it perilous for the enemy to attempt to extinguish it. This sap-roller, too, was wholly consumed. This was the ste of things the last days on June and first days of July. At this time I received orders to husband my Enfield cartridges, as there were n more to be issued. My men were all armed with Enfields. I counted my ammunition, we had 54 rounds, to a man, all totaled. The condition of the regiment in some other respects deserves to be stated.

On May 2, the regiment left camp, on Chickasaw Bayon, without a change of clothes and with only a single blanket to a man. Dirty and ragged the men must needs be. During the siege there were severe showers of rain, two of wich were drenching. The loamy soil of his region was rendered a mire. The man in the trenches were over shoe in mud. With only a single blanket, they were obliged to bivouac in the mud. With only a single blanket. A June sun soon dried it up. Nothing could daunt these men, impassive to fatigue and patient to endure. My chief apprehension was lest the enemy should make an assault when our guns were wet, knowing that he was furnished with every alliance for comfort and for securing his arms and ammunition. Walry during the siege large numbers of animals, chiefly mules and horses were killed within our line by the enemy's shot. These were hauled in the night and thrown into the Mississippi River. The were hauled in the night and thrown into the Mississippi River. The water next he bank teemed with maggots, so as to be unfit for any use. The cisterns in the neighborhood ebbing exhausted of forbidden, y men were soon reduced to in our rear. This was indifferent in quality and barely sufficient for our scantly cooking and drink. Sentimels were placed over the wells, that none might be wasted for purposes of cleanliness. Our rations were reduced to little more than sufficient to sustain life. Five ounces of musty corn-meal and pea flour were nominally issued daily. In point of fact, this allowance did not exceed three ounces. All the unripe, half brown peaches, the green berries growing on the briars, all were care food. every eatable vegetable around the works was hunted up for greens. Some two or three men approached to succumb and die form inanition for want of food, but the health of the man did not seem to suffer immediately from want of rations, but all gradually emaciated and became weak, ant toward the close of the siege many were found with swollen ankles and symptoms of incipient scurvy.

A fact already perhaps sufficiently established was illustrated the power or earthen embankments to resist artillery, and the ability of true power soldiers, protected by a parapet and ditch, to resist or a long period numbers which would be otherwise overwhelming. From the assault of May 22 til the surrender, the number of the enemy operating directly in front and directly against the lines manned by the SECOND Texas was ten times greater than the strength of this regiment, and he was greatly superior in every appliance. When the enemy took possession of the lines, after the surrender, officers and men expressed their unfeigned surprise ; and mortifications oat the weakness of our defenses. The spade ai a military weapon.

Another matter appears to me deserving consideration on connection with the Minie rifle in the hands of veterans. The execution of the rifle musket, along canister range, appears to me superior to canister thrown form a 6 -pounder or 12-pounder howitzer. The canister my be more demoralizing to raw troops. The question of our ability to cut our way out of Vicksburg, through