passed away in Dallas
county, Texas, December 30th, 1881, having attained the Psalmist's
limit of three score and ten.

CHAPTER X.

THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG. JUNE AND JULY, 1863.

General Grant closed up against Vicksburg on May 19, and on that day
assaulted the Confederate defenses of the place, but without success.
On the 22nd a more extensive assault was made, but it also failed, and
it was then evident to Grant that Vicksburg would have to be taken by a
siege. To do this he would need strong reinforcements, and they were
forthwith sent him from various quarters. So it came to pass that we
went also. On May 31st we climbed on the cars, headed for Memphis, and
steamed away from old Bolivar--and I have never seen the place since.
For my part, I was glad to leave. We had been outside of the main track
of the war for several months, guarding an old railroad, while the bulk
of the western army had been actively engaged in the stirring and
brilliant campaign against Vicksburg, and we were all becoming more or
less restless and dissatisfied. From my standpoint, one of the most
mortifying things that can happen to a soldier in time of war is for
his regiment to be left somewhere as a "guard," while his comrades of
the main army are in the field of active operations, seeing and doing
"big things," that will live in history. But, as before remarked, the
common soldier can only obey orders, and while some form the moving
column, others necessarily have stationary duties. But at last the old
61st Illinois was on the wing,--and the Mississippi Central Railroad
could "go hang."

The regiment at this time was part of Gen. Nathan Kimball's division of
the 16th Corps, and the entire division left Tennessee to reinforce
Grant at Vicksburg. We arrived at Memphis in the afternoon of the same
day we left Bolivar, the distance between the two places being only
about 72 miles. The regiment bivouacked that night on a sandbar on the
water front of Memphis, which said bar extended from the water's edge
back to a high, steep sand-and-clay bank. And that, by the way, is the
only night I have ever spent within the limits of the city of Memphis.
While we were there on this occasion, I witnessed a pathetic incident,
which is yet as fresh and vivid in my memory as if it had happened only
yesterday. Soon after our arrival I procured a pass for a few hours,
and took a stroll through the city. While thus engaged I met two
hospital attendan