Exhausting Pemberton’s Peas: The Siege of Vicksburg
“Since the 19th day of May, shells, balls, grape, and canister have been singing their own peculiar song over us nearly every hour of the day, but like other songs it is becoming old.” ~ Captain Robert P. Speer, Co. B, 31st Iowa Infantry on June 4, 1863
The outbreak of the Civil War caused Speer to lay aside his business and agricultural pursuits to buckle on his sword to defend the Union. He was commissioned captain of Co. B of the 31st Iowa Volunteers on August 7, 1862 and would spend the next two years leading his company through seven Confederate states and take part in the fighting at Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and the Atlanta campaign.
Captain Speer was truly an "accidental correspondent;" the editor of the local newspaper George Perkins had enlisted in Speer's company and for the first few months Perkins kept Cedar Falls up to date with all of the company news. But that winter, Perkins became so ill as to be discharged and Captain Speer rather reluctantly took up Perkins' task. The descriptiveness of his letters improved through the course of the war and as will be shown in this three-part series, Captain Speer offers some wonderful insights to life and death in the trenches around Vicksburg in that momentous summer of 1863.
I have chosen to present Speer's letters about Vicksburg in three parts as listed below. The first part concerns the marching phase of the campaign, covering the period from late April until around May 24th when the Federal army was firmly established around the city. The second part in the series focuses on the seemingly dull month of June where the two sides spent day and night hurling shells, bullets, and epithets at each other while waiting for the Confederates to surrender or for Joe Johnston to strike Grant's rear and lift the siege. The final part covers the surrender of the city and the immediate aftermath.
To help place Speer's commentary into proper context, it is worth noting that the regiment was assigned to Colonel Charles R. Woods' Second Brigade of General Frederick Steele's First Division of General William T. Sherman's 15th Army Corps. During the campaign, the regiment was under the command of Irish-born Colonel William Smyth then Major Theodore Stimming.
Part 1: Marching to Vicksburg with the 31st Iowa
Part 2: Exhausting Pemberton’s Peas: The Siege of Vicksburg
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| 31st Iowa Sharpshooters line at Vicksburg |
Walnut Hills, near Vicksburg, Mississippi
June 4, 1863
In Chicago and
St. Louis newspapers I notice that Grant’s army is occupying the attention of
the country at the present time and those who live at a distance from the Rebel
stronghold are more anxious and excited over the probabilities of Vicksburg
being taken than we who lie within from 200-400 yards of the enemy’s works.
Since the 19th day of May, shells, balls, grape, and canister have
been singing their own peculiar song over us nearly every hour of the day, but
like other songs it is becoming old. We still hold our first position on the extreme
right. We occupy one hill and the enemy another, a valley or in some places
only a hollow from 200-800 yards in width separates us. On the side of the hill
which we occupy, heavy rains have cut numerous ditches or gutters which we have
dug wider and deeper and when not on duty each soldier “hunts his hole” and is
perfectly safe. Once in a while a reckless or careless straggler gets a “short
discharge.” A large proportion of our forces in front have been entrenching
since the 23rd of May, building new forts, mounting heavy guns, etc.
while others perform picket duty and lie in the rifle pits on their arms.
Last night our
brigade mounted two 64-lb Columbiads and I understand four more of the same
kind are coming up. A few nights ago we planted two 30-lb rifled Parrotts which
have since destroyed or dismounted many pieces belonging to the enemy. And so
the works goes on every night from this point to the extreme left. Since we
commenced the siege of Vicksburg, the weather has been unusually warm, flies
very numerous, and the water which we are obliged to use is almost at blood
heat, and I often think of the spring I left behind me. But thank God, our
neighbors on the opposite side of the hill are suffering much more than we are,
and we will not whine. They are obliged to carry their water much farther than
we do and its warmth is in proportion to the distance it is carried.
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| Private Clark E. Cummings Co. B, 31st Iowa |
But in one respect they have the
advantage of us, to wit: they are thoroughly posted in regard to all the good
and bad qualities of the mule, the flesh I mean. Undoubtedly, they have been
great sinners as they have been fasting for two weeks and show no signs of
returning to regular meals. In addition to the mule, they receive two rations
of bread per day made of pea or corn meal, each about the size of an ordinary
two-pound weight. Fast days should be observed once in a while, but it is possible
to run almost anything into the ground and we hope that their stomachs may soon
compel them to rest our hospitality.
I cannot enjoy a good thing so
well as when my friends are present to enjoy it with me. Sometimes in the
night, all our guns and mortars open on the Rebels at the same time and play on
them for half an hour as fast as they can be loaded. I never witnessed anything
so grand. The roaring of the guns, burning fuses like ropes of fire crossing
each other in the air, and the loud hissing and bursting of so many shells make
a scene which would have been invaluable to Homer before he painted the battle
of the gods. At such times the Rebels do not reply to our guns, and I am of the
opinion that most of them go underground. Our pickets and those of the enemy do
not fire on each other during the night and many a dry joke is cracked between
them. [Add link to Talking Smack with the Johnnies] The other evening one of
our guns was placed so near the Rebel works that the boys could easily converse
with each other. After some sociable talk, one of our gunners sent them a heavy
charge of grape with the following directions: ‘Take that you damned sons of
bitches and eat it with your mule beef and pea bread!’’ A few days ago a cook
in one of our Missouri regiments was bringing breakfast to his company and a
shot took his head off when one of his comrades ran forward exclaiming, ‘Der
tifle! Ish der coffee spilt?’
Joe Johnston is near Jackson
recruiting a force to attack our rear. If he comes with 50,000 men he can have
a fight, but he cannot save Vicksburg. We can take the city any morning should we
resolve to pay the price. He is being closely watched by our cavalry. He cannot
attack us before the 15th of June and before that time Pemberton’s
peas will be exhausted. We are entrenching our rear from Haines’ Bluff to the
lower end of Vicksburg for the benefit of friend Johnston.
Mr. Tondro is getting better.
Mr. John H. Rounds who shot off two of his fingers is also doing well. In fact
all or wounded are doing much better now than our wounded did last winter on
the Yazoo or at Arkansas Post. The health of the army is good and very few are
dying. Nearly all the boys of Co. B are right side up and in good spirits. When
I write again for the Gazette, I hope to do so in the Virgin City.
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| 31st Iowa Monument at Vicksburg |
Walnut Hills, near Vicksburg, Mississippi
June 14, 1863
Since we
commenced the siege of Vicksburg, I have written oftener than usual to lessen
the anxiety of those who have friends or relations in General Grant’s army from
Black Hawk County. There had been but little change in the position of our army
or that of the enemy during the past week. For several days we have fired very
slowly, just enough to let the enemy know that we are here and awake and it is
very seldom that Pemberton replies. Nearly every man in the army has learned
hour to use the pick and the spade. We continue to work every night on rifle
pits and forts. We can gain but little in getting nearer to the Rebel works
than we are at the present time. And to take them by assault without a fearful
loss of life would be impossible.
At some points
we are within 100 yards of their works and at others we are as much as 600
yards from them. At points where we are nearest to them, both parties are
obliged to shoot through loopholes in the pits. Sharpshooters are at work every
day but accomplishing very little. Deserters come in every night, but we can
gather very little from them that is reliable. They all say that Pemberton’s
army would desert or surrender immediately if the Rebel officers were less
vigilant. They receive only sufficient food to make one meal per day. We have
rumors every day to the effect that Johnston is coming up in our rear with an
immense army. I do not think it would annoy General Grant in the least if
Johnston, Bragg, and Lee could concentrate their entire forces in our rear. Our
spades and picks have been not idle either in our front or rear. Our axes have
also been laying the tall timber on the bottom along the Big Black in such a
shape that men cannot pass over it without considerable trouble.
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| Captain Joseph H. Evans Co. G, 31st Iowa |
Our base for
supplies is as good as we could wish for while their means of brining up
supplies and heavy guns is very limited. Also we have destroyed nearly all the
stores which they had through the country for 50 miles from Vicksburg. General
Francis Herron has arrived with his army and hone to the rear. Other forces are
now coming and will do likewise. And we are assured that they will continue to
come. We hope to crush the rebellion in the rear of the “maiden city.” We are
now guarding the lines so closely that the Rebel spies can neither pass in or out.
We have had a refreshing rain, have plenty to eat, and are in the best of
spirits.
Our gunboats
have accomplished but little since the Battle of Arkansas Post,
although much has been claimed for them. Our infantry should have the honor of
taking Haines’ Bluff and Grand Gulf. It is impossible to elevate the guns on
our “turtlebacks” so as to affect the enemy’s works at this place. A few
thousand Rebels attempted to capture some stores which we had at Milliken’s Bend and Young’s Point a few days ago. At the two places we had only three or
four hundred convalescent soldiers and about 600 Negro recruits. Loss on each
side about 200. When the Rebels came within sight, the Negroes manifested great
anxiety to attack them. And when the attack was made, they exhibited more of
the tiger than the man. After the battle, the Negroes pointed with pride to
their fallen comrades and the wounded appeared to glory in the loss of a limb.
They are willing to earn liberty and act as though “it is sweet to die for one’s
country.” I am of the opinion that a few regiments of them would be sufficient
to give relief to any community suffering with copperhead fever.
Tondro and
Rounds are recovering rapidly. The health of the boys in Co. B is good. The
Union loss since we commenced the siege of Vicksburg is not half so great as
represented by correspondents of Chicago papers. In fact, I can find but very
little truth in the accounts which they give of our movements here. I expect
that they have been deceived and supposed that the heavy mortar and artillery
firing which has been kept up for the last three or four weeks was “desperate
fighting.” Half of them ought to be imprisoned for lying. I just now happened
to think of an item which I had forgotten. One afternoon as we were marching
from Jackson to Vicksburg, curiosity prompted a lady to come to the road from
her residence to look at us. Someone asked her how she liked the looks of Yankee
soldiers? “First rate,” she answered. “I supposed from what I had heard of your
that you would look like the devil, but I begin to need a husband pretty bad,
and I think after you take Vicksburg, I shall marry one of you.”
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| Major Theodore Stimming, 31st Iowa |
Walnut Hills, near Vicksburg, Mississippi
June 21, 1863
We are yet
burrowing in the hills near Vicksburg, and I can assure it that it is a
tiresome task to wait on Rebel stomachs caving in. I am afraid that many days
will elapse before Pemberton’s supplies will be exhausted although they are
very short now. He will not surrender as long as the bone of a mule can be
found within his lines with marrow in it. The Rebels touched the right chord
when they called Pemberton a coward, incompetent, etc. He will strain very
power of body and mind to prove these assertions false and when every ray of
light shall have disappeared, we will be thundering in front of his works. But
thank God, Grant’s ears are as long as Pemberton’s and we will have plenty to
eat.
We hope to
celebrate the 4th of July in the Hill City but if we should fail to
do so, our friends must enjoy life and eat and drink enough of the good things
provided for such occasions to make up for our loss. We have resolved that
before long there shall be another sacred day upon which you can meet annually
and sing the death song of treason and rebellion or point with the finger of
scorn to peace Democrats, cowards, or Copperheads who would now sell their
liberty and their country for an approving smile from the thoroughbred chivalry
of the South.
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| Captain Adam Gebert Co. F, 31st Iowa |
During the past
week everything has been unusually quiet near Vicksburg until yesterday
morning. We have given them a few rounds before breakfast and a few after
supper to satisfy them that all is well and that are still strongly attached to
them. Night before last, all hands were ordered to be in the rifle pits by 4
a.m. as all our mortars, field, and siege guns would open upon the enemy at
that time and fire as rapidly as possible for six hours. The program was
carried out to the letter and to all who were in the pits common thunder would
appear like child’s play and sound unnatural. We do not know the result of the
day’s work, but a large proportion of our grape and shells were well put in and
I would guess that at least 200 Rebels who were fit for duty yesterday did not
answer at roll call this morning. Only their sharpshooters reply to us.
We keep up the
eternal digging every night and if the Rebels opposite to us were not well bred
and very civil, it would be unpleasant work as we of the 25th and 31st
Iowa regiments are so close that officers are obliged to whisper when directing
their men how to work. At one point,
General Logan has run one of his pits nearly to the top of a Rebel fort. We are
being strongly reinforced and continue to strengthen our works in the rear of
Haines’ Bluff and near Black River. And should Generals Bragg and Johnston see
fit to meet is, we will treat them to the best in the shop without any fear of
failure on our part. I have feared that the Rebels might blockade the river
above us, but if they should do so now, they could not injure us much as we
have a very large quantity of supplies on hand and could soon drive them back.
Tomorrow our brigade will have two new 84-lb Columbiads ready to bear on three
or four heavy Rebel guns which have been planted to destroy our gunboats.
The weather
during the last week has been very pleasant. We have but little sickness in the
army and everybody is in high spirits; not commissary whiskey as there is none.
Every hour in the day can be heard the remark, ‘when we get into Vicksburg.’
Sources:
Letters from Captain Robert Patterson Speer, Co. B, 31st
Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Cedar Falls Gazette (Iowa), June 19, 1863, pg. 2;
July 3, 1863, pg. 2, July 10, 1863, pg. 2
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