Newsome must have had a little free time on Sunday, June 21, 1863 as his diary entry is quite long. Sunday, June 21, 1863 --- We have had a lively time of it for a few days; for the Rebels seems to be growing desperate. They have been shelling us every day with their single mortar. Sometimes they have fired a cannon, which is a thing they have never done before since the first few days of the siege, because our pickets would not let them use a cannon, but shot every man that went near one to load it. The gun that they now fire is in a deep cut, where the Jackson road runs through the fortifications, therefore we can’t see it. They have to elevate it so much that the ball goes over us. They have not done us much damage yet, although they fire more and more every day. A piece of shell went through Lt. Grammer’s tent; he was in it sick at the time, but it did no harm only to make a hole through the canvas. Sometimes the shells fall on the hillside beyond us, and go deep into the ground before they explodes, then when they do burst, they throw a cloud of dust into the air. At other times they burst high in the air, then they leave a small, white couud of smoke at the place; the fragments scatter but keep on nearly in the same course as before, and raise the dust in many places at once. The other day, I saw a shell burst before it reached us. I was watching the little cloud of smoke at the place, I heard a piece coming towards me, for they made a loud buzzing noise as they come, it struck the “shebang” nest to mine, hitting a drummer on the leg; it did not hurt him much, for the boards had taken off the most of its force, It was a round iron ball about as large as a musket ball. One shell fell in camp yesterday, burying itself and bursting. It was about eleven inches in diameter. It hurt no one this time. They mostly go over our heads. They boys call it “Whitaker” or “Whistling Jack.” Once in a while, some one gets hurt by them. They come about every fifteen minutes with a hissing noise then “Chug” as it strikes the ground, then “Bang” as it bursts and throws dust in the air. Sometimes it bursts in the air and scatters the fragments, which come whirring or buzzing down; they seem to be a long time coming down, then “ZIP” as they strike. Yesterday, our regiment was ordered to go on picket, but before we started, we were ordered to go up the hill to support the battery, because they were about to have a general cannonading until 10 o’clock A.M. We took our place at day-break. Soon the signal gun was fired, and in a few minutes the whole tremendous chorus of large and small cannons was playing on the forts and town at once. I was near a small brass gun that spoke so loud that I had to stop my ears, then it felt like it would knock me down every time. The doomed city was wrapped in a semi-circle of fire. It was one continual roar the whole length of the line from right to left, the balls crashing, and crossing each other every way, and shell bursting everywhere amongst them. Not one dared to show his head, not a single shot was fired by then, even “Whitiker” was silent during the time. Many of the shells passed over the forts and carried destruction into the town. When the firing ceased at 10 o’clock, the whole country was covered with smoke that settled down for a while and so obscured the view that we could scarcely see the forts; it afterwards ascended like a white cloud. Soldiers will sleep almost anywhere. Many of then went to sleep between two cannons that were being fired as fast as they could be loaded. After the firing was over, we wnet to our picket posts or rifle-pits, which was about half way form our batteries to the fort. We did not have much shooting to do, for the Rebels seemed to make themselves invisible, very few being seen that day. It was safer in our rifle-pits than in camp. We had a ditch dug deep enough to hide a man all but the head, when standing up. It was covered with heavy rails to keep out pieces of shell. We have small port-holes to shoot through on the side ext to the forts. We tried our new Enfield rifles, and found we could put the bullet just where we wanted it to be. Towards evening, a Rebel kept shooting at us. We could not find him, neithr could we see the smoke of his gun for a ling time. Jerome Bishop was next to me; he discovered the smoke outside of the fort in a clump of bushes. Several clumps were scattered along near together, We commenced to “shell the woods,” as the saying is and we fired into the woods several times. Every time that he fired, was from a different place. Other saw him too, for we saw several bullets besides ours strike the dust close around him he soon left and retired into the fort/ At F0rt Hill, which is more to our right, our men have dug a ditch close up to their works. I saw then at work half way up the breast-works of the enemy, digging right into the fort. I watched them for a while, and saw one man lay down his spade, crawl up and peep into “Rebeldom.” He remained awhile taking his observations, then sat down to study on the situation or probably to make a sketch of the topography of the country; but, seeming in want of more information on some point. He again climbed up and, over he went into the fort, of a least out of our sight. I watched to see if he would return, expecting that he would be shot or captured, but, much to my surprise, he soon returned unhurt, with an increase of his knowledge, but without bring half a dozen prisoners with him to grace his raid into “Dixie.” I have since understood that the men at the works become too reckless. One of them was shot while looking over the works. I have heard another story that is certainly laughable. A man near the fort saw a Rebel’s gun pointing out through a small port-hole in the bank of earth, loaded ready to shoo the first “Yank” that “Mr. Reb.” Should discover, The man quietly crawled up seizing the Rebel’s gun by the muzzle, with a quick jerk, he pulled it clear out and went off with it, leaving the “Johnny” to wonder why his gun had so suddenly deserted him and gone over to the enemy. His gun went off before he was ready. Deserters from the enemy come over almost every night. Nearly all agree in telling that their rations are almost exhausted and ammunition scarce. One tale is that Gen. Pemberton told them to hold out until next Wednesday, then if [Gen. Joseph] Johnson does not come to help them, they will have to try some other plan. They have been saving of their ammunition until lately, but now, they send shells liberally. I suppose that they want to use it all up before they surrender, and also to do us as much damage as possible. They do not hurt us much, though a few bullets have struck the foot of the hill in camp near me while I am writing the last few lines. We hear rumors of a battle with Johnson almost every alternate day. Port Hudson is said to be surrounded by Bank’s army like Vicksburg is by ours. When last heard from, there were hopes that he would soon take it. Sgt. Edmund Newsome Co. B 81st IL Inf.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 23:15:55 +0000
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