Muskets and medicine; or, Army life in the sixties . eriod fromthe charges of drunkenness, incompetency, etc., made bya fellow soldier. It turned out that the abandonment ofthe line intended to be occupied by the co-operating col-umn was fortunate, as the subsequent flooded conditionof the streams would have made the escape of the com-mand next to impossible. About the time Grant withdrew from this line therewas much fear of an attack at Memphis from the Con-federates. One day a comrade came running into quar-ters saying General Bragg was just without the city withan army of ten thousand men,
Muskets and medicine; or, Army life in the sixties . eriod fromthe charges of drunkenness, incompetency, etc., made bya fellow soldier. It turned out that the abandonment ofthe line intended to be occupied by the co-operating col-umn was fortunate, as the subsequent flooded conditionof the streams would have made the escape of the com-mand next to impossible. About the time Grant withdrew from this line therewas much fear of an attack at Memphis from the Con-federates. One day a comrade came running into quar-ters saying General Bragg was just without the city withan army of ten thousand men, and had demanded itssurrender. I was at that time in the ranks, and, likenearly all soldiers, often played at cards for pastime. Atthis very juncture I had in my breast pocket a long-usedpack of cards, and, of course, they were dirty and muchsoiled. One of the first things I did was to removethese, for how would it sound should I fall in battle tohave it said: In his breast pocket was found—not theBible his mother handed him upon leaving home and. il Grnnt as he looked dur\icksburc Campaiin. —B:it a Deck of Cards/ 65 bade him always carry in his knapsack, nor yet the pic-ture of his affianced—but a deck of cards. Well, the cards were removed, but I didnt fall; didnt,indeed, have a chance to, for General Bragg didnt comenear, nor ask the surrender of the city. CHAPTER VII. The Vicksburg Campaign. With mortal heat each other must pursue; What wounds, what slaughter shall ensue. —Dryden. Vicksburg was called the Gibraltar of the West. Itwas certainly the greatest stronghold on the MississippiRiver, and after the fall of the defenses above and thecapture of Forts St. Phillip and Jackson, near the mouth,with the consequent fall of New Orleans, Vicksburg be-came the key to the further obstruction of the river bythe Confederates. After the failure of Shermans attackin 1862, a rendezvous for troops was made at MillikensBend, La., twenty miles above Vicksburg. After the non-succ
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