s recently
organized regiment, the 28th infantry. Without much instruction and
badly equipped, its material was excellent, and there were several
officers of some experience, notably Adjutant Blackman, who had
accompanied my old regiment, the 9th, to Virginia, where he had seen
service. The men were suffering from camp diseases incident to new
troops, and Colonel Grey was directed to move by easy marches to the
Teche. In the low country between the Macon and the Mississippi were
some mounted men under Captain Harrison. Residents of this region, they
understood the intricate system of swamps and bayous by which it is
characterized, and furnished me guides to Vicksburg.

Vicksburg lies on the hills where the river forms a deep reentering
angle. The peninsula on the opposite or western bank is several miles in
length, narrow, and, when the waters are up, impassable except along the
river's bank. It was through this peninsula that the Federals attempted,
by digging a canal, to pass their gunboats and turn the Vicksburg
batteries. The position of the town with reference to approach from the
west was marked by me at the time, and should be borne in mind.

General Pemberton, who was at Jackson, came to Vicksburg to meet me, and
we discussed methods of cooeperation. It was of vital importance to
control the section of the Mississippi receiving the Red and Washita
Rivers. By so doing connection would be preserved between the two parts
of the Confederacy, and troops and supplies crossed at will. Port
Hudson, some forty miles below the entrance of Red River, was as
favorably situated as Vicksburg above: for there again the hills touched
the river and commanded it. My operations on the Lafourche had induced
the enemy to withdraw from Baton Rouge, fifteen miles below, and one or
two heavy guns were already mounted at Port Hudson. Pemberton engaged to
strengthen the position at once. As there were many steamers in the Red
and Washita, I undertook to supply Vicksburg and Port Hudson with corn,
forage, sugar, molasses, cattle, and salt; and this was done beyond the
ability of the garrisons to store or remove them. Quantities of these
supplies were lying on the river's bank when the surrenders of the two
places occurred.

A Pennsylvanian by birth, Pemberton graduated from West Point in 1837,
and was assigned to an artillery regiment. His first station was in
South Carolina, and he there formed his early friendships. The storm of
"nul