errillas to keep the peace. As it was evident that the purchase
of one marauding band would require the purchase of others, until
the entire "Confederacy" had been bought up, we declined all these
proposals.

Some of these residents, who wished Northern men to join them, claimed
to have excellent plantations along the Yazoo, or near some of its
tributary bayous. These men were confident a fine cotton crop could be
made, "if there were some Northern man to manage the niggers." It was
the general complaint with the people who lived in that region that,
with few exceptions, no Southern man could induce the negroes to
continue at work. One of these plantation proprietors said his
location was such that no guerrilla could get near it without
endangering his life. An investigation showed that no other person
could reach the plantation without incurring a risk nearly as great.
Very few of these owners of remote plantations were able to induce
strangers to join them.

We procured a map of the Mississippi and the country bordering its
banks. Whenever we found a good location and made inquiry about it at
the office of the leasing agents, we were sure to ascertain that some
one had already filed an application. It was plain that Vicksburg was
not the proper field for our researches. We shook its dust from our
feet and went to Natchez, a hundred and twenty-five miles below, where
a better prospect was afforded.

In the spring of 1863, the Rebels felt confident of retaining
permanent possession of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, two hundred and
fifty miles apart. Whatever might be the result elsewhere, this
portion of the Mississippi should not be abandoned. In the belief that
the progress of the Yankees had been permanently stopped, the planters
in the locality mentioned endeavored to make as full crops as possible
of the great staple of the South. Accordingly, they plowed and
planted, and tended the growing cotton until midsummer came. On the
fourth of July, Vicksburg surrendered, and opened the river to Port
Hudson. General Herron's Division was sent to re-enforce General
Banks, who was besieging the latter place. In a few days, General
Gardner hauled down his flag and gave Port Hudson to the nation. "The
Father of Waters went unvexed to the Sea."

The rich region that the Rebels had thought to hold was, by the
fortune of war, in the possession of the National army. The planters
suspended their operations, through fear that the Y