20

ARRIVAL AT VICKSBURG.

"and about twenty sailors as a guard, and one small brass "howitzer mounted on the hurricane deck. The pilot house was protected as much as possible by mattrasses. The "bark carried four guns. As we approached Grand Gulf we observed that fortifications had been erected and guns "mounted. Before we came in range; muskets were dis"tributed. Directly a solid shot came booming toward us, "and as we neared a sharp turn in the river we came within range of other guns. The enemy's batteries were so "located that they could command our boats long before "we could utilize our guns. As soon as we got the bark "abreast of the fortifications we were able to return an "effective fire, and succeeded in dismounting one or two of "the rebel pieces and killing and wounding several men, as 66 we were afterwards informed. Neither our muskets nor "the howitzer were of any practical benefit, as we could not bring them within range. We were under fire for nearly an hour, and at one time our vessels were raked fore and "aft, several shots passing entirely through the transport, "the cabins and staterooms of which were greatly riddled "and shattered. We were struck thirty times. One or two "sailors were wounded, and we all had a very narrow escape.' The regiment reached Vicksburg June 25th. Col. Roberts arrived and took command on the 8th of July. The transports, upon which we were quartered, were made fast to the river bank a little below the main batteries, but not out of range of the enemy's guns.

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The course of the river at this point was such as to form opposite Vicksburg a cone-shaped peninsula or tongue of low

land, from four to five miles in length, and at its base from a mile to a mile and a half in width. This peninsula was partially protected from overflow by levees built along the shore furtherest from Vicksburg; but, nevertheless, a considerable portion of it was annually, and sometimes oftener, submerged for weeks at a time, especially after any unusual rise in the river. The soil consequently was largely alluvial, the upper stratum of which consisted of a thick layer of cohesive earth, made up principally of decayed and decomposing animal and vegetable matter.

At the time we reached Vicksburg the river was still high from the spring freshets, but it soon commenced to fall at the rate of nearly a foot per day, and before we left the water was fifteen or twenty feet below the top of the banks. We found the surface of the soil, in some places, in a comparatively dry state; but there remained here and there, large pools of water left from the last overflow, which had become stagnant, and were covered with a thick green scum, composed, as Dr. Blanchard expresses it, "of the concentrated essence of malaria, and containing as much death to the

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square inch as it would be possible for the laboratory of "nature to compound," and from which much offensive effluvia was emitted. The surrounding country too, as a general rule, was low and swampy, so that at night and until after sunrise in the morning we were enveloped in a thick mist of intense humidity, surcharged with poisonous exhalations emanating in these cesspools and swamps, which literally reeked with miasmatic elements.

In a short time sickness made its appearance in the entire command, which was greatly aggravated by the want of wholesome food, and from an entire lack of suitable medicines and appliances for the proper care and comfort of the sick. We had no vegetables, and scarcely any fresh meat, and the rations furnished were of a poor quality. We were obliged to use the muddy and impure water of the Mississippi both for cooking and drinking purposes, having no means of clarifying it. The small stock of medical stores with which we left Baton Rouge soon became exhausted, and we were entirely without medicines, except such as Dr. Blanchard and Capt. Morse, our Quartermaster, were able to get from the fleet surgeons, who generously supplied us with all they could spare, but as the sickness among the sailors was steadily increasing, they could not furnish us with anything like the quantity which our necessities required. We were imperfectly supplied with camp equipage, having no tents, and consequently the men remained on board the transports until the number of sick became so great as to require all the available room, when the few men fit for duty were directed to encamp on the shore. We managed to get a few shelter tents, and with the aid of boughs and stray pieces of lumber succeeded in erecting a covering to crawl under at night, but which afforded little or no protection against the deadly night damps, and, sleeping as we were obliged to, on the poisonous ground, it is not strange that the malarial disorders increased at an alarming

rate.

ORIGIN OF

"BUTLER'S DITCH."

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The sickness in the army was also greatly augmented by the work which the men were compelled to perform during the day. Immediately upon our arrival Gen. Williams, who was a great martinet, ordered daily drills with knapsacks.* In addition to these duties, the men were set to work in the broiling sun digging a canal across the peninsula, which was designed to divert and wholly change the course of the river. It was claimed that by digging through a thin upper crust of earth a substratum of quicksand would be reached, and it was then proposed to let in the current of the river, the force of which, it was expected, would cut through the sand and form a new channel, and Vicksburg would thereby be made an inland city, and rendered wholly useless as an objective point.

This colossal piece of folly, according to Parton, seems to have been conceived by Gen. Butler, for in his book relating to Gen. Butler's career in New Orleans (pp. 554-5), after referring to the fact that Admiral Farragut and Genls. Williams and Weitzel had expressed the opinion that Vicksburg could not be taken with less than 10,000 men, he says: * * * * "This opinion being communicated to Gen. Butler, he de"voted the spare hours of a week to the study of the position. Many plans, measurements, natives of the town, engineer "officers, and even works on geology were examined. The conception of the celebrated cut-off was the result of his cogitations. It was truly an ingenious and most plausible "scheme.

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Such a canal cut across almost any other bend of

* For the reason, as was alleged, that he was disgusted that a few of the men succumbed to the intense heat during the useless and fruitless march around Grand Gulf, and he proposed in this way to toughen and accustom them to the sun.

24

"BUTLER'S DITCH."

"the river would have answered the purpose intended. But "nature had concealed under the soft surface of that par"ticular piece of land a bed of tough clay which baffled the progress of diverting the course of the river. It happened. "also that the force of the stream at that point tends to the opposite shore, and could not be persuaded to co-operate "effectually with the canal cutters. Consequently the Father "of Waters kept to his ancient bed, and Vicksburg remained a river town."

The only merit this wonderful scheme had, as Mr. Parton truly says, was that it was "most plausible." It sounded well and superficially had the ring of a great military stroke, so much so, that some few sanguine souls predicted it would prove to be an achievement well worthy of a great master in the art of war. But to those who had to do with the practical part of it, and who imperiled their lives in the hopeless task of trying to make it a success, the undertaking from the start was regarded as an utterly chimerical one, and for that reason it was denominated "Folly Creek" or "Butler's Ditch." It was not strange that such a project should have been the coinage of the brain of the hero of Bermuda Hundred and of the Fort Fisher Petard, but it is strange that so absurd an experiment should afterward have been persisted in. Its failure is a matter of history, and it is now apparent that it was never practicable and at no time was there any possibility that it would prove a success. Of course had Gen. Butler triumphed in this scheme there would have been no limit to the degree of credit which he would have claimed and the occasion would have enabled him to issue a series of buncomb