evening, the twilight. And soon we see Vicksburg, cla.s.sic ground forever in America.

The Hudson must now yield the palm to the Father of Waters. Our interest will centre around spots hallowed by the deeds of our countrymen. I had thought, during the first bombardment of Vicksburg, that the town must have been a ruin; yet very little damage has been done, though very few houses are without evidence of the first trial of metal. One, I saw, with a hole through the window; behind was one of corresponding size through the panel of the door, which happened to be open. The corner of the piano had been taken off, and on through the wall the shot pa.s.sed; one, also, pa.s.sed through another house, making a huge gap through the chimney. And yet the inhabitants live in their homes (those who have not lost some loved one) happy and contented, not knowing what moment the house may be rent over their heads by the explosion of a sh.e.l.l.

"Ah!" said I to a friend, "how is it possible you live here?" "After one is accustomed to the change," she answered, "we do not mind it; but becoming accustomed, that is the trial." I was reminded of the poor man in an infected district who was met by a traveller and asked, "How do you live here?" "Sir, we die," was the laconic reply. And this is becoming accustomed. I looked over this beautiful landscape, and in the distance plainly saw the Federal transports lying quietly at their anchorage. Was it a dream? Could I believe that over this smiling scene, in the bright April morning, the blight of civil warfare lay like a pall?--lay over the fearful homesteads--some, even now, jarred by the shock of former conflicts--lay by the hearthstones, making moan in many a bereaved heart looking forward with vague fears to the coming summer.

What soul in the land but has felt and witnessed this grief--this unavailing sorrow for the brave and untimely dead? I thought of the letter from the sorrowing one in Iowa, whose son, a prisoner, I had nursed, receiving with the last breath words for the distant, unconscious mother; of her sorrow in writing of him in his distant grave; of her pride in him, her only son. How many in the land could take her hand and weep over a mutual sorrow! And in the hospital wards, men, who still hold the name of Americans, together were talking of battles, prisoners, and captors, when each told the other of acts of bravery performed on hostile fields, and took out pictures of innocent babes, little children, and wives, to show each other, all feeling a sympathy and interest in the unknown faces.

Verily, war is a species of pa.s.sionate insanity. While standing and thinking thus, the loud booming of the guns in the water batteries startled me, the smoke showing that it was the battery just below me, that opened, I was told, on what was thought to be a masked battery on the opposite sh.o.r.e. No reply was elicited, however; and on looking through the gla.s.s, we saw in the line of levee, between the river and the Federal ca.n.a.l, a spot where new earth seemed to have been thrown up, and branches of trees to have been laid quite regularly in one place. This was all.

General Lee, however, had ordered the spot to be fired on, and the firing continued some little time. Our ride that evening had been delightful. We sat long on the veranda in the pleasant air, with the soft melody and rich swell of music from the band floating around us, while ever and anon my eye sought the bend of the river, two miles beyond, where the Federal transports, brought out in bold relief by the waning, crimson light of the evening, lay in seeming quiet. Still, resting in Vicksburg seemed like resting near a volcano.

CHAPTER II.

AT NIGHT THE SIGNAL GUN SOUNDS--THE GUNBOATS ARE COMING DOWN--THE TOWN AWAKE--Sh.e.l.l MUSIC--THE BOATS NEAR US--RAPID DESCENT TO THE CAVE--THEY HAVE Pa.s.sED SAFELY--WHY THE CONFEDERATE GUNS DO NOT FIRE--THE BURNING TRANSPORT.

At night I was sleeping profoundly, when the deep boom of the signal cannon startled and awoke me. Another followed, and I sprang from my bed, drew on my slippers and robe, and went out on the veranda. Our friends were already there. The river was illuminated by large fires on the bank, and we could discern plainly the huge, black ma.s.ses floating down with the current, now and then belching forth fire from their sides, followed by the loud report, and we could hear the sh.e.l.ls exploding in the upper part of town. The night was one of pitchy darkness; and as they neared the glare thrown upon the river from the large fires, the gunboats could be plainly seen. Each one, on pa.s.sing the track of the brilliant light on the water, became a target for the land batteries. We could hear the gallop, in the darkness, of couriers upon the paved streets; we could hear the voices of the soldiers on the riverside. The rapid firing from the boats, the roar of the Confederate batteries, and, above all, the screaming, booming sound of the sh.e.l.ls, as they exploded in the air and around the city, made at once a new and fearful scene to me. The boats were rapidly nearing the lower batteries, and the sh.e.l.ls were beginning to fly unpleasantly near. My heart beat quickly as the flashes of light from the portholes seemed facing us. Some of the gentlemen urged the ladies to go down into the cave at the back of the house, and insisted on my going, if alone. While I hesitated, fearing to remain, yet wis.h.i.+ng still to witness the termination of the engagement, a sh.e.l.l exploded near the side of the house. Fear instantly decided me, and I ran, guided by one of the ladies, who pointed down the steep slope of the hill, and left me to run back for a shawl. While I was considering the best way of descending the hill, another sh.e.l.l exploded near the foot, and, ceasing to hesitate, I flew down, half sliding and running. Before I had reached the mouth of the cave, two more exploded on the side of the hill near me. Breathless and terrified, I found the entrance and ran in, having left one of my slippers on the hillside.

I found two or three of our friends had already sought refuge under the earth; and we had not been there long before we were joined by the remainder of the party, who reported the boats opposite the house. As I had again become perfectly calm and collected, I was sorry to find myself slightly fluttered and in a state of rapid heart-beatings, as sh.e.l.l after sh.e.l.l fell in the valley below us, exploding with a loud, rumbling noise, perfectly deafening. The cave was an excavation in the earth the size of a large room, high enough for the tallest person to stand perfectly erect, provided with comfortable seats, and altogether quite a large and habitable abode (compared with some of the caves in the city), were it not for the dampness and the constant contact with the soft earthy walls. We had remained but a short time, when one of the gentlemen came down to tell us that all danger was over, and that we might witness a beautiful sight by going upon the hill, as one of the transports had been fired by a sh.e.l.l, and was slowly floating down as it burned.

We returned to the house, and from the veranda looked on the burning boat, the only one, so far as we could ascertain, that had been injured, the other boats having all pa.s.sed successfully by the city. We remained on the veranda an hour or more, the gentlemen speculating on the result of the successful run by the batteries. All were astonished and chagrined. It was found that very few of the Confederate guns had been discharged at all.

Several reasons had been a.s.signed; the real one was supposed to have been the quality of the fuses that were recently sent from Richmond, and had not been tried since their arrival. This night of all others they were found to be defective. The lurid glare from the burning boat fell in red and amber light upon the house, the veranda, and the animated faces turned toward the river--lighting the white magnolias, paling the pink c.r.a.pe myrtles, and bringing out in bright distinctness the railing of the terrace, where drooped in fragrant wreaths the cl.u.s.tering pa.s.sion vine: fair and beautiful, but false, the crimson, wavering light.

I sat and gazed upon the burning wreck of what an hour ago had thronged with human life; with men whose mothers had this very night prayed for them; with men whose wives tearfully hovered over little beds, kissing each tender, sleeping lid for the absent one. Had this night made them orphans? Did this smooth, deceitful current of the glowing waters glide over forms loved and lost to the faithful ones at home? O mother and wife!

ye will pray and smile on, until the terrible tidings come: "Lost at Vicksburg!" Lost at Vicksburg! In how many a heart the name for years will lie like a brand!--lie until the warm heart and tried soul shall be at peace forever.

CHAPTER III.

MASKED BATTERY ON THE OPPOSITE Sh.o.r.e--TAKING THE CARS--FRIGHT OF THE NEGRO PORTERS--MAJOR WATTS'S PARTY--STAMPEDE OF LADIES.

At breakfast, on the morning of the 17th, we heard discussed the question, Whether there was a masked battery on the opposite sh.o.r.e or not? After some words on the subject, pro and con, we ranged the sh.o.r.e with the gla.s.s, seeing what the gentlemen believed to be a battery. They had been talking some moments, when I took the gla.s.s and saw a number of Federal soldiers walking on the levee toward the spot where the battery was supposed to be. Several others seemed to be engaged on this very place removing the branches. I called one of the gentlemen to look. I had given up the gla.s.s but a few moments, when a volume of smoke burst from the embankment, and two sh.e.l.ls were sent, one after the other, exploding at the depot just below us. It was indeed a battery, with two guns, which commenced playing on the city vigorously.

We were to leave that morning, and hearing that the cars would not venture up to the depot, went to a point below, where we found many anxious persons awaiting their arrival. We entered the cars, and were sitting quite securely and comfortably, when it was whispered around, much to the consternation of pa.s.sengers, that they were ordered to approach the depot as near as possible, and take on freight; and thus we were carried up, under shelter of a high bluff, with many misgivings on my part, as sh.e.l.l after sh.e.l.l exploded on the hill above us. A nervous gentleman leaned forward and told me that we were in great danger, and, speaking in the same manner to many of the ladies, suggested that, if we made the request, the conductor would doubtless back into a safe place.

Although so frightened, his mode of relief was so evidently selfish that the gentlemen began joking him most unmercifully. In looking out of the window, although I felt a sympathy for the poor fellow, I could not but be amused at the ludicrous scene that presented itself: the porters bringing the baggage and small freight from the depot acted as if wild--now halting to await the course of a sh.e.l.l--then das.h.i.+ng forward, determined to reach the cars before another came. Two negroes were coming with a small trunk between them, and a carpet bag or two, evidently trying to show others of the profession how careless of danger they were, and how foolish "n.i.g.g.ars"

were to run "dat sort o' way." A sh.e.l.l came ricochetting through the air and fell a few yards beyond the braves, when, lo! the trunk was sent tumbling, and landed bottom upward; the carpet bag followed--one grand somerset; and amid the cloud of dust that arose, I discovered one porter doubled up by the side of the trunk, and the other crouching close by a pile of plank. A shout from the negroes on the cars, and much laughter, brought them on their feet, brus.h.i.+ng their knees and giggling, yet looking quite foolish, feeling their former prestige gone. Yet gentlemen and servants avoided the depot as much as possible; and whenever a portion of earth was seen to arise in a small volume, accompanied by smoke, men of both colors immediately ran (without casting a look behind) swiftly in the opposite direction, "gentlemen of color" generally, in their haste, stumbling and turning one or two somersets before reaching a place of safety. And so the sh.e.l.l continued coming, exploding on all sides, yet not happening to reach us. Soon the glad sound of the whistle was heard, and, after our long suspense, we felt the motion of the cars again, and were glad to leave Vicksburg, with the sound of the cannon and noise of the sh.e.l.l still ringing in our ears. Some young lady friends of mine were laughing and telling me of their experience during the danger of the previous night; of the fright and trouble they were in at the time the gunboats pa.s.sed. Major Watts, of the Confederate army, had given a very large party, which they attended; one dressed in a corn-colored silk trimmed with black lace; another in blue silk trimmed with white point, and still another in white lace. In the confusion and alarm, as the first sh.e.l.l fell, one of the young girls, who was dancing with a brigadier-general, clasped her hands and exclaimed, "Where shall we go?"

In jest he said, "To the country for safety." Believing him serious, in the confusion that ensued, she told her young friends. They set out alone with all speed, frightened and trembling. Fortunately a gentleman friend, discovering their absence, overtook, and proceeded with them. As a sh.e.l.l would be heard coming, he would cry, "Fall!" and down they would drop in the dust, party dresses and all, lying until the explosion took place; then up, with wild eyes and fiercely beating hearts, flying with all speed onward. After running about a mile in the fewest moments possible, and falling several times, they stopped at the first house, and remained until their friends sent out for them in carriages.

"If you could have seen our party dresses when we reached home, and our hair, and the flowers, full of dust, you would never have forgotten us,"

cried one. "Ah!" said another, "we laugh gayly this morning, for we are leaving the guns behind us; but last night it was a serious business, and we absolutely ran for our lives. How delighted I was with the quiet rest of our home in Jackson! I mentally forswore Vicksburg during the war. But man proposes, and G.o.d disposes."

CHAPTER IV.

JACKSON THREATENED--COLONEL GRIERSON--GENERAL PEMBERTON DEPARTS--MY MIND IS MADE UP TO GO ALSO--RIDE ON THE CARS--VICKSBURG AGAIN.

Our quiet was destined to be of short duration. We were startled one morning by hearing that Colonel Grierson, of the Federal army, was advancing on Jackson. The citizens applied to General Pemberton to protect them. He answered that there was no danger. Suddenly, the ladies' carriage and saddle horses were pressed, and the clerks and young men of the town were mounted on them, and started out to protect us(!). I was told that the first time they met the Federal troops most of them were captured, and we heard of them no more. We need not have feared, for Colonel Grierson was spoken of everywhere (so some ladies from the district through which he pa.s.sed, afterward told me) as a gentleman who would not allow his men to treat any one with the slightest disrespect, or take the least article from a citizen's house; and they all treated ladies courteously. There was not one instance of unkindness to any human being, so far as I could learn. He should have the thanks of every brave man and Southern woman.

This man, though an avowed enemy, scorned to torture or wage war on G.o.d's weaker creation.

Again the rumor came that from Canton a large Federal force was advancing on Jackson. Jackson was to be defended!! which I doubted. Soon General Pemberton left and went to Vicksburg--Mrs. Pemberton to Mobile. Batteries were being erected in different parts of the town--one directly opposite the house I was in. I stood considering one morning where it was best to go, and what it was best to do, when a quick gallop sounded on the drive, and a friend rode hastily up and said, "Are you going to leave?" "Yes," I answered, "but I have not yet decided where to go." "Well, I a.s.sure you there is no time for deliberation; I shall take my family to Vicksburg, as the safest place, and, if you will place yourself under my charge, I will see you safely to your husband." So the matter was agreed upon, and we were to leave that evening. Still, I was in doubt; the Federal army was spreading all over the country, and I feared to remain where I was. Yet I thought, may I not be in danger in Vicksburg? Suppose the gunboats should make an attack? Still, it was true, as my friend had said, we were in far more danger here from the rabble that usually followed a large army, and who might plunder, insult, and rob us. No; to Vicksburg we must go!

Very hurriedly we made our arrangements, packing with scarcely a moment to lose, not stopping to discuss our sudden move and the alarming news. Our friends, also, were in as great a panic and dismay as ourselves. Mrs. A.

had some chests of heavy silver. Many of the pieces were such that it would have taken some time to bury them. Her husband was absent, and she feared to trust the negro men with the secret. Another friend feared to bury her diamonds, thinking in that case she might never see them more; feared, also, to retain them, lest, through negroes' tales, the cupidity of the soldiers might become excited, and she be a sufferer in consequence. Every tumult in the town caused us to fly to the doors and windows, fearing a surprise at any time; and not only ladies, with pale faces and anxious eyes, met us at every turn, but gentlemen of anti-military dispositions were running hither and thither, with carpet bags and little valises, seeking conveyances, determined to find a safe place, if one could be found, where the sound of a gun or the smell of powder might never disturb them any more; and, as they ran, each had an alarming report to circulate; so that with the rush and roar of dray, wagon, and carriage, the distracting reports of the rapid advance of the Federal army, and the stifling clouds of dust that arose--with all, we were in a fair way to believe ourselves any being or object but ourselves.

The depot was crowded with crus.h.i.+ng and elbowing human beings, swaying to and fro--baggage being thrown hither and thither--horses wild with fright, and negroes with confusion; and so we found ourselves in a car, amid the living stream that flowed and surged along--seeking the Mobile cars--seeking the Vicksburg cars--seeking anything to bear them away from the threatened and fast depopulating town.

CHAPTER V.

TO VICKSBURG AGAIN--ASPIRATIONS--TROOPS Pa.s.sING TO BLACK RIVER--GENERAL PEMBERTON ORDERS ALL NON-COMBATANTS TO LEAVE THE CITY.

Leaving the threatened, teeming town behind us, we moved slowly on--our friends, my little one, and myself--toward Vicksburg. Ah! Vicksburg, our city of refuge, the last to yield thou wilt be; and within thy homes we will not fear the footstep of the victorious army, but rest in safety amid thy hills! and those whom we love so dearly will comfort and sustain us in our frightened and panic-stricken condition--will laugh away our woman's fears, and lighten our hearts from the dread and suffering we have experienced. Yet, is there any place where one is perfectly safe in these terrible times? As we travelled along, the night air blowing so refres.h.i.+ngly upon us through the open window--our seats so quiet--the motion of the cars so soothing, my friends soon gave unmistakable signs of the deep sleep that had fallen upon them;--the quiet of the night--the air so fragrant--the heavens above us so calm and starlit!

I leaned my head against the window and looked into the darkness. How calm and earnest the thoughts that came to me after the unquiet and restlessness of the day! The blessed hope of the heavenly home seemed doubly gracious. How longingly I looked upon the veil that lay between our world and the beyond! Ah! the beyond, where Christ has gone, that our life there may be perfected through him; the beyond, where many a night like this my eyes have looked upon the stars; and my soul trembled and panted, wistfully longing for more knowledge of the life above--wistfully longing for the child, the martyr child, that suffered and died upon my bosom--the child whose life on earth was so much a part of my own!--whose heavenly life I wish so much to influence my own! And I seek, I know not what, as I gaze upon those worlds above. I dare not ask for a revelation; but, ah!

could I penetrate beyond the stars and catch one ray of the glorious life! Yet, the consciousness of a refined and purer existence is ever near me, as my mind separates from the earth--gives itself up to intangible and yearning inquiries, that will never be satisfied until I, too, stand within the presence of my Creator. Oh, this night time, this starlit, clear, and most pure heaven before us! Does not one see oneself more clearly, when looking upward with the ever-undefined emotion that we feel when gazing at the heavens at night?--does not our own unworthiness, our soul's need of a Saviour, come to us as our conscience, overcoming the callousness of the day and the world, whispers to us of many derelictions from our duty? of prayers hastily said over? of opportunities for good to our fellow men lost? The soft answer, the kind word and cheering smile to the world weary, all have been pa.s.sed by; and we see where good, to one "of the least of these," might have made a life happier; and, as to the pure, all things are pure, so we, as we pant for the heavenly life, and the enn.o.bling existence belonging to it, see more clearly the imperfections in this, and in our daily duties, and our need of a Mediator with him to whose pure eyes we are wholly unworthy; alas! so unworthy, that with this life our worthiness can never begin.

As we pa.s.sed along nearing Vicksburg, we could see camps and camp fires, with the dim figures of men moving around them; we could see the sentinel guarding the Black River bridge, silent and erect, looking in the darkness like a dusky statue ornamenting some quaint and ma.s.sive bridge of the old countries; and farther, ma.s.ses of men in the road marching quietly in the night time, followed by the artillery; long lines of wagons, too, pa.s.sing through the ravines--now the white covers seen on the brow of the hill; losing sight of them again, we hear the shout of the teamsters, the crack of the whip--and again catch sight of a white top through trees--and the occasional song of a wagoner. At the depot soldiers were crowded, waiting to go out; and on our arrival at our friend's, we, so weary with the excitement and turmoil of the day, were glad to rest our tired heads in calmness and peace, with no fears for the morrow, or restless forebodings of evil.

Upon reading the papers the next morning, almost the first article that caught my eye was an order from General Pemberton, insisting on all non-combatants leaving the city. "Heretofore," he said, "I have merely requested that it should be done; now I demand it." "Ah!" cried I, "have we no rest for the sole of our foot? Must we again go through the fright and anxiety of yesterday?" "We cannot leave here," replied my friend.

"Where can we go? Here we are among our friends--we are welcome, and we feel in safety. Let us at least share the fate of those we love so much.

If we leave, we cannot tell to what we may be exposed--even now, probably, the Federal army occupy Jackson; if we go into the country, we are liable at any time to be surrounded by them; and to whom can we apply for protection from the soldiery? We _must_ stay here, even if the gentlemen say go, which, I fear, they will; we must urge them to allow us to remain, for you know they can refuse us nothing. Oh, we are so quiet and peaceful, we must stay, come what will." When the gentlemen came, we talked of the "order" with them. At first they said we must leave; but we entreated them to let us stay, representing our deplorable condition in a country overrun by soldiers, the great danger of trying to go to Mobile by railway, the track having been partly destroyed between Meridian and Jackson. We declared that we would almost starve--that we would meet any evil cheerfully in Vicksburg, where our friends were--where we were carefully housed, quiet, and contented. So, laughingly, they said they were completely overcome by our distress, and would arrange it so that we could stay if we wished. "But, remember," they said, "if trouble comes, you must meet it with your eyes open." "Yes," we said, "we can meet trouble where you are, cheerfully." All seemed to think that the matter would be decided some distance from Vicksburg, and that General Pemberton wanted to cast the responsibility from his shoulders, if the worst came, and ladies were endangered in the city.

CHAPTER 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.