My Cave Life in Vicksburg Part 4

She came rapidly down around the point of the peninsula--the signal guns silent--when the battery, containing the Brooks gun, opened on her, as she came within range. The first shot cut down the flag; the second struck her side; and the third, the Brooks ball, with the steel wedge, cut into the iron plates near the water's edge. She turned immediately, and steamed back up the river in a sinking condition. The remaining boats, also, changed their course and retired. The Cincinnati had scarcely turned the point, when she sank near the sh.o.r.e.

"Ah! yes!" said the Major, "had it not been for the fortunate sinking of the Cincinnati, you would have become conscious of a fearful warfare raging in the city. Had the boats gotten opposite and engaged our batteries, the firing would have been terrific."

The Major also told us that many ladies had been so much interested in the expected engagement, that they had gone up on Sky Parlor Hill for a better view.

It has been said that the Federal guns have never been sufficiently elevated to throw sh.e.l.l and shot so high as Sky Parlor Hill; yet, I should not like to risk my life for mere curiosity sake, when it was not possible to be of any service.

The Sky Parlor Hill is so called from its extreme height, being a portion of the bluff that stood where the princ.i.p.al commercial street now stands, the grading of the city having taken most of the elevation down. The hill now occupies about a square--the distance of two squares from the river--and is a prominent feature from all parts of the city. A rugged drive winds on one side up the steep ascent, and a long and dizzy flight of wooden steps ascend from the street on the opposite side.

It is surmounted by a little house that one could imagine surmounted "the bean stalk," in the celebrated history of "Jack," quaint and old, yet one that the earlier inhabitants would have called a "fine house."

The view--and that is what the place is visited for--is good, both of the city and river, for some miles above. Crowds of people collect here on the occasion of any move being made in the direction of the river.

A large trunk was picked up after the sinking of the Cincinnati, belonging to a surgeon on board. It contained valuable surgical instruments that could not be procured in the Confederacy; a letter, also, written to the gentleman's wife previous to the departure of the fleet from above, telling her that the letter would be mailed at Vicksburg, as there was no doubt whatever that the place would be taken when an attack was made from the river.

It was also said that Commodore Porter was aboard the Cincinnati. How the fact was ascertained, no one could tell.

Shortly after the sinking of the Cincinnati, I received a note from M----, saying that he was very much troubled in regard to our safety in the city--fearing that some time a mortar sh.e.l.l might fall on our cave, or that the constant jarring of the earth from the near explosion might cause it to seam and fall upon us. Therefore, he had decided to have a home made for me near the battle field, where he was stationed--one that would be entirely out of reach of the mortar sh.e.l.ls. I was positively shocked at the idea--going to the battle field! where ball and sh.e.l.l fell without intermission. Was M---- in earnest? I could scarcely believe it.

A friend came soon after, and told me that I would find my home on the battle field far more pleasant and safe than the one in town--that we were protected from the fragments only in our cave--that on the battle field the missiles were of far less weight, and in falling far less dangerous.

We were to experience our last and nearest explosion of the never-to-be-forgotten mortar sh.e.l.ls before we left. M---- had written to me to be ready on the following night. As the moon was not shining, the firing from the Federal batteries would cease at dark afterward we could go out without interruption. I was delighted at the prospect of a change in our mouldy lives, and looked forward to our ride--after dark though it was--with the utmost pleasure.

CHAPTER XVI.

FALL OF A Sh.e.l.l AT THE CORNER OF MY CAVE--MUSIC--CASUALTIES OF THE DAY.

I was sitting near the entrance, about five o'clock, thinking of the pleasant change--oh, bless me!--that to-morrow would bring, when the bombardment commenced more furiously than usual, the sh.e.l.ls falling thickly around us, causing vast columns of earth to fly upward, mingled with smoke. As usual, I was uncertain whether to remain within or run out.

As the rocking and trembling of the earth was very distinctly felt, and the explosions alarmingly near, I stood within the mouth of the cave ready to make my escape, should one chance to fall above our domicile. In my anxiety I was startled by the shouts of the servants and a most fearful jar and rocking of the earth, followed by a deafening explosion, such as I had never heard before. The cave filled instantly with powder smoke and dust. I stood with a tingling, p.r.i.c.kling sensation in my head, hands, and feet, and with a confused brain. Yet alive!--was the first glad thought that came to me;--child, servants, all here, and saved!--from some great danger, I felt. I stepped out, to find a group of persons before my cave, looking anxiously for me; and lying all around, freshly torn, rose bushes, arbor-vitae trees, large clods of earth, splinters, pieces of plank, wood, &c. A mortar sh.e.l.l had struck the corner of the cave, fortunately so near the brow of the hill, that it had gone obliquely into the earth, exploding as it went, breaking large ma.s.ses from the side of the hill--tearing away the fence, the shrubbery and flowers--sweeping all, like an avalanche, down near the entrance of my good refuge.

I stood dismayed, and surveyed the havoc that had been made around me, while our little family under it all had been mercifully preserved. Though many of the neighboring servants had been standing near at the time, not one had been injured in the slightest degree; yet, pieces of plank, fragments of earth, and splinters had fallen in all directions. A portion of earth from the roof of my cave had been dislodged and fallen. Saving this, it remained intact.

That evening some friends sat with me: one took up my guitar and played some pretty little airs for us; yet, the noise of the sh.e.l.ls threw a discord among the harmonies. To me it seemed like the crushing and bitter spirit of hate near the light and grace of happiness. How could we sing and laugh amid our suffering fellow beings--amid the shriek of death itself?

This, only breaking the daily monotony of our lives!--this thrilling knowledge of sudden and horrible death occurring near us, told to-night and forgotten in to-morrow's renewal!--this sad news of a Vicksburg day! A little negro child, playing in the yard, had found a sh.e.l.l; in rolling and turning it, had innocently pounded the fuse; the terrible explosion followed, showing, as the white cloud of smoke floated away, the mangled remains of a life that to the mother's heart had possessed all of beauty and joy.

A young girl, becoming weary in the confinement of the cave, hastily ran to the house in the interval that elapsed between the slowly falling sh.e.l.ls. On returning, an explosion sounded near her--one wild scream, and she ran into her mother's presence, sinking like a wounded dove, the life blood flowing over the light summer dress in crimson ripples from a death-wound in her side, caused by the sh.e.l.l fragment.

A fragment had also struck and broken the arm of a little boy playing near the mouth of his mother's cave. This was one day's account.

I told of my little girl's great distress when the sh.e.l.ls fell thickly near us--how she ran to me breathless, hiding her head in my dress without a word; then cautiously looking out, with her anxious face questioning, would say: "Oh! mamma, was it a mortar tell?" Poor children, that their little hearts should suffer and quail amid these daily horrors of war!

The next evening, about four o'clock, M----'s dear face appeared. He told us that he had heard of all the danger through which we had pa.s.sed, and was extremely anxious to have us out of reach of the mortar sh.e.l.ls, and near him; he also thought we would find our new home on the battle field far superior to this; he wished us to go out as soon as possible. As at this hour in the evening, for the last week, the Federal guns had been quiet until almost sundown, he urged me to be ready in the shortest time possible; so I hastened our arrangements, and we soon were in the ambulance, driving with great speed toward the rifle pits.

O the beautiful sunlight and the fresh evening air! How glowing and delightful it all seemed after my incarceration under the earth! I turned to look again and again at the setting sun and the brilliant crimson glow that suffused the atmosphere. All seemed glad and radiant: the sky--the flowers and trees along our drive--the cool and fragrant breeze--all, save now and then the sullen boom of the mortar, as it slowly cast its death-dealing sh.e.l.l over the life we were leaving behind us.

Were it not for the poor souls still within, I could have clapped my hands in a glad, defiant jubilee as I heard the reports, for I thought I was leaving my greatest fear of our old enemy in the desolate cave of which I had taken my last contemptuous glance; yet, the fear returned forcibly to me afterward.

CHAPTER XVII.

RIDE TO THE FORTIFICATIONS--NUMBER OF CAVES ALONG THE ROAD--APPEARANCE OF THE NEW HOME--CHANGE OF MISSILES.

The road we were travelling was graded out through the hills; and on every side we could see, thickly strewn among the earthy cliffs, the never-to-be-lost sight of caves--large caves and little caves--some cut out substantially, roomy, and comfortable, with braces and props throughout--many only large enough for one man to take refuge in, standing;--again, at a low place in the earth was a seat for a pa.s.ser-by in case of danger.

Driving on rapidly, we reached the suburbs of the city, where the road became shady and pleasant--still with caves at every large road excavation, reminding one very much of the numberless holes that swallows make in summer; for both the mortar and Parrott sh.e.l.ls disputed this district; and a cave, front in whatever direction it might, was not secure from fragments. M---- impatiently urged on the driver, fearing that when the firing recommenced we would still be on the road. Suddenly, a turn of the drive brought in sight two large forts on the hills above us; and pa.s.sing down a ravine near one of these, the ambulance stopped. Here we saw two or three of the little sh.e.l.l and bomb proof-houses in the earth, covered with logs and turf. We were hastily taken out and started for our home, when I heard a cutting of the air--the most expressive term I can use for that peculiar sound--above my head; and the b.a.l.l.s dropped thickly around me, bringing leaves and small twigs from the trees with them.

I felt a sudden rush to my heart; but the soldiers were camped near, and many stood cautiously watching the effect of the sudden fall of metal around me. I would not for the world have shown fear; so, braced by my pride, I walked with a firm and steady pace, notwithstanding the treacherous suggestions of my heart that beat a loud "Run, run." M----, fearing every moment that I might fall by his side, hurried me anxiously along. Within a short distance was the adjutant's office, where we took refuge until the firing became less heavy. Here we found friends, and sat chatting some time.

The "office" was a square excavation made in the side of the hill, covered over with logs and earth, seemingly quite cool and comfortable. I had been confined for so long a time in a narrow s.p.a.ce of earth, that daylight, green trees, and ample room became a new pleasure to me. At sundown there was a cessation in the rapid fall of b.a.l.l.s and sh.e.l.ls; and we again started for our home. I was taken up a little footpath that led from the ravine up under a careless, graceful arch of wild grape vines, whose swinging branchlets were drawn aside; and a low, long room, cut into the hillside and shaded by the growth of forest trees around, was presented to my view as our future home. What a pleasant place, after the close little cave in the city!--large enough for two rooms--the back and sides solid walls of earth, the sloping of the hill bringing down the wall to about four feet at the entrance, leaving the s.p.a.ces above, between the wall and roof, for light; the side, looking out on the road through the ravine, was entirely open, yet shaded from view by the cl.u.s.tering vines over the pathway.

I took possession delightedly. A blanket, hung across the centre, made us two good-sized rooms: the front room, with a piece of carpet laid down to protect us from the dampness of the floor, and two or three chairs, formed our little parlor; and the back room, quiet and retired, the bedroom. Over the top of the earth, or our house, held up by huge forked props, were the trunks of small trees laid closely across together; over that, brush, limbs, and leaves, and covering all this the thickness of two or three feet of earth beaten down compactly, and thought perfectly safe from Minie b.a.l.l.s and Parrott or shrapnell sh.e.l.ls.

We had our tent fly drawn over the front, making a very pleasant veranda; for a narrow terrace had been made along the entrance, from which the hill sloped abruptly down to the road in the ravine opposite the dwelling; in the rear the hill rose steeply above us. All was quiet to-night, as it usually is, I was told, when the moon is not brightly shining.

The Federal commanders fear that the Confederates will strive to improve their defences by the moonlight, which is certainly done, firing or not, for the fortifications need constant strengthening, being frequently badly torn by the Parrott sh.e.l.ls.

The next morning at four o'clock, I was awakened by a perfect tumult in the air: the explosion of shrapnell and the rattling of shrapnell b.a.l.l.s around us reminded me that my dangers and cares were not yet over. How rapidly and thickly the sh.e.l.ls and Minie b.a.l.l.s fell--Parrott of various sizes--canister and solid shot, until I was almost deafened by the noise and explosions! I lay and thought of the poor soldiers down below in the ravine, with only their tents over their heads; and it seemed in this storm of missiles that all must be killed. How strange so few casualties occur during these projectile storms!

Our little home stood the test n.o.bly. We were in the first line of hills back of the heights that were fortified; and, of course, we felt the full force of the very energetic firing that was constantly kept up; and being so near, many that pa.s.sed over the first line of hills would fall directly around us.

CHAPTER XVIII.

MORNING--CHARGE OF GENERAL BURBRIDGE--HORRORS OF WAR--AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.

How dewy and pleasant the morning! I stood looking out from the little terrace, breathing the fresh air, and learning the new surroundings, so far as my eye went, for it was not safe to venture out from the covering of the cave--the ravine fronting me, shady, dark, and cool--the sun just rising over the hilltop and lighting the upper limbs of the large trees.

Up the ravine, the Headquarters, horses were tethered, lazily rising and shaking their coats after the night's rest on the ground--shaking off their drowsiness to begin the breakfast of mulberry leaves. Amidst the constant falling of rifle b.a.l.l.s, the birds sang as sweetly, and flew as gayly from tree to tree, as if there were peace and plenty in the land.

Plenty there certainly was not in Vicksburg, as any one would have said who had been invited to our little breakfast that morning: bacon side and bread were all; and I had become so accustomed to them, that I obeyed the calls to breakfast with reluctance; eating, most practically, to sustain life, without the slightest relish for the food I was compelled to masticate and swallow.

Yet, all received their trials with cheerfulness. The gentlemen, who breakfasted with us that morning, laughed and made merry over the rations, and told me of the mule meat that was soon to be served up to us.

They were speaking of a charge that had been made, most gallantly, by General Burbridge and the Federal troops of his command, on the Confederate intrenchments: they had rushed over the breastworks and into the rifle pits, driving out the Southern soldiers. The whole Confederate camp near the spot arose in a furious excitement, officers and men alike throwing hand grenades down upon the intruders, until they were forced to retire, after holding the place some little time. I was told that General Burbridge had, laughingly, remarked to a Confederate officer, during the truce, that, staying in the intrenchments in the hot sun, and having hand grenades thrown at him in profusion, was as warm a work as he wished to undertake in one day.

After the Federal troops left the intrenchments, a hole was found in the loose earth of the breastworks that caused much amus.e.m.e.nt among the Confederate soldiers--a large hole where one of the Federals had literally burrowed his way out from the pits. "I reckon he's some kin to a mole,"

sagely commented one of the soldiers.

A flag of truce had been sent by the Federal commander, asking leave to bury the killed and remove the wounded that had been left on the field, in one of the charges that had been made on the Confederate lines.