"Vignettes" of the Civil War

By Francis McRae Ward

 

Chapter Three

 

Fear And Gloom Covers The Land. Grant's Move From Milliken's Bend To Vicksburg

 

From the very beginning of the war President Lincoln realized the value of the Mississippi River. In a conversation with Admiral Porter he pointed to a map in the White House and said:

 

'See what a lot of territory those fellows hold. Vicksburg is the key to it. Here is the Red River, which will furnish the Confederates with cattle and corn to feed their armies. There is the Arkansas and White Rivers, which can supply cattle and hogs by the thousand. From Vicksburg these can be distributed by rail all over the Confederacy. Then there is their great depot of supplies on the Yazoo River (just above Vicksburg). Let's get Vicksburg and all this country is ours. The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket. Valuable as New Orleans will be to us, Vicksburg will be more valuable. We can take all the other ports of the Confederacy and with Vicksburg they can still defy us."[1]

 

In the not too distant future this was to cause much alarm and deplorable conditions along the banks of the river and for a number of miles inland. About March 1863, 186,000 Negroes enlisted in the Union Army. Most of them were recruited from Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. A large majority of the physically able Southern men were now far from home on the fighting fronts, and the thought of this was terrifying to the women and children left at home. After much argument and discussion as to whether the Negroes would be taken into the Union Army, Mr. Lincoln wrote Governor Andrew Johnson of Tennessee who had been in favor of the use of Negro soldiers, that: “The bare sight of 50,000 armed and drilled black soldiers on the banks of the Mississippi would end the rebellion at once.[2]

 

The Confederate transport Fair Play was captured at Milliken's Bend August 18th, 1862, with a large amount of ammunition, arms, and supplies for the Confederate Army, along with some passengers aboard. The Fair Play had only been there three hours when the Federal fleet arrived from Memphis. The 31st Louisiana Regiment consisting of 700 men had to leave in a hurry and retreated to Tallulah. The Federal troops following them to Tallulah burned the depot, telegraph office, destroyed some railroad cars, and track. There was a large amount of sugar stored in the depot to be used for the Confederate Army.[3]

 

In 1861 Kate Stone was a charming, educated, cultured woman twenty years of age, who lived on Brokenburn Plantation with her widowed mother, little sister and several brothers. Brokenburn was about seven miles north of Milliken's Bend near the Mississippi River in Madison Parish. The Benjamin Hardisons, close friends of the Stone family, owned a plantation adjacent to Brokenburn, and their homes were within walking distance of each other. Mr. Hardison had been in Monroe on business and Kate Stone, knowing that he had returned, walked up to the Hardison home with her little sister to find out if he had any news of any interest. As she came near the house she felt that something had gone wrong. George Richards, a friend, came out and met them in the garden telling them that some Yankees and armed Negroes had been there, taking a lot of provisions and some clothes of Mrs. Hardison's and her children's. They also took all of the Negroes that were left on the place with them. The ringleader of the gang was a trusted Negro servant of Mr. Hardison's by the name of Charles. They were mad with Mr. Hardison because he had moved several Negroes to another location a short time before, making all kinds of threats against him, stating they would shoot him if he carne in sight. Mr. Hardison saw them coming in time to hide in the woods.[4]

 

As they walked in the house, the children and Mrs. Hardison were in a state of excitement after being insulted by a gang of armed Negroes. Just as they came in the house and sat down, the alarm was given that the Yankees were returning. They heard them open and shut the gate and then with a lot of cursing, and the sound of loud voices, "Shoot him, curse him! Shoot him! Get out of the way so I can get him." They were talking about George Richards who was standing on the gallery, and as they looked out could see their guns pointed at him at close range. In a few minutes they left Richards and went into the house still cursing, breaking open everything in sight and stealing anything that they wanted. A big black swaggering Negro walked to the room where the ladies had shut themselves up, his pistol cocked, went into the wardrobe and took what he wanted, and at the same time telling them what he was going to do to Mr. Hardison if he ever found him. He walked up to the bed where a little baby was sleeping, pistol in hand, saying, "I ought to kill him. He many grow up and be a jarilla" (Guerrilla.) Springing to his side Mrs. Hardison lifted the baby up, and cried out in a piercing tone, "Don't kill my baby. Don't kill him.[5]

 

Kate Stone's little sister sitting close to her with fear as the Negro moved toward them laughing, snapping his pistol, and then stood on the hem of her dress. The other Negroes were prowling all over the house taking anything they wanted, and destroyed other things that they were unable to pack off. They continued to ransack the house, talking loud and cursing, and calling each other "Captain" and "Lieutenant." They kept this up for several hours and as they departed threatened to return and burn them out completely. A large crowd of Negroes, most of them from the nearby plantations had gathered in the quarters at Brokenburn, and as Kate and her little sister passed their way returning home, the Negroes looked at them with an evil and terrifying grin.[6]

 

All of this happened in the latter part of March 1863. The Hardisons left immediately, knowing it would not be safe for then to remain at home any longer. The Stone family began making their plans to leave at once. The Yankees had given strict orders forbidding citizens from leaving the area so they had to depart under the cover of the darkness. The roads were in a terrible condition and much of the country was under water due to the high stage of the river. The first part of the trip was made on horseback, the rest by water in skiffs. The party consisted of Kate Stone, her mother, little sister, two brothers, Jimmy about sixteen, Johnny about fifteen, and an aunt of Kate Stone's, Mrs. C. B. Buckner, the wife of Dr. Buckner, their little girl, Beverly, about four years old, and several slaves. The night was dark, the roads muddy and bad, sometimes riding through water up to the saddle skirts. When they were about a mile from the location of the skiffs they left the impassable road and turned through the woods, and a cart loaded with baggage had to be left at this point. They sent a Negro back to the cart to get the baggage and instead of returning with it he mounted a horse and went back home.[7]

 

After riding a few miles in the boats they came to the home of a Mr. Jones in the middle of Tensas Swamp. Mr. Hardison and his family were there waiting for them with a few possessions in their skiff, salvaged from the wreckage. For a vivid description of the next leg of the journey, Kate Stone said in her Diary: "We went on in company and were in the boats for seven hours in the beating rain and the sickening sun, sitting with our feet in the water. Not an inch of land was to be seen during the journey through the dense swamp and over the swift and curling currents. The water was sometimes twenty feet deep, rushing and gurgling around the logs and trees."[8]

 

They reached the home of a close friend D. James G. Carson, spending several weeks there, then going to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Templeton, hoping to catch a boat to Delhi, which had gone. Within the next few days they managed to catch another boat and after a six-hour ride reached their destination. They got out of the boat at the railroad bridge, walking one mile to Delhi, and what a sight was to be seen there: People fleeing from Yankees and Negroes. Rosewood furniture, wardrobes, pianos, parlor sets, stoves, kettles, pets, bowls and pitchers all piled in heaps. Dogs, horses, mules, baggage, and crowds of Negroes and drunken soldiers; people crowded in every direction hoping to get a train fleeing from Negroes and Yankees.[9]

 

Sixteen-year-old Jimmy Stone with a party of Confederate soldiers, a Captain Smith in command, left Delhi for Brokenburn to bring out the slaves. Reaching the place they hid all day in a canebrake and in the loft of a barn, slipping out in the night to see and hear what was going on. One of the Negroes was talking outrageously about Mrs. Stone. Another Negro by the name of William had moved into her bedroom with his family. They had left the room completely furnished and everything in it had been divided among the Negroes. The soldiers surrounded the cabins at daylight, called the Negroes out and demanded their surrender. All were captured, none resisted but William, but in a very few minutes he decided it was wise to give up. On the way out and within a short distance of Tensas Bayou they were seen by a party of Yankees about forty in number. They were fired upon a number of times but by a miracle nobody was hurt. No doubt excited and in a hurry they loaded the Negroes in dugouts and, swimming the mules, made it safely to the other side.[10]

 

In the latter part of December 1862, General Sherman decided he would try to take Vicksburg via Chickasaw Bayou. When the fight started the Confederate troops were on the high Vicksburg Bluffs about four miles north of the city, General Stephen D. Lee commanding. Chickasaw Bayou empties into McNutt Lake at a point about a half a mile almost directly west and parallel to the bluffs. There sloughs and muddy, boggy land intermingling on and near the banks of both the bayou and lake, and this tortuous kind of terrain especially prevails between the lake and bluffs all within close range of the enemy's guns. One of Sherman's officers, Captain W. F. Patterson, very intelligent and efficient, called his attention to the tortuous course. Sherman didn't say anything for a few minutes. Then pointing toward the bluffs he said: “That is the route to take!"[11]

 

Shortly after the brief reconnaissance with general Sherman, Major John S. Hammond. Sherman's Assistant Adjutant General, came to the front, to give Sherman's exact words: "Tell Morgan to give the signal for the assault; that we will lose 5,000 men before we take Vicksburg, and we may as well lose them here as elsewhere." (Brigadier-General George W. Morgan was one of Sherman's Division Commanders.[12] Seventeen thousand and fifty two of Grant's men were killed and buried at Vicksburg all from the Vicksburg campaign, (to say nothing of those who died of exposure from the ravages of rains, floods, the extreme heat of the sickening sun, diarrhea, and typhoid and swamp fever. Hundreds who died after furloughs North will never be known.) According to reports of Civil War surgeons many months after the majority of the Union troops returned North to their homes deaths from chronic diarrhea frequently occurred. There were 1,700,000 cases, and more than 57,000 died of the disease.[13]

 

When the signal shot was fired the troops of DeCourcy and Thayer advanced to a corduroy bridge and Blair's troops moved up to the bayou to find themselves under a withering and destructive fire. (Colonel John F. DeCourcy, Brigadier-Generals John H. Thayer, and Frank P. Blair, were all under Sherman's command, Right-Wing Thirteenth Army Corps.[14] After a forced passage over an abattis and through boggy, tangled marsh reaching dry ground the troops broke formation, but with courage and determination they moved up again to be slaughtered by shot and shell which covered the front like a hurricane fire.[15]

 

General Sherman was now at his headquarters pacing the floor, no doubt realizing his mistake and heavy losses. The tortuous terrain and the crest of the high bluffs were impossible for his men to reach. One of Sherman's officers suggested that a flag of truce be sent within the Union lines asking for an armistice of sufficient length of time to bring out the wounded and bury the dead, which had covered the field of battle. At first he refused to ask for the armistice, however, just about dark he consented. By the tine the escort got started with the flag it was so dark that he was fired upon, the enemy unable to see the flag on account of the darkness, having to return; but the next morning the truce was promptly granted. All of the dead and wounded were brought out, except those who had been carried within the Confederate lines, as prisoners. The loss of Sherman's command was 208 killed, 1,005 wounded, 563 missing, aggregate, 1,776. The Confederates, 63 killed, 134 wounded, 10 missing, aggregate 207.[16]

 

Ardent students of Civil War history, who are well informed of this battle, state that Sherman worried over it, and was greatly embarrassed; he did not want to talk about it, nor did any of the high officials in the government. Very little of the battle of Chickasaw Bayou is mentioned in Sherman's Memoirs.

 

Dr. B. C. Abernathy[17], bright and alert, nearing the age of eighty, an ardent student or the Civil War, has talked to men who were in the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, including his grandfather, Dr. John Clayton Abernathy, First Tennessee Regiment, Confederate States Army. Dr. B. G. Abernathy states that his grandfather told him: "It was the greatest and most bloody slaughter he ever heard of or read about, and the battle-worn Union soldiers were only too glad to surrender, as they felt they had been ordered to do something impossible." he also stated that "hundreds of them were of German extraction, many unable to speak only a few words of English." Dr. John Clayton Abernathy further stated that "it was common talk, and knowledge, Sherman worried so much about his loss and blunders at Chickasaw Bayou, he retired to his headquarters, and stayed drunk for a month.”

 

There is no sign of a marker (not even a rusty iron pipe) on this battlefield, to say nothing of a monument, to commemorate the brave men who fought and died there.

 

General U. S. Grant arrived at Young's Point[18] on January 29, 1863, and immediately assumed command, relieving General John A. McClernand. He established his headquarters at Milliken's Bend. His army was stretched all along the bank of the river from Lake Providence to Young's Point, a distance of about sixty miles.[19]

 

In 1862 General Thomas Williams started construction of a canal from Young's Point straight across to a point to enter the river below in order to divert a course for the gunboats to pass to avoid the gun emplacements on the high bluffs close to the river bank at Vicksburg. As soon as Grant arrived he put 4,000 men to work on the canal but soon to be interrupted by a sudden rise in the river, breaking a dam, which had been placed at the upper end to keep the water out until excavation was completed. If the canal had been a success it is very doubtful if it could have been used. As soon as the Confederates found out what they were doing they established batteries on the opposite side of the river commanding the entire length of the canal, destroying the dredges in use, which were doing the work of thousands of men.[20]

 

At this time there were two more canals under construction hoping that at least one of the routes would be successful. One was at Lake Providence, the other at Duckport.[21] The proposed Lake Providence route was to go through the lake and into its outlet, Baxter Bayou, Bayou Macon, Tensas, Ouachita, and Red Rivers. On February 1st Grant visited General McPherson at his Lake Providence Headquarters and remained with him for several days. They succeeded in getting a small steamer into the lake in which Grant and some of his staff made a personal inspection of the lake - and the bayous as far as they had been cleared. The courses of the two bayous wind and twist their way through dense and dismal swamp filled with fallen trees making this route impossible, and the work was soon abandoned.[22]

 

Captain Frederick E. Prime was the engineer in charge of the Duckport canal and the one opposite Vicksburg.[23] The Duckport canal started from the river near the Duckport river landing and emptied into Walnut Bayou near the dividing property line of the Huon and Backalum Plantations, a distance of four miles and today this canal can be plainly seen - its present depression from four to five feet deep. This route was to be via Walnut, Brushy, Roundaway and Bayou Vidal, the latter at this time emptying into the Mississippi near New Carthage. In reality this is all the same bayou but for some reason its name changes at certain intervals. This canal and route proved to be another failure. Captain Prime states in his report dated May 4, 1863: "Twenty-odd barges are in the bayou at and below Cooper's plantation, which there is but little prospect of moving to Richmond until a rise in the river." One small steamboat, the Victor, passed through the canal and bayou and made its way to New Carthage. Digging canals in this climate and terrain was useless and a waste of time and money. The men were worked night and day in the rain and mud to the point of exhaustion, causing disease and death to many.[24]

 

Negro ex-slaves[25] were being inducted into the Union Army and formed into regiments, several of which were now in the area.

 

 The idea of segregating the races was practiced during the Civil War in the Union Army where there were many Negro regiments. And the Yankees were as insistent upon keeping the military companies unmixed as any sensible leader in the North or South knows is necessary today. At the Vicksburg siege, for example they called them African Brigades, District of Northeast Louisiana, Post of Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, commanded by Colonel Isaac F. Shepard, and Colonel Hiram Scofield. In that same region was the African Brigade, District of Northeast Louisiana, Post of Goodrich's Landing, Louisiana, commanded by Colonel William F. Wood. And those shrewd Yankee officers knew as well as Southerners that the necessity of keeping the regiments unmixed was tile best and most frictionless system as it proved then at one of the highest peaks of world change during all time.[26]

 

The eastern parishes of Louisiana in the 1850's were overwhelmingly black. During the Reconstruction period this accounted for the fact that the Republican Party was overwhelmingly black. For example, the census for that year gives an analysis of the population as follows:

 

 

About the middle of the century, slave markets were operated in certain parts of northeast Louisiana. At Trenton,[27] McMerty and Martin operated one, and at Monroe, Walter L. Campbell was the leading slave dealer there.[28]

 

During the Civil War, Crescent was the home of Dr. David M. Dancy and his wife, Elizabeth DeMoss Dancy. The plantation consisted of 1,750 acres. The front part of the home was built in 1859. The rear or back part was built in 1832. When Madison Parish was occupied by Grant's Federal forces, an army officer, and several soldiers came to Crescent to burn the home. Some of the members of the Dancy family met them as they entered the front yard, and earnestly appealed to them to spare the place, as there was a desperately sick lady in the home. Before the army officer would agree not to set fire to the place, he requested that he be allowed to go in and see for himself just how ill the lady was. Knowing he had been told the truth he was kind enough not to burn them out. However, they stole all of the livestock, cotton, food and provisions, and everything that was useful for the Federal army. Crescent was one of the very few homes in Madison Parish that the Yankees didn't burn, and the only home still standing there, built in ante-bellum days.[29]

 

In the 1890's, Mrs. Dancy, then a widow, brought suit against the Federal Government for damages inflicted upon her. The lawsuit was held in the old courthouse at Vicksburg, and a number of loyal Negroes, who were her former slaves, testified in her behalf. The Federal Government won the lawsuit, and of course in the end, Mrs. Dancy didn't get anything.[30]

 

Crescent was my birthplace and boyhood home, the birthplace and girlhood home of my two sisters, Anne Ward, and Margaret Peterkin Ward. The plantation was owned by my parents, Thomas Francis Ward, and Margaret McRae Peterkin Ward. I lived there until I was about fifteen years old. Crescent is now owned by Gus S. Wortham and Sterling C. Evans of Houston, Texas.

 

Arlington, a 1,200-acre plantation of rich alluvial land is located on the north shore of the eastern end of beautiful Lake Providence. The plantation and elegant ante bellum home surrounded by beautiful flowers, shrubs, and trees overlooking the lake, was the home of General Edward Sparrow during the Civil War. Cyrus F. Boyd had this to say in his diary about the Sparrow home: "His residence stands on the north shore of the lake and is surrounded by all that art and labor can do to make it a paradise. The plantation has plenty of forage and food but a few days will clean it up. We found bushels of yams and potatoes (sweet).

 

General Sparrow owned 500 Negroes.[31]

 

The upper floor of this home was used as headquarters for Generals J. B. McPherson, W. L. McMillen[32], and General Grant used it on his visits there conferring with them. The lower floor was used to stable their horses. The home is well kept, and still in a perfect state of preservation, and is occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Steven Guenard. Mrs. Guenard is a direct descendant of General Sparrow.[33]

 

History and recollections of General Sparrow are definitely recorded as gentleman, statesman, lawyer, planter, and is reflective of the class and kind that built the South into a grand and glorious place to live, and perhaps the richest spot on earth up until the Civil War.

 

The best plantations of the Deep South in 1850 were owned by three or four thousand families, and they became the cotton magnets. The annual income of each one of a thousand of these families was over $50,000, which was great wealth for that day and time. That same year total exports for the United States were $203,000,000, and $119,404,000, of this was cotton, sugar, and rice from the plantations in the South.[34]

 

General Sparrow was born in Dublin, Ireland, December 29, 1810, while his parents were there on a visit. His mother and father lived in Columbus, Ohio, taking him there when they returned to the United States. After he finished school at Kenyon College, he moved to Concordia Parish, Louisiana, finished law, was successful in his profession, and held several public offices there. He came to Lake Providence, about 1852, resumed his law practice, acquired Arlington, and became a wealthy planter.[35]

 

During the Mexican War Edward Sparrow served as a brigadier general. He was senior senator from Louisiana in the Confederate States Government, chairman of the Military Affairs Committee, and served on the committee that adopted the design of the Confederate flag.[36]

 

Estates of 5,000 acres abounded in the Delta, and some much larger with the necessary slaves for their cultivation.[37]

 

One of the unique characters of all the in the ootton planter class with a lust for power and wealth was Norman Frisby. He moved to Tensas Parish from Claiborne County, Mississippi in 1855. About 1849 he acquired 25,000 acres of land, some of it in the upper part of Tensas Parish, the other part in the lower area of Madison Parish, all along the banks of Tensas River. His ambition was to grow 10,000 bales of cotton each year and enough side crops to make himself independently wealthy. He immediately put his slaves to work clearing the land, and it is said that he cleared more land in shorter length of time than any other man in the region, working his slaves sixteen hours a day, and sometimes into the night if the moon was shining brightly. He eventually produced 2,000 bales annually, which was an excellent average. He told several New Orleans commission merchants and his neighbors that he would be able to increase that production five times more and keep it there each year.[38] Frisby had dreams of a three story castle one hundred feet square, the ruins of which can be seen today about two hundred feet from the bank of Tensas River. He started collecting works of art from all parts of the world. A chain of levees was to be built to protect it from high water. Beautiful plants and shrubs of rare species were to be imported, and the walls were to be painted and decorated by painters from Europe. When construction started he used brick molded from his own soil, but finding them inferior, he ordered his construction foreman to tear everything down, start over and use brick of a better quality he had shipped up from New Orleans. In 1859 his mansion was still climbing; he pushed his slaves with every effort to complete construction. In that same year due to heavy rainfall the rivers began to rise. Due to prospects of high water, ditches were dug and levees were built, working into the night by the light of bonfires. It 1861 his mansion was still not finished. The price of cotton advanced, work was stopped on the house and the slaves were put to work in the fields. In 1863 Grant was in complete possession of the region and Frisby's slaves began to run away. Now he began to make preparations to leave his plantation and take his mules, slaves, and any other possessions that he might be able to salvage.[39]

 

According to local history and tradition, and statements from natives of this region who have made a careful study of and know the history of Frisby (although it has never been proved), before fleeing from the Yankees he went to a bank in Natchez, Mississippi, withdrawing all of his money, most of it in gold. Upon his return home he put the money in an iron chest, took a crippled slave to the woods with him, made the slave dig a hole for the money and a grave for himself. Then Frisby killed the slave anti filled the grave in.[40]

 

Frisby left the plantation with a large drove of mules, horses, and his remaining slaves, trying to make his way to Texas. One of his slaves, a young Negro boy about fifteen years old, was riding a very nervous horse, and upon approaching a stream about half way between Tensas River and Bayou Macon the horse became frightened as he walked up to the bridge arid refused to cross it. Frisby began whipping the horse unmercifully, causing him to jump over the railing killing both the boy and horse.[41]

 

Orlando H. Flowers, who had acquired land in Madison, Tensas, and Franklin Parishes, was the husband of Norman Frisby's sister Gertrude. Flowers was bringing out his slaves and livestock along with Frisby's, and one of his mules strayed into Frisby's drove, which brought on a heated argument, as Flowers claimed the mule and tried to drive it back into it's proper place. Frisby began whipping Flowers with a heavy bullwhip, fighting to their knees and both were eventually on the ground. During the course of the struggle Flowers pulled a knife and killed Frisby. This happened at a place called Warsaw, a ferry landing on Bayou Macon.[42]

 

Around May 1, 1863; Grant started making great preparations for troop movements to Vicksburg, as all of his water routes were failures. Approximately 60,000 men[43] were camped along the western shore of the river at intervals from Lake Providence to Young's Point. With the exception of a few troops commanded by Colonel Frank A. Bartlett[44] in the Bayou Macon region, and the raids of Captain Lea and Captain James there was practically no opposition to Grant's forces. In a night raid Captain Lea and several of his men rode boldly into Grant's headquarters at Milliken's Bend disguised in federal uniforms and almost made a successful capture of him. An old Negro who had been a servant of Captain Lea's was there waiting on Grant, recognized him and of course gave the alarm, Lea making a miraculous escape.[45]

 

About 800 Federal troops established themselves at Caledonia[46] in May 1863, divided their forces and made an attack on Pin Hook -- a small town in Carroll Parish during the Civil War.  Colonel Bartlett received advanced information from Delhi relative to the attack. Leaving his headquarters at Floyd he rapidly moved within the Pin Hook region placing his men among some trees where they couldn't be seen, ambushed the enemy at close range; Killed, wounded and missing numbered about fifty. Thinking Bartlett had a much larger force the Federals retreated across Bayou Macon, burning the bridge behind them.[47]

 

Grant's official orders for troop movements to Vicksburg were April 20, 1863. The Thirteenth Army Corps under command of General John A. McClernand[48] was the first to take off. Next to follow was Sherman with his Fifteenth Army Corps. Then McPherson with the Seventeenth. Most all of the road over which they traveled is still in use today. Leaving Milliken's Bend the road strikes Brushy Bayou at the Shirley Plantation[49], passing through Tallulah Station, the town of Richmond, the Holmes[50], Smith[51], and Perkins[52] Plantations, running parallel to the western shores of Bayous Roundaway and Vidal, and Lake St. Joseph. Then from the lower end of the lake to Hard Times[53] and DeSheron's[54] Plantations, (the latter being the place of embarkation), then crossing the river they landed at Bruinsburg[55].

 

From Milliken's Bend to DeSheron's Plantation the entire country was under water except for the high spots and ridges, due to broken levees along the Mississippi River - some had been cut by Union forces. The shore of the lake formed one of these ridges, which was high and wide, upon which pretty homes with roofs of green were situated overlooking beautiful flower gardens, all gleaming beneath the warm rays of the semitropical sun.[56]

 

Properly spaced upon the walls of these mansions beautiful mirrors could be seen, great chandeliers swung from the high ceilings, soft cushioned lounges covered with silk and velvet, satin and lace curtains draped the tall windows. Delicate and skilful fingers of lovely Southern women often touched off the sound of music from piano and harp. There were books to read, horses to ride, and skiffs in the lake. The cellars were filled with rare wines and in the forests game was to be found in abundance. Every known means of luxury and amusement was assembled on these plantations. Union soldiers took a delight in rolling out beautiful rosewood furniture and making bonfires of it. The homes were thrown open and gutted by soldiers and Negroes, gems, pictures, and works of art were packed off, and in one home alone Ellett's Marine Brigade stole over $30,0000 worth of silverware.[57]

 

This was one of the finest and richest sections of the South. All along the route there could be seen smoldering ruins of elegant plantation homes, expensive sugarhouses, barns and cotton gins. Around the fertile shores of lake St. Joseph had been a paradise and one of the Garden spots of Louisiana. A vast region of cotton, sugar cane, and Indian corn. Only a few days before this march, these elegant homes looked out upon the beautiful lake with pride and serenity. The burning continued in a most barbarous manner. The loss inflicted along the shores of Lake St. Joseph ran into the millions.[58]

 

About ten o'clock during the night of April 16^th, Admiral David Porter commanding the Benton, drifted past the city of Vicksburg, followed by the Lafayette with a captured steamer, the Price, fastened close to her side, and four naval vessels, the Carondelet, Mound City, Pittsburgh and Louisville. Next were the transports Silver Wave, Forest Queen and Henry Clay. Each one of these boats was towing barges of coal to be used as fuel for the steamers and naval vessels in the crossing of the river below. Grant had collected a number of yawls and barges from Chicago and St. Louis, which were used to ferry troops across the river. One more gunboat in the fleet and the last to pass Vicksburg was the Tuscumbia. Great bonfires were lighted on the Vicksburg side and directly across on the Louisiana shore, making the illumination of the river as light as day. The boats were under fire for more than two hours, and all were struck many times with not too much damage to the naval vessels, but the damage to the transports was heavy. Bursting shells set fire to the Henry Clay and she burned to the water's edge. Her pilot was picked up by one of the yawls and most of the crew climbed into another boat making it safely to the shore above

 

On the night of April 26th, six more transports with a number of barges loaded with provisions and supplies drifted pass the city, and one of these boats the Tigress was badly hit and sunk.[59]

 

On the night of June 28th, 1863, shells from mortar boats in the river sailed into the sky exploding as they fell to the ground brightly lighting up the great horizon. Men, women and children walking, infants being carried in the arms of their parents, and a few people on drays, all making their way for a safer part of the city

 

Mrs. Patience Gamble of Vicksburg who lived in the old family home on North Madison Street, grabbed her little boy by the hand, left the house and started eastward out North Madison, joining other refugees hastening to caves on City Cemetery road. An eyewitness, then a little girl, ran ahead and jumped on the back of an old Negro's dray also fleeing the bombardment. The little girl on the dray looked back just in time to see a big explosive shell burst just over Mrs. Gamble's and her little boy's heads, A fragment of the shell killed Mrs. Gamble outright, but her little son whose hand she held was not harmed.[60]

 

Colonel Isaac F. Harrison, prominent citizen of Tensas Parish, (later promoted to general) commanded the Third Louisiana Cavalry, which consisted of only a few hundred men. General John A. Bowen had under his command about 3,000 men in camp at Port Gibson and Grand Gulf.[61] Bowen visited Harrison's camp on or about April 11th, and re-enforced him with 1,800 men. These were the only forces within the Tensas region to resist Grant's movement on Vicksburg with 90,000 troops. There were sharp fights along the Richmond and Hard Times road, Somerset, New Catharge and Clark's Bayou. The brave men fought hard but resistance was useless against overwhelming forces. Harrison tried to blow up the levee at a certain point with gunpowder so the country would be completely submerged, but the levee was too wet and too solid, and he didn't have time to dig into it as the Federal forces were pressing him at close range. The people prayed for the river to break the levee but their prayers were not answered.[62]

 

General Grant stood smoking a stogie on the deck of a small tug, as his gunboats shelled Grand Gulf. He reconnoitered the position; failed, and moved downstream.[63]

 

The crossing of troops over the river at Bruinsburg started April 30th. On the 18th of May the Union army was in the rear of Vicksburg; the 19^th, just twenty days after the troops landed on the Mississippi shore, the city was completely surrounded, and a violent onset of attack had been made. The battles of Port Gibson, Raymond, Champion Hill and Big Black had been fought and won by Grant's forces, and the capitol city of Jackson had fallen. They had marched about one hundred and eighty miles, captured the Confederate arsenals and military manufactories. Everything that would have been useful for the Southern army had been destroyed.[64]

 

General Grant's son, Frederick, not quite thirteen years of age, joined him a few weeks before the troops crossed the river. When Grant left Bruinsburg for the front, Frederick was asleep on one of the gunboats. His father thought it was best to leave him there until Grand Gulf[65] could be captured. Upon waking up he started out on foot and found his father near Port Gibson. With reference to Frederick, Grant stated in his Memoirs, Vol. 1, Page 288: "My son accompanied me throughout the campaign and siege, and caused no anxiety either to me or his mother, who was at home."[66]

 

After the close of the siege in 1863 soldiers of Grant's garrison stole the spotted Shetland pony belonging to young Charles Buckner Gaines from the home on Fort Hill at Vicksburg. The pony had been given to young Charles by his father, William Gaines, known as "The Boy Hero of the Mexican War" because of his gallant service in Old Mexico. The father protested to Grant about the pony and it was returned to Charles Gaines after young Frederick Dent Grant had been freely riding it about Vicksburg. About the same time Mrs. William Gaines protested to General Grant that Federal soldiers had stripped her smokehouse of all the meat and food inside and Grant himself rode into the Gaines yard on Fort Hill and assured Mrs. Gaines he regretted it, but there would not be another such intrusion on them. However, their meat was then all gone, and was never recovered.[67]

 

Later young Charles Buckner Gaines' spotted pony was stolen again while the city was still garrisoned by Grant, and it is presumed the Federal soldiers were the ones who stole it the second time. But this time the pony was never recovered. It was never learned by the Gaines family what finally became of it.[68]

 

After the battle of Port Gibson (at Shaifer House) on May 1st, 1853 as Grant's army prepared to move on east, he saw Port Gibson from the hill and gave orders not to burn it; "It was too pretty."[69]

 

From Delta Point[70] and Young's Point, in 1862 and early 1863, as his forces were shelling the town (Vicksburg). Grant could see a tall house on the Vicksburg ridges and he ordered it to be skipped in the shelling as he said he wanted to take it as his headquarters and family home, when he got to Vicksburg. He did as he had planned. He moved himself and family into part of the big Lum home then standing across Warrenton Road (now Washington Street) from the John Alexander Klein home. The Lum home was slightly northeast of what is now Washington and Klein Streets. Grant and family let the Lum family continue to occupy a part of the Lum home, and the two families lived there in harmony until Grant and his armies moved on eastward.[71]

 

On July 4th, 1863, Grant's armies marched into Vicksburg in at least two detachments; one came in old Jackson Road, (now Openwood Street); another detachment came in along Baldwin's Ferry Road, across Phelan's Crossing; and up Great Street Hill, once called the Great Road. At the top of Great Street Hill, at what is now South Street, the old John Burns home is still standing where little John Burns sat on the paling fence and watched the Yankees march in, some of whom called petting or joking remarks to him as they passed.[72]

 

After the siege was closed, Grant offered to let Dr. W. W. Lord, rector of Christ Church, a St. Louis man, go North to his former people, but Dr. Lord, who had voluntarily stayed in Vicksburg all during the siege as a Chaplin of the First Mississippi Regiment, Confederate States Army, said he would prefer to be sent farther into the South, and Dr. Lord was put on a ship at a port on the Gulf of Mexico, and sent around to South Carolina as a free man, where he stayed until he came back to Vicksburg in 1870 to become the first rector of the then new Church of the Holy Trinity still standing at Monroe and South Streets. Christ Church was established in 1828, and the cornerstone laid in 1839 by Rt. Rev. Leonidas K. Polk, D. D., First Bishop of Louisiana; Major General in the Confederate States Army; the Building was consecrated in 1843 by Rt. Rev. James Hervey Otey, D. D., First Bishop of Tennessee. Christ Church is also still standing.[73]

 

When a marauding band of Negro federal soldiers wantonly murdered Dr. Bryant Cook's mother near Bovina about seven miles from Vicksburg after the siege was closed, General N. J. T. Dana. Military Commander, put many of them on trial in Vicksburg; nine were convicted by a court-martial; a special gallows was built in the shape of a Square grape-arbor in a little hollow along Stout's Bayou just off what is now the corner of South Street and First North Street, and all nine Negroes were hanged simultaneously. Blaine Russell has seen a photograph of the nine hanging there (the photograph), which belongs to a friend of his near Vicksburg. More will be written about this in a subsequent chapter.[74]

 

There was a blacklist of Southerners in Vicksburg who would not take the oath of allegiance after the surrender. It was put together by the Yankee Army's Chief of Police. Charles Feldman, a saddler on Crawford Street, owned a copy of the list of names, and Blaine Russell has seen this list, and knew several persons who would not take the oath and were put on the blacklist.[75]

 

All during the latter part of 1863, and 1864 the Federal garrisons in Vicksburg were in mortal fear that any day or night they might be hit by General Nathan Bedford Forrest, the "Wizard of the Saddle," and his men and by Southern guerrillas who were known to be riding around the outside of Vicksburg. Sherman and Grant had seen enough of Forrest and knew all about his miraculous escapades in Kentucky and Tennessee and in Mississippi, especially at Okolona[76] and Brice's Crossroads.[77] Mr. Lincoln and his government often felt the strength of Forrest's arm, and realized he was a great stumbling block to the success of their western campaigns.[78]

 

When General Sherman was in Madison Parish, he made his headquarters at the Willow Glenn Plantation home of Mrs. Celia Groves, located directly across the river from Vicksburg. General Sherman permitted Mrs. Groves to remain there and occupy part of the home. All of her slaves remained on the plantation throughout the war; and her trusted dining room servant, Ceasar, kept a watch, a diamond pin, and a diamond ring (all very valuable) sewed up in a little bag and pinned to his undershirt to prevent the Yankees from stealing them. Mrs. Frank Hanna, of Delhi, Louisiana, a great niece of Mrs. Groves has the pin and watch in her possession, but doesn't know what became of the ring. Mrs. Groves made many trips to Vicksburg in a skiff rowed by some of her slaves, with bags of salt, and bottles of quinine, (items which were badly needed for sick Confederate soldiers) concealed underneath her hoop skirt. When Sherman moved into the home of Mrs. Groves, he cut off the top of her rosewood piano and used it to feed his horses in; and before he left to move on eastward with his army, he burned tier home to the ground.[79]

 

A suit for damages was filed by Mrs. Celia Groves against the Federal Government for destruction of property, cotton, and livestock, caused by Union troops during the time General Sherman made his headquarters in her home at Willow Glenn Plantation. This suit was not settled prior to Mrs. Groves' death in 1872, but in 1891 a compromise settlement was made with one Charles Carpenter without the knowledge of Mrs. Groves' descendants.[80]

 

After the surrender of Vicksburg, the people there were very fortunate that Sherman didn't stay very long, and had much to be thankful for, as he was not placed in command of the city, as he was at Memphis.[81]

 

Elizabeth Avery was born on a plantation near Bolivar, Tennessee, January 19th, 1824. Her father, Dr. Nathan Avery, was from the State of New York, and her mother, Rebecca Rivers, was the daughter of a Virginia planter who came to Tennessee and settled there. Elizabeth married Minor Meriwether in January 1850, at Memphis. During the latter part of 1849 Minor Meriwether freed his slaves, took them to New Orleans and shipped them to Liberia, Africa. The Negroes wrote to him often, always expressing their thanks for what he had done for them.[82]

 

Soon after the news reached Memphis of the South Carolina secession, Minor Meriwether joined the Confederate States Army and left for the front.[83]

 

Mrs. Meriwether owned property in Memphis, and the rent from this property was about enough to keep her little family with food. At this time she had two young sons. Sherman confiscated her rents, which were paid to the Provost Marshal. She went to Sherman's headquarters, and upon showing him the deeds to the property, which was in her name he glanced at them, then talked to her outrageously because her husband had joined the Confederate Army. During the early part of December 1862, Sherman issued an order to the effect that for every federal gunboat fired upon, ten Memphis families would have to leave the city. Mrs. Meriwether was one of the first on the list; the order was served on her immediately and she was given twenty-four hours to get out of Memphis. She wanted to get an old Negro to drive her, who was sick at the time, and asked for enough time for him to recover. The soldier who served the order on Mrs. Meriwether laughed in her face at her request: "You don't suppose" he said, "that General Sherman can change his orders on account of sick niggers? The order is to git out of town within twenty-four hours. If you are found inside the Federal lines after tomorrow you will be thrown in prison." The prison was a filthy place called the Irving Block and many women, and Confederate soldiers, were locked within its walls with much suffering imposed upon them.[84]

 

Mrs. Meriwether was about to give birth to another child, and she went to Sherman and explained her condition, and asked him if he wouldn't let her remain at her home until her baby came. Sherman looked at her with cold eyes and said: "I'm not interested in Rebel wives, or Rebel brats; if you are in Memphis day after tomorrow you will be imprisoned during the duration of the rebellion." She hurriedly put a few clothes and blankets in her "Rockaway," and drove herself to Columbus, Mississippi through the snow and ice. On the night of December 21, 1862, Mrs. Meriwether and her two little boys arrived at the home of a good kind lady, in Columbus, a Mrs. Rebecca Winston, who took them in, and they were treated with every courtesy and great kindness.[85]

 

In Mrs. Winston's home, on Christmas night 1862, Mrs. Meriwether's third child was born, a little boy Lee Meriwether. There was no doctor in the neighborhood, or anywhere near, so Mrs. Winstcn secured the services of an old Negro woman, "Aunt Tabby" who had much experience to assist Mrs. Meriwether with the birth of her child.[86]

 

John Avery, Uncle of Lee Meriwether, lived in Cleveland, Ohio. He had the highest regard for Sherman, and considered him a great man. Lee Meriwether was in Cleveland in 1881, as a guest of his Uncle, and one day Sherman called at John Avery's home for a little visit. John Avery introduced Lee Meriwether to Sherman, and upon thinking what he had done to his mother eighteen years before, the thought of shaking Sherman's hand eras revolting, so Lee Meriwether turned on his heels, packed his clothes, and left immediately for Memphis.[87]

 

Sherman and his family left Vicksburg for Memphis on the steamer Atlantic, September 28th. When the boat was about ready to pull out, Sherman's son Willie was missing. Sherman sent an officer, Captain Clift, to go out and look for his son, and he was found at General McPherson's home. As the boat passed Young's Point, Sherman noticed his son Willie was not feeling well, so he was put to bed, then Dr. Roler of the Fifty-fifth Illinois was called in, who discovered symptoms of typhoid fever. A short distance below Memphis, Dr. Roler told Sherman that his son's life was in danger, and he was very anxious to reach Memphis for consultation with other doctors and for certain medicines not available on the boat. They arrived in Memphis October 2nd, Willie was taken to the Gayoso Hotel, and they obtained the best and most experienced physician in the city, who went into consultation with Dr. Roler, but the boy rapidly weakened, and died in the evening of October 3rd. General and Mrs. Sherman, the other three children, Minnie, Lizzie, and Torn, were there at the time, all overwhelmed with grief, and looking at him as he passed away.[88]

 

As this sad event took place in Memphis, it is to be wondered if Sherman thought of Mrs. Merewether, and how cruel he had mistreated her when he gave her twenty four hours to get out of the city.

 

CHAPTER FOUR

General John C. Pemberton. The Surrender. The Aftermath