of stores, and boats with which to cross the river.  The road by which the troops marched was very bad, and it was not until the 1st of May that it was clear for my corps.  While waiting my turn to march, I received a letter from General Grant, written at Carthage, saying that he proposed to cross over and attack Grand Gulf, about the end of April, and he thought I could put in my time usefully by making a “feint” on Haines’s Bluff, but he did not like to order me to do it, because it might be reported at the North that I had again been “repulsed, etc.”  Thus we had to fight a senseless clamor at the North, as well as a determined foe and the obstacles of Nature.  Of course, I answered him that I would make the “feint,” regardless of public clamor at a distance, and I did make it most effectually; using all the old boats I could get about Milliken’s Bend and the mouth of the Yazoo, but taking only ten small regiments, selected out of Blair’s division, to make a show of force.  We afterward learned that General Pemberton in Vicksburg had previously dispatched a large force to the assistance of General Bowers, at Grand Gulf and Port Gibson, which force had proceeded as far as Hankinson’s Ferry, when he discovered our ostentatious movement up the Yazoo, recalled his men, and sent them up to Haines’s Bluff to meet us.  This detachment of rebel troops must have marched nearly sixty miles without rest, for afterward, on reaching Vicksburg, I heard that the men were perfectly exhausted, and lay along the road in groups, completely fagged out.  This diversion, made with so much pomp and display, therefore completely fulfilled its purpose, by leaving General Grant to contend with a minor force, on landing at Bruinsburg, and afterward at Port Gibson and Grand Gulf.

In May the waters of the Mississippi had so far subsided that all our canals were useless, and the roads had become practicable.  After McPherson’s corps had passed Richmond, I took up the route of march, with Steele’s and Tuttle’s divisions.  Blair’s division remained at Milliken’s Bend to protect our depots there, till relieved by troops from Memphis, and then he was ordered to follow us.  Our route lay by Richmond and Roundabout Bayou; then, following Bayou Vidal we struck the Mississippi at Perkins’s plantation.  Thence the route followed Lake St. Joseph to a plantation called Hard Times, about five miles above Grand Gulf.  The road was more or less occupied by wagons and detachments belonging to McPherson’s corps; still we marched rapidly and reached Hard Times on the 6th of May.  Along the Bayou or Lake St. Joseph were many very fine cotton plantations, and I recall that of a Mr. Bowie, brother-in-law of the Hon. Reverdy Johnson, of Baltimore.  The house was very handsome, with a fine, extensive grass-plot in front.  We entered the yard, and, leaving our horses with the headquarters escort, walked to the house.  On the front-porch I found a magnificent grand-piano, with several satin-covered