JOHN WESLEY POWELL. 



After the battle of Champion Hill, General Pemberton's army 

 was driven across Black River, and the bank of the river was occu- 

 pied by the Union troops. About two o'clock in the afternoon the 

 railroad bridge was burned by the enemy, and bridges had to be 

 built immediately. During that afternoon and night they were 

 constructed across the river, and by daylight two divisions had 

 crossed on this bridge, including the batteries which he com- 

 manded. 



For two days they fought their way toward Vicksburg and on 

 the 2ist of May invested the works that sheltered General Pember- 

 ton. During the night of the 2ist Captain Powell was occupied in 

 arranging the lines of the division to which he belonged (Ransom's 

 division), and in getting the batteries into position under cover of 

 rude and hastily constructed earthworks. On the 22nd a severe en- 

 gagement occurred ; and on the 23rd the siege operations fairly 

 commenced, and he was engaged in them, day and night, from that 

 time until the fourth of July. In no other forty days of his life had 

 he ever worked so hard. It was his custom to lay out the works at 

 night, and to direct the digging by the troops; and during the day 

 he was engaged in preparing materials. 



The work consisted chiefly in running parallels, and in con- 

 structing batteries and defensive works for the artillery. The 

 ground was covered with fallen trees through which a dense jungle 

 of cane was growing. This cane was cut and used in making fas- 

 cines and other materials used in the construction of gabions to be 

 employed for revetment. On the evening of the 22nd, while engaged 

 in laying out work of this kind, one of his soldiers suggested that 

 the telegraph wire could be used for binding the fascines, and at 

 night nearly three hundred men were set to work making fascines 

 and tying them with wire, the rude machinery for this being de- 

 vised upon the spot. The telegraph wire ran towards Jackson from 

 a point which was occupied by Ransom's division, and gradually 

 this wire for many miles back was brought in to be used for this 

 purpose. 



The hills about Vicksburg are composed of loess, and this ma- 

 terial was of a character well adapted to their purposes. They ran 

 long galleries in it without any support, and they soon had a sys- 

 tem of galleries extending quite under the enemy's guns, and their 

 own troops were gradually brought up by a system of parallels to 

 the very ditches of the enemy's main works. All the enemy's sal- 

 ients were abandoned quite early in the siege, and the Union guns 

 were so arranged that they would enfilade every rod of his breast- 



