Cinda I have indiavoured to give You A Little sketch of our Position hear you will Readily See that all of the Land which is either fit to live on or worth Possession is Still in Posession of the enemy and all strongly guarded as much so as nature with all the arts and Sciences of modern warfare can make it All of their Best Country from hear to Neworleans some 175 miles all Betwen hear and Jackson and Sourounding Country 50 Miles and then up the Yazo and that Railroad a Beautiful Country Som 3 or 4 hundred miles all in their Posession But how Litle any one knows from what you See in the Papers. They are Said to have Some 300 Pieces of Cannon at Vicksburgh and I do not doubt it           

 

The City of Vicksburg is a Beautiful Place Situated on a Side hill Surroundid By a chain of hills Some 300 feet high and extending from the Yazo to White River or nearly so it Looks from hear from viewing it from the River Bank like a lovely Place The fort which I have described is But one among Severall They have any amount of heavy guns in Casement and are Ready and waiting for us We have taken Several  Prisoners that Say they are Ready and that Vicksburgh will never be taken General Grant is Reported to be hear on Saturday and we Shall wait till Banks comes up with his force he is Said to be at Port Hudson But I think the Report is not Relyable when they all get hear we shall have a Big army we have 30 Banks 35 or 40, Grant 40 and some more makeing in all some 115 or 20 thousand out of them 1/2 or 2/3 may be fit for duty and we shall need all the well ones for the Rebels have over a hundred thousand and they tell me there is 2 ditches all around Vicksburg 12 feet deep and 20 Wide one of them filled with water But if it is taken at all I expect I shall be there and then if I live and am as fortunate as I have always Ben which I trust in God I may be I will tell you how we do it We shall have Some 40 Gunboats I think they can make Some noise if not more

 

But I am writing you A Regular Military Leter and you Must Pardon me instead of writing you a kind and affectionate Leter as a Husband should to his wife/I am telling you of the trials and hardships of war But you must Pardon me and I will Reform and do beter in future

 

I wish you A Safe Journey and hope you will have a good visit I would write to Charles to come after me the first good Sleighing if you come Back to LeRoy to finish your visit I have only Seen Snow once this winter I wrote you about that but we have Cold winds Rainy damp and chilly and hard frosts and then the sun will come out and the mud be knee deep

 

How do you like my writing I am writing with A Captured Pen from A Colonel of A Texican Regiment it is the finest Heaviest and Best Pen I ever Saw Made in Galveston Texas I have the Pen and inkstand which is full as nice one of my men Captured his Trunk and gave them to me I prise them highly I assure you and the Guns which I have sent home if they go safe no money could buy and I hope to get home to use them I also Captured a Derringer Pistol from A Gurrilly Capt which I unfortunately was obliged to to disarm and insted of turning it over for Some Colonel or General or their aids to make way with very deliberatily Put it in my Pocket and it is in my Trunk under good Lock an key.

 

            I shall write to Charles this evening or tomorrow and tell him you are at LeRoy You must write to him You must go to LeRoy and Towanda and Be sure and go and See Mrs M^cCain and Give her my Kindis Rigards and tell her I think of her often and that if she was only A man (as she had ought to ben) I would like to go Side By Side with her through Batle I know she would Be A good Soldier Tell Eli I have wrote till I am tiard untill he answers Dont visit to fast but dont Stay to make any one twise glad Take your comfort and use all the money you need never Borrow trouble till trouble comes it will come fast anough Give my best Respect to Marlins & dicks folks and all others who have an interest in Our wellfare But above all things Show your independance to some others who I have yet to Setle With) and Believe me your Sincere and affectionate

Husband          Geo     (A Kiss)

 

[sketch:]          RailRoad from Jackson to Coldwater near Holly Springs some 300 miles

Jackson

RailRoad from Vicksburg to Jackson 16 miles

RailRoad from Jackson to Neworleans 175 miles

Rebil Batery No 4

Yazo River

La Bayou        Hear is where I spent my New Years of 1863 Long to be Remembered

Our gunboat fleet

Milligans Bend

Ferry Boat which we captured on the 24

Union Batery No 4 & 2 Seige guns

Red River

The Rebils have Posession of the Mississipi River Some 150 or 200 miles Redriver comes in Below hear which is Blockaded the same as the Yazo They have Several Steamboats Runing up and down the River and when they go or come we try the Strength of Powder at them

The Canall which we are diging is now full of water but about half of the way it Runs through heavy timber and is full of trees and there is no current of any amt and when I first Saw it I pronounced it a failure and have not yet changed my mind The Canall is one and 3/4 miles long and if Successfull would make a Cutoff in the bend of the River of Some 8 miles

encampment of the 54 Ohio Jany 24 1863

Vicksburg & Sweesport RailRoad Running into Texas

Skitch of Vicksburgh from this Point Below the Trees on the Levy

Levy

Hear is the Landing of our Transports on the 22 and we moved down the Levy to the Place of our encampment

This Levy is all that keeps our incampment from being 4 feet under water this Present time and the River is still rising Rapidly

This Levy is thrown up some 10 or 12 feet high graded up like A Railroad and extends from way above Milligans Bend to neworleans Some 4 or 5 hundred miles and was Built By the United States goverment

The Rebils are Reported to have 5 Gunboats up the Yazo River all ready we have 8 or 10 Laying at the Mouth of the River awaiting their comeing

From Milligans Bend to Vicksburg is 18 miles from the mouth of the Yazo to Vicksburg is 06 miles

SOURCES