Memphis was now in the possession of the enemy, and a heavy column of infantry and cavalry was menacing our railroad lines at Oxford and Grenada, where we had large quantities of army supplies. To protect these points, Breckinridge's division was detached from the army and marched across the country to the railroad near Abbeville, reaching there on the 22d of June. The enemy did not advance, as was expected, but returned to Memphis, and, after removing the supplies from Grenada, in obedience to orders from the Commanding-General, the division proceeded by railroad to Vicksburg, part of the command reaching there on the 29th, and the remainder on the 30th of June. In order that you may understand the situation at Vicksburg at this time, it will be necessary for me to digress a little.
After the capture of New Orleans, Major-General Lovel, who had been in command there, determined to make a defence at Vicksburg, and the patriotic people of that devoted city approved his determination, although they knew it might cause its destruction. Brigadier-General M. L. Smith, with a force of some 2,000 men, occupied the city, and proceeded to erect batteries for heavy guns on the bluffs which overlooked the river. Water batteries were also constructed and heavy guns put in position. The city was in a measure ready for defence before the enemy's fleet of gunboats, mortars and transports from New Orleans arrived below it.
When Breckinridge's command reached Vicksburg, the fleet was in sight below the city, and in a few days the upper fleet from Vicksburg arrived. The Federals now had above and below the city more than forty gunboats, mortar-boats, rams and transports, besides an army. On the 2d of July the bombardment begun, and for over three weeks it was kept up without much intermission. Our troops were placed in convenient positions to support the batteries, and proper dispositions were made to promptly repel any attack that might be made by a land force. Some of you who are present will remember the disagreeable nights spent in the railroad cut, the picket duty on the river front, and the march to Big bayou, on the Warrenton road, to meet an enemy "who was not," the "Castle," and the "Smede House." You will remember, too, that because of the necessary exposure to which the troops were subjected, malarial disease abounded, filling the hospitals with fevered patients, so that in less than three weeks from the 30th of June nearly one-half of the defenders of Vicksburg were on the sick list. At the commencement of the bombardment many families were living at their homes in the city, and it is true that quite a
