ll-fed men, so splendidly set up and
accoutered! Sleek horses, polished arms, bright plumes,--this was the
pride and panoply of war. Civilization, discipline, and order seemed to
enter with the measured tramp of those marching columns; and the heart
turned with throbs of added pity to the worn men in gray, who were being
blindly dashed against this embodiment of modern power. And now this
"silence that is golden" indeed is over all, and my limbs are unhurt, and
I suppose if I were Catholic, in my fervent gratitude, I would hie me with
a rich offering to the shrine of "our Lady of Mercy."

_July 7th, 1863_.--I did not enjoy quiet long. First came Martha, who
announced her intention of going to search for her sons, as she was free
now. I was hardly able to stand since the severe cold taken in the cave
that night, but she would not wait a day. A colored woman came in wanting
a place, and said she had asked her mistress for wages and her mistress
had turned her out. I was in no condition to stand upon ceremony then, and
engaged her at once, but hear to-day that I am thoroughly pulled to pieces
in Vicksburg circles; there is no more salvation for me. Next came two
Federal officers and wanted rooms and board. To have some protection was a
necessity; both armies were still in town, and for the past three days
every Confederate soldier I see has a cracker in his hand. There is hardly
any water in town, no prospect of rain, and the soldiers have emptied one
cistern in the yard already and begun on the other. The colonel put a
guard at the gate to limit the water given. Next came the owner of the
house and said we must move; he wanted the house, but it was so big he'd
just bring his family in; we could stay till we got one. They brought
boarders with them too, and children. Men are at work all over the house
shoveling up the plaster before repairing. Upstairs they are pouring it by
bucketfuls through the windows. Colonel D. brought work for H. to help
with from headquarters. Making out the paroles and copying them has taken
so long they wanted help. I am surprised and mortified to find that
two-thirds of all the men who have signed made their mark; they cannot
write. I never thought there was so much ignorance in the South. One of
the men at headquarters took a fancy to H. and presented him with a
portfolio, that he said he had captured when the Confederates evacuated
their headquarters at Jackson. It contained mostly family letter