Surrender of Vicksburg July 4" (1863 
had their arms stacked they broke ranks and came over to our lines and mingled with our boys, who gave them a welcome reception, and treated them to some of the whisky that Grant had ordered to be issued to his army after the surrender. and many poor starved rebel shared the rations that were issued to the Federals. Union and Reb. sat down together and talked over their trials, and incidents of the siege. In short it looked like a meeting of old friends. This afternoon I took a walk to Vicksburg and all over the town. Houses were nearly all deserted and the hills in the town were boroughed out and made the habitation of all classes. The rebel soldiers looked really distressed and pitiful. They had dirty, ragged clothes on - looked ghastly and hollow eyed. Nothing in the stores in town, they are all broken open. Nothing inside the rebel lines except starved soldiers citizens and mules, guns and ammunition. Many houses are riddled, some only a few holes through them, even the streets are considerably torn up from shells dropping in the ground and then exploding.
